Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Bring Your Own....Favorite Female Character | S1Ep3
517 Plays3 years ago
In celebration of Women's History Month we've each brought our favorite Book Girlfriend. These are the fictional women who inspire us, teach us, and make us fall to our knees. No kidding, we would do anything to spend a single night with many of these women. Have a favorite Book Girlfriend? Tell us on Instagram and give a follow to stay up to date with the pod and see list of spoilers for this episode! @Bringyourownpod
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Topic Overview
00:00:09
Speaker
Hi, welcome to Bring Your Own, a catch-all bookish podcast most of the time. My name is Brandi. I'm Kendra. I'm Kayla. Yay! Today we're going to be talking about our white laughing at me. Sorry, the way you said it. Yay! We came to see my jazz hand. It's better than the four tries that took me last time.
Current Reads and Drinks
00:00:35
Speaker
Today we are talking about female main characters, like in any capacity, ones that we admire, ones we want to be, ones we have crushes on, all that good stuff. So before we jump into that, what are you guys drinking? What are you guys reading? I'll go first. I am drinking a large diet lemonade from Chick-fil-A that I had door dashed to my apartment. Amazing. It's very good. It's my favorite drink from theirs.
00:01:04
Speaker
What am I reading? Well, I just finished a really good book called The Right Move by Liz Tom Ford. I don't know if that's how you say her last name, but it was fantastic. I loved it. And then I'm also listening to Love List and Fancy Ships. And I don't know the author's name on that one. Sarah Grunder Ruiz. Yes, her. And it's...
00:01:28
Speaker
really cute it's about a woman that works on a super yacht in florida and she's watching her sister's kids for a summer and it's just sort of like the adventures she's getting into with like her sister's kids and also falling for the chef on the super yacht and he's he's really good so he's a narrator right
00:01:52
Speaker
Oh yeah, he's a single parent as well, so a little bit of everything. Randy, I think you would like this one. Randy, this is up your alley, yeah. I love these thinkings. I love a single parent. Yeah, he's really good. I also just realized I did not describe what the right move is, but Kayla, if you want it, since I know you just finished
Discussion on 'Love List and Fancy Ships'
00:02:10
Speaker
it too, if you want to describe it. Sure, I'll go next. Well first, I'm drinking, I'm also having lemonade, but I'm having a sparkling lemonade from Trader Joe's.
00:02:19
Speaker
wow um this is making me remember that i need to make my bi-monthly pilgrimage to Trader Joe's um i don't have one super close to my house so it's like always an event when i go but um i also just finished reading yeah i know sucks for me um i also just finished reading The Right Move by Liz Tom Ford which is the second book in the Windy City series i think that's the full name the Windy City series
00:02:46
Speaker
which are basically sports romances. This one follows Ryan Shea, who is a basketball player, and Indi Ivers, who is his new, reluctantly for him, his new roommate, Indi is his sister's best friend. So it's horse proximity. There's also fake dating in there. And it's just,
00:03:14
Speaker
It's like, it's so good. Like, I don't really know how else to describe it. I don't, their love was just so like, so pure and so genuine and so sweet. They're also obviously, they're also really hot, but it's just a highly recommend, highly recommend five stars all around. And, um,
00:03:35
Speaker
I also just finished an audio arc called French Holiday by Sarah Reddy. It was really cute. It's about this girl named Mary who is in love with her best friend named Leo, but Leo is marrying her little sister. Sorry, not that we'll be clear. She's been in unrequited love with Leo for a long time and to kind of escape
00:04:03
Speaker
all of that she also you know quit her job everything to kind of escape everything she's going to go stay at this French chateau that her godmother owns only to discover that also staying at this French chateau is her basically like her arch nemesis Leo's best friend named Noah who is a travel blogger and they stay have to stay there together for like three months lots of funny things ensue it's like a
00:04:32
Speaker
It's like a funny rom-com, so it was cute. It was good.
Exploring 'The Right Move' and Other Reads
00:04:36
Speaker
An easy listen. Narrator was great. Who is? What's that one movie? Isn't it like Kate Hudson and Jennifer Gardner have a movie that's like so similar to that? You know what? I just couldn't tell you. You know what? I do not know.
00:04:55
Speaker
I am drinking a latte because it's fucking cold in Los Angeles right now. So I made myself. It is Kayla. It's cold. How cold? It's 53 degrees. That's cold here. And it's wet and it's raining. It's 40 degrees here.
00:05:14
Speaker
okay that's see like 13 degrees isn't that huge of a difference it's cold it's cool okay anyway so i'm having a little vanilla latte my mom bought me an espresso for christmas it's truly just like the best thing that's ever happened to me um so i also was drinking a lemonade i got your cold a for lunch so i had a lemonade too look at us all amazing bunch of lemonade girls um i am reading three books right now which is rare for me i know i don't like it
00:05:44
Speaker
But I got the arc for Once More with Feeling, which is Elisa Sussman's new book. I started it and I was like, I don't want to force myself to read this right now because I couldn't stop thinking about a photo finish, which is sitting on my Kindle, which is the second book in the Gold Rush Ranch series by Elsie Silver. And I binged like 30% of that in one sitting a little bit ago.
00:06:06
Speaker
I'm really, really enjoying that one. And if you've read Flawless and Heartless, this is about their little sister who they always talk about in those books being a racehorse jockey on the other side of Canada. This is about her story. And I love it so much so far. She had like an internet pen pal that she would like send nudes to. And then like, she, she found out that it's like her boss's brother. Like, they like, yeah. That's not a pen pal. That's a pervert.
