Our TBR Lists Part 2

[00:00:00] Alabama Take Projection

[00:00:11] Welcome to Check Your Shelf, the official book podcast of the Alabama Take Network.

[00:00:16] I'm your host, Jaime and I'm here with my co-host, Jennifer. Hello, Jennifer.

[00:00:19] Hello, Jaime.

[00:00:20] And we are going to do part two of our TBR list.

[00:00:26] Yes.

[00:00:27] Which means...

[00:00:28] To Be Red.

[00:00:29] And now, a lot of these, I have lofty goals and hope to read all these in October.

[00:00:36] I think you will.

[00:00:37] And I might. But sometimes I get off on a tangent and totally throw my TBR out the window. So we'll see.

[00:00:45] And you listen to most of your books.

[00:00:47] I am. I'm almost all audio.

[00:00:52] I do do tandem reads where like I'll have the ebook also so that I can like read in bed.

[00:01:01] I've never heard it called that before.

[00:01:03] I really?

[00:01:04] Tandom reads because that's how I read everything.

[00:01:06] Yeah.

[00:01:07] It's like just back and forth.

[00:01:08] I go back and forth.

[00:01:09] Like I like to also have the ebook handy where I can go back and forth for...

[00:01:13] My job lends itself to where I don't...

[00:01:16] It's not like I'm not sitting on a desk where I'm like reading stuff.

[00:01:20] I'm making stuff because you know...

[00:01:23] Just in case they forgot from last time you're a metal smith.

[00:01:25] I'm a metal smith.

[00:01:26] You make crowns and daggers.

[00:01:27] I make crowns and daggers in jewelry.

[00:01:30] So it's muscle memory honestly because I make big orders for stores.

[00:01:37] And so I've made these rings 10 million times or whatever.

[00:01:42] So I can totally get into my book list and do it while I'm just doing my thing.

[00:01:47] Plug your website because I love your jewelry.

[00:01:50] Oh okay.

[00:01:51] It's Grace and Faith Designs but the website is www.gracethesigns.com.

[00:01:58] Leave out the and.

[00:01:59] Because the holidays are coming.

[00:02:01] Yeah, yeah that's true.

[00:02:03] And they make for great gifts.

[00:02:05] They really do.

[00:02:06] I've received several.

[00:02:07] I just learned about my favorite gifts.

[00:02:09] Jamie's husband I always know.

[00:02:11] I always know when I get a text from Corey that is fixing me something fun.

[00:02:18] And they're always so sweet.

[00:02:21] He's really sweet.

[00:02:22] Yeah, he is.

[00:02:23] It's very thoughtful things that he gets you.

[00:02:26] Yeah.

[00:02:27] Yeah.

[00:02:28] Okay, so we are going to pick back up with our list.

[00:02:33] Let me see what my last book is to make sure we're not...

[00:02:36] I'm not leaving you out on a...

[00:02:38] Okay, yeah.

[00:02:39] On a horror book note.

[00:02:41] So if you start that means I'll end and I have an acceptable book to be our podcast son off.

[00:02:46] So it's okay.

[00:02:47] Awesome.

[00:02:48] So you go first.

[00:02:49] Okay.

[00:02:50] I am so excited about this book because I loved the first one.

[00:02:54] And this is an advanced readers copy that I have.

[00:02:58] Advanced readers copies if listeners don't know it's books before they come out

[00:03:05] that people, if you qualify whatever that you can read early and review for publishers.

[00:03:14] So it is...

[00:03:15] So the first book was Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldry.

[00:03:18] Yes, it won the Nebula Award.

[00:03:20] Yes.

[00:03:21] Oh my word.

[00:03:22] I love it.

[00:03:23] It's such a fantastic book.

[00:03:24] It's called...

[00:03:25] It's considered cozy fantasy.

[00:03:27] It was so much fun.

[00:03:30] So this is the sequel, Book Shops and Bone Dust by Travis Baldry.

[00:03:36] So I'm just gonna read the synopsis because honestly I don't know what it's about other

[00:03:45] than what the synopsis tells me.

[00:03:49] And these are high fantasy, all of them.

[00:03:53] When an injury throws a young battle hungry orc off her chosen path she may find that

[00:03:59] what we need isn't always what we seek.

[00:04:01] This is set in the same world of Legends and Lattes and it says it takes us on a journey

[00:04:07] of high fantasy, first loves and second hand books.

[00:04:10] So Vivi's career with the notorious mercenary company Rackham's Ravens isn't going as planned.

[00:04:17] Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer she's packed off against her will

[00:04:23] to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Merck.

[00:04:26] So far from the action that she worries she'll never be able to return to the action.

[00:04:31] Spending her hours at a beleaguered bookshop in the company of its foul mouth proprietor

[00:04:37] is the last thing she would have predicted for her life.

[00:04:40] But it may be exactly what she needs and the seeds of change that she couldn't possibly have imagined.

[00:04:47] So I mean it's literally like when you think of fantasy you think of high stakes normally.

[00:04:53] You think of like the end of the world basically like some young warrior is having to save everybody

[00:05:00] save her whole village you know that's how most fantasy but the cozy fantasy genre is low stakes.

[00:05:07] So there's it's literally just like magical creatures live in their lives kind of you know like

[00:05:16] in the first one in Legends and Lattes it was an orc who no longer wanted to be part of a mercenary

[00:05:22] and she so she was a she she went and opened a coffee shop and the village had never even heard of coffee

[00:05:29] and she had to like teach them about coffee.

[00:05:32] So this is this is set in a bookstore I think it's probably gonna be a lot of the same vibe just

[00:05:37] quirky magical creatures live in their lives.

