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Bring Your Own.... Addicted Series Deep Dive (Part 1) | S1Ep4
456 Plays3 years ago
Part one of our deep-dive on the #Booktok favorite Addicted/Calloway Sisters Series series by Krista and Becca Ritchie. We cover our favorite books, characters and couples from the series, followed by and in-depth spoiler-filled discussion of the first five books: Addicted to You, Ricochet, Addiction For Now, Kiss The Sky, and Hothouse flower. Follow the pod on Instagram @BringYourOwnPod
Time stamps:
Addicted to You: 25:58
Ricochet: 49:00
Addicted for Now: 1:00:05
Kiss the Sky: 1:14:25
Hothouse Flower: 1:35:00
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Bring Your Own' Podcast
00:00:06
Speaker
Hi. Hi, guys. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hi. Welcome to Bring Your Own, a catch-all bookish most of the time podcast. I'm Brandi. I'm Kendra. And I'm Kayla. Sorry, I just took a big drink of coffee right as we were doing that.
Focus on Addicted Series and Current Reads
00:00:29
Speaker
This episode has been dubbed Bring Your Own Addicted Series because we are going to be talking all things Addicted Series, Callaway Sister Series, all that good stuff. But before we jump in, what are you guys reading? What are you guys drinking? I am drinking an iced coffee that I made at home and didn't get from Starbucks. Please clap, please clap. It honestly tastes like water, but it's OK.
00:00:58
Speaker
And I am currently reading a book called Sunny Disposition by Deanna Gray. It's on Kindle Unlimited. It is a hockey romance, college romance, interracial romance. And it's okay so far. There is an amnesia trope.
00:01:15
Speaker
which I was not expecting. It happens like two chapters in and it's interesting and it's short. I should finish it. Hopefully it's there tomorrow. Um, but I've been having a really good reading month so far and I'm very proud of myself. So nice. Um, I am because it's lunchtime here.
00:01:36
Speaker
I just had a light lunch. I'm having a Coke Zero right now because that's always my drink of choice. And I am currently listening to Luck and Last Resorts, which is the second book in the Love Lists and Fancy Ships series, which I think is the name. I don't actually know the name of the series.
00:01:59
Speaker
But this one follows, it's a second chance romance, it follows Nina and Ollie. And basically, they have been friends with benefits for years, a long, long time. And Ollie, who is Irish and does have an Irish accent, which is very nice too in the audiobook. Yeah.
Personal Journeys with the Addicted Series
00:02:20
Speaker
He like wants something more and Nina
00:02:23
Speaker
you know, has been constantly pushed back against this for a long time due to some like past trust issues that she has accumulated throughout her life. So yeah, that's what I'm listening to. And then I am going to start Forget Me Not by Julie Soto, which is an arc from NetGalley. But I think this actually was a fan fiction first before picked up by a publisher. Yeah. And truthfully, the only like reason that I've even became interested was the cover.
00:02:51
Speaker
the cover immediately drew me in. It's like very hot. It's hot. Do you know the fandom that she wrote for? I have no idea. I really don't know. But this one is about a wedding planner who has to work with this like grumpy florist who is also her ex. So it's about them working together on like a really high profile wedding. And I haven't started it yet, but I'm very excited because I've heard good things. So that's what I'm currently reading. Even though
00:03:18
Speaker
these podcasts are going live like a week apart. We're recording them very close together. So I'm reading the exact same thing that I was reading on the last podcast. I'm reading a photo finished by Elsie Silver and listening to Belladonna by Adeline Graves. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So I'm really enjoying both of those right now. Yeah.
00:03:45
Speaker
Let, we have a big episode today. Yeah, we have a big episode. We're going to have to split it probably into two parts. We just, we just can't shut up about one of our favorite series, the addicted slash Callaway sister series.
Overview of the Addicted Series
00:04:02
Speaker
And so first we want to talk about like each of our individual journeys with the series, like how we came to read it and everything. So
00:04:11
Speaker
me personally I started reading it in the summer of 2021 and I think what influenced me to read it like I it's hard for me to like pinpoint exactly what it was but I truly think
00:04:25
Speaker
that it was just like TikToks of quotes and they were quotes from the one and only Connor Cobalt that really got me to read it. And so you know what's crazy too is that at the time that I read this series, I didn't have my iPad, I didn't have my actual Kindle. So I read this entire series on my phone for the first time.
00:04:53
Speaker
I would rather die than do now, but I read the whole thing, all 10 books on my phone over the course of like a month. I ate it up and- Wait, I thought you didn't read some kind of perfect though until I read some kind of perfect. No, I read some kind of perfect. Oh. I was just rereading it with you. I don't know why I thought you were like, oh, I just always put it off. No, no, no. No, I read it. Oh. Yeah.
00:05:23
Speaker
Wow. Okay. Nevermind. Unless I don't, I'm pretty, yeah. Yeah. No, I read the whole thing.
00:05:30
Speaker
Um, but I don't know what gave you that impression. Because I get a sworn, um, well, I guess we can go into how I read it. I read it because Kayla would not shut up about it in my DMs. When we first started DMing each other on Instagram, one of the first things she DM'd me was, I think you should like really read the Addicted Search Callaway Sisters series. I'm not the only one that was telling her to read this series, let me be clear. But you were like, I think the most consistent and like in a personal space because this series,
00:05:57
Speaker
For those who don't know, it's huge on TikTok. It was huge for,
Impact on Reading Habits
00:06:01
Speaker
I would say a year prior before I read it, probably a year prior before you read it. I don't know who started it on TikTok, but it was everywhere on TikTok. I cannot escape it. It's all I heard about. I saw a lot of my mutuals reading it. Probably around the same time that you read it initially, Kayla, it was Kimmy from At Kimmy's Books. I think Pauline started the series too that summer. The books I love.
00:06:26
Speaker
And I was just like everyone keeps reading the series I'm probably like never gonna read it because I was hearing like oh like the first two books are kind of bad like There are a lot of mixed opinions, but I knew that the fan base was like super high or super base was super in love with the books and they pushed them really really hard and then Kayla and I became friends and
00:06:48
Speaker
And she was like, you should read it. And I was like, I'll agree to it eventually. And to be honest, I was like, probably not in my head, like, whatever, like, I'll get to it.
00:06:57
Speaker
like never and then I don't know like I guess you and I just kept talking and talking and she like would not give up she was like you should read it like read it read it read it you you act like I said it like every five seconds that is it was like maybe
Emotional Impact and Influences
00:07:11
Speaker
not every five seconds like every five minutes oh my god it was very consistent and then I made her I don't know how we got into this like into this group I was like
00:07:23
Speaker
Yeah, but I feel like I started building you a, I called it the Kayla stack. I built her a stack of books where she was like, you have to read these books. And I just added them to a stack. And on that was the Addicted series. And since it was 10 books, I was like, okay, I'll set apart all of March of 2022 to read the entire thing. And I did. And Kayla got every single one of my updates.
00:07:50
Speaker
And it was great. I think it made us better friends. You were right. I was like, wow, this series is actually pretty good. Like I probably should have read it sooner, but you know, good things take time. So.
00:08:01
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And around that same time, I was coming off a string of just like banger wrecks from Kendra. Like I read the brutal birth rate series by Sophie Lark because of her. And then right after I read the Bell brothers trilogy because of her. And so I honestly was just kind of like watching her Instagram. This is when we were like, we were mutuals, but we weren't talking
Reading Order Importance
00:08:22
Speaker
like every day. Yeah. On Instagram. Yeah. And then, so I was just kind of like watching her like wrap ups and being like, okay, cool. That's my next read.
00:08:31
Speaker
So when she started the Addicted series, I remember being on a live and I don't remember who you were live with. I don't remember, but you were live and you were saying like, I'm going to read the Addicted series in March. And like, I was like, you were like, dude, I'm doing this, whatever. And I was the, I had the exact same thought process where I was like, that's cool for her. But then your updates on your stories on Instagram,
00:08:57
Speaker
I was just like, hmm, yeah. That's like the most fun I've had on Instagram. It was so much fun, like live reacting to everything. If you want to see my live reactions, go to my Instagram at Kendra reads with a C. Yeah, it's it's in the highlights. Yeah. So then I was only like two weeks behind Kendra because like she was like three books and I was like, oh, yeah, OK, I'm I'm down. So I started being those nuts. Actually, the series where I started talking to Kayla consistently as well, because I
00:09:25
Speaker
was just sending them both updates. Yeah, I was sending them both updates. And then it just felt stupid because I was literally just like copying and pasting messages like back and forth. So then I was like, can I put us in a group chat? And that's like, and the first time Kendra and I ever hung out in person, we like talked all about the Addicted series. Yeah, you could I was like, you should read it. Like I was like trying to I forget which book I was on.
00:09:49
Speaker
And
Favorite Couples and Characters
00:09:50
Speaker
I was like, I think you'd really like, oh, wow, what a great book. We were talking about, we were at lunch, and I was like, you should read it. Like, I know, like, here's what everyone says about it. Here's how I felt. But like, you should read it. And then she like, I wasn't expecting you to do it right away. Then you did it. And then, yeah, you I think you caught up so fast, too. Because I think we all finished.
00:10:09
Speaker
that's the reason why this episode is so significant because it's like brandy and i is like one year anniversary like coming up yeah i started finishing this series i started addicted to you on march 24th wow when did you when did you finish it i finished some kind of perfect or addicted to you or some kind of perfect some kind of perfect um april 22nd
00:10:32
Speaker
see like that's wow just under a month 10 bucks and i was reading um i was reading the clifton forge series mixed in there as well wow but i read the addicted series and then it fucked up my reading for the rest of the year because it was like very hard like i was in such a slump afterwards
00:10:54
Speaker
And it took me like months to get out of it. And then I read the Magnolia parts. It was like a two hitter. Oh my gosh. One two punch. I remember like, and I think all of us like felt kind of similar. I know Caleb read this like significantly before Kendra and I did, but I remember finishing that and being like exactly what you're saying Kendra. Like I was like, fuck, like I'm never going to feel
00:11:17
Speaker
like this again and not that I'm saying that these are the best written books I've ever read or anything or like my favorite characters well uh I'm not even saying like these are the best things ever that exist this is the best whatever but I the feelings that I had when reading this series I was like I don't know if I'm going to feel like this again and then Magnolia Parks happened I was like well yeah. I like Magnolia Parks more than the Addicted series um which is no secret
00:11:45
Speaker
Yeah, I think I'll have to wait until Magnolia is finished to make that call for myself. That's interesting. Yeah, I think for me, it was just so it's just so clear, but we'll have to do a whole other episode on Magnolia parks because that's serious. Oh, 100%. They're just
00:12:03
Speaker
are just certain things I think Jessa hates things that was eons better. I think that the writing in Magnolia Parks is a million times better. Maybe I shouldn't shit on this series that we're about to talk about right now. Yeah, we still love it. We'll move back to Magnolia Parks another time. I know.
Discussion on 'Addicted to You'
00:12:19
Speaker
So if you've listened to us talk this long, you're probably like, what is even the Addicted series? If you don't know. The Addicted series is a 10 book series that is technically comprised
00:12:33
Speaker
of two separate series. So you'll hear people say you have the Addicted series and then you have the Callaway Sisters series. Go into this though knowing that it's just one big 10 book series and I don't know why yeah like I don't know why the authors, Kristen Becker Ritchie, they're twins by the way who wrote this entire thing when they were like my age like 20 in their like very early 20s they started this series which I think is like incredible to be honest.
00:12:58
Speaker
I don't know why they don't market this as like a 10 book series because even they tell you at the start of each book here's how we want you to read it and it's reading all 10 books in order but then when you go to look them up it's like here's the addictive series here's the Callaway sisters series and then people tell you that you can like read them separately don't do that it will fuck you up very badly and it pisses me off every time I see someone who's like oh I only read
00:13:22
Speaker
the five books in the addictive series or only by the Callaway sister series. I'm like, do you know how much it wouldn't make any sense? It wouldn't make any sense. But the addictive series is a 10 book series that follows Lily Callaway and her two sisters, Rose Callaway and Daisy Callaway. And it follows them over like the span of years as they navigate addiction, love, family and fame because these girls come from a super rich family.
00:13:49
Speaker
Based out of Philadelphia, their dad owns the equivalent of what is like the Coke company or the Pepsi company. What is their soda called again? Chisel. Chisel, yeah. So they are like stupid, rich, their entire family. And the series kicks off though, with Lily Calloway, who is a sex addict. And that's why it's called the Addicted series, because she is an addict. And it follows her and her best friend, Lauren, who goes by Lo.