00:06:35
Speaker
No, no, no, no, no, no. Okay, she posted, she went onto, you learned this all in the first chapter. This isn't like a spoiler. She like went onto a form because she wanted to like, she didn't include her face. She was feeling risque. She posted a photo of herself. People were DMing her. His DM was interesting. They started chatting.
00:07:00
Speaker
Okay. So then now, like, it's dual timeline. I think I have to rate it to fully understand, because I'm like...
00:07:06
Speaker
It's dual timeline, so it's really fun because you don't know exactly why. All we know is that they were internet penthouse for a year without ever seeing each other's face, I think. And then something massive happened, they didn't talk for a year. And then a year after that is when he's like, didn't recognize you with your clothes on. And she's like, what the fuck? And she finds out that it was her boss's brother.
00:07:32
Speaker
Anyways, that's so fun. I'm also listening to Bella Donna, which is a YA fantasy book that Kayla recommended to me, in which I'm having a great time. The audiobook is so good. It's very good. Yeah, the audiobook is really good. Yeah. All right. Who wants to start? In honor of Women's History Month, we are doing our favorite female main characters. Oh, say that with some gusto.
00:08:03
Speaker
I was like coughing over you. Are you okay? Was that really like actually, can you just do it again? All right. Okay.
Favorite Female Characters: Shiv Kelly
00:08:21
Speaker
Okay. All right. Let's head into our main discussion in honor of women's history month.
00:08:32
Speaker
ending we will be talking about our favorite female main characters and Kendra why don't you start us off? I would love to so today it was really hard for me to pick like who did I want to like shine a spotlight on as like my favorite book girlfriend because I have so many
00:08:53
Speaker
that I love and I admire. But for today, I went with Shiv Kelly or Siobhan, Siobhan, sorry, Siobhan. Yes, Siobhan. Look, why is there a B in her name? It's like an Irish name. I thought it was Siobhan. No, no, no, not while I was reading the book, but like, when I first saw that name, I was like, oh, yeah, Siobhan. No, because this doesn't make sense. S-I-O-B-H-A-N, Siobhan.
00:09:23
Speaker
Irish people explain yourself. I mean, you have red hair. It's St. Like it's March. I thought you made me know. I'm not Irish. I'm not even Irish. Are you sure? No? I don't know. You should take a test. I don't know if I'm German. That's it. You could be both. Very exciting. Anyways, I think the way that I love Shiv, I really do, but the way she spells her name can be a little confusing to Americans, i.e. me.
00:09:54
Speaker
But now I know her name, Siobhan. The V in there, Siobhan. But yes, Ms. Siobhan Kelly, who is from The No Show by Beth O'Leary. And The No Show is a book that follows one man named Joseph Carter who goes on three dates on Valentine's Day with three different women. And that's really all I can say. It's a book I always tell people to go into completely blind, because I went in completely blind and was blown away.
00:10:22
Speaker
And even like the back of the book, it kind of forces you to go in blind because the synopsis gives you nothing except for what I just said. So Shiv is one of the girls that he goes on a date with and I am quite literally obsessed with her.
00:10:40
Speaker
she is a like like 28 29 years old around that age range and she's like a life coach seems to have her life like pretty together on the outside is very confident and strong
00:10:54
Speaker
but on the inside you know she's not she doesn't have it all together um which i feel like all of us can relate to and i just love how much she was there for herself when she needed to pick herself up like she allowed herself time to like be down in the dumps but like was very like all right let's get our shit together and get moving um i love how good of a friend she is which
00:11:20
Speaker
is a requirement I've realized for me to really love a female main character. She has to be a good friend, not only a good partner. I hate in books when the FMC has no friends whatsoever. I at least need them to have one. I don't care who it is. Please have at least one best friend, or the plot of the book should be how they don't have any friends. If that's not a talking point, then I'm like,
00:11:50
Speaker
how are you like going through life like you have to have so even if it's like their mom if their mom is their best friend like okay that's something like give me something because I think that just like how you are with your friends I think says a lot about you as a person and Shiv was a great friend she has a friend named Fiona who is just fantastic also in this book and I wish I could say more about her but again this book I can't say a lot without um
00:12:18
Speaker
without spoiling, but I love Shiv.
Admired Female Characters and Their Growth
00:12:22
Speaker
She's fantastic. And other female main characters that I also really love and admire. Kyle Fletcher from the Simple Wild series. She's one of my all time favorite female main characters. I love her so much. I also really love Zini Iverson from
00:12:40
Speaker
Center by Sierra Simone, Miss Iris Kane from Terms and Conditions by Lauren Asher. Iris and I are like locked in for life mainly because I got to sensitivity read that book and like I think I don't talk about that enough but that's like one of the biggest brags in my life that I got to like see that book before it like came to be um and Iris like even in like the draft that I read Iris was already such a fully formed character and like the fact that I had like
00:13:06
Speaker
the small part that I did in helping like shape her. I love her so much. Who else? Oh, and new to the list. Miss Indi Ivers, who is from the right move by Liz Tom Ford, who I was just saying like, I hate when female main characters don't have any friends. Well, in this book, something that she's like reckoning with is the fact that like her friends aren't really like who she thought they were.