[00:05:41] So I read something recently that said if you're if you're new to cozy things at books

[00:05:47] and you're new to fantasy and you're new to cozy fantasy that Travis Baldry is a great

[00:05:54] it is fantastic author like to jump into and he narrates his books because he's actually

[00:06:00] a and like award-winning narrator and now he writes his own books and so he narrates

[00:06:07] him and he's so good he does the voices and everything.

[00:06:11] Okay so good.

[00:06:13] I think it actually I don't know that it won the Nebula award.

[00:06:16] I think it may have just it was a finalist.

[00:06:18] Okay yeah but like there's no science fiction books that are released every year like the fact that it yeah.

[00:06:24] Yeah, and it's cozy fantasy.

[00:06:26] Yeah.

[00:06:27] Yeah it literally when every someone said it felt like reading a warm hug and and that is exactly it's

[00:06:36] just like it just makes you feel good.

[00:06:38] Yeah so is it a good palette?

[00:06:41] Yeah it would be a good yeah because they don't require any thought really.

[00:06:45] Okay.

[00:06:46] They're not that deep.

[00:06:48] They're just fun so at first I didn't like cozy fantasy because I read high stakes fantasy

[00:06:54] normally and I was like there's not enough like battle I need I need some some dire consequences

[00:07:03] if something doesn't happen you know right but then when I got the hang of it I realized

[00:07:10] I really just thought it was just fun.

[00:07:12] I mean I still read a lot of you know major fantasy but cozy fantasy is my jam.

[00:07:20] Okay.

[00:07:21] Yeah I'm so excited about this one.

[00:07:23] I actually have I said the arc but I actually have the ALC which is advanced listeners copy

[00:07:32] so I actually have the audiobook.

[00:07:33] Okay cool.

[00:07:34] Which I prefer so I'm so excited about that.

[00:07:38] And it's called what now?

[00:07:39] It's called book shops and bonus by Travis Baldry but it actually doesn't come out till November 6th.

[00:07:45] Okay.

[00:07:46] So listeners I'm sorry but I have it and you don't and you can't listen to it till November 6th so.

[00:07:51] But you know it's good when you do get it.

[00:07:53] They'll know it's good.

[00:07:54] Oh I just can't even imagine how great it's going to be.

[00:07:57] I'm so excited about it.

[00:08:00] Well my first one okay this is really it sounds so strange but I then I feel like I need to tell a smidgen of a backstory.

[00:08:08] When I was a kid like in Sunday school or in church when they talked about leprosy like I was terrified.

[00:08:16] You thought maybe you were going to get it?

[00:08:18] I did not understand it nobody could explain it to me.

[00:08:21] It was like all kinds of ways through the Bible people had leprosy.

[00:08:26] So like to this day like you never really hear that much about it you know because it's been cured or whatever.

[00:08:32] Right.

[00:08:33] But I still like have that moment of like it's leprosy.

[00:08:36] I don't know what to say about this.

[00:08:42] So this past July a book came out and I haven't read it yet but I just discovered it.

[00:08:47] It's called King of the Armadillas by Wendy Chin Tanner and it's her debut novel.

[00:08:53] Armadillas Carrie Leprosy.

[00:08:56] Exactly.

[00:08:57] Yep yep yep yep yep.

[00:08:59] So she's published poetry before but she's never published a novel before this one but it said in 1950s New York and there is a 15 year old who was diagnosed with leprosy.

[00:09:09] And in 1950s New York apparently this was a big enough problem where we had a leper colony in Louisiana.

[00:09:15] Oh did you know this?

[00:09:16] No.

[00:09:17] It was a plantain.

[00:09:18] So this is real.

[00:09:19] Yeah yes it is.

[00:09:20] It's actually based off of things that happened to the author's father.

[00:09:24] Wow.

[00:09:25] Yeah it's inspired by his true story.

[00:09:27] So he's diagnosed with leprosy and he has to leave his home in the Bronx to go quarantine in Louisiana.

[00:09:33] So but it's like at first he's all like you know being confined and isolated like it feels you know strange and uncomfortable but then he kind of starts building a life there.

[00:09:46] And it's his first taste of freedom ironically is in this quarantine like being away from his family and everything he knew like growing up and kind of making his own life.

[00:09:55] Making his own life.

[00:09:56] Yeah so it's a coming of age story in a leper colony.

[00:10:01] And then also during this time there's like this cure is on the horizon.

[00:10:06] So he's got to decide what he's going to do next when he doesn't have leprosy because he won't have to stay in quarantine anymore.

[00:10:14] This is fascinating.

[00:10:15] Yeah I'm really excited about this book.

[00:10:17] I wish I knew where I'd even heard of this one but I just read so many reviews.

[00:10:22] I just wrote a review of it but it's called King of the Armadillas.

[00:10:26] I'm saying that so sudden the Armadillas King of the Armadillo Spoe Wendy Chin Tanner.

[00:10:32] We are Southern.

[00:10:33] We are we are.

[00:10:35] Yeah.

[00:10:37] Okay.

[00:10:41] So my next one is actually when we kind of touched on in part one that was a book of the month selection because I actually have the ALC for this one as well.

[00:10:55] Events Listeners copy and this is why I didn't get it for Book of the Month because I already have it.

[00:11:01] Okay.

[00:11:02] Starling House.

[00:11:03] Oh cool.

[00:11:04] By Alex Harrow.

[00:11:06] And I think this one is just a very, very fun for Halloween.

[00:11:12] I wish I wish it came out for the general public before it comes out October 30th but I feel like it would be a really great vibe for the whole month of October.