00:14:18
Speaker
is an alcoholic and they've been best friends since they were little kids and in order to hide their separate addictions from their families they agree to start fake dating in high school and this actually allows them to enable each other's addictions so really just keeps on you know feeding her sex addiction and Lo keeps feeding his alcoholism and the series the first book addicted to you starts with them in college sort of at like
00:14:44
Speaker
I don't know if it would be considered the height of their addictions. Would you say it's like the height and addictive? I think they're like approaching a peak that like tells them within the book. Yeah. So it starts with them both like pretty down in the dumps with their addictions and they are fake dating still. And we see that three years into fake dating and we see that fake relationship turn into something real, which in any other fake dating book, you're like, yeah, that's great. Like that's what I want to happen.
00:15:14
Speaker
but when their like relationship turns into something real, I feel like that makes things like worse for them because it just allows them to enable each other even more. And the series just sort of kicks off from there and it pulls in Lily's two sisters and you see them find love as well. So you have Rose Calloway, whose love interest is Connor, who you'll hear a lot about, cause that's Kayla's like number one person ever. Connor also comes from like a super rich family. His family owns like a,
00:15:43
Speaker
a conglomerate of businesses, right? Like it's like Johnson and Johnson. So they produce like any and everything. Oh, I forgot to mention Lowe is also super rich and his family owns a baby like supply company. So diapers, strollers, it's called Hellco, which is just so funny that his father who is a very interesting man runs a baby
00:16:09
Speaker
company because his dad is not a good dad. So it's just that he's making baby supplies. So you have Rose and Connor, and then you have the youngest Callaway sister, Daisy, and her love interest is a guy named Reich, who comes into Lily and Lo's life during college and plays a very interesting role. And yeah, each couple gets, Lily and Lo have the most books. They have five books, which is the entire Addicted series.
00:16:37
Speaker
And then Rose and Connor have two books and Rike and Daisy have two books. And then there's an epilogue to the reading order in specifics now, unless you guys want to add anything else. No, I'll just say like for a little bit, we're going to talk spoiler free.
Lily's Addiction and Therapy Journey
00:16:52
Speaker
Um, so that if you haven't read the series, hopefully you are still sticking around, but you can stick around for a while before we start to really go in depth with each book. Um, so yeah, let's talk, let's talk reading order. Um, the first
00:17:07
Speaker
three books are Addicted to You, a novella called Ricochet, and then Addicted for Now. Those are the first three books. All three of those are Lily and Low. You need to read those three first in that order. Those are Lily and Low's books. And then after Addicted for Now, that's when we start to integrate the Callaway Sisters series. So next is Kiss the Sky, which is Rose and Connor's book.
00:17:36
Speaker
and then Hot House Flower, which is Rike and Daisy's book. And then we go back to Lily and Lo POV for Thrive and Addicted After All. Back to the Callaway Sister series for Fuel the Fire and Long Way Down.
00:17:50
Speaker
and then some kind of perfect, which is the epilogue novel that was just mentioned. After those, there are the bad reputation duet, which are, it was just from the perspective of two characters who you meet throughout the Addicted Callaway Sister series, which we consider those part of.
00:18:07
Speaker
the series. I would. They're not necessary like obviously the the ones that you mentioned Brandy all the way to some kind of perfect are all necessary for the whole the series as a whole the bad rep duet is not necessary but it's like a nice addition and it's and I think like as you read the series you'll you'll be like wait I want to read about these characters too. Yeah definitely yeah yeah and then um there is a second gen series called the like a series which follows a lot of the kids from
00:18:36
Speaker
the series, which we're not even going to touch today, maybe in the future, we will. It won't be nice. If you do, it'll be negativity for about an hour's date. Yeah. Yeah. But like it's almost nothing to say. There are books with words and characters and plot. Are any of them good, debatable?
00:19:00
Speaker
Anyways, that is the reading order. And that is the, like, in our opinion, the absolute necessary reading order. Do not read just the Addicted series. Do not read just the Callaway sister series. It is one big series that is 10 books long. That might sound intimidating.
00:19:17
Speaker
understandable. Maybe the series isn't for you if that is the case. Yeah, or take your time. You don't have to binge it like we did. I know like our friend Kimi at Kimi's books, she read the books like over a span of months. And I think that that's yeah, I think that that's helpful.
Lo's Return and Recovery Journey
00:19:33
Speaker
And if you can't remember this reading order, it's listed in the front of every single book. Like this is how the authors Chris and Rebecca want you to read it anyways. So yeah, so and once you get into the series, like it's
00:19:46
Speaker
my opinion and I think you guys probably shared that like it sounds really intimidating but these books read really easy um and they read really fast like the stories are really easy to follow you're really sucked into the world so yeah um that is that's the reading order um I want to ask you guys to do like rapid fire we should do favorite couple favorite character and favorite book Kayla you start yeah
00:20:15
Speaker
Okay, I'll start. Well, it's to these people, it is no surprise who my favorite couple is. My favorite couple is Rose and Connor. They're kind of the whole reason that I read the series. Like I said, like, I'm pretty sure TikTok of Connor Cobalt is what drew me into the series in the first place. Um, so, and we talked about in previous episode, Rose Callaway is one of my favorite female main characters of all time. But if you were to ask me like my favorite character from the series, I think
00:20:45
Speaker
I think I would pick Connor, which is like, I feel bad saying because like Rosa is like, that's my queen. You know what I mean? But like I have to, I think I have to pick Connor just because of his character growth in the series.
00:21:00
Speaker
And then my favorite book, and we're not including in our favorite book, we're not going to include some kind of perfect the epilogue novel because we just feel like that kind of like sits on its own, you know? Yeah. So just from the first nine books of the series, my favorite is Fuel to Fire, which I think a lot of people have like mixed emotions on, but for me, if you are a Caballo waste, like stand like I am, I think that that's usually people's favorite. And that is my favorite book.
00:21:29
Speaker
And I annotated it. Yeah, Kayla annotated it for me and it was so nice. I always remember she drew like someone on their knees, like a sister on her knees. I forget which part but I thought it was like the cutest thing ever and you were like this. I am no artist. I am no artist. Oh my god. Yeah. Rapid fire. Okay, favorite couple. For me, I always say it's a tie because
00:21:57
Speaker
Lily and Lo are everything soulmates, like how they love each other. Not many people are going to find that type of love in their lifetime. And then I would also say Rose and Connor too. And it's because of Fuel the Fire where I feel like their love really like solidified itself for me. What they go through and withstand as a couple is unmatched. And like the way they talk about, like Rose and Connor, the way they express their love through words is just so
00:22:26
Speaker
beautiful. Like I would pay good money for anyone to speak about me the way that they speak to each other. Um so yeah that's favorite favorite couple I would tie it. It really depends on the day because sometimes I'm like I'm I just want Lily alone and then sometimes I just want Caballo and sometimes it's both.
Exploration of Family Dynamics
00:22:45
Speaker
Um my favorite character this was kind of hard. I put Lily Hale just because I feel very protective over her. Um she is like my child and I feel like
00:22:56
Speaker
she made me feel very seen and understood as like a woman who has not always been like the most put together with her own sex life like that. She is great, love her and she gets a lot of hate. But I think she's incredible. And I'm just so proud of her for everything that she overcomes. And then my favorite book is Addicted After All, which is Lillian Lowe's last book in the series or last book from their POV in the series.
00:23:21
Speaker
My favorite couple really easily for me is Lily and Lo. I love Rose and Connor, I really do, but not a question for me of who's my favorite. I love Lily and Lo so much. They're my favorite. Bye, Myle. Favorite character is so hard. I'm gonna do a little bit of a cop-out here, because I just don't think that Lily's character exists without Lo, and I don't think Lo's character exists without Lily. So I have a really, really hard time choosing between the two of them.
00:23:52
Speaker
And I don't know, they just complement each other so perfectly and exist in this bubble together that I can't pick between them. So Lillian though are my favorite characters as well as being my favorite couple independently too. That was kind of a contradiction because I said they can't exist without each other, but they're individual characters and personality I love so much. If I had to pick, I guess I'd pick Lauren.
00:24:17
Speaker
And then my favorite book is Addicted After All, which, like Kendra said, is Lily and Lo's final book from their POV. Have you guys heard that TikTok song? It's like, what's your favorite? It's from Zoolander, I think. It's like, what's your favorite? Water with the lemon spice. Water with the lemon spice. That's like me. My favorite couple's Lily and Lo. My favorite character's Lily and Lo. My favorite book is Addicted After All, which is Lily and Lo's book. So, there you go, Lily, Lo, Curly. Okay. Rike and Daisy, know where to be found.
00:24:46
Speaker
We'll get into Rike and Daisy. I personally like Rike and Daisy as a couple. That's a child. I like that as a couple too. Yeah, we will get into their books. So if you are a Rike and Daisy stan, don't misunderstand at least me. Maybe not some other people in this book. You don't misunderstand me. But he's the only one that will down himself. I like Rike and Daisy. They're just my least favorite.
00:25:12
Speaker
couple yes yeah exactly and we will we will discuss a little bit more when we get into spoilers which I think at this point we can start talking spoilers so if you haven't
Shift to 'Kiss the Sky' and Reality Show
00:25:23
Speaker
read the series you should definitely leave because we will talk about anything and everything in this next portion for sure
00:25:32
Speaker
Yeah. For the spoiler portion, we are just going to go book by book and basically talk about just a quick synopsis of what happens in the book, the main events, and then our personal favorite quotes, our personal favorite scenes, any pivotal moments, etc. And like I said, we're going to talk about anything and everything. So if you haven't read, again, please leave your final warning.
00:25:56
Speaker
All right, so the first book is addicted to you and this one obviously introduces us to the world of Lily and Lauren and their addictions. So they're, again, they're, you know, childhood friends who are fake dating to cover up their addictions from their families. So when reading this book, you guys, like what parts stick out to you? Like when you think of this book first, what comes to mind? Yeah. Um,
00:26:24
Speaker
The first thing that I think of when I think this book is just like Lily and Lo hitting their rock bottom, which happens in this book. Hitting their rock bottom independently and together and in their addictions, I mean. So Lily is becoming increasingly more dangerous with her social habits, both like, you know, like
00:26:49
Speaker
the actual health of it all like not be using protection with people she doesn't know like that kind of stuff and a lot of that is because she's hurting about the feelings that she has for Lauren and she's like battling this feeling of like feeling like she there's no way she could possibly deserve somebody like Lauren because she loves him so much already because even though they are fake dating both of them have very real feelings for each other they're best friends right they've been best friends since they were like six
00:27:15
Speaker
So that's happening. And then that kind, like that resolves a little bit because they admit their feelings for each other and Lily's able to stay. They're in a great scene too. Yeah, which we can talk about too. But they admit their feelings to each other and Lily's able to stay faithful to Lauren at the beginning of their relationship, like their real relationship, which is something she worried about. But around that same time, Lowe is like hitting his rock bottom of like his alcoholism.
00:27:45
Speaker
It's just like getting worse and worse, getting himself into like really, again, dangerous situations with, you know, getting drunk at parties and getting into fights and all that stuff. And yeah, so I think of the pain as much as like, I love Lilian Lo. There are so many sweet moments, funny moments in this book, like moments of getting to know their characters. Like when I think of this book, the first thing I think about is just like the pain that they're going through this whole time throughout this book. Like they're both so broken.
00:28:15
Speaker
throughout the whole book and like they're trying to piece each other back together but they don't have the tools to be able to do that for each other while they're both battling their own addictions. And I just think it's it's a lot. Yeah and this book is the first two books are only from Lily's point of view which I found to be really interesting because I think in this book Lauren's character still comes across the page so well from her point of view. So then when we do get to his point of view
00:28:45
Speaker
Like I was already in pain from seeing him from Lilly's point of view. And then getting to his like it just made everything 10 times worse. I was like, I don't know if he'll be so bad. Yeah, and then we get it you're like, Oh, yeah. You know, I think about a lot though with this book actually is the first time we meet low in this book and it's him. It's like the how the book opens really just like slept with this random guy like always and Lowe's picking her up.
00:29:14
Speaker
And it's like playing this like very protective boyfriend and like trying to like pull her together. And like, it's kind of like chastising her a little bit. Like, come on, like, you know, we have somewhere to be. Like there are drivers outside waiting for them. They were like going to like a family brunch or something. Is that where they were going? Yeah, they had to be somewhere with like, they had to be somewhere to do something and they needed to be on time. I found it so, it's very interesting how he was like chastising her and like wanting her to be ready. But then at the same time, like he's drunk.
00:29:45
Speaker
like yeah he's all his rocker so a lot of this book is them kind of like you see them enable each other i think that's kind of the worst in this book uh oh yeah absolutely which is just it's a lot i was like thrown off guard when i like first went into because like oh like this is real
00:30:05
Speaker
When I think of this book, one of the first things that comes to mind is the scene on the family yacht when they're all together. And this is when they decide to make their relationship real, when Lauren is basically like, let me be enough for you. And this is also when I think, when they do make their relationship real,
00:30:28
Speaker
it's when their addictions become even more heightened because they're enabling each other now in sort of a different way where it is real and so then you know Lo is constantly trying to satiate Lily but it's never enough type of thing right but this is also where we get one of the iconic
00:30:46
Speaker
quotes from Lauren Hale and Brandy, are you wearing that sweatshirt right now? It is, but this isn't, that's not the scene where he says it. It isn't? No, he says it, they're at a party. Oh, he says it later. Yeah. He says it later. Me being a fake fan. It's okay, but you can still, you want to talk about your sweatshirt, what it says, what the iconic quote is.