00:13:34
Speaker
and i love her and she even though she's dealing with people who like don't treat her with respect she was always still there for her friends when she shouldn't have been and i loved her she was fun she was confident she was just like um i sound like a love island contestant she was just a girl's girl
00:13:54
Speaker
she was hot she took all my boxes she was just so fantastic she you meet her in the first book mile high and she was my favorite character in mile high because she was so funny and refreshing in that book and like still such a good friend to the fmc in that book stevie and she was fantastic yeah she even though she did have to like um she was reckoning with the fact that like her old friends you know weren't really her friends she also still had great relationships with
00:14:24
Speaker
newer friends in that book like she has a great relationship with Stevie who is the former female main character in the first book and she had a great relationship too with the team that she worked for. A lot of the guys on the hockey team that she works for so yeah she was great. Yeah and she was like really just smart but not in a way like I don't know how to say this like
00:14:48
Speaker
there is so much that you learn about indie in the right move as you're reading that makes her even more of like a fully fleshed out character like she is someone who easily like could have still been a great character like with all the surface level stuff that we got of her but as the book kept going you learned something new about her and learned something new about her and i just thought she was so well done like i was so impressed and blown away by her um i would want to be her friend in real life i think she's fantastic you guys read that like a day oh yeah
00:15:18
Speaker
It's like, how long was it? Yeah, I did. It was like in ebook pages. It's like 500. The mile high was longer. Mile high was like 600 and something pages. It was too long, in my opinion. It was really long. Yeah. It says 417. For the physical? I think so.
00:15:50
Speaker
I gripped you guys on that but you just like were like fully invested immediately huh? Oh yeah and it's 10 times like it's so much better than Mile High in my opinion. Mile High I was like okay like this is cute like I see why people like it a lot like I still had a good time but the right move I was like whoa this is crack like she put something in these pages. Oh it says print length is 428 pages. Okay
00:16:15
Speaker
so yeah i read that in a day and her writing is really easy like you just take it in um and it's great oh it's so good and it's hot it's really hot yeah i think i know i know the audiobooks are in the works oh so yeah i'm very very interested in reading them i will be reading them i promise kinder is there something in in particular in any of those characters that you mentioned that
00:16:43
Speaker
like something that they taught you or what like your main takeaway was from any of these characters? I love rich women. Yeah. Cuz like Shiv from the no show.
00:17:04
Speaker
i mean she wasn't like millionaire status but like she made a living like she was well taken care of and she did that like i'll throw her the term self-made like she was very self-made in her wealth and i love her oh love her and who else like um kala rich zinny marries a rich man how she's rich yeah iris marries rich
00:17:32
Speaker
Indie is dating an NBA player. She's taken care of her life. Like, no, I think, I don't know. I think they have kind of just like, I've said this to you guys a lot. Like I really value the platonic relationships in my life. So it is really nice to see characters that also value the same things. And I think they have taught me how to be just like a better friend and a better like supporter of people.
00:18:01
Speaker
and like these are all women that i think go through like some pretty tough shit in their lives and it's nice to see women go through that and overcome it but also like sit in it for a while like i hate the like well not that's a strong word i don't like when women especially are like they're hit over and over and over again not physically but like by life like keep throwing them down over and over and over again um
00:18:26
Speaker
And they just keep going and brush it off. I love when women are just allowed to sit and be like, that is so shitty. What is happening to me is so shitty. And I think a lot of those women, sometimes it's hard for them to get to those moments in their lives and accept it. But once they do, I really appreciate that because it's also taught me to be like, it's OK that this is pretty shitty. And it's OK for me to not be able to do anything about it right now and to take my time and process things. Yeah.
00:18:55
Speaker
rich women who go through sad shit that is my bread and butter yeah i love that that's kind of true though for me too i feel like a lot of the women i gravitate towards are rich women who go through a lot of shit um because my first one is
00:19:20
Speaker
Rose Callaway from the Addicted Callaway Sister series, which we may or may not be doing an episode on potentially.
Kayla's Insights on Rose Callaway
00:19:32
Speaker
Rose Callaway is the, I guess you could call her the middle child,
00:19:42
Speaker
Because technically there is one older than her, although of like the three that we actually read about in the Addicted Callaway Sisters series, she is the oldest. And the Addicted Callaway Sisters series, if you did not know, is technically too serious, but really you need to read it as a whole. It starts with Lillian Lowe, who both have
00:20:06
Speaker
Addictions of their own that they're dealing with and they are childhood best friends To lovers basically in their fake dating and trying to hide their addiction their addictions from the rest of their family Rose being one of those people By fake dating and so just follow it chronicles the lives of all the Callaway sisters and then three other boys in their lives and
00:20:32
Speaker
And it's one of my, one of our favorite series, like a ball time. So, but like I said, Rose is the middle child. Rose is a perfectionist. She's a fashion designer. She always like takes a lot of pride in her style and is like always dressed, you know, amazingly in her own signs, of course. She is incredibly intelligent. You know, she graduated with highest honors, her husband,
00:21:02
Speaker
Connor calls her miss highest honors. She she's a super like, passionate feminist, right? She's not afraid to speak her mind or to like, literally threaten other people. Um, and she's like, she's called the ice queen, right? Like she's seen as like, really mean and kind of like a bitch by outsiders. But one thing I think that I love and gravitate towards with Rose is yes, she
00:21:31
Speaker
like obviously comes off as, you know, icy and cold to other people, but she is fiercely protective, fiercely loyal of everyone that she loves in her life. And she, you know, will literally do anything to protect her loved ones, especially her sisters. And, you know, Kendra, you mentioned like,
00:21:58
Speaker
platonic relationships are a big thing when it comes to like your favorite female characters and I would definitely agree with that and I would also just add on like familial relationships to that because I personally have a good relationship with all my sisters. I have four sisters so there's a lot but I love seeing what you know other sisters kind of go through in books and how that changes
00:22:24
Speaker
or for better or for worse, their relationship in books. And I think Rose is just an incredible example of a sister. And she- Oh, she's such a good sister. She's just the best. One of my favorite moments from Rose in the first book is when she learns about Lily's addiction and she's basically just reassuring her that she's not going anywhere. Lily is so scared.