[00:11:22] But I'm sure they did that on purpose to be right at Halloween.

[00:11:26] So it's a gothic tale from the author Alex Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can't stay buried in the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.

[00:11:37] So I mean there's a haunted house in it.

[00:11:40] And I think I think it's going to be a lot of there's maybe I'm wrong but I think there's going to be like a Bu Radley situation and with this haunted house and I'm just I think it's going to be great.

[00:11:57] I'm very excited about listening to it and this author I have not read anything by this author but I think her books are very popular.

[00:12:07] I think people love her books so I expect fully to enjoy it.

[00:12:12] And it's Starling House.

[00:12:14] Starling House by Alex, Alex Harrow.

[00:12:16] Alex Harrow.

[00:12:17] Okay.

[00:12:18] And that way did you not put that in your book of the month?

[00:12:21] That was my this is my second choice.

[00:12:23] Oh you haven't decided yet.

[00:12:25] I gotta do a deep dive.

[00:12:26] Yeah.

[00:12:27] Do some more research.

[00:12:28] I think it sounds so good.

[00:12:29] Yeah.

[00:12:30] A perfect Halloween spooky vibe book.

[00:12:33] Yeah.

[00:12:34] Yeah.

[00:12:35] And I don't do spooky vibes so I'm hoping it's not too scary.

[00:12:39] Speaking of spooky vibes my next book I don't even ever want you to Google it because I think if you see the cover of it like it is the most un-Jennifer friendly cover I've ever seen.

[00:12:49] There's like an eyeball and teeth and my licking and eyeball like it's horrible.

[00:12:54] I need like rainbows and butterflies.

[00:12:56] Yeah this is not it.

[00:12:57] It's called Maeve Fly by CJ Leed and it came out in June.

[00:13:02] It's their debut novel and it's about a woman who works at Disneyland.

[00:13:05] She's a princess and that's what she does during the day and then at night she goes to bars on the sunset strip and like imitates her favorite like literary characters and they're like not Disney princesses.

[00:13:19] It's like darker characters.

[00:13:21] Like scarier stuff.

[00:13:23] Yeah and then her best friend's brother comes to town and things just get really just crazy.

[00:13:30] Well there's an eyeball on the cover.

[00:13:32] There's an eyeball on the cover and then they said like I keep seeing it.

[00:13:36] It's like seeing where they're comparing the main character to Patrick Bateman from American Psycho which I expect you to know zero.

[00:13:43] I know the name.

[00:13:44] But yeah that's it.

[00:13:45] Yeah it's a yeah so it's like a female version kind of American Psycho.

[00:13:50] This sounds so you.

[00:13:52] I don't know I'm going to rephrase this.

[00:13:56] This sounds really like something you would like.

[00:13:58] Yeah yeah it's so weird.

[00:14:00] It is so weird and the cover actually there's so much going on it's almost off putting but then when I read the description and how she's living one life professionally during the day.

[00:14:11] A princess.

[00:14:13] Yeah that's fine.

[00:14:15] So that's Maeve M A E V E fly by CJ lead.

[00:14:20] Oh my goodness that sounds like something that sounds like something.

[00:14:27] Okay so my next one I love speaking of fantasies with high stakes Jennifer Armintrout.

[00:14:38] So I love Jennifer Armintrout and her books are just there are some major world building that happens in them but this is a brand new series.

[00:14:52] She's written for the last few years she's basically just been writing this other series that's unfinished but she just started a new series whatever JLA.

[00:15:04] Sounds like a George R R Martin situation.

[00:15:07] But it's called fall of ruin and wrath.

[00:15:12] And I'm so excited to read it I will give the warning to anyone it is based on books that I've read by her in the past it is going to be pretty spicy.

[00:15:27] Okay.

[00:15:28] So you've you know you've been warned about that and then in fact I think someone said this might be more than usual.

[00:15:37] I don't know what that means.

[00:15:38] I don't know what I'm getting into.

[00:15:39] I don't know what I'm getting into but I know it's a monster romance.

[00:15:44] Okay.

[00:15:45] I do know that.

[00:15:46] Okay.

[00:15:47] That's the first for me.

[00:15:48] Is it?

[00:15:49] Well I mean it's fantasy obviously and it's going to be but hers are more like the term roman to see.

[00:15:57] Yeah.

[00:15:59] So the romance is going to play a major part in them being able to defeat usually it's like a faded mates situation where only their union as a married couple can save the world or you know so I'm just guessing honestly because I haven't read it.

[00:16:25] But um so long ago the world was destroyed by gods only nine cities were spared separated by vast wilderness teaming with monsters and dangers each city is now ruled by a guardian royalty who feed on mortal pleasure born with an intuition that never fails.

[00:16:41] Callista knows her talents are of great value to the power hungry of the world so she lives hidden as a courtesan of the Baron of Archwood in exchange for his protection she grants him information when her intuition leads her to save a traveling prince in dire trouble.

[00:16:58] The voice inside her blazes with warning today he'll bring her joy and one day he'll be her doom.

[00:17:06] Um so I as with all of her books I'm assuming that this prince whatever is going to be her love interest and what she typically with with fantasy what you think you know isn't really what you know and he's going to be something he's not but also apparently he's a monster.

[00:17:24] Um but these are going to be high stakes so that means there's going to be a there's going to be like battle and fighting you know it's going to be saving the world yeah saving at least her her world she lives in.

[00:17:38] That sounds really good.

[00:17:40] Well I hope I haven't read anything I didn't like by her.