00:31:05
Speaker
Yeah, I like literally just sprinted out halfway through when we were recording this. I'm like, why am I not wearing my Lauren Hale fucks better sweatshirt? My sweatshirt just literally says the sentence Lauren Hale fucks better, which is the iconic quote Kayla was talking about. Yeah. Yeah. That's what he tells her in order to help keep her from fucking other guys. Some cheating on him. Yeah. And it's the hottest thing
00:31:33
Speaker
But still, it is kind of sad when you think about it because you're terrified. They're having a conversation where Lilly's like, I don't know if I even trust myself. How can you trust me to stay faithful to you? And he's like, I do trust you, but you're making me feel like I shouldn't. And she's like, I'm just rationally freaking out about it. And he's like, how about this? How about every single time you think about fucking another guy, you just repeat the sentence to yourself, Lauren Hale fucks better.
00:32:03
Speaker
are you okay yeah i love him so much and then but like lily's so sweet because immediately she was like no i'm gonna have a different mantra for myself and it's i will not cheat on lore and hail and she repeats up to herself so much when she's like really struggling with her addiction and we'll talk about more of that in british day did y'all think that she was gonna cheat at all i kind of did uh
00:32:28
Speaker
I thought she would do it but it would be because she's a sex addict so the circumstances are different right so like we knew that it would be something that like she i'm not saying it would be out of her control but like it kind of i knew that if she were to have done it it would have been is excuse the right word like if they would it would have been something they worked through she would have been dealt with she would have had a lot of shame around it but i was like expecting it to happen
00:32:51
Speaker
I honestly didn't. I think my brain was just working too much. I was like, it's a romance novel. I feel like they're not gonna write her cheating in it. But I do think in a world where that did happen, if Lilly did cheat on Lauren, I think Lauren would have absolutely, like you said, kind of been like, oh yeah, we're working through this. It'll be okay. Like whatever. Like he lost her too much for that. Do you know what I just remembered? To help people really understand the height of Lilly's addiction. This girl is in college. She's in a classroom. She watches
00:33:21
Speaker
She watches porn in class to like satiate herself and something happens with the sound and it plays out loud for the entire class. One thing that you will learn about Krista and Becca Richie, they love to embarrass her. And that is one of the most embarrassing moments in the entire, this girl was in class watching porn. And that's so, like, it's funny to like think about, but it's like sad, like,
00:33:47
Speaker
Yeah. That's insane. Oh my gosh. Yeah, she was she was down bad. What about you, Kayla? I know you said you put the yacht scene, but what do I think about? Also, I mean, I think about the end when, you know, Lily is going to therapy and then Lowe is going to go to rehab. And then, you know, Lowe tells her, you know, wait for me. I need you to wait for me. Right.
00:34:16
Speaker
he's gonna be gone for like a couple months like three three months ish and so you know she has to say stay faithful to him and has to be able to also learn how to control her compulsions without him and so that's like a massive piece and then i also think about like the introductions to the other characters yeah so like obviously we meet
00:34:43
Speaker
obviously her sisters, but also we meet Connor, we meet Reich. And I also think a lot about the difference in Connor's character in the first three books than we do like in the fourth book, because he's kind of different. And especially in like the first two verses. Yeah, we actually get into his head in the fourth book. But I
00:35:05
Speaker
I think honestly the biggest part of this book though is Reich's character introduction. I think it's like such a pivotal moment because you meet Reich, he's at a Halloween party and Lo is like drunk off his ass. Is this where the, is this the same party where Lauren's like Lauren hell fucks better? So it's that party. It's a huge party. Lauren like steals this guy's like super expensive alcohol, gets in a fight. Reich sees the fight.
00:35:32
Speaker
helps break it up, and then they all pile into the car. So everyone's there. It's like Lily, Rose, Connor, and Rike now at this party. And Rike just keeps coming around after that. And he's very- It's like under the guise of writing a story or something. Yeah, because he notices that Lo has a problem with alcohol. So the next thing he comes around, he's really in Lily's face about it. He's like, you know he's drinking a lot, right? Like, what are you doing about that?
00:36:02
Speaker
let me keep coming around. I'll say I'm writing a story. Because he's like a journalism major. Oh, God, right as a journalist. He's a journalism major at this time, while also on his school's track team. And he keeps coming around, coming around. And the whole time, you're like, why? Like, why is this guy so invested in this stranger that like he just met at a party?
00:36:24
Speaker
And then it's revealed that Reich is actually, this is such a massive spoiler, which I'm so glad this was not spoiled for me going in, because it was such a great reveal. Reich is Lo's half brother. They share a dad and they never met each other. He was always sort of like kept in the dark, lived with his mom. Had a break through of Lauren's existence, but Lauren did not know Reich. So that's why he kept coming around. And there's this really pivotal moment at like a fundraiser or something towards the end of the book.
00:36:54
Speaker
Lilly and Lo are like really going through it with their addictions and it's revealed to Lo that Rike is his brother and that's sort of I think like rock bottom for Lo in this book and that is like kind of the final push where he's like okay I have to go to rehab, I have to get myself together, I have to be a better person. So yeah you find out that Rike is actually
00:37:17
Speaker
Lo's Brother, which I thought was just such a nice twist. It is the, I call it the Boy Meets World of it all because the same thing happens in Boy Meets World. I will die on this hill that Kristin and Becca Richie were huge Boy Meets World fans because they ripped straight from that show a lot of storylines. Sean Hunter and Lauren Hale are the exact same person. One is rich, one is poor. That's the only difference in their life. But yeah, I think Rike
00:37:44
Speaker
his introduction is probably my favorite. Connor is also really good because Connor comes in as like Lily's tutor and you know that he has a history with Rose which like we haven't even scratched the surface of that history and addicted to you like it seems so minor like oh they just probably like ran into each other but then you learn as the series goes on that they've been like revolving around each other for years and years and years and it's beautiful
00:38:07
Speaker
And this is when he asks her on a date for the first time too. Like this is when they go on their first date. Which is so interesting to enter Kiss the Sky with them already in a relationship. I think was so fun because, you know, in a long interconnected series like this, like every single first book for a character or for a couple like, oh, this is them like falling in love. This is them getting together. This is how their relationship starts. It can get a little old, right? Like it could have that potential to get old.
00:38:37
Speaker
So we got to see the start of Lily and Low's relationship, but they already had history as friends. When we start Rose and Connor's books from their POV, they are already in a relationship, and obviously they go through their old struggles throughout that book, but they're already together. And then, Rike and Daisy, we get to see the entire thing, really, of them, from the bits and pieces of the other books. And there was a lot of buildup for Rike and Daisy, too, which, honestly, looking back, probably should have done a little differently.
00:39:05
Speaker
Yeah, that's so true. That's the only couple that you get like a traditional, I guess, like start, which I enjoy. Yeah. And then we haven't really talked. I know you said you guys said that like we meet other sisters, but like Rose's character so solidly established in this book.
00:39:24
Speaker
as like, because there are four Callaway sisters, there are four, all girls, four sisters in this family and Rose and Lily, like Lily has really, really isolated herself from her family. She's not really close with any of her sisters because of her addiction. She just like doesn't want to lie to them. So she just doesn't go around them. Like she, she goes to family functions when it's necessary, but she doesn't actively involve herself in her siblings life. But like Rose always, always
00:39:51
Speaker
makes a point of involving herself in Lily's life because she loves her sisters so much. She's such a good sister. She's the second oldest, Lily's the third oldest, and Daisy's the youngest. We don't really meet, I mean, we meet the oldest sister Poppy, but she's not actively involved in the series that much. Which I think is so weird. They should have just made Rose the oldest. The oldest. Cause yeah, Poppy is so irrelevant in this part. For no purpose. I feel like her, Poppy's husband has more of a role in this series than Poppy herself.
00:40:21
Speaker
Yeah, but Rose's characters are so solidly established in this one, which I thought was so well done. Like, she has a really, really strong personality. She's very, very type A. She's a fixer. And one of the most beautiful moments in this book isn't even between Lily and Lo. Like, it's when Rose finds out about Lily's addiction,
00:40:43
Speaker
I remember being like that kind of crying when I was reading it for the first time because it's just so beautiful because Lily has so much shame surrounding her addiction. She is not in denial that she has a problem. She knows that she does. She feels horrible about it. She's hitting her rock bottom around the same time that Kendra was talking about where Lowe's hitting his rock bottom. They're careening there together and Rose is just such a solid
00:41:13
Speaker
force in Lily's life and Kayla do you have the quote pulled out by chance? Right before Lo is going to rehab, Lily's kind of thinking back on everything and this this is a small quote but I just thought it was so poignant and really drove home the fact um but it says in the end it was not a boy who helped me it was my sister and I just think that that really drives home the fact that like Rose is so fiercely loyal and protective
00:41:42
Speaker
of all of her sisters. But the specific moment that you were talking about, Brandy is when she says, you cannot get rid of me, Lilly. Nothing you do or say will make me leave. If you don't tell me now, then I'll hear it, hear of it in a year, three years, five years, a decade. I'll wait for you to tell me. I love you. You're my sister. That will never change. Okay. I was not expecting her. I don't know what I thought her reaction would be, but it wasn't that.
00:42:09
Speaker
So the fact that it was that was just so refreshing because Lily has so much anxiety over her family finding out because she was expecting the worst. So I think maybe that's where I was leaning to as well. Like, oh, this is going to go bad, especially because of how together Rose is in her life. Like I thought she would look at Lily and be like.
00:42:26
Speaker
What are you doing? But she was so understanding of it all, which I think is just so beautiful. Yeah, and she's like, we're gonna get you a therapist. We're gonna help you recover. We're gonna find out what's best for you. You're moving in with me. I'm gonna take care of you. Rose was the reason that Lilly got healthy. I love Lauren so much, but obviously they were just enabling each other. Where they were in their lives, they were so unhealthy for each other in this book, even though they were so in love.
00:42:56
Speaker
Had it been just the two, Lily and Lo, they would not have made it. Oh, they would have died. Yeah, they would not have made it. And I mean, another common thread, and it's mentioned so many times throughout the series, but like, so Rose is the one who hooked Lily, but the one who hooked Lo was Ryke. He's such a massive part, and he is the part in Lo getting healthy.
00:43:22
Speaker
He and Reich and Rose, it's so interesting, because they both do the exact same thing with different approaches, but they never give up on their siblings. They will always, always, always be there. You know what makes me think of that quote from yours truly, where he's like, love shows up? Yeah.
00:43:34
Speaker
Like that is Rike and Rose, like they kept showing up. And I mean, not to become like the biggest Rike person, but Rike as a brother is truly one of the best parts as a dude. Oh yeah, he saved Lawrence's life. He, in my opinion, he did not owe low anything, right? Like he based everything off of the fact that they just shared a dad and he knew how shitty their dad was. So he thought, let me at least help this guy out.
00:44:02
Speaker
like and he just kept showing up and and also one thing that we forgot to mention Reich himself is sober he had one bad incident with alcohol in his teens he like got in a car crash i believe well he was drinking too much yeah yeah um he was drinking too much got in a car crash gave it up and i think having that perspective allowed him to really help with low and he identifies yeah as a recovering alcoholic too which i find so interesting because most people
00:44:32
Speaker
like if they drank the way Reich did, they would have just been like, okay, well, like I had a problem. Yeah, I had a problem, but like I overcame it. And then also one thing to note is that their dad, Jonathan, if you think Lowe's an alcoholic, Jonathan is like, anything above an alcoholic, that is what Lowe's dad Jonathan is. He is like, he can't- Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Yeah, without alcohol. So it definitely runs in their family, which is really sad, but it is beautiful that Reich was just there for him and helped him so much.
00:45:02
Speaker
And I know we talked about how much we love Lo, but Lo's a fucking asshole. He is so... He's hard to get along with, and he's a dick to Rike. He's a dick to everybody but Lily in this book. Even sometimes to Lily when he's drunk too, he's kind of an asshole. So in this book, he's so hard to get along with, and Rike just keeps on showing up. Sorry, I don't know what you're saying. No, no, I was just gonna say, especially in the first few books,
00:45:31
Speaker
low is not a nice person like he's just he's just not i will say like as it goes on it gets funnier especially because uh in this book you learn that rose and low do not get along hate what's like they hate each other and like not to speak ill of women but
00:45:49
Speaker
Low bodies rose every single time. Like, they will go back and forth and Low's comeback will always be better than Rose's. And like, oh, it's so good. And then it's crazy because then you get into his POV and he's saying these really horrible things that are cutting people so deeply. And then in his head, he's like, I'm such a fucking asshole. I'm such a fucking asshole.