00:22:55
Speaker
that Rose is gonna leave her essentially because of this addiction that's you know taking over her life and she's like scared of how Rose will judge her but like that doesn't happen at all and I'm just gonna like read the quote really quick she says you cannot get rid of me Lily nothing you say or do will make me leave if you don't tell me now then I'll hear of it in a year three years five years a decade I'll wait for you to tell me
00:23:23
Speaker
And it literally says that Rose is crying and Rose like, Rose literally never cries, right? She doesn't ever do that. She says, I love you. You're my sister. That will never change. Okay. I was like, when I, the first time I was like, she's, there's obviously up like a ton of other examples that I can give, but that is just like the biggest one I think for me, or one of the biggest ones early on in the series that immediately I was like, this girl,
00:23:54
Speaker
I love her so much. And I can also just relate to other aspects of Rose like, you know, she has OCD and while I don't have, you know, not to get too personal here, I don't have diagnosed OCD, but I do have, like, you know, I
00:24:09
Speaker
like lots of people, I go through a lot of panic attacks and things that, you know, when things that seem like not a big deal to other people, when something gets messed up to you, like you, you know, you just have kind of a manic moment and you like, you freak out. And, you know, Rose kind of goes through that sometimes in the series. And, you know, I can relate to that a little bit. So yeah, Rose is,
00:24:38
Speaker
easily like one of my top if not my top female main character like of life. And some other examples not to be like these women are also great too. So like love them equally. Same similar to Kendra, Calla Fletcher like will defend her with my life always. Bryce Quinlan from the Crescent City series. Me and her like we are. Is it because of the hair?
00:25:07
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I really love all the redhead characters. I don't know what it is. You know, solidarity or something. I don't know. I love her. Then my next one was literally Alexis Montgomery, who is a redhead. I think you're in love with yourself, Kayla. Elizabeth Zott and... Oh, she's great. Yeah, Elizabeth Zott is like...
00:25:36
Speaker
she's she has to be real like there's just she can't be fake you know what i mean like there's it's she's from the book well i refuse to believe it she is from lessons in chemistry thank you brandy for pointing that out um she's from lessons in chemistry and she's just what i aspire to be in life pretty much sorry brandy were you gonna say something else no i'm just gonna say of all the ones that you're listing right now i feel like that one would probably be for like the average romance reader probably would be like who's elizabeth off
00:26:06
Speaker
Oh yeah, true, true, true. Daisy hates in Magnolia Parks from the Magnolia Park series, and they also are kind of a good example of like a female friendship, but I think their relationship in the beginning of the book starts out not good. Like they aren't friends, or Magnolia tries to be her friend, like in it, Daisy's just like absolutely not. But as the series progresses, you see their relationship progress,
00:26:32
Speaker
And I like, it's one of my favorite parts about the series is seeing their relationship progress. So love that. Um, and then Siobhan Kelly and just all the no show ladies in general, there's three of, um, of them. There's Siobhan Kelly, Miranda Ross, and Jane whose last name I cannot remember for the life of me, but all of those ladies, I love all of them. So, um, those are some of my favorites.
00:26:59
Speaker
Is there like a common thread between all of your favorite main characters? Like, is there something that you can identify in all of them that you're like, oh, maybe this is what I'm drawn to?
Traits of Beloved Characters
00:27:11
Speaker
I immediately when we saw the red hair down. I was also thinking of what Kendra said, because they're like all rich, rich women. Yeah, I aspire to just be rich. So it's like, you know,
00:27:28
Speaker
That's why I love them. No. But seriously, I would kind of, again, going back to the familiar relationships or just, it doesn't even have to be specifically family. It can be like Kinderside, Potonic. You know, a lot of these women have like the found family trope in their books and I love that too. And I also just think that all of these women that I mentioned are so selfless
00:27:58
Speaker
but they know how to set boundaries for that selflessness and you know they they're selfless and with the ones that they really that they love and that they you know make a priority in their life but they still know how to set boundaries and put themselves first when necessary and so I think that that's a big common thread among a lot of the women that I mentioned. I also think you really like like head strong head bitch in charge
00:28:28
Speaker
characters like the girls who are like taking up at times like they're like i don't want to say they take up the most space in any given room but like they kind of do like they're always at the forefront like they put themselves at the forefront like i think elizabeth zott from lessons in chemistry and rose calloway from the addictive touch calloway sister series would be i don't know if they would be best friends or they would hate each other because they have so much in common when you look at it exactly that's true that's true
00:28:54
Speaker
Yeah, you look strong, like very strong, independent women. Yeah, I think that's true. And like, but kind of like similar to what you said, right? Like they're strong, right? But that doesn't mean that they don't struggle and that they don't. Yeah, that struggle often. But I also think that like Rose hates to struggle. She hates the fact that she does struggle, you know what I mean? And so it took a lot of her, you know, internal
00:29:21
Speaker
uh, working throughs, I guess, to, to, you know, be okay with that. And I think sometimes that's, you know, similar to me is like, I hate the fact that I go through XYZ, right? And so it like, you know, takes, you know, me, um, working through myself or, you know, therapy or something like that to, to, you know, be like, you know what, it's okay to feel this way. And so I think that that's another, um, common thread.