[00:17:45] What else has she written I'm trying to from blood and ashes series that I love and I that's the series I've made my dagger for.

[00:17:53] And then there's the spin off.

[00:17:57] Okay.

[00:17:58] Um, and it is a fire fire and flesh series and it's like the prequel to from blood and ashes.

[00:18:07] Okay.

[00:18:08] And I love that series so much there's like gods and goddesses and um it I just would love to be in her brain.

[00:18:18] I knew I would recognize these covers.

[00:18:20] Yes.

[00:18:21] To put eyes on them and and and side note this author kind of also amazes me that she has a degenerative degenerative eye condition and she will eventually go blind.

[00:18:31] And so she's trying very hard to get everything written that she ever pops in her head before she goes blind.

[00:18:37] I know.

[00:18:38] Oh, and that's something.

[00:18:39] Yeah.

[00:18:40] So I love her she's she's I love her books.

[00:18:45] So Jennifer Armin trout fall of ruin and wrath it's a new series even though she hasn't finished the previous series.

[00:18:53] And Jennifer is not holding that again.

[00:18:56] And I'm not mad.

[00:18:57] Not mad.

[00:19:01] Okay, so my next book is nonfiction and it is called round here and over yonder a front porch travel guide by two progressive hillbillies by Crane Crowder and Corey Ryan Forrester.

[00:19:14] Are you familiar with that?

[00:19:15] What fun will that be?

[00:19:17] Oh my goodness.

[00:19:19] So they are two thirds of the well read podcast.

[00:19:23] And I'm a huge fan of Corey Ryan Forrester because my husband shared the putting his putting on putting on airs podcast with me when you and I were in the hot rows of our house of the dragon obsession.

[00:19:38] Yes, because he was breaking down the episodes with his sister.

[00:19:42] And they were so funny like, and you could tell like they knew what they were talking about it was really well researched but it was also hilarious because you know everything is from this like it's got this southern they talk like we talk.

[00:19:53] They talk like us but then they're talking about the Targaryens and the dragons and the.

[00:19:57] Yeah, I want to go listen.

[00:19:59] So this is just from what I understand is just them traveling the country and like collecting stories and you know it's like their interactions with people on the road.

[00:20:10] So I am super excited and I will have this both in print and tandem radio tandem read 100% yeah.

[00:20:17] Oh, that sounds good.

[00:20:18] Yeah.

[00:20:19] And it's called round here and over yonder a front porch travel guide by two progressive hillbillies by trade Crowder and Corey Ryan Forrester and it's coming out very soon if it's not already out it's coming out the next week or two I think so be on the lookout for that.

[00:20:34] Oh, that sounds good.

[00:20:36] Okay, so this next one.

[00:20:40] Let me make sure I know it.

[00:20:42] So y'all this is a this is a big change for me from what I've been talking about but I find.

[00:20:50] I find it very interesting.

[00:20:52] I used to read almost only.

[00:20:56] I almost almost only historical fiction.

[00:21:00] Several years ago.

[00:21:01] It was like all I read was historical fiction.

[00:21:03] So it's 19 steps by Millie Bobby Brown.

[00:21:09] That's the little girl you know from Stranger Things and in Dola Holmes.

[00:21:14] So this is based off of her family's history.

[00:21:17] It's based off a true story.

[00:21:19] I think it's her grandmother.

[00:21:22] It's a captivating novel inspired by the true events of her family's experience during World War two.

[00:21:28] My inner history loving teenage geek clapped her hands and next to see the thought of a oh that's a review.

[00:21:34] Okay, never mind.

[00:21:36] That was Kate Quinn's review of it.

[00:21:38] Okay.

[00:21:39] Okay, here we go.

[00:21:45] I just find what I find fascinating about this is that this little girl had time to write a novel when she's Stranger Things and she's I mean she's doing all these other things.

[00:21:56] But she wrote you know she's marrying John Bon Jovi son.

[00:21:59] No, I did not know that they've been engaged for a while.

[00:22:01] They're getting married soon and she wrote and you know a lot of times with celebrities they write their memoirs but she wrote a historical fiction novel.

[00:22:09] Yeah, and I'm just really excited to read it.

[00:22:12] So in in 1942 an air raid sirens continued well around London 18 year old Nellie Morris counts every day lucky that she emerges from the underground shelters unharmed her loving family rounder.

[00:22:25] After a chance encounter with Ray an American airman.

[00:22:30] Station nearby Nellie becomes enchanted with the idea of a broader world just when Nellie begins to embrace an exciting new life with Ray a terrible incident occurs during an air raid one evening tearing Nellie's world apart.

[00:22:42] But just when it seems all hope is lost Nellie finds that against all odds love and happiness can triumph.

[00:22:48] And it says that 19 steps is a deeply affecting mesmerizing page Turner expired by the authors family history.

[00:22:56] It's already out.

[00:22:57] It is already out.

[00:22:58] Okay.

[00:22:59] And I think it just sounds.

[00:23:01] I mean it's been several years since I've read historical fiction and I think I got bored with them because I mean there is no end to the heroism honestly of World War Two but at the same time they all just started feeling the same.

[00:23:15] So I think that I think this will be fun to go back into historical fiction and I'm just fascinated because it's the little shaved head girl from Stranger Things and

[00:23:27] she wrote historical fiction in her spare time her spare time.

[00:23:31] Yeah, you'll have to let us know if that one's good.

[00:23:33] I think it sounds like it.

[00:23:37] It sounds like it will be.

[00:23:38] I'm excited about it.

[00:23:39] Yeah.

[00:23:40] My next one is really strange and it's another one I have no idea how I heard about it.

