Bookwild - Buddy Read Review: The Ursulina by Brian Freeman

Episode Date: November 22, 2022

We are back this week to talk about our first buddy read The Ursulina!Follow us on Instagram:Garehttps://www.instagram.com/gareindeedreads/Katehttps://www.instagram.com/thegirlwiththebookonthecouch/ Get Bookwild MerchCheck Out My Stories Are My Religion SubstackCheck Out Author Social Media PackagesCheck out the Bookwild Community on PatreonCheck out the Imposter Hour Podcast with Liz and GregFollow @imbookwild on InstagramOther Co-hosts On Instagram:Gare Billings @gareindeedreadsSteph Lauer @books.in.badgerlandHalley Sutton @halleysutton25Brian Watson @readingwithbrian 

Hey guys, welcome to the Killing the Tea podcast. This is Gare and Kate. And we are going to be discussing all things, chills, thrills, and kills. Kate and I are going to be talking about our favorite books, TV shows and movies that are in the thriller or crime fiction genre, as well as some reading habits and other items related to how we met on Bookstagram that will fit in with this podcast. So, Thank you so much for joining us. And we hope that you have fun and get totally terrified because I DNFed three bucks. Yeah, I did too. Like that never happens to me, especially not on the weekend. It's heartbreaking. We had a rough weekend. I was so pissed off on Sunday.

It was unbelievable. Yeah. Me too. I was like, I guess some of it is because Ursulina was that good for everyone. who's been wondering since last week, it was amazing. It was fantastic. I'm going to recommend it to everyone that I talk to.

Yeah. Let's talk or Selena. Yeah. Except not much. So we don't give anything away. It does have so amazing twist, so we won't go anywhere near there. Spooky, cold, just immersive. It was great.

Yeah, like, I mean, I loved everything about it. Like, so the setting, and if like nobody knows, like, the Ursulina is like this prequel to a book called In the Deep Deep Snow by Brian Freeman. And Kate got me hooked on Brian Freeman when she recommended the Nightbird. Mm-hmm. And now I'm, I'm obsessed. So I wanted to read The Ursulina because I have a weird, weird, weird. guilty pleasure, comfort pleasure, whatever you want to call it of, like, which I blame my father because my father got me into this. So thanks a lot, Baba. There we are. So my dad got me into,

like the shows, like the reality shows of we're going to find Bigfoot. We're going to find a Yeti. Because every episode, it's like, oh my God, are they actually getting close? And then nobody has yet, but they're just so, like, weird. Like, it's like those shows. And, the shows were like people go and like Florida and like the deep south and like hunt for like these snakes like okay so there was there's this one show I don't know what it's called but it's about these people who

this is such a weird tangent it's these people who like found this like factory or some sort of like business that was like testing on snakes or something and a storm hit it and all of these poisonous snakes that should not be in nature got out right like this is real and so this guy grabs like five of his buddies and his beagle and they like go into like

the swamps at night the forest and they like hunt these like ginormous poisonous snakes that like should not oh my god shit like that he got me like yeah it's so good and it's so like For like a Tuesday night, like for you and I, where we are like working our day jobs. Yeah. Making like a small break to like eat dinner or do whatever we have to do and recording our podcast. And then like we just kind of feel like brain dead by the end of it. Yeah.

It's the perfect thing to watch. So my dad got me hooked on like some of those shows. So I wanted to read the Ursulina because it is about a small town. Is it Minnesota or do I just want it to be Minnesota? why did I think it was New York? Okay. It's probably, you probably, because the book I read. It's probably because the book I read before was New York.

It's probably because I live in upstate New York and it's all like the weird shit. I tell you that gets like creepy around here. Okay. So anyway, it's in a small town where there's like nowans and shit. And the small town has this urban legend of, beast called the Ursulina, which is a Yeti or a Bigfoot. And there is a serial killer who is murdering people in the small town leaving a message saying, I am the Ursulina. Obviously, the protagonist knows that this is a serial killer. Like, she knows that it is not the actual Ursulina,

but the town is like double terrified because there are those people that believe this magical Beast is back and, you know, but it hit every mark for me. I know. It was like extremely suspenseful, atmospheric, and the atmosphere was cold, so I was even happier. Yes. And it had a lot of heart to it. I cried at the end of this book. And I was not expecting to cry at the end of this book. I got very emotional at the end of this book as well. Yeah. I will 100% agree with you on that. I also, yeah, like the setting and the atmosphere was perfect. I totally agree with you. Like this would not, this story would not do well in New York City or Los Angeles. So, you know, you have these woods. You have mountains and like it's scary and it's cold and it's winter. And I even love. Oh, yes. And it's the 80s, which I think gave it a more. I think I, I think you and I discussed this too like briefly