00:46:11
Speaker
my broken baby. You mentioned how he like low bodies rose every single time and that reminded me of this highlight that I have when Connor is getting ready for their date and Connor says I have to figure out what I'm going to wear tonight and Lo says are you serious you're going on a date with the devil all you need is some pepper spray and a fire
00:46:33
Speaker
He's so cool with it. It's hilarious. Some of the best moments from the series are between Lo and Rose. I do love their relationship. And it's because his dad is a dick to him. He learned all of his asshole tendencies come from his dad. He has to be quick. He has to have that wit. He has to be able to take that because his dad's constantly verbally amusing him.
00:46:59
Speaker
He grew up without a mom, motherless behavior. I can blame all of you in that low desk on not having a mom. Anything else with that first book? Oh, one thing I want to know about the first book, because this is a common complaint that I see, which I think is kind of interesting. People don't like that there's no smut in this book. They read it and they're like,
00:47:20
Speaker
what it's about a sex addict but everything is fade to black and at first i was like well yeah maybe because the rest of the series is pretty explicit i think it gets more explicit as it goes along but then i think back to the fact that in this book lily is so deep into her addiction i don't think i would want to want yeah no it's not gonna be hot it's not pleasurable in any in any way like she's doing this because it's how she can survive like she literally cannot
00:47:48
Speaker
um yeah it's just that so i i kind of like that there's no faith in black and also we had so much to say about this book just now like so much happens in this book but it's so short it's amongst the shortest in the series yeah this is like the second shortest book besides ricochet which i called a novella earlier isn't it they consider it to be a novella a novel okay but but it doesn't it's a little longer than i
00:48:12
Speaker
Yeah, they do some such a good job of establishing like they set up the rest of the series really, really beautifully in this first one, which is why I'm gonna say that we I truly do think we could spend 30 minutes talking about every single one of these books. But we'll try and move through the rest of them at a slightly brisker pace. But we had to like, obviously, because we meet all six main characters in this book.
00:48:34
Speaker
Um, we spent the least amount of time with Daisy in this book because she's 15. Yeah. She's 15 in this book. She still lives at home. We just know that she is a model and has kind of a tumultuous relationship with her mom at the moment. She doesn't really come like into the main core six picture till probably addicted for now. Yeah. Mexico. Yeah.
00:48:57
Speaker
Well, I think in Ricochet, too, there's Oh, she did. Oh, the parking lot. There is a moment. Yeah, there is a like, she's like, like a party with Lily, which the whole book starts with them. Yeah, we can, we can lead into Ricochet. Basically, it just bridges the gap between addicted to you and addicted for now. And so Lily's goal is to stay celibate for 90 days. And then Lauren is in rehab. And it's like, well, only like
00:49:23
Speaker
200 pages, maybe? Yeah. And then at the end of Addicted to You, as Kayla mentioned, Lauren's going to rehab. He asks Lily to wait for him. So he's going to rehab for 90 days. And he has very intentionally asked Lily to wait for him to like, in an attempt for her to be a healthier as well. Because like now Rose is helping her, they're getting her therapist, she's moving in with Rose, she's gonna stay celibate for 90 days. And he well,
00:49:49
Speaker
Yeah, from, sell it from other people for 90 days, and he is going to rehab for 90 days. Yeah. And that is what I appreciate. This book also does a really good job of giving you more of a backstory on Lillian Lowe. So I think if you get through the first book and you're like, okay, but like, what was life like for them when they first started fake dating? Like, how did they even like really fall for one another?
00:50:12
Speaker
Um, or like, how did they enable each other pre-college? This book has a lot of flashbacks in it, which I think really helped me understand Lily better as a character and like really understand her addiction better. Like, I think something that the twins do really good. I mean, by the twins, I mean.
00:50:27
Speaker
KBR, they Lily's addiction and Lo's addiction very well and they handle it with a lot of care and a lot of nuance as well. Like it's not a one-size-fits-all, like they make it very specific to Lily but that's what I think makes it even more relatable. Yeah, I think it gives so much context for why Lily and Lo fell into their addictions as well, like
00:50:49
Speaker
what has happened in their childhood that led them there, you find out a lot about how Lily's basically neglected by her parents. Her dad works too much and her mom doesn't care about her. Because in Samantha Calloway's eyes, which is Lily's mom, Lily's never been good at anything. Rose is a genius. Poppy was the perfect daughter. Daisy's a model. Lily's just kind of there. So when she develops this friendship with Lauren,
00:51:14
Speaker
Her parents are like, great, we don't have to worry about her anymore. She's friends with Lauren, they're gonna get married when they're older, they're already shipping them or whatever. And they're like, she's set for life, we don't have to care about her. So Lily in her head has put together her only value in her family's life is her relationship to this man, or to this boy at that point, right? And she's not cognizant of that, obviously, but that is kind of what leads her down this path of like, am I only worth something in connection to men?
00:51:44
Speaker
Yeah, and she's going through these like super intense therapy sessions. And I remember just feeling like I felt like I was in therapy a lot of the time, because she's like, exploring her sexuality from the time that she was a kid until now. And I
00:51:59
Speaker
I had never seen sex explored in that way before, and it made it so relatable because I was like, wait, I was like, not to put my business on blast, but I was a super sexually active, to an extent, young person, and I was chilled with a lot of shame. So I just see another character who had the same ideals, but having this therapist, he was like, okay, but
00:52:19
Speaker
It kind of wasn't your fault. It was like the environment that you were in and like the lack of information and like all these other factors. And I think that's one thing Ricochet does really well. It's a very depressing book. I think it's a lot of people's least favorite because A, Lauren, he's in rehab and this book is the last book that's only in Lilly's POV. So he's barely there. We get like a few scenes with him over the phone.
00:52:41
Speaker
and like in the flashbacks, but in present day he's not there and it's just really sad and depressing because Lili's just like unpacking all this trauma that she kept buried and then at the end of the book she has this breakthrough and she's like oh shit it was like me being neglected by my mother and like always being pushed to the side that kind of led me down this path because you learn that she like lost her virginity when she was like 13. She was so young that's crazy and like
00:53:09
Speaker
To give more context behind what she was doing when she was at the height of her addiction, she would let guys run trains on her. She would have sex in public places. I think at one point she said the entire, was it a soccer team or something? She just sat in this room and every guy just took a turn with her. And that is like, my heart breaks for her. And then she went to Lauren's house and cried about it after it happened.
00:53:38
Speaker
It's really, it's really, really, really sad and hard to read because it is just like Lily, like literally working through her pain and her addiction in this book. And I think that's why it's a lot of people's least favorite. There's not a whole lot of joy in this book. Oh, you know what else you learned that Lily, I don't know if this is from the first book or this or this book, you learned that Lily actually took Lowe's virginity. So she already lost hers, and then she took his. I think you learn that that in the first book, and then you see it. Yeah.
00:54:05
Speaker
which that's crazy to me. And that part is so fucking sad too. It's like a little bit like sweet because obviously like Lo is already in love with her at that point, but it's also fucking sad because in that moment, Lily sees that Lo is sad. He just got to fight with his dad. She's like, he's sad. The only way that I can share him up is to have sex with him because that's all I'm good at. Oh God. I love them so much. It's so sad.
00:54:30
Speaker
I just want to protect that with my life. You mentioned like her, like the therapy sessions that she goes through and there's like, um,
00:54:39
Speaker
you know moments when she's talking about like how she wasn't to her mother. She didn't feel like she was sociable and continual like Poppy. She wasn't smart like Rose. She wasn't like really pretty like Daisy and she says like she says the quote is I think I was something she wished she could return like a generic handbag but she couldn't so she just acted like I didn't exist.
00:55:01
Speaker
And then she kind of comes to this realization that like, she let me spend nights at lows. She let me do whatever I wanted. But I think that freedom turned out to be as suffocating as her control, which I think is like the whole crux behind like why she does what she does. Right. Like she just never felt, she just never felt loved. She never felt worthy enough. Um, and then, you know, her therapist is like, you have to like, you got to stop punishing yourself. You know, you're human too. And you hurt just like the rest of us and that's okay.
00:55:30
Speaker
Yeah, she downplays her own pain a lot too. Yeah. Also, Reich really steps up in this book too, which I found to be really interesting because Lauren's in rehab that Reich is paying for, by the way, which I found like, which is so expensive. And again, like just makes him an incredible brother because he did not have to do that. So he's paying for low to be at rehab. And he's like keeping watch over Lily because I think
00:55:57
Speaker
Reich is still at this point, very apprehensive of Lily, like he knows that she's a sex addict, but I don't think he fully understands like, all of it. Like, it's very, very established in these books that because we talked about Rose and Reich are like the ones who took care of Lily and Lo. Like, Rose is team Lily.
00:56:18
Speaker
Reich is team Lo. So Reich is scared that like he doesn't really think that Lo and Lily should be together. He understands if they're in love, he understands if they're going to be together, whether he wants them to or not. But he's like, you guys are unhealthy for each other and you shouldn't be together. Yeah. Yeah. And he understands Lo's addiction because he himself identifies as an alcoholic, but he did not really understand Lily's addiction and how it works. And I want to say it's like towards the end of this book where he finally does understand it and like comes around.
00:56:45
Speaker
for her, or it's either in this book or in the addictive for now, but I know I keep mentioning Kimmy because Kimmy was a big part of my addictive reading journey as well alongside Kayla. And Kimmy loves that, like went off on Lily and like told her about herself, which I don't know if I love that, but I get where he was coming from because like you said, he was so adamantly team low. And I think he did say some things that like she needed to hear and he could have said it a little nicer.
00:57:14
Speaker
But I think Lily and Mike's relationship in this book is just really, really interesting. Yeah. And I like the role that he plays. This is like when we learn a little bit more about Daisy too. There's a plot point where
00:57:27
Speaker
because the Callaway parents are shit parents, Daisy wants to have her 16th birthday party on their family yacht and they send Lily basically to supervise and Rike is worried about Lily so he goes with so Rike and Lily are supervising Daisy's 16th birthday party on this yacht and a lot of stuff happens that we don't really need to like dig into specifics for but this is when Rike kind of like gets a glimpse behind the veil of Lily's addiction she kind of hits a second like
00:57:54
Speaker
She eats a lot of rock bottoms throughout the series. Poor Lily is just like fucking going through it.
00:57:59
Speaker
something that I think is explored really well about how there isn't as linear of a recovery. Well, there's not linear recovery to any addiction, but like especially for sex addiction, because as I mentioned in the series, a lot like sex is a part of a lot of people's lives. So it's not with like low where it's like, low, don't drink alcohol. There you go. There's a solution that you can work towards. Because with Lilly, she has to figure out how to have sex in a healthy way. And
00:58:27
Speaker
Wright kind of sees how difficult that's going to be for her while they're supervising this trip and everything. So any more thoughts about Ricochet? I like it and I think more people should appreciate it. Yeah, I agree. Because it gives a lot of context to Lily and Lo. Yeah, I will say that like when I reread the series last year, when you were reading it, Kendra, I think I definitely got a new appreciation for the first two books. Because yeah, when I first read the series, I was like, hey, these are fine, whatever.
00:58:56
Speaker
And I mean, I still think that they're like among my, if I had to pick like least favorite of the series, but I definitely think that they, they hit a lot harder now than they used to. Yeah. Kayla, are we going to talk about how you weren't that big of a fan of Lilly? What? What on earth are you talking about? Kayla, I'm not, I'm not making- Literally.
00:59:18
Speaker
I'm not making this up. You said, yeah, I wasn't her biggest fan when I read the first few books. I don't remember that. But if I did, then I apologize. I remember that with my chest.
00:59:29
Speaker
i i remember finishing because um i i see a lot of hate for lily and lo because they enable each other i'm like that's a whole fucking point of the fucking book but um i just like don't know how anybody could finish the first couple of books and not fall in love with them like they're just so realistically flawed um but still like so in love with each other in spite of those flaws i don't know i just like i'm so in love with them yeah and they actively want to be better people for each other yeah which i think is really good
01:00:00
Speaker
Oh, right. Yeah, so which brings us to Addicted for Now, which for me was the hardest book to read. Because, wow, does Lily just get shit on by life in this one. So in this one, Lo is back from rehab. And they're now trying to navigate their lives in recovery together. They are both actively
01:00:26
Speaker
seeking to recover from their addictions or to work through their addictions to be in recovery. And they're trying to do it together. And it's hard. It's really hard. And we finally get Lowe's long awaited POV in this book, which I think this is why I was so excited to get to this one because I was like, I just want to like be inside his head. And we mentioned this earlier. I take back that statement is the most
01:00:50
Speaker
painful thing because he has so much self-hatred and But at the same time is like trying to be so much better for Lily because at the start of this book Lily's therapist has given them a set of rules that they have to follow in order to Navigate her addiction and help her learn to have sex in a healthy way Which Lily does not know those. Yeah only low does so low is a keeper and I think that put a lot of pressure on him to Keep her healthy, but then he also wants to keep her happy
01:01:21
Speaker
So that was a really hard thing for him to juggle this entire book. And to add to that, like throughout this whole series, like it is a very common theme in Lily and Low's heads both that like they are part of each other. Like they, when one of them is hurting, the other one is hurting. Like they can't stand to see each other in pain, which is why they enable each other for so long because like the pain of the recovery was so hard for them to stomach.