[00:23:47] But it came out in June.

[00:23:48] It's somebody's debut novel and it's called on Earth as it is on television by Emily Jane.

[00:23:56] And the whole.

[00:23:57] I think I've actually heard of this.

[00:23:58] Have you?

[00:23:59] Yes, I think.

[00:24:00] Let me look up.

[00:24:01] And the whole concept of the book is it's different people.

[00:24:04] Okay.

[00:24:05] So spaceships arrive and then they depart suddenly without a word like I don't think there's any incident but now we all know that aliens exist.

[00:24:15] Uh huh.

[00:24:16] It's just like all these different people's stories like how like them coming to terms with that and it's like now that we know this is real.

[00:24:24] How does it affect us?

[00:24:25] Even if they didn't do anything this time, like if nothing changed, but our entire world is different and bigger than we thought it was so.

[00:24:33] And like how do we think about life differently now?

[00:24:35] So it's just several characters dealing with that.

[00:24:37] What have you heard about it?

[00:24:38] That's I've only seen the cover.

[00:24:40] Yeah, I've heard the title and the cover.

[00:24:42] I haven't even heard a synopsis.

[00:24:44] Okay.

[00:24:45] So yeah.

[00:24:46] Oh, that's what it is on television by Emily J.

[00:24:50] And honestly the title grab me there's a couple of books lately where the titles have been so good.

[00:24:56] I'm like, I just have to at least see what this is about.

[00:24:59] That's a good title.

[00:25:00] Yeah, it really is.

[00:25:02] Okay.

[00:25:03] What's your next one?

[00:25:04] All right.

[00:25:05] So I love T. Kingfisher and T. Kingfisher is a pen name.

[00:25:14] She's actually also like a children's children's author, but this is her adult adult name T. Kingfisher.

[00:25:21] This one I think is actually considered cozy horror.

[00:25:25] Oh, is that a thing?

[00:25:27] I don't know.

[00:25:28] I don't know.

[00:25:30] So let me let me look it up so that I know what I'm telling you.

[00:25:36] T. Kingfisher it's Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher.

[00:25:44] Okay.

[00:25:45] And the cover is like really, really pretty.

[00:25:48] Yeah.

[00:25:49] It came out in 2022.

[00:25:50] Yes.

[00:25:51] Okay.

[00:25:52] Okay.

[00:25:53] So after years of seeing her sisters suffer at the hands of an abusive prince, Mara, the

[00:25:59] shy convent race third born daughter has finally realized that no one's coming to their

[00:26:03] rescue.

[00:26:04] No one except for Mara herself.

[00:26:06] Seeking help from a powerful grave which Mara is offered the tools to kill a prince

[00:26:10] if she can complete three impossible tasks.

[00:26:13] But as is the ways entails a princess, witches and daughters.

[00:26:17] The impossible is only the beginning on her quest.

[00:26:20] Mara is joined by the grave which are reluctant fairy godmother.

[00:26:24] This is a horror.

[00:26:25] No.

[00:26:26] Okay.

[00:26:27] I think this sounds like her typical cozy fantasy.

[00:26:30] Yeah.

[00:26:31] Oh yes.

[00:26:32] Okay.

[00:26:33] There's a chicken possessed by a demon in it.

[00:26:35] There's always something kind of like crazy like wildly.

[00:26:40] Yeah.

[00:26:41] So there's my daughters over there cracking up chicken possessed by demon.

[00:26:46] I forgot about that.

[00:26:48] She always includes some sort of element that's just like crazy like that.

[00:26:53] Okay.

[00:26:54] Maybe I will craft a maybe I want to crochet and make a chicken.

[00:26:59] Okay.

[00:27:00] Make a dagger for it.

[00:27:02] Together the five of them intend to be the hand that closes around the throat

[00:27:07] of the prince and freeze Morris family and their kingdom.

[00:27:10] Okay.

[00:27:11] So her books to me loosely resemble Dungeons and Dragons which I guess a lot of fantasy fantasy

[00:27:18] books probably do.

[00:27:20] There's like this like rag tag group of people that you would never think would be able to

[00:27:27] accomplish what they accomplish on there usually setting out on some sort of journey.

[00:27:32] And it usually is low consequence, low you know, low stakes but but they still have

[00:27:39] to defeat something in her books.

[00:27:42] And it's kind of I don't know, it just makes me think of the quests in Dungeons and Dragons

[00:27:47] like how her books feel that whole little heroes journey.

[00:27:52] And so there's usually but it's always it's always the underdogs like the least likely

[00:28:00] in her books to be able to accomplish whatever it is they need to accomplish.

[00:28:06] So obviously a chicken possessed by demon.

[00:28:09] So yeah, but I read one of her books this past summer and it I like sobbed.

[00:28:19] So I know like they're very you get very attached to her character.

[00:28:24] She writes very well developed characters and you grow to like really love them.

[00:28:30] Get really attached to her characters.

[00:28:32] That's been my experience.

[00:28:34] She knows how to write them.

[00:28:35] And what's the name of this one?

[00:28:37] Nettle and Bone by T. King Fisher.

[00:28:39] Okay.

[00:28:40] I haven't read a T. King Fisher.

[00:28:42] I didn't like it.

[00:28:43] Okay, that's a good endorsement.

[00:28:45] Yeah.

[00:28:46] Yep.

[00:28:47] Well my next book is a YA novel that came out in February and honestly

[00:28:53] the cover is what made what drew me to it like it really made me like

[00:28:57] investigate it and then it turned out to be exactly my kind of book.

[00:29:00] It's called She is a haunting by Trang Than Tran.