00:29:51
Speaker
I think anyone listening is going to be like, are Kayla and Kendra the same person? And the answer I would give them as a third party person is yes. Like, do a scan of my brain and a scan of Kayla's brain. And it'd probably be very similar. It's crazy. I think the difference is that, like, I can't stand a mess. And you, you know, you're a, you leave cans out. Little messy. Listen, Kayla. She's trying to say it.
00:30:20
Speaker
Kayla, you live alone. You live alone. Test that out. I have lived alone. Live alone in your 20s and then come back to me. You lived alone? In college? No, live alone as an adult, no school. Okay, whatever. Come back, come back to me.
00:30:44
Speaker
No, my apartment's going to be even more spotless than it is right now living with another person. Are you kidding? If I was living alone? Because then I wouldn't have to deal with Jared's crap. Whoa. Is he listening? No. He's not here. Is Jared in the room with us right now? Because according to Jared, you don't know how to load a dishwasher, so. He's a dirty liar, though. He's not.
00:31:11
Speaker
He loves it so inefficiently, it's actually insane. Anyway. When Kayla came to visit California, I scrubbed my apartment from top to bottom. I was like, she cannot know how I really live at all. It was so clean when she came in here.
00:31:32
Speaker
It was the three of us and then our friend Taz as well. And after Taz and Kayla went home, Kendra and I were like, okay, cool. We're the gross little gremlins of the front group. And Taz and Kayla have their shit together. Good to know, good to know. I spilled Cheetos on your floor and I was like, so disturbed by it. I was like, where's your vacuum? Let me clean up the Cheetos. I was like, no, because my vacuum, it's like, I don't want you to see how gross my vacuum is because I don't clean it.
00:32:03
Speaker
So I was like, no, and it doesn't really work that well. So I was like, don't worry about it. And then I didn't clean it up until like, I don't know, two or three weeks after you guys blew up. It was like, oh, wait, I should probably pick up these. It was very minimal. Anyways, Kayla and I have a lot in common, but she thinks I'm the most disgusting, dirtiest person on board. Oh my God.
00:32:32
Speaker
Oh yeah, so when we were discussing Proms for this episode and we decided on female-made characters, like two immediately sprung to my head.
00:32:46
Speaker
Um, and I think they have a lot in common with each other, but the first one was Nora Stevens from Book Lovers by Emily Henry. Yeah.
Brandi's Appreciation for Nora Stevens
00:32:55
Speaker
I went into that book with like expectations on the ground because I loved people leaving on vacation so much that I was like, I need to have expectations at zero so that my heart doesn't get hurt. And then I was just like blown away. Book Lovers is my favorite Emily Henry book by a mile. I've had the chance to read Happy Place already and book lovers still
00:33:14
Speaker
by a mile is my favorite Emily Henry book and I think like most of that has to do with Nora like I love Charlie I really do but I love Nora so much um and I
00:33:31
Speaker
a couple of things. First thing like common thread to what you guys were saying like Nora's an amazing sister like I this book is like so much I would honestly say as much or more a sister a story about two sisters than it is like a romance book which is all of Emily Henry's books right they all lean really heavy women's fiction.
00:33:47
Speaker
Um, so that part, like Nora just being like an amazing sister to Libby, like their mother passed away when Libby was a minor, Nora was very young, Nora became her caretaker, basically like took over raising her and has always just like very level-headed. Um, like what Kayla was talking about, or Kendra was talking about for Kayla's main characters, like very much like
00:34:11
Speaker
head bitch in charge. And I just really love how Nora refuses to change herself for anybody. And it's resulted in a lot of failed relationships, which is a common thing for her, but she is not going to change herself
00:34:29
Speaker
for anyone, for her job, for a man, for anybody. And I just really, really admire that about her. And I think that's why I think her and Charlie's relationship is so special is because they're just like built for each other. They both have personalities that I think like a lot of people have a hard time connecting with, but they can connect with each other so easily. But I think one of my favorite things about
00:34:55
Speaker
their relationship and why I love Nora so much is actually the third act conflict. So if you haven't read Book Lovers, maybe skip ahead a little bit. But the whole point of this book, or not the whole point, but the third act breakup, it's not really breakup, but the third act conflict in this book is that
00:35:14
Speaker
Charlie has to stay in this tiny town where they've been hanging out together for a month and Nora has to go back to New York to her job that she loves. And it was never an option in Nora's mind that she was staying in Sunshine Falls. Like that would, right, that's what it's called, right? I think so. Yeah, yeah. So that was like never an option for either of them. Like Charlie wasn't gonna ask Nora to stay. Nora wasn't gonna offer to stay.
00:35:43
Speaker
like they weren't even gonna try and do distance because Nora knew that she couldn't handle a distance relationship. She's not built for it. So they had like a very much like a moment where they're like this like we wish we could make this work but we're not neither of us are gonna fuck up our lives for the other person. And I don't know I just like love that because I feel like so often in romance books which I love a good like I changed for them moment too like I do love that as well but
00:36:12
Speaker
And this one just felt so true to Nora that she was like, no, I'm not gonna give up my career that I've worked so hard for and all the things that I love about living in New York for this. And yeah, I just think like she's selfless when it matters, like with Libby, her sister, with Charlie, with the people she's gross to love in this book, but she's also really selfish when it comes to preserving her own peace and her own happiness. And I just think that's so important.