01:01:47
Speaker
in this book like they're watching each other just go fucking through it and it's so painful to live in their heads while they're going through this pain but it's almost more painful to watch them watch each other go through pain because lo would rather himself be in pain than lily and lily herself than lo so watching them watch each other is like oh god they just like there's a lot of hurt in this book there's beautiful moments too but man there's so much pain in this book the the part of this book is that at the beginning
01:02:15
Speaker
Lowe receives these anonymous messages that says they essentially know that Lily is a sex addict, which up until now, the only people that know that Lily is a sex addict are Rose, Connor, and Lowe. That's it. She doesn't want her parents finding out. She's terrified. Oh, and Rike knows as well. She doesn't want her parents finding out because she doesn't want to know the reaction. We just discussed how awful her mom is and how her mom did not care for her.
01:02:42
Speaker
So they're trying to figure out who knows their secret and why are they threatening. So it's it's them dealing with this like blackmailer essentially and they're like trying to figure out who this blackmailer is and they go through all these different options and lots of the options were like People that Lily has been with in the past like slept with None of those obviously pan out and then there's also just like random little side things in this book that take place like
01:03:12
Speaker
There's this whole long portion of the book that takes place in Cancun. We've been there for two years in Cancun. The trip was fun to read about, but I think it just went on way too long. Spring Break was one week, but it felt like we were reading it for years. There were definitely fun moments in that book, for sure. When all the girls are at the club and they accidentally get drunk on absinthe,
01:03:38
Speaker
was funny to read about although obviously we don't want them we don't want anything bad to happen to them but um yeah and then obviously like tension between Reich and Daisy and we don't have to give it to them. Just so lucky you're going she's like 17 at that point but um or 16 I don't know there's like weird I I can't even
01:04:01
Speaker
Um, but like also like part of the reason that the Cancun trip was significant, I agree that it went on too long. Um, it establishes Reichen Daisy's friendship, definitely. But also there was a mix up with the room booking and they're all sharing a room and one of Lily's rules is that she cannot have sex in a shared space. Um, so she has to go a whole week without sex and she has not done that since Lowe's been back.
01:04:28
Speaker
So that is like a really challenging and that is like one of the most painful parts of this book is that she makes it through that week. She does such a good job like it's hard at times, but on the plane ride home, she and Lo are talking about how great of a job she did. They're so like he's so proud of her. She's so proud of herself and they're like talking about how they're going to celebrate when they get back and they're really looking forward to it. And then on that plane ride, you find out that the person who was threatening Lo
01:04:55
Speaker
you find out that they did leak it, that Lilly has a sex addiction. So it's blowing up all over the news because it's like, right, this like million or billionaire daughter of this like really famous CEO. And like, of course, everybody loves the sex scandal. So that blows up right as like, anytime anything good happens in the series, I'm like, okay, so now what's about something bad is going to happen. I was devastated when we got to that part.
01:05:22
Speaker
Um, it was just so sad cause you're right. Like you spend this entire trip in Mexico, like worry that Lily's going to break it somehow some way. Also in Mexico, like they go through this scare with thinking that Lowe started drinking again because he's on this medicine to where if he has any alcohol in his system, it'll make him violently ill. Um, so he.
01:05:40
Speaker
It turns out that he actually ate like beer battered shrimp or something that was cooked with alcohol. So it was like a false alarm, but he had to like deal with like the guilt of that and like right going off on him and being like, I can't believe you're drinking again. Like it was just such a tumultuous. It was rough, that Cancun trip. So then you're on the plane and you're like, yeah, like finally they made it through. And then it's, nope, everyone, the one secret that they were all very good at keeping, should I say, it got out and it was just awful.
01:06:09
Speaker
So a good portion of the next part of the book after that trip is dealing with the fallout of like their parents find out. Their parents are like, no, we're going to pick your therapist, Lily. Like here's how we're going to PR manage this. Like they're not concerned with Lily and Lo being healthy. They're concerned with how they're going to manage their image, which is like horrible, obviously. Yeah.
01:06:29
Speaker
Also the most random plot point happens of like them picking Lily's therapist, the therapist trying to assault her. Yeah. It doesn't happen. It's never talked about again in the entire series. Yeah, really fucking weird. And then the reveal of who's been threatening them is of course also really heartbreaking because you find out that it is
01:06:52
Speaker
It is Reich's mom, who low spent a lot of his life thinking was his biological mother. You find out that it was not his biological mother. But you find out that Reich's mom leaked it to get back at Jonathan Hale for being a shitbag. She found out because Reich left her his phone out in front of his mom, which he thought that he could trust his mom. His mom looked at his phone and leaked this.
01:07:18
Speaker
She's just taking her anger out on Lo and Lily because she's angry with Jonathan. And it's just really devastating because Reich feels so, so guilty, obviously. He's like, it's my fault, it's my mom, whatever. And it leads to this really beautiful quote because he's freaking out telling Lo how sorry he is. And Lo says, listen to me, meeting you is the best thing that's ever happened to us. I'm sober and Lily's in recovery.
01:07:44
Speaker
None of what would, none of that would have been possible if it wasn't for you. You're the fucking reason I'm with the girl I love. You're my brother. So don't you ever feel guilty for what's happened now. That's not on you. Oh my God. Yeah, so good. Yeah. We like, there's so many different relationships in this series that you can like talk about, like literally anyone. All six of them. Yeah. Like any trio, any duo, like there's such good ones, but Reichenlo is like, that's so special.
01:08:14
Speaker
Yeah so that's kind of where it leaves us in this one. It's just like the family's going through a lot of PR nightmares. Another big thing that happens in this book is Lowe. Doesn't he have to develop a business plan? Yeah because Lowe is no longer in college. He dropped out um again motherless behavior um yeah he dropped out of college. Sorry no go ahead. I just wanted to tell the story of what Kendra thought
01:08:44
Speaker
Oh yes, you can tell it. So in the beginning of this book, well towards, sort of in the beginning I guess, I can't really remember exactly when it happens, but it's before K Koon, Lo is modeling clothes for Rose's fashion line. Oh yeah, which we haven't mentioned yet, but she's a designer. Oh yeah, did we not ever mention that? No.
01:09:07
Speaker
How dare us? But he's modeling clothes for Rose. And I don't remember if this happened before he started doing that or when you guessed, but Kinder when she was reading it was like so sure on the fact that Lo was going to become a model.
01:09:25
Speaker
That was going to be his career. Yeah. Cause I was like, he's this girl. We know that, we know that Lowe is like super hot. He's going to go like work for Rose, become a model. Keep in mind that like, I already have the fan cast for Lowe who is a real life model in my head. So I'm like, yeah, he's going to become a model. He didn't last a day. No, he didn't even like make it to like an hour. Maybe he didn't last long at all.
01:09:49
Speaker
But then that leads to him at the end of this book, when Jonathan Hale is pushing him to create some type of business plan for what he's gonna do with his life, because now he's not doing nothing. Then it pushes him to develop a plan for a comic book publishing business, which becomes his little baby.
01:10:14
Speaker
for the rest of the series. And it makes so much sense because like they've established from the beginning that like Lo and Lily who love comics so much is like one of the only things that they're like super passionate about, super knowledgeable on as well. So like him opening up a comic book shop I was like okay like this this is good. Yeah it makes perfect sense like it really does it really fits their characters and not only is it like a comic book publishing business it's also like
01:10:42
Speaker
a comic shop slash like coffee shop right yeah yeah yeah well heroes and scones well he he starts hellway comics he starts a comic book company and then lily opens up super yeah but it's his money yeah yeah also another thing that happens in this book that is really pivotal to lowe's character and that tests him a lot is he goes to see his birth mom so he learns that he learned that samantha not samantha
01:11:10
Speaker
Rike's mom. What's his mom's name? I don't know. Sarah. Sarah wasn't his real mom. Or was Sarah his real mom? No, no, no. Emily's his real mom. Yeah. So he learns that she's not his real mom. He finds out that, this is so fucked, he finds out that his mom was really this girl who his dad slept with. I think she was under age at the time. She was 17. She was like 17, yeah. Legal for Zuzio. Really up-jotted and pale in this house.
01:11:38
Speaker
Yeah, legal for Zeus Garo, but he goes to see his mom and it, because how it was like set up to me was, okay, like you had this woman who was a child when she had her child, like
01:11:57
Speaker
Jonathan took the baby away from her. Like maybe she feels so remorseful and like, that's not the case. Like she, I was expecting to feel bad for her and for her to like want to actively play a role in her son's life moving forward. No, she does not love her child whatsoever. She is happy that Lo is not in her life. And then you learn that she actually has a second child named Willow.
01:12:24
Speaker
And she's like remarried and Willow comes back later in the series. This is like our first introduction to her when she's like a little girl. And I just felt so bad for Lowe. And he has a moment where he almost breaks his sobriety again, but- He's like sitting outside of a liquor store and calls Lilly. Yeah, and she talks him through it and he overcomes it. But that was like a really, like this book was just so painful. You have Lilly's addiction being outed, Lowe meeting his birth mom, her saying, no, I don't like,
01:12:54
Speaker
no rejecting him and finding out he has a little sister that he like has no relationship with so now he has two half siblings so that's right and then he has willow um there's a willow has a little sister too oh yeah that too like doesn't really play a role in the books so it was just like hit after hit after hit yeah how does this book end does it even end on a happy note i think it ends with
01:13:21
Speaker
Doesn't it end with that scene? Oh, the fake engagement. That's what it was. So part of the PR handling that Lily and Lo's parents develop when Lily's addiction is outed is that
01:13:41
Speaker
they're gonna, like, Lily and Lo are gonna get engaged. They're gonna, whatever, like, part of their PR plans, like, to cover up for the fact that Lily had, like, these relationships with all these men while you guys were supposedly dating. We're gonna say you were an open relationship and now it's serious. You guys are engaged. Congratulations. They, like, basically just tell them, like, you're gonna do this if you want your inheritance. So, they are fake engaged. And at the end, Lo gives her a ring. And they just have, like, a pretty domestic moment where
01:14:11
Speaker
they're like going back to the house in Princeton where they live with Rose. And yeah, a nice ending. Thank God. Yeah, it really leads into into the next book, which is Kiss the Sky, which is this is where Kayla's gonna shine. Kiss the Sky is technically the first book in the Callaway sisters series. But remember, we, you know, obviously read the series as a whole 10 books.
01:14:42
Speaker
So this one focuses on Rosen Connor. And basically, this book starts with the Core Six now agreeing to film this reality show. And could we find wrong with the, like the whole point of the reality show was to kind of help repair the image of Lillian Lowe and like get the public to care about them as a couple? Yeah, I viewed it as like,
01:15:10
Speaker
I viewed it as the Kardashian effect. So I think you can compare a lot of what happens in the rest of the series to the Kardashians, but it's like you have this sex scandal, you know how we can like help turn this around? A reality show where we invite the public into our home and they can see that we're like maybe a little wholesome and like put together. It's framed as how like Rose pitches it to everybody. Rose asks everybody to do it because her company is really suffering because of
01:15:35
Speaker
Yeah, Rose is also really suffering so she's hoping that this reality show will help. And it focuses a lot on Rose, like I said, Rose and Connor's relationship and basically for Connor, his belief that he is incapable of admitting love
01:15:55
Speaker
to another person and because he's you know he's a narcissist right like he loves himself he's always like i can't love anyone more than i love me basically so it's about their relationship and also rose is a virgin and that is like a big deal
01:16:12
Speaker
Um, they, they play that up a lot in the reality show. Like they give each person like a thing, right? Um, like Rose is the Virgin. Lo is, is he the alcoholic? I don't remember specifically like what. Yeah. It was very breakfast quality. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then not the book, like the reality show is doing that. Like the reality show. Yeah. Yeah. And the date, like one of them is the Daredevil. Is that date? Is that Daisy? Yeah.
01:16:40
Speaker
Stacey. And then Rike is the asshole. Lily's the sex addict. It's all that. Yeah. Yeah.