[00:29:05] And there's a lot going on.

[00:29:07] So I literally just have the Amazon description, but it's about a girl named Jade

[00:29:13] and she goes to Vietnam to visit her father and he's in this big creepy house.

[00:29:18] And night after night, this is so terrifying to me.

[00:29:21] Jade wakes up paralyzed.

[00:29:23] The walls exude a thrumming sound while bugs leave their legs and feelers

[00:29:27] in places they don't belong.

[00:29:29] She finds curious traces of her ancestors in the gardens they once tended.

[00:29:33] And at night Jade can't ignore the ghost of the beautiful bride who leaves cryptic warnings.

[00:29:38] Don't eat.

[00:29:40] So the house is trying to like kill her and her sister and her dad

[00:29:44] and it's up to Jade to figure out how and why and how to say them.

[00:29:48] This is like horror.

[00:29:49] Yes, I would say this would be horror.

[00:29:51] Yeah, the cover is.

[00:29:52] I'm looking at yeah, I pulled up the cover.

[00:29:54] I have seen this one.

[00:29:55] I thought it was I thought it was exactly what I imagined because I've seen this one.

[00:30:00] It's reviewed really well.

[00:30:02] Fish and it says Gothic fiction ghost stories.

[00:30:05] Yeah, it's been reviewed very well.

[00:30:07] I agree.

[00:30:08] Oh, so I may I don't know.

[00:30:10] I guess that's not really a palette cleanser, but I may try to.

[00:30:13] No, I wouldn't call that a palette cleanser.

[00:30:16] I don't know.

[00:30:17] I want to read it around Christmas.

[00:30:18] So I'm going to try to get it get it read maybe in October.

[00:30:21] Yeah, that's a good October book.

[00:30:23] Yeah.

[00:30:24] Yeah.

[00:30:25] Oh, that's what makes me think of this book I read by Grady Hendricks last year

[00:30:29] and it was like a spoof of an IKEA store.

[00:30:33] Horror store.

[00:30:34] Horror store.

[00:30:35] Yes.

[00:30:36] And the store is like trying to there's like it's like trying to kill its

[00:30:42] employees kind of it was crazy.

[00:30:44] I didn't read anything by him.

[00:30:47] Yeah, that was it.

[00:30:48] I got scared.

[00:30:49] But I was so I was so you just like the IKEA.

[00:30:53] I was I was like, because I love IKEA.

[00:30:56] Like I joke and tell my kids like take my ashes to IKEA when I die.

[00:31:01] She's looking at me.

[00:31:04] But I love IKEA.

[00:31:06] It's like my Disney world.

[00:31:08] So this is the book.

[00:31:10] I'm going to read it.

[00:31:12] I'm going to read it.

[00:31:13] I'm going to read it.

[00:31:15] So.

[00:31:16] This has been so fun.

[00:31:20] I do love IKEA.

[00:31:23] And that was why I was I was I was attracted to the book for that

[00:31:27] element, but it was kind of scary for me, even though it was I don't

[00:31:30] think the I don't think a horror reader would.

[00:31:33] I don't think a horror reader would think it was scary.

[00:31:35] Okay.

[00:31:36] It was like a spoof of scary almost.

[00:31:40] But it scared me.

[00:31:42] So there's my there's there's another one.

[00:31:45] There's it's not on my TBR, but if you like horror, I think that's

[00:31:50] how greatie Hendrix books are though.

[00:31:52] I don't think they're intended to be actually scary.

[00:31:56] They're like satirically.

[00:31:59] Yes, you're right.

[00:32:00] Because I have one of his I haven't read yet, but I think it's

[00:32:03] my best friend's exorcism and it seems like the cover is like a

[00:32:07] riff on the old right.

[00:32:09] It plays off of other like.

[00:32:11] Horror and horror and stuff.

[00:32:13] And he wrote paperbacks from hell.

[00:32:18] Took me a minute where he goes through and like those

[00:32:21] poor paperbacks that like I was just totally obsessed with

[00:32:25] the 80s but not allowed to read like he reviews those.

[00:32:28] And it's kind of funny.

[00:32:29] Yeah, so I think that's how all his books are like they're

[00:32:32] they're fake horror.

[00:32:34] Yeah, yeah, probably describe it.

[00:32:36] Yeah.

[00:32:37] So what's your last TBR for this episode?

[00:32:40] My last and I've talked about this already on like others

[00:32:44] but I still haven't gotten to it.

[00:32:46] I won this book on Goodreads on a giveaway.

[00:32:50] I enter every single giveaway that I go through like once

[00:32:56] a week in their giveaways and just like enter for like

[00:32:59] every single book and I won and it is Upper YA.

[00:33:03] It's Bring Me Your Midnight by Rachel Griffin.

[00:33:07] And I actually started it in September and it's like

[00:33:11] I kind of just wasn't feeling it because it definitely felt

[00:33:14] it had a vibe that told me it needed to be a fall

[00:33:19] more more autumn fall book, you know.

[00:33:22] So I'm looking up so I can make sure I tell it right.

[00:33:29] It's Witches again.

[00:33:31] That's just my vibe I guess right now unless you know

[00:33:35] I make it tired of witches and go way off on a tangent

[00:33:38] and read a bunch of romance instead.

[00:33:41] We'll see.

[00:33:44] So what I take from it, I'm not going to read all this

[00:33:48] but she is in a coven and their powers have greatly diminished

[00:33:55] over the years because of where they live

[00:33:58] and their life circumstances and she is in an arranged

[00:34:04] marriage almost with a powerful person in like their

[00:34:08] community government and this marriage is supposed to

[00:34:13] help their coven's powers reignite I guess.