00:36:40
Speaker
I, in my personal life, can be quite a pushover sometimes, like I really like making other people happy and have a hard time putting myself first. So I just really love reading about that and female main characters. And then I think another character, the other one that popped into my head, who does this really well, is Feiyat Akola from You Made a Fool of Death to Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi.
00:37:04
Speaker
which is a book about a grief journey, a phase grief journey. She lost her husband, her new husband, who she was very, very, very much in love with. He dies very tragically. And
00:37:20
Speaker
this book follows her still healing. It's set years after she loses her husband, but she's healing and opening herself up to the possibility of love again. And I think that my main takeaway from this book was how it's okay to be selfish with your love. A lot of people have a lot of really big feelings about this book because I will say I don't want to spoil too much because I think this book is so much more fun when you go into it. And I haven't read it yet. Yeah.
00:37:49
Speaker
Yeah, I have. Yeah. Kayla had feelings about it. My feelings I had. I don't want to lead people astray. I didn't have. There were just a couple things that she did. I was like, girl,
00:38:06
Speaker
But, but ultimately, I think she may ultimately like she obviously made the right decision. It's just, yeah, along the way. I was like, people, not Kayla, but like people love to call this book messy. And I don't, I don't think I would describe it as messy. But here's the thing about me. I am Fay's defense attorney, like your honor, like put me put me on the stand. Like, I will fight for her.
00:38:32
Speaker
this book she can do no wrong to you exactly because this book was about fae's grief journey why should she settle for anything less than exactly what she wants and i will say in this book i and i don't think this spoils too much because it happens multiple times in different ways the love interest isn't always who you think it's going to be in this book and i think that's what throws a lot of people off when they go into this book because and i think that's part of the fun of reading this book but
00:38:58
Speaker
Like I said, I don't think there's a wrong answer because whatever Feiyi is doing is correct for Feiyi. Feiyi is moving through this unmanageable grief for her. She's finally figuring out how to put it in a place in her heart where she can open her heart up to more people.
00:39:17
Speaker
When it comes to your true love, your soulmate, the person you're supposed to be with, why would you settle for anything less than your soulmate? I love this book and similar to what you guys were saying as well about platonic friendships, they has a beautiful relationship with her best friend Joy, which I really, really love. And I found out from a quick AMS ease
00:39:44
Speaker
Instagram that they wrote a book for joy that has not been picked up by Atria, but potentially will be self-published or something. It exists. I want it so bad. So fingers crossed that that happens. But yeah, those are my two like strong
00:40:05
Speaker
like, female main characters who will do what's best for them, who are still so selfless and amazing to the people they love, but are never going to put their needs behind somebody else's, which I, I just love that so
Strong Personalities: Daisy Hates and Ada Gallo
00:40:18
Speaker
much. You know, I actually think that, um, I was thinking about this as you were describing Nora, and I actually think that Nora and Rose are like such similar characters and like, you know, they're both
00:40:32
Speaker
you know, these headstrong women, like if Rose was in Sunshine Falls, she would do like the exact same thing, right? Like she's not sacrificing her career or anything, you know, that she doesn't have to sacrifice in order to, you know, potentially be with Charlie, you know, so, or Connor, whoever. So I think that they're like, Nora and Rose are very similar characters in that sense. And it's same thing with like the sister,
00:41:00
Speaker
relationships that they have, right? And that was just kind of an interesting... It's fun to imagine taking one of your favorite characters and placing them in another book world and thinking about how they would react. I think that they would move almost exactly the same way, so that's what kind of made me think of that. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, some other female main characters that pop into my mind anytime I think about
00:41:28
Speaker
ones that I love, Daisy hates as well. I don't love unrequited love in books, but I personally am in an unrequited love relationship with Christian Hemms. So Daisy and I just see each other in that way. And then Ada Gallo from Brutal Prance by Sophie Lark. Yeah, such a bad bitch. I love her. I love her so much. Just like, that is a true enemies to lovers book. Yeah, like, they're like, they straight up
00:41:58
Speaker
almost kill each other a few times. I love them. And I love Ada. And Harley Rose Garo from... Yeah, HR. Yeah, HR from Good Gone Bad, which is part of the Fallen Men series. I love her down. Yeah.
00:42:16
Speaker
There are so many good ones though, but are there... I wish people could see Kayla's face as we talk about the fallen men series. Anytime we talk about the fallen men series, she's like disgusted. That is not the truth though, because I did like a lot of those books, like half of them, more than half, more than half. Yeah.
00:42:39
Speaker
We should ask Selena to come on. That should be the episode where we bring Selena on. I'm literally gonna be fighting for- oh yeah, we're actually gonna fight if she comes on. No, she would literally block me. We can't do that.
00:42:56
Speaker
So it'll just be me, Brandy, and Selena. And we can't talk about the first book. But we can talk about any other book after. Oh, man. Yeah. I'm going to send you a copy of Welcome to the Dark Side in the mail, Kayla. I'm going to annotate it for you. I'm going to send it back. You're going to highlight all the parts that are like little girl. Oh, man. When she calls from Daddy.
00:43:26
Speaker
hot barf. Who else do you love, Brandi? There are so many good female main characters and I just feel like it's important to all of us and feel free to correct me that a female main character is like strong and independent and or able to be vulnerable, like has as much of a personality outside of a relationship in a romance book as they do within the relationship. Like I feel like that's so important.