01:16:48
Speaker
And another piece is we're introduced to this POS named Scott who is the producer for the reality show and he's basically trying to get The core six each of them to do something they don't want to do right he's trying to get ratings and whatnot and he's also trying to get under the skin of a lot of the characters like he's trying to get under the skin of Lillian Lowe trying to
01:17:13
Speaker
you know, catch them doing something that they're not supposed to be doing. He's trying to get under the skin of Rose. He's trying to like move on her and whatnot. He makes himself a character too in the show.
Understanding TV Production in 'Kiss the Sky'
01:17:24
Speaker
He does. Yeah. That's one thing about the book. KBR does not understand how television production works.
01:17:31
Speaker
at all. Because you're telling me that they shot this with like two cameras and a sound man and an executive. Like this high quality like I picture as like an MTV level reality show. And it's two cameramen, a sound person and a pretty like KBR, please be so serious. But I mean, it still worked. But yeah, it was ridiculous. Um, just like going in like order some of the scenes that we've written down, like
01:18:00
Speaker
one thing one of the first ones like the most iconic one of the most iconic scenes in this book that we get you know a call back to in a later book my favorite book um is when Connor gives Rose a lap dance and that was
01:18:18
Speaker
amazing because he took the, like, Rose was supposed to do it. Rose was supposed to technically, like, whatever is supposed to, she didn't have to do it, obviously, but Connor was like, you know what, let me do this for you. And were they after this
Rose's Character and Intimacy Journey
01:18:30
Speaker
again? Like, why, why was there a lap dance involved? She lost the bet. She lost the bet. Yeah. Okay.
01:18:36
Speaker
Yeah, it was something with Scott and Scott was not pleased, but Connor was just like, I'll do this. Scott, he's so annoying. Also, you know, one thing that I really love about Kisses Guy and Rose's character in general, because you mentioned this earlier, that she's a virgin, which is something we learned. Was this the first time we learned it? Or was it known from the other? No, I think we I think we knew it. So yeah, I think that I love
01:18:56
Speaker
thing that I love a lot about Rose's character and Kiss the Sky is how they treat her virginity because I think a lot of times virginity when at Rose's age is like oh like why haven't I lost it yet like what's wrong with me blah blah blah but Rose owns it in such an amazing way she's like yeah I'm a virgin I don't care who knows I'm waiting for
01:19:20
Speaker
my own selfish reasons and I just I love that about her so so much. I cannot stress enough how well I think KBR handles sex in this entire series because each one of the Callaway sisters has their own
01:19:36
Speaker
has her own experience. Yeah, relationship with sex and intimacy. And I love that they made it like very unique to each character. And Rose's, I think, Rose's journey with sex is incredible how she goes from being a virgin to essentially becoming a submissive, which I think is like
01:19:54
Speaker
It's a big part of this book. Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of, you kind of, up until, so I'm thinking specifically of chapter 15, but up until.
Connor's Character Development
01:20:03
Speaker
This is Kayla's book. Up until that point, we kind of get like teases cause like Connor like, you know, says, you know, some things you're like, whoa. But up until chapter 15, which is the shower scene.
01:20:18
Speaker
Where were you guys when you learned that Connor? The first sentence of my review in my book journal page of this one is, everybody shut the fuck up, daddy don Connor is speaking. Oh, do you know what I just remembered? When I was reading this, I was like, because Kayla would have me do like predictions, like what would happen? What would happen? I was like, well, I think Lo would be a Dom because I remember
01:20:43
Speaker
Part of it for now was low having to have a lot of control in Lily's sex life. So I thought, okay, that that would be good for Lily to like sort of submit it to like give up her own control in sex. So then I get to kiss a sky and I was like, wait, Connor's the dog? I was so shook and it was so hot and it just made perfect sense for him at that moment. But this is interesting, Kayla, because you were mentioning earlier how much Connor's character changes.
01:21:11
Speaker
from like the first three books to like who he is in Kiss This Guy. Cause like Connor in book one, like he just was kind of, I don't use the word silly, but I think he was meant to be like, you know, like just there, like, I don't know. But then in Kiss This Guy, it's like, oh, this guy is like, Connor is him, capital H-I-M, him, genius billionaire, Dom, amazing. Well, Kayla's face is like, she's amazing.
01:21:39
Speaker
He's like, you may compliment my cock. You may beg. You may politely ask for more. I don't want to hear anything else. I was blushing so hard this entire time. It just makes such perfect sense because you obviously see Rose's relationship because she's a virgin. She doesn't really know what she wants from a partner in bed. She knows that she wants obviously to feel comfortable and safe and respected.
01:22:05
Speaker
um but she hasn't explored her sexuality with another person until now so her because she's so type a in real life will not be told what to do in her life like will make all her own decisions can take care of herself her coming to terms with the fact that like she likes to be taken care of in bed she likes to be told what to do she likes like to give up her control in the bedroom was really really fun to be a part of that journey with her
01:22:31
Speaker
piggybacking off of kind of what you said, Brandy is they're in that shower portion. Rose is it's I want to say it's like her very first I think it's one of their first like sexual encounters together but she's like worried that she's not going to be good and I don't want to say she's worried but she can tell she's nervous right and Connor tells her you will be the best darling and I just like
01:22:56
Speaker
I love that. Yeah, because he has experience. He is not virgin. And obviously he hasn't been with anybody in the two and a half years that he and Rosa have been together or whatever. He hasn't been with anybody else. But he has been with people in the past, so she's really anxious that she's inexperienced. She doesn't want to be bad at anything.
01:23:15
Speaker
Yeah, but he has full confidence in her abilities. Little Miss Heights honors. Miss Heights honors. We're ridiculous. But they're the first time, they're like official first time, they're in the Alps, I think they're on a trip together with everybody. And what does this man give her? What does he give her? A diamond collar?
01:23:44
Speaker
a diamond called- She loves diamonds. I will say that is one of the most well-known facts about Rose and Connor. There are so many TikToks about that one specific scene, so I knew about it going in, but I didn't know the context of him being a domic. I thought it was a cute little- A cute little thing. No, it was a gift for his submissive. Oh, so, so hot. I do also want to note that
01:24:13
Speaker
Obviously Lily and Laura are having a lot of sex because she's a sex addict, but it takes a very long time for their smut to get hot because there's so much more surrounding their sexual
01:24:27
Speaker
and relationships than just like the sex right because like oftentimes like Lily will get compulsive after or like they're really struggling or whatever Lo has to say like stop you know and that's like really hard she feels guilty anyways all that to say like this book is just like you get fun yeah it's fun like for a while it is because yeah for a little bit because it's really fun for a while and then
01:24:54
Speaker
I don't want to jump too far, but basically the huge main conflict in this book, like as we mentioned Scott Van Wright fucking sucks. Like he's been a pain in everybody's ass throughout this whole series. He's like intentionally antagonizing people. He's making Lillian Lowe feel like shit on purpose. And then at the end of the book it culminates in there being a loophole in the contracts that they signed and he he releases, he sells Rose and Connor sex tapes.
01:25:20
Speaker
that he recorded illegally, by the way. It was in the contract, but without them knowing, it's very slimy. Yeah, it was so gross. They found a loophole in their contract. He couldn't air anything, but he could sell it to a porn site. So he sold Rose and Connor's sex tapes to, obviously, a porn site. And they just find out because the news starts reporting that people are watching their sex tape, which is obviously disgusting and horrible.
01:25:48
Speaker
and like obviously a huge plot point that Rose and Connor work together through. Also in this book you get like a really good, because I went and grabbed my coffees because Ha Ha's Flower is coming up and I feel like I'll need my coffee to defend a lot of my points for Ha Ha's Flower.
Lo and Connor's Friendship
01:26:04
Speaker
But one of the things that I loved in this book was you start to see Lo and Connor's relationship like really form. Lo and Connor as best friends is one of my favorite parts of the entire
01:26:18
Speaker
like series it's just so well done and I flipped open and I had this part highlighted where I don't know where they are but it's like chapter uh chapter 49 and kiss this guy the part that I have highlighted is low saying why don't you just hit Connor and then he can spank you for it and he's talking to Rose and Connor goes or I can just spank you and Lauren laughs before or after you tie me up and Connor goes after and they have like
01:26:45
Speaker
flirty banter throughout the entire series, which it's KBR sort of turns that into a plot point, which I thought was actually really smartly done, how they sort of planted the seeds. Yeah, their friendship. You get to see kind of all aspects of Lo and Connor's relationship and how it affects both of them, especially Connor later on in the series. And yeah, I just I love them.
01:27:09
Speaker
So much. I love them so much. And it's so good. Talking about Lo and Connor, obviously, like Kayla mentioned, there's a huge plot point of Connor not thinking he's capable of love as a person, just kinds of how he was raised or whatever. He doesn't think he's capable of loving another person. And seeing how that affects Lo, not just Rose. Rose has come to terms with the fact that Connor can't love her. She knows that, whatever. She's like, that's just never going to be part of our relationship and whatever.
01:27:38
Speaker
It makes sense in the context of the book, but when Lo finds out that Connor doesn't think he's capable of loving anybody and Lo is so hurt, he's like, he's never gonna love someone. And you see that more thrive, but it's like, oh my god. You mentioned chapter 49, which leads me perfectly into the very next chapter, which is when Connor learns that his mom has breast cancer and is dying. And that realization
01:28:06
Speaker
kind of leads Connor to really reconcile with a lot of his feelings. And he also has a tumultuous relationship with his mother. Same way, I think pretty much every single character in this series has issues.
01:28:21
Speaker
but like she tells him you know that she is actually proud of him and everything but that you know also beat it up so I have breast cancer and I'm dying in two months um so that like I said kind of just really leads Connor to think about what he thinks and it's I don't I don't know if it's my favorite scene in the book because I have so many but um this is what he says to her
01:28:43
Speaker
He says, you're the only one who has ever loved me, not a mother, not a father, not a friend, just you, Rose. I don't want to be 60 years old and wishing I opened myself up to the people I care about. I don't want to look back and regret that I wasn't a better friend or a better man to the woman I adore. And I can't tell you how long I've been finding the truth, but it's been a while.
01:29:04
Speaker
And then he pauses, and the way that KBR write Connor and Rose, and I, you know, as much as I like say that they hate Cabala Way, which is actually true, which we can get into later, but the way that they write them, like I just have never read another couple like it. And he says, the next words come from the core of my chest. Each word is like taking on water and breathing in oxygen, a paradox that I enjoy very much. He says, I am so deeply in love with you, Rose.
01:29:36
Speaker
Then they say, how much time do we have left forever? That is... Iconic. Iconic. It's so really good because you know...
01:29:45
Speaker
I will admit, Kayla, Connor not being able to say I love you and denying it was a little frustrating because it was just so clear his day, especially coming off of Lauren, who was just so adamant in his love for Lilly and always like, yes, I love her, I love her. So going into Connor, where it's like, Connor, you just spent two years with this girl who was a virgin. You spent so much time with her, not even having sex, just getting to know her, being her boyfriend.
01:30:13
Speaker
And you can't say, I love you. But then once we got the confession, I was like, that ate. He ate down. It was so, and he's crying. It was just so well done. He was. He was crying. I will say, Kiss the Sky, I think, has my favorite ending, or it's tied for my favorite ending in the entire series because I was completely thrown off guard. I did not see it coming. I know people are like, oh, I saw it coming. I did not. So when we got to it, I was like, what do you mean?
01:30:43
Speaker
this book in that with Rose and Connor getting married, because like we mentioned in Addicted for now, Lily and Lo were engaged. They were forced to get engaged by their parents. So a big plot point of Kiss the Sky is like Rose planning Lily and Lo's wedding, which was going to be like public facing. But you're kind of alluded to the fact that
01:31:06
Speaker
uh lo and lily are just like not ready to get married like yes they love each other but like they're still trying to they're still deep in recovery it's just not for them um so then the book ends with rose and connor like flying to paris because they're like ready for lily and lo's wedding but then it turns out that lily and lo gifted the wedding to rose and connor because connor had like spoken to lo or asked yeah like weeks prior
01:31:33
Speaker
And it turns out to be Lowe's. No, it turns out to be Rose and Connor's wedding day. And he goes, Rose, will you spend the rest of your life with me? Yes. And then later, they're like kissing. And she goes, he grins into the kiss. I'm getting married today. Holy shit. I felt euphoric reading that it felt like a Shakespeare play because all of Shakespeare's like happy plays end with a wedding.
01:32:00
Speaker
And I think that that's like very fitting with Rose and Connor too, because like they're very like Shakespearean within their love for one another. And it was just so, so, so good. Alexa, play Fly With Me by the Jonas Brothers. That is how this wedding scene felt. It was just so beautiful.
01:32:18
Speaker
Another couple of quotes from like that part when she learns that they're getting married, he says, um, well, first of all, he says, I love you, which we love. And then he says, one day we're going to look back and we count all that we've done together. And we're going to think, goddamn, we're only 24. No, because that pisses me off because I'm 24 and I have no one 24. That's crazy.