[00:34:18] But I'm assuming either the marriage doesn't happen.

[00:34:23] Someone else comes into the picture that's actually

[00:34:26] the way that helps their powers reemerge.

[00:34:32] I don't know but it's the fate of their coven is lying in

[00:34:37] the hands of this teenage, upper teenage girl.

[00:34:40] So you said it's like upper YA new adult.

[00:34:43] Yeah.

[00:34:44] Okay.

[00:34:45] I do think there's a little element of romance

[00:34:48] but I don't think that's the main.

[00:34:52] I know that people who have read her books say it's very

[00:34:56] beautiful writing too and it's very atmospheric the way

[00:35:00] she writes and so.

[00:35:02] The cover of it's very pretty.

[00:35:04] Isn't it pretty?

[00:35:05] Yes, she actually had two different covers and one of them

[00:35:08] did not have the girl on it and it had more I don't know.

[00:35:12] I wanted, I actually kind of wanted the one without

[00:35:14] the girl on it because it was also beautiful.

[00:35:16] I guess I could just get them both.

[00:35:18] You could.

[00:35:19] But I won this one.

[00:35:20] You probably might.

[00:35:21] I might.

[00:35:22] The one that you look up on Goodreads is the one

[00:35:24] I won and it is beautiful.

[00:35:26] Yeah.

[00:35:27] I think it sounds like a very beautiful story.

[00:35:29] My description I just now gave, I know did not do it justice

[00:35:32] to what?

[00:35:33] Because it's has a 4.10 on Goodreads so.

[00:35:38] Yeah, that's pretty good.

[00:35:40] Yeah, we'll have to discuss it after you finish it too

[00:35:43] because I want to hear.

[00:35:44] Yeah, I'm excited about it.

[00:35:45] Rachel Griffin and she actually like I love when

[00:35:51] authors respond to their reviewers, you know.

[00:35:57] I mean she has like 50,000 followers or something and yet

[00:36:01] she responds to reviews and messages and stuff and I just

[00:36:05] love that and she does.

[00:36:06] That's nice.

[00:36:07] Yeah.

[00:36:08] She communicates a lot with her reviewers and readers.

[00:36:15] And her on Instagram if anyone wants to follow her is

[00:36:18] Tom's new Rachel.

[00:36:19] Oh, that's a good name.

[00:36:21] Yep.

[00:36:22] Great name.

[00:36:23] Yep.

[00:36:24] So.

[00:36:25] Okay.

[00:36:26] So last book with a podcast.

[00:36:29] I saved this one for last.

[00:36:30] I'm super excited about this one.

[00:36:32] It's it came out in July and it's called the librarianist by

[00:36:36] Patrick DeWitt.

[00:36:37] Does it have like a library card thing on the front?

[00:36:40] Yes, yes.

[00:36:41] I have seen that one.

[00:36:42] Yes.

[00:36:43] And it is about Bob Comet who is a retired librarian in his

[00:36:48] 70s and there he runs in he's at the supermarket and

[00:36:52] there he sees a confused like elderly woman and she's

[00:36:54] lost.

[00:36:55] So he helps her and takes her back to her senior center and

[00:36:59] then as things go on, he starts volunteering there.

[00:37:03] And then as you're as he's volunteering there, apparently

[00:37:07] like his life story comes out, like as he's working with

[00:37:10] like the different, the different people who live

[00:37:13] there and he's like this introvert with this, who's

[00:37:18] lived this really big life.

[00:37:20] So and you find out like what led him to be a librarian.

[00:37:24] It sounds a lot to me like, do you remember the book or

[00:37:28] the movie Big Fish?

[00:37:29] Mm-hmm.

[00:37:30] So it's like he, he, he like, I'm not trying to say like

[00:37:35] strange people and underdogs kind of gravitate toward

[00:37:39] him and they impact his life.

[00:37:41] So it's like kind of how he's, he's where he's at

[00:37:44] and he was influenced.

[00:37:45] So he's looking back.

[00:37:46] He's looking back.

[00:37:47] I think he might be telling his story to the people, to

[00:37:50] the residents of this, of this senior center.

[00:37:53] This sounds so good.

[00:37:54] But that's what I gathered from the synopsis.

[00:37:59] So and that is The Librarianist by Patrick DeWitt.

[00:38:03] Jamie, your TBR sounds way better than my TBR.

[00:38:06] No.

[00:38:07] No, no, no, no.

[00:38:08] No, it's just different.

[00:38:09] Oh, it sounds so good.

[00:38:11] And I mean, and honestly just, I have, this is

[00:38:14] what I do.

[00:38:15] Like I have to keep up with this stuff.

[00:38:18] So I should challenge you to read one off my TBR and

[00:38:21] I read one off your TBR.

[00:38:22] You know, I thought about that after telling you

[00:38:24] about Sedona's book club last episode.

[00:38:26] How fun it would be if we, if we assigned each other.

[00:38:30] Yeah.

[00:38:31] That would be fun.

[00:38:32] But don't please don't assign a horror.

[00:38:34] Yeah.

[00:38:35] And don't make me read fan fiction.

[00:38:36] I don't, I won't mind an actual book.

[00:38:38] Because all the fan fiction isn't a book.

[00:38:40] But do you know what I'm saying?

[00:38:41] Like I need to hold it or hear it.

[00:38:42] Like I don't want to have to go to www.

[00:38:44] And read off a website.

[00:38:46] Yeah.

[00:38:47] Yeah, I will.

[00:38:48] I got you.

[00:38:49] I got you girl.

[00:38:50] Okay.

[00:38:51] And I'm not saying that is, I'm looking at her daughter like

[00:38:53] I'm so sorry.

[00:38:54] I'm really up wrong.

[00:38:55] It's like a, like fan fiction is a thing.

[00:38:57] You want to, you want a physical book you can hold in your hand.

[00:39:00] Yes.

[00:39:01] Yeah.

[00:39:02] I get it.

[00:39:03] Yeah.

[00:39:04] Yeah.

[00:39:05] Cause and also tell you think about like I have to

[00:39:06] recommend books all the time.

[00:39:07] And like I couldn't imagine like.

[00:39:08] As a librarian saying, well, I actually just look it up on

[00:39:11] a website.

[00:39:12] Yeah.

[00:39:13] You want it?

[00:39:14] Yeah.

[00:39:15] I get it.

[00:39:16] Okay.

[00:39:17] We should do that.

[00:39:18] That'd be fun.

[00:39:19] Let's do that.

[00:39:20] Once I catch up with my good reads and get all of my stuff.

[00:39:22] I've been reading all your finished.

[00:39:24] Well, yeah.

[00:39:25] We'll sign each other stuff and I want to sign you anything

[00:39:27] scary.

[00:39:28] You know, I'm going to give a quick plug.

[00:39:30] So I don't know if we're ever, I don't know when

[00:39:32] we're going to open.

[00:39:33] It's still a construction zone, but our little, little town

[00:39:36] is getting its very first independent bookstore.

[00:39:38] And do you not know, do you know this?

[00:39:41] Yes.

[00:39:42] Okay.

[00:39:43] And I was hired as the store manager.

[00:39:44] Do you know this?

[00:39:45] Yes.

[00:39:46] Okay.

[00:39:47] Well, I mean it's a slow process because it's the

[00:39:50] construction is our town has a lot of laws and like

[00:39:54] to keep having, you know, lots of inspections.

[00:39:57] So we hope to be open by December.

[00:40:00] Oh, just the time for Christmas.

[00:40:02] I know.

[00:40:03] So you are giving me so many ideas of things to, to

[00:40:07] stock and stuff.

[00:40:09] Yeah.

[00:40:10] I guess I'm so excited about that.

[00:40:12] I can't wait to visit.

[00:40:14] It's going to be, I think it's going to be such a

[00:40:16] fun place to do.

[00:40:17] I can't wait.

[00:40:18] It's, I'm so excited.

[00:40:20] And we can, as you get closer to open and I'm

[00:40:23] sure like your listeners can, we'll keep them up

[00:40:26] to date on it on the check yourself, Instagram

[00:40:29] and stuff in case there's anybody in the, in

[00:40:31] that area of Alabama who might want to visit

[00:40:34] and support an independent bookstore.

[00:40:38] I know.

[00:40:39] They're so hard to come by these days.

[00:40:41] I know.

[00:40:42] And I mean, we have a very quaint little downtown

[00:40:45] and why has there never been an independent bookstore?

[00:40:48] Yeah.

[00:40:49] So I'm excited.

[00:40:50] Yeah.

[00:40:51] I'm excited for you.

[00:40:52] So yeah.

[00:40:53] So you've given me a lot of things to be

[00:40:55] thinking about for buying and stocking.

[00:40:57] Awesome.

[00:40:58] It's exciting more than just some, more than

[00:41:00] fantasy and romance.

[00:41:02] Okay.

[00:41:03] Well, I guess we'll wrap this up then.

[00:41:07] I don't even know what we're doing.

[00:41:09] We've got so much coming like as far as like

[00:41:12] Yeah, all this fourth wing stuff.

[00:41:14] We're so excited about fourth wing, the fourth wing

[00:41:17] sequel.

[00:41:18] We're dragging our kids into the podcast.

[00:41:20] Yeah.

[00:41:21] Gift bookish, bookish gift suggestions for the

[00:41:24] holidays.

[00:41:25] Um, starting, uh, I guess it's, it's safe to

[00:41:30] announce it now, but there are going to be some

[00:41:32] bonus episodes.

[00:41:33] So I wanted to do, I always wanted to do like a

[00:41:36] Stephen King book club.

[00:41:38] And so we're just going to, I'm having some friends,

[00:41:41] not Jennifer.

[00:41:42] She absolutely wanted nothing to do with this.

[00:41:44] Um, read a Stephen King book.

[00:41:46] And then we get together and we're going to discuss it

[00:41:49] and release it as a podcast.

[00:41:50] My friend, Laura Cinnacle is going to come on

[00:41:52] and we're going to talk about Carrie, which is

[00:41:54] Stephen King's first book.

[00:41:56] And she has daughters.

[00:41:57] She has one teenage daughter, you know,

[00:41:59] who she's still still, she's got, you know,

[00:42:01] she's still still a little bit older than her.

[00:42:03] And so that's just going to be a fun,

[00:42:05] I think a fun perspective for us to talk about that

[00:42:07] book after having read it, you know,

[00:42:09] like as a teenager and now revisiting it as an adult.

[00:42:12] So,

[00:42:13] but yeah, so we've got to just keep an eye on our

[00:42:17] social media that is now completely functional.

[00:42:19] Thank you Jennifer.

[00:42:20] I'm trying.

[00:42:21] I'm trying.

[00:42:22] See what's coming up and you can always check out

[00:42:24] the Alabama take.com to see what else we've got

[00:42:26] going on.

[00:42:27] Um,

[00:42:28] and we'll see you all next time.

[00:42:29] Thank you for listening and we will see you then.

[00:42:32] Thank you.