00:43:54
Speaker
um but i want to quickly ask if you guys have like book girlfriends like girlfriends like i want to date this character like i want her for me yes i would love to start yes um yeah i have a new one obviously miss indy iris from the right move i can't like shut up about because she's just so fresh on my mind but
00:44:22
Speaker
indy is just so hot and a lot of it i would actually say like comes more so from her personality than like her actual physicality because i'm trying to recall like the
00:44:36
Speaker
uh MMC Ryan like he describes her physically but he it's not like you know in some books it's like oh she had like the best tits in the tiniest ways and yeah like and it's just like on repeat and like all he can think about are her tits like that's it but with indy like we got like we got a description of her there's actually one that i'm thinking of right now but it's so wildly inappropriate um but
00:45:05
Speaker
um i feel like her hotness really did show through her personality and then when we did see them hook up in this book it was just like it was hot he they were just extremely hot together this is nowhere near being like the hottest book i've ever read
Book Girlfriends Discussion
00:45:24
Speaker
but i love when it's like a combination of characters that i really love and admire um
00:45:31
Speaker
who can be intimate with one another and the intimacy is, the physical intimacy is just fantastic. I also, another character that I would also love to date is Jenny from Play With Me. This is so corny. I would like to, no, I'm not gonna say that. I would like to play with her. You can leave that in. I think she,
00:45:57
Speaker
Ginny, she should have made my original list. She is just such an amazing female main character who goes on like, I think a really interesting and relatable journey that I think so many young girls in their 20s go through. And it's just like, yeah, like discovering like who she is and what she wants, but like staying like very steadfast in the things that like she doesn't want, which I really enjoyed. And the smut and play with me is just so good.
00:46:25
Speaker
Uh, and like not to like, I hope this doesn't spoil. I don't think it's a spoiler because you learn it very, very quickly, but like almost a hundred percent of the smut in that book is sorry graphic. Yeah. I was going to say like non penetrative.
00:46:40
Speaker
And it's just, it's so fucking hot. That's what made it hotter. Yeah. And that's what makes her hotter. Cause it's just like, she took her pleasure in her own hands and for like a good chunk, well, not a good chunk, but like I would say a good third of their smut is like, I don't want to, I don't know if the word using is like the right word, but like she's more so concerned about herself getting off than like Garrett getting off, which I thought was also really hot. Jenny.
00:47:07
Speaker
she's just she's just hot hot girl she's uh a dancer right yeah or yeah she's a dancer she's just she's just great love i saw this tweet that was like i saw this tweet that was like the hottest thing a guy can be is a little bit afraid of me and that's it immediately made me think of play with me because care is just like a little bit scared of jenny all the time i'm like obsessed with nature it's yeah he's so scared of me
00:47:36
Speaker
And then I would also want to date and be with, um, I would love to date and be with Zenny. I feel like Zenny would make me a better person. She, I feel like dating Zenny would be like a never ending therapy session, but like a really good one. Like she would make me open up in ways I've never opened up before. And you can take that however you want it.
00:48:00
Speaker
I think she's great. And honestly, I think I'd want to be in like a throuple because I can't have Zinni and not have Sean. Because I'm being so thirsty on this podcast. Like here's all the future characters that I need to sleep with. But Zinni and Sean together I think would kill me. Yeah, they would kill me. I love so many women. Okay.
00:48:31
Speaker
someone else can go. Yeah, I'll take it over. I'm just like sweating right now. A couple of the women I already mentioned, same thing are also my book girlfriends. I didn't include Rose in here because she scares me like in a good way. But still, she scares me. So I don't think I could
00:48:54
Speaker
Wait, also, you know, people make that joke that's like, I can't sleep with Rose because like, we can't be the same person. Exactly. That's true. Me with HR. That's also true. Well, actually, I had HR on my list. And then I took her off because I was like, yeah. But another woman, also from the fallen men series, and book number five, Aiden lies, Lila Meadows,
00:49:24
Speaker
I loved her and I also think what sells what sells her for me. Brandi just wrote in our chat, remember when Danner, spoiler, remember when Danner spit on them? Hot.
00:49:48
Speaker
there's a scene in good gone bad completely where dinner sits on them while he's hitting her from the back or hitting it from the back and it's the hottest thing ever i listened to that on audio and i was like and it's so short too i had to like rewind it and i was like what did he do he spit on him okay so sorry no that's okay um
00:50:14
Speaker
It also really helps when an author has a fantastic Pinterest board for their characters. Oh, yes. We're going to Lila's Pinterest board. Yeah. Gianna's pictures for Lila. She is high. I think that's actually really what was like, oh, okay. So she's for me. That's what really drove it home. And then, I mean, Bryce,
00:50:38
Speaker
I like I'm obsessed with her and not to add another redhead to the mix for Kinder to accuse me of being obsessed with myself, but Willa Grant and I know that's on Brandy's list too, I believe. I think she's just on like everybody's though. Yeah. Willa Grant is from Heartless by Elsie Silver and she's just
00:51:02
Speaker
I love her so much too. I'm sorry, Kayla, I didn't mean to like- No, no, I don't. Yeah, Willa is just like, Elsie's really good. I'm learning this because I'm reading a second series by her now for the first time. She's really good at writing different like facets of like friend groups, which I think is so fun. Because like Willa and her friend group with so far, we have three female main characters in the Chestnut Springs series.