01:32:46
Speaker
And then at the very end of the chapter, obviously the iconic, kiss the sky with me and don't ever come down. And that's when Alexa plays that with me. That's when that comes in. Yeah. And then the epilogue for this is when we learn now that Connor is creating his own company called the Cobalt Diamonds, which is very fitting. We love it. He loves to create his own designs for his wife. But one line that sticks out to me in this part
01:33:16
Speaker
is um when he says to Rose um excuse me Rose says to him I love you more than anyone I literally have that page open right now Kayla and then he says back I love you more than I could ever love myself which he's a narcissist exactly that's like that's what anytime Connor says I love you to like anyone it's like
01:33:42
Speaker
the world stops because it's like such a massive deal and so anytime that he says those words I hold them very dear to my heart personally uh this book is it's good the ending really like it's iconic it's so good but we don't even get to uh kbr those evil twins we don't even get to see their wedding i mean you get like you get a glimpse of it and thrive thrive um still give me the fucking bows you sickos please don't get me started i'll i'll start
01:34:12
Speaker
but uh you know uh KVR signed a deal with Berkeley so all of the books are being republished traditionally now and in Addicted for Now uh you get a bonus chapter of Rosenconner's first date so if you're a Kabbalah fan yeah which that first date would have taken place in Addicted to you in like timeline wise yeah so
01:34:36
Speaker
Also, there is a timeline of this entire series and when it takes place online.
Introduction to 'Hot House Flower'
01:34:41
Speaker
And it came in very handy for me, because it's like these books will get spent in years. And it is actually really interesting to see like how everything lines up. Yeah, it's very helpful. Okay, so then to wrap up part one.
01:35:01
Speaker
Um, we have to talk about Hot House Flower, which is of course, Rike and Daisy's first book. It takes place after the events of Kiss This Guy, almost a whole year after the events of Kiss This Guy. Um, and yeah, it's, it's a, it's a book. To be clear, Kendra and I really like this book. I love Hot House Flower. Brandi is not its biggest fan.
01:35:26
Speaker
But that's okay. Everything that has to do with Lily and Lo and Rose and Connor in this book, love. Eat it up with a spoon.
Daisy's Independence and Growth
01:35:35
Speaker
Would put whipped cream on it. Like I love it so much. I literally can't stand being, wow, I'm coming in so high. You can chill out. Being in Daisy's head is not my favorite place. And Rike says fuck every other word. So it's a little tough for me with this one. Okay, I'll give you that. But like, I think the plot of this book is just so much fun.
01:35:56
Speaker
And it's, I don't know, I feel like KBR, they were just having fun with it. And I was like, yeah, girls, like, okay, you wanna go to Paris? Let's go to Paris. You wanna go climb a rock? Let's go climb a rock. Like, I was having fun. And the smut in this group. Okay, I will give you that. The smut, the cornfield, lives are changed. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they were. But speaking of the plot, we'll start there. So essentially, Daisy,
01:36:24
Speaker
has after the events of Kiss the Sky, Daisy moves back in with her parents and then when she turns 18 she goes and uh moves to her own place which just so happens and very conveniently is also in the same building as Rike Meadows aka Lauren's half-brother and Daisy has PTSD from an event that happened in Kiss the Sky when a paparazzi like broke into her room
01:36:52
Speaker
And basically just traumatized her, right? So she has a lot of issues sleeping. And we learned very quickly in the beginning of this book that Reich actually helps her sleep by literally sleeping in her room with her. Like not, they're not doing anything physically, but he is sleeping with her and it makes her basically like feel safe, right? She feels safe with him and she feels comfortable with him. And they get closer and closer during this period. And so kind of their attention is basically coming to a boiling point.
01:37:21
Speaker
in this book and that's kind of where we start yeah also the slogan of this book on the original one this isn't the original cover but the cover that i have which is like this is such an iconic like image i think from the addictive series because it's like daisy as a model like faceless like i don't know this just screams daisy as a cover but the slogan is she's all grown up
01:37:53
Speaker
Sorry, there has been a lot of buildup in this series for when she turned 18 and I want to say in like When the series started out from what I've like seen in like author's notes and discussions that a lot of the fans I think they're the reason why wrecking Daisy happened like they saw their connection early on they're like we want this we want this so I feel like really leaned into that and that's why she's all grown up like she's 18 like there was so much emphasis put on that and
01:38:09
Speaker
So like, we've been like waiting. Well, I won't say we, like.
01:38:20
Speaker
which I can see why people didn't like it. Yeah. Yeah. The change in her independence was really massive at that point. She's officially moved out of her parents' house. And one of the first plot points in this book is that she's going to Fashion Week for the first time by herself in Paris. Her mom is not going with her. This is her journey to take by herself. Yeah. One thing I always did really like about Ha Ha's Flower and just Daisy as a character is that
01:38:50
Speaker
I like the amount of autonomy that she gained for herself, which I know a lot of people struggle with, especially if you have a controlling parent. So seeing her overcome that and start to make decisions for herself and start to do things that made her happy, even if they were scary or she didn't quite know what to do, I thought that was very, it was just a very nice thing to see. She's all grown up, guys. She's 18. She's all grown up. One thing, other than,
01:39:18
Speaker
Reich sleeping in Daisy's bed, which is one of the first
Lowe's Sobriety Challenge
01:39:20
Speaker
things to learn. We also learn, and I think literally the first chapter, when Reich and Low are on one of their runs, we also learn that Low has recently broken his sobriety. We're not told when or how it happened. We learned that in the next book, but he does break his sobriety. And so when I first read that, I was like, whoa. Did I miss something? Back up. Back up.
01:39:43
Speaker
Yeah that was really painful and so Lo has broken his sobriety and also he's kind of catching on or at least he has an inkling of how Reich made me feel about Daisy and so he's like very adamant about
01:39:57
Speaker
not letting that happen. He's like trying to be super protective of Daisy. And I think I think sometimes he still sees like Daisy as you know, his little sister. Yeah, which I will like, I love Lo so much. He's my favorite character. I like I will defend him to the end. But that that gets real fucking old real fucking fast in this book, like how overprotective he is of Daisy like more than
01:40:23
Speaker
her sisters more than her parents. Like, Lo, this list isn't about Daisy. Let's be real for a second. And it's like, Lo, like, what were you doing at 18? Oh, my God. What 80 is doing, yeah. Then, so that comes to be a plot point too, right? That Rike is really, really worried about Lo's sobriety and doesn't want to do anything to upset him. Yeah.
01:40:54
Speaker
I also find it interesting that it's only when we're in Reich's head like for Ha Ha's Flower and Long Way Down that we get a note from Reich in each book where like no other book has that introduction like a note from Reich and I'll like skip ahead he goes you won't understand me if you can't handle me and I'm not gonna try to explain myself
01:41:16
Speaker
I'm raw, period. I'm hard, period. I'm the thing you shy away from, period. So I'm warning you now, period. Back away, period. Because once you enter my life, comma, I won't ever let you be, period. Why are you saying all the punctuation?
01:41:32
Speaker
because it's funny. It's the same exact energy of that Jughead thing from weird weirdo. Have you ever seen me without this fucking hat? That's a weird like rike is Jughead. Jughead coded. I want to know like why they felt the need to include this because I'm like do they were people also as much as people must have loved rike I wonder
01:41:53
Speaker
before this book was published if people were also like super on the fence about him that's probably why they like wanted to because i'm just like i feel like i knew him already i didn't need this yeah i just want to know why it was included yeah that's a good question i don't know i haven't really thought about that but that's a good point why is that necessary um so as i mentioned daisy's going to paris fashion week for the first time by herself it's like a huge deal for her she's like really looking forward to this like
01:42:18
Speaker
independence, but right before she goes, Wright can feel their tension coming to a boil, right?
Rike and Daisy's Relationship Peak
01:42:24
Speaker
So he's like, we are both single. We need to acknowledge that, put that out there. You are single. I am single. We are single. So she's going to Paris kind of a little bit heartbroken. Not a little bit, quite heartbroken. She's had a thing for Wright forever.
01:42:37
Speaker
So she's feeling sad about that and she gets to Paris and just kind of is just like going through it while she's there. There's one night where she has like a horrible sexual encounter with a man like she brings him back to her room and it's just like not good and she's like I need you to go. So he leaves and literally in that same night she accidentally watches her sister's sex tape and then
01:43:02
Speaker
that she she's like getting a call from she's like having a horrible night so she gets a call from reich and she's like oh my god this is perfect like i just really need to talk to him she answers she answers to a video of him going down on another girl
01:43:17
Speaker
Again, KBR loves to embarrass their characters. Rike and Daisy have some of the most embarrassing moments in the entire series. And that starts it for them. That's like mild compared to what else happens to them embarrassingly. This isn't the first one either in this book.
01:43:32
Speaker
there's there's more that happens that i'm thinking the way i would unalive if i saw the person i was in love with going down on someone and it's like girl why didn't you like say anything like hello she's watching like the girl kicked reg's computer and accidentally called her oh my god so funny also it's like what is the probability of that happening in my life but i accidentally calling that specific person on that specific app yeah i imagine her little
01:44:05
Speaker
Yeah, but then so she's just like having a horrible fucking time and Reich can tell so he and Lo and Connor hop on a plane to go to Paris to check on Daisy. Yeah, and Reich meeting Daisy in Paris
01:44:21
Speaker
Iconic. Sorry. I think it's my personal favorite. Finish that sentence. Yeah, I think it's my personal favorite scene in the book. In the book. To be clear. In this whole book, that's your personal favorite scene out of everything. I think so. Yeah, it's just really good.
01:44:42
Speaker
gosh i'm fake as fuck because i've had that i tabbed the shit out of that scene but also yeah look i i'm holding up my book obviously those of you who are listening can't see but i did i barely tapped anything in the second half of this book all my tabs are from the first half of this book they have amazing iconic life-changing scenes in that book cornfield motorcycle yeah whatever but the stairwell even though it's like it doesn't fully happen like them having sex
01:45:10
Speaker
I don't know. There's just something about that. The tension coming to a head, it's just really good. And he doesn't hesitate, right? Just goes right for it. Yeah. I wrote in my book, Finally. Yeah. Wow. And he goes, you don't need to replace me. I'm feeding into that. She's finally 18. She's finally grown up.
01:45:34
Speaker
right goes you don't need to replace me you can have me sweetheart and he always calls her sweetheart i think it's it's cute and then a page over we get uh daisy saying right meadows has invigorated my body and soul he is more than just my pillow my wolf my bodyguard he's my everything oh god we we are not fans we'll just say right here we're not fans of wolf i wrote i wrote yes
01:46:03
Speaker
I wrote yes. And then later, Wright goes, every theory you've ever fucking had about men, I'm going to prove them wrong. And I wrote iconic. Okay. I thought I didn't have that line. I taught that line. I won't lie. That's a good vibe. Yeah. Like Daisy just like is not having a great time sexually. Like all the dudes she hooks up with in the previous books are just like losers. And just like, she's not, she's like, sex is overrated and regs like, bet.
01:46:30
Speaker
yeah and you know for how fun of a character daisy is and adventurous and outgoing i did find that to be a really interesting like choice for her character that like sex is just not something that like she wants all the time like i don't know i just thought that was
01:46:44
Speaker
I like that KBR gives each one of their characters a different relationship with sex. Yeah. And Daisy's, Daisy's is really good. And I feel like it, I think a lot of people have the same exact feelings about sex that Daisy does. Cause sometimes you read books with smut and it's like, Oh, I love sex. It's the greatest thing. Every day, every night.
01:47:06
Speaker
I don't really want to do it all the time. It's not like my favorite thing. I mean, she still gets like her back broken in this book multiple times. I was jealous. But yeah, after the stairwell, the other like big scenes that happened, there's a lot but there's
01:47:24
Speaker
the two other big scenes that happen in Paris is the riot and that's when Reich also breaks his sobriety because he sees that Lo is drinking in the bar and so he breaks his sobriety basically as like kind of a showdown essentially between him and Lo and then the riot breaks out and then Daisy gets hurt and he runs with her in his arms like
01:47:47
Speaker
how many miles i can't remember how many i remember miles and miles miles to the hospital when our friend taz read that read that scene she was like she would have died if rike actually ran with her like for that long taz is like the medical go-to like anytime there's something medical in a book she'll tell you whether or not that's like possible or not possible and she read that she was like that's not like
01:48:10
Speaker
No, they took so much liberty. It was so romantic, Kendra. What are you talking about? It is romantic, but now that's stuck in my head every time I think about it, that Daisy would have died. And you know what? Him fingering her in the hospital after. Why did I forget about that? It's hot, dude. I forgot. That's a hot thing. I won't lie. Yeah, that's good. So basically after this, they essentially just sneak around their relationship.
01:48:37
Speaker
Because they don't want to upset Lo, yeah. They have to go on this road trip to, is it California? Yeah, California. Yeah, for Rike to free solo something, I don't know. He can do big climbing those mountains. He is. And so they're on this road trip and Rike and Daisy go together. Meanwhile, Lily, Rose, Lo, and Connor are going together in a separate car.
01:49:06
Speaker
And they, you know, they're sneaking around having all kinds of fun together, but there is one other scene that I was thinking of that is super embarrassing. Oh, and this was before though, Lily and Rose join, right?
01:49:21
Speaker
this scene yeah because i think oh yeah it's before because it's before the the tent scene because when around that time is when lily and lo or excuse me lily and rose join yeah so it's just the boys and daisy at this point yeah it's just one thing we forgot to mention is that lily and rose have been acting pretty pretty like they're not on page a lot at this time it's just like some things you've heard there they seem to be hiding something
01:49:46
Speaker
Right. Like you would have expected them to go to Paris with the boys to check on Daisy, but they were like making up excuses. Daisy was like, or Lily was like, I have school and Rose was like, I can't leave the fashion line or something like that. I don't know. She didn't want to leave Lily. I don't know. It was kind of odd. Cause like, if you know these characters, you know that they love their sister more than anything. Like they would want to be there and they do want to be there, but shady shit, right? Weird.
01:50:07
Speaker
Even Connor is like, something's going on with Rose. Like I know it's just something. Yeah. Oh, I do want to say about that in Paris to combat like roses, whatever is going on with her. He's like, I bought out Hermes for ropes. He just casually buys out Hermes.
01:50:27
Speaker
Anyway, love him, king. But the scene that I was thinking of is when Connor walks in on Rike and Daisy. But Kendra, do you want to explain what exactly he walks in on? Yeah, so Daisy was on her knees and Rike was just... She was.
01:50:49
Speaker
Daisy was giving him a blowjob. I was trying to say that in like a more fun way, but that's what was happening. And it was hot. I was enjoying it. I was like, okay, Daisy, like damn. Get it, girl. And right as Reich is about to finish, in walks the iconic Connor Cobalt.
01:51:10
Speaker
and Rike, like not knowing who's in the room, pulls out of Daisy's mouth. But again, he was about to finish and he just comes all over her face. And it's so funny. Poor girl. Daisy says, oh yeah, poor girl. Daisy says, she goes, I can explain. And then Connor says, there's really no need. I'm well aware. And like, she's just like sitting there with like cum on her face.
01:51:40
Speaker
I mean, luckily in her eye, you can get an infection. Ladies, make sure he always finishes away from the eyes. That's my piece of advice. Basically, Connor is also telling them to be way more careful because he's known.
01:51:56
Speaker
He's known for a long time. Because he's Connor. Yeah, of course he knows. Because he's Connor. He knows. He knows. Yeah. So they're like, we're going to figure it out. We're going to have whatever. We're going to figure it out. I think at one point, they're like, a year. Let's wait. Let's sneak around until you're 19. Then nobody can say shit, right? So they finished this road trip. Is it before or after he does the solo climb that he and Lo get into the fight?
Confrontations and Tensions
01:52:19
Speaker
It's before. So while they're separated, a paparazzi took a picture of Rike and Daisy kissing, which is actually so cute when I think about it. She's on his shoulders, leaning down and kissing him upside down. I'm like, OK. OK. Yeah, that's cute. The Raisie Stans won with that one. But they, it gets printed. They don't see it. So they show up to meet up with Rose and Lily and Lo and Connor, because Rose and Lily have joined them at this point.
01:52:47
Speaker
And they're walking up and Rike can immediately tell something is going on with Lo. And he's like, what the fuck? And then Lo just starts wailing on him. And Rike is letting him, because Rike is so much bigger and stronger than Lo at this point. Lo is in recovery and whatever. So he's not doing too hot at this point. So he's just letting Lo hit him.
01:53:09
Speaker
And something I don't think we talked about earlier is that throughout this whole book, another running like point of tension between Lowe and Reich is that there's allegations out that their dad was sexually abusing Lowe, which is not true. But Reich refuses to like go to the press and say anything about it because he was physically and emotionally abusing Lowe. And he's like, I'm not going to quit him.
01:53:32
Speaker
for being a shitty person. I'm not gonna go out and speak in his defense. And Lowe is like trying to get him to understand like, I'm not asking you to do this for him. I'm asking you to do it for me. But it's just like really, it's a really horrible situation. And it's been causing a lot of tension between them. So they start fighting and it's obvious that it's not just about Daisy, right? But it's obvious that Lowe found out about Daisy.
01:53:53
Speaker
It was a good fight. Yeah. Oh my God. There's this quote cause like Lowe's crying because Reich's like, I don't want to fight you Lowe. And he said, his eyes red and further. You spend so much of your fucking time trying to save me and you don't realize that you're killing me. Oh, which is so hard to stomach because Reich is the literal reason that Lowe is sober. That Lowe is okay. Like Reich saved him. Like, Oh God. It's, it's that one hurt. That is so after, after that fight, um,
01:54:22
Speaker
They, Lowe's not like totally okay with it, but he's basically like, I will be, you know, eventually, but like right now, just like, you know, I'm still a little bit weirded out about it. And so after that, the whole gang goes to like dinner. Six. This is like, this is the book where the core six, like core six. Yeah, it's low. It's Lowe's birthday. They go to Lowe's birthday. Yeah, it's October 31st.
01:54:53
Speaker
It's in Daisy's point of view and she's like, it's October 31st. They're supposed to be in Yosemite already, but they are at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant in Nevada, which the fact that they're eating Mexican food on Lowe's birthday because he fucking
Dramatic Revelations and Arrest
01:55:05
Speaker
loves tacos. He does. Makes me so happy. Oh, okay. Well, they are all together basically at this table. Rose and Connor are still kind of bickering. There's weird tensions still between them. Connor knows that Rose is keeping something from him.
01:55:20
Speaker
But basically, long story short, we learned that she's pregnant. So Lo ordered shots for everyone because he's like, y'all like celebrate my birthday. And he wants everyone to take shots. And Connor's like, Rose, like, take the shot. And she's like, no, like, and she almost. They're speaking in French. Yeah, they're speaking in French and he almost she almost does it. And then he says you're pregnant in French and right. Right. Spits it out.
01:55:46
Speaker
That scene is so good. He spits out his water. He spits out his water, yeah. He spits out his water. And that's what they find out. You know that Rike also knows French. Well, sorry, this is when Connor and Rose learn that Rike knows French. So it's like, Rike isn't like other guys. He's so smart, knows multiple languages, like he's athletic, he has a degree in journalism.
01:56:12
Speaker
I'm like, they were really trying to make, I don't know what, Reich's character is just so fascinating at times. So I'm like, what was the direction? I need to interject here and talk about the fucking gaslighting of the century that occurred. Okay, we have to tell it in order though. We have to tell it in order. You guys, you can just want to skip three minutes.
01:56:34
Speaker
It's the original gas lighter herself. So let's start from the beginning. This whole book, I mentioned how Lily and Rose were up to something, right? And I'm texting Kayla because she was walking me through this entire series. And I'm like, Kayla, like, I really think
01:56:47
Speaker
Lily's pregnant and then at one point I was like I think Rose is pregnant too like one of them will be pregnant. Miss Kayla and herself was like Kendra be serious like she was gaslighting me she was like that wouldn't happen because at this time we were already talking about I was telling her like my thoughts on like whether or not I thought people would have kids in this series like I knew that Rose and Connor would have kids because I saw got that spoiled for me on TikTok
01:57:09
Speaker
But I didn't know about Lily and Lauren having kids because Lauren was so adamant of like, I don't want to be a dad. I don't want to have kids. And I don't want to do that. So I was like, maybe, but like, this is screaming pregnancy, this entire book and know Kendra be serious. Like, you know, like that wouldn't happen. But she's making me question whether or not I know these characters who I've just spent, like, at this, what, this like the fourth book or fifth book that I've spent with them.
01:57:33
Speaker
And then lo and behold, it turns out that Rose was pregnant and the satisfaction that I got from that was unmatched. I wrote in my copy, I wrote, I knew it, I fucking knew it. And Kayla tried to gaslight the heck out of me. And this started a really horrible tradition in our friendship because now we gaslight each other with books that we've read all the time. Our group chat for a while was called the Gaslight Gurleys.
01:57:59
Speaker
because it is fun and it is super satisfying, but Kayla...
01:58:04
Speaker
Nothing will be that first experience because I legit thought that I was crazy. She's just sitting here smirking like a little mastermind. Oh, it's fun to do it. It's never fun for me. I'm always the last fucking one of this trio to read a book. So it's never fun for me because I'm going to guess. You read Faliman first. That's so true. But I spoil everything for you. Yeah, you did. We should have held it up.
01:58:31
Speaker
Taylor Swift's mastermind. Mine is playing in my head right now. Exactly. You know what? And I do it again. I do it again. And you know what? Okay, the second, the literal second time Kendra and I hung out in person. We went to the fucking Cheesecake Factory and we were having lunch and she's like, any predictions? Because I was halfway through Hot House Flower and I was like, I just like really feel like Rose is pregnant. Like I had like made my mind up for that. Like nobody was telling me otherwise because
01:58:56
Speaker
I don't know. And she's like, any other predictions? And I was like, you know what, like, I think Lily might be pregnant. And she was like, ooh. And I was like, what? And she was like, I just like, yeah, she was like, and she was like, I just really don't want you to get your hopes up. Like, I was like, Oh, really? I was like, Oh, my God.
01:59:18
Speaker
Because I was like, Lillian, one of my favorites, like, she's like, I just really don't want you to get your hopes up because like, it's not gonna happen, Brandy. What's so funny is I was shaking the whole time I was telling you that like, that was my glass. It's not gonna happen. Also, by the way, I think we mentioned that Lily is for sure also pregnant in this book, which you do later find out. So it's both Rose and Lily having a baby at the same time.
01:59:41
Speaker
But we only had about Rose at this point. Yeah. Yeah. But oh my god, I that I literally went home that day. And I finished this book and I was I was flabbergasted. I nobody had ever done that to me in a book before. I was like, what I was like, I got on Instagram and I made a story. And I was like, Kendra lied to my face. I was like, sure did. And you know what, you're right, though, like the experience. It's so like, it's so fun. I also do that with The Simple Wild Two. I
02:00:10
Speaker
I think I did that to Gracie at Grapey Del Taco on TikTok. I did that to her. But that's me, though. Yeah, but I don't mean but that's how I need people to feel how I felt because I blindly let myself believe. Okay, fine, whatever. Well, that's your own fault. I didn't do anything for that one. No, just saying. Unfortunately, doing that has gained me a reputation, a not good reputation.
02:00:33
Speaker
I don't that people can't trust what I say, which isn't trip. Whatever. Anyway, moving on. I know it's made the rounds. People are like, oh, yeah, if you're going to go to Kayla with your updates, she will guess at you. I haven't done it in a long time. I just want to point out.
02:00:48
Speaker
does it tomorrow we have to talk about the absolutely hilarious ending and well it's we did but it's like insane ending and then we have like we have got to wrap this up this is so fucking long yeah we've neared 30 minutes talking about our least favorite couple in the series but it's a good book okay like a two and a half hour podcast i'm so sorry if you're still here thank you thank you um
02:01:14
Speaker
So after all the Corsics get back from this trip from California, they take their plane back to Philadelphia. And... They're rich. Yeah, exactly. We... Or they get off the plane, Rike gets off the plane, and they're like, you guys, like, what are these, like, cops doing here? That's crazy, bro. That's crazy.
02:01:36
Speaker
And then someone comes up to Reich and says, Reich, you are under arrest for, what is it, statutory rape or something like that? I'm not going to jail, you're going to prison!
02:01:48
Speaker
and Daisy's like uh what is going on you know well then we find out that of course it was Samantha Calloway of course that called the police such a villain of course he like gets out because they didn't do anything sexual before her 18th birthday so doesn't Jonathan come and see him or oh yeah there's like a moment between yeah they have like a nice moment oh this is when you still hate Jonathan Hale but this is what Jonathan says he's gonna get sober
02:02:12
Speaker
yeah so yeah um that's hot house right right does make it out and uh lily you do find out lily is for sure pregnant there's also this like really suicidal moment with lily where you're like oh shit like what's happening uh and then it just turns out she's pregnant and then it's just like the scene
02:02:31
Speaker
Okay, we'll talk about it in Thrive because holy shit, that's, I, yeah. Anyways. Yeah. Okay. Thank you so much for listening to us. This is one of our favorite series. Obviously you can tell by the fucking length of this fucking episode. I sound like Ryke. You sound like Ryke. You sound like Ryke. I'm so sorry. That's disgusting. That made me gag in my mouth a little bit.
02:02:47
Speaker
um anyways anyways um we're gonna keep this brief because next week we're gonna be talking about the second half the second five books of this so uh we'll see you then for five yes you then bye guys