00:51:32
Speaker
And Willa is like the crazy one. Like she's crazy loud and she likes to verbally fight with people and she would probably physically fight for people like that she loves. Like I just love her. She's got like such a smart ass mouth and oh my God. She's like so combative and she's just so hot. She's got no filter. Yeah. Yeah. And just like speaks her mind. And it's so funny. Elsie is so funny. Like how am I laughing out loud? Yeah. I love Willa. Kendra.
00:52:02
Speaker
okay no kendra's in the chat going yeah don't i was gonna say maybe tits and nipples listen not to be a man but will it physically it's really hot or describe like elsie's over did a really good job of like describing her and i was like whoa this girl is stunning i sorry i just muted myself anyway because casper was barking
00:52:27
Speaker
Kendra, can you still- Casper, yeah, cause Casper, I'm over here talking about big titties and Casper is like, yeah. Ew. He said stand up. It was like, stand up. Yep. The only other person that I had on my list who I haven't, well, I guess I've talked about everybody really, like Ada and HR, like they were on my list of like women I really admire too, but like I also just think, but they're so hot, so.
00:52:57
Speaker
Yeah. I love scary, scary book girlfriends. Like I want them to be a little bit mean to me, you know? Yeah. I was also thinking through a lot of the Lauren Asher women. And I think that like, in terms of book girlfriend, I think I would personally pick, you know, I was about to say, I was about to say Maya. And then I was like thinking about it. And I was like, wait, would I actually pick like Iris? But I think book girlfriend, I think I would pick Maya.
00:53:28
Speaker
She's just a lot of fun. And she's also just really hot. I think that that would be my book girlfriend in the Lauren Asher universe, personally. Lauren writes really good women, like, and kind of what you were saying, Brandy, like Lauren, I think does a really good job of making each woman in the series, like, she differentiates them very well within the group. So
00:53:53
Speaker
they're all so great. And like, as like the series goes on, you learn to appreciate each one like a little more. So like, Maya, my love for Maya in the first book just grows so that by the time we're in the fourth book that like, she's barely in but we get little mentions of her. I'm like, I love Maya, like, I'm so proud of her. I admire her so much. I, you know what, though, if I had to choose a book girlfriend, specifically from the Dirty Air series, I think I would do Sophie. Really?
00:54:21
Speaker
yeah sophie a she's a tourist so we see each other i i loved collided collided it's not my favorite book because the other three i think are just like they're hard to compete like it's not my fault she outdid herself right but collided was a good time spoiler for collided when they fucked in the jeep that was that's one of the hottest scenes that that lower natural has ever written and sophie was just such a fun time a really great friend tamiah
00:54:50
Speaker
especially when she learns their stories are taking place at the same time. And like you see the ways that Sophie is there for Maya while she's also going through shit herself. She's just phenomenal. You know, now that I say Maya, I'm like, actually, can I just be Maya and Noah? Oh, yeah, that's I want Noah. Yeah, I think for me, I would probably have to put a for all I haven't read a final offer yet. But for all of her
00:55:18
Speaker
female main characters. I think I'd probably pick Chloe. Oh Chloe's great. Chloe's so great. I also just like I love a little bit like like I said a little scary a little crazy like Chloe's like Chloe's like yeah she's like a lot like Willa. She's loud, she's a lot like combative. Yeah a little scary. I need to reread that entire series. I know I was like I wanted yeah I want to reread Dreamland before I read Final Offer but
00:55:48
Speaker
And I'm waiting for the terms and conditions audiobook to come out. Is it out already? No, no, right. You mean fine print? Oh, yeah, fine print is out. And so is throttled. But yeah, okay. Hmm. I want to read, you know, but my thing with like rereading books like that, I highlight so much on like my Kindle version. And like rereading it, I don't want to see the shit that I've already highlighted. Like when I'm rereading in full. Is that like a me thing? Like I don't want to
00:56:17
Speaker
No, I like fresh eyes. Yeah, I know people who have like five copies of the same book just because they want to like re-highlight every single time. Yeah, I love rereading my highlights. It's just like if I'm gonna read something cover to cover again, I would prefer for it to be like a fresh copy.
00:56:32
Speaker
Well this was so much fun you guys. I loved getting to chat book girlfriends. Happy Women's History Month you guys.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:56:42
Speaker
I know this will be coming out at the end of Women's History Month but I'm glad we got it. We got it in. We love to celebrate women. Yay. Yay. That sounded so unenthusiastic. You were like yay.
00:57:00
Speaker
You can do the jazz hands that I was doing earlier. Yeah, you can do the jazz hands that I was doing earlier. Yeah, you can do the jazz hands that I was doing earlier. Yeah, you can do the jazz hands that I was doing earlier. Yeah, you can do the jazz hands that I was doing earlier. Yeah, you can do the jazz hands that I was doing earlier. Yeah, you can do the jazz hands that I was doing earlier. Yeah, you can do the jazz hands that I was doing earlier. Yeah, you can do the jazz hands that I was doing earlier. Yeah, you can do the jazz hands that I was doing earlier. Yeah, you can do the jazz hands that I was doing earlier. Yeah, you can do the jazz hands that I was doing earlier. Yeah, you can do the jazz hands that I was doing earlier. Yeah, you can do the jazz hands that I was doing earlier. Yeah, you can do the jazz hands that I was doing earlier. Yeah, you can do the jazz hands that I was doing earlier. Yeah,
00:57:31
Speaker
Yes. Tell us who you have a crush on. Tell us who you admire. Tell us who you relate to and want to hear it all. Okay Besties! We will talk to you next time. Bye Besties! Bye! See you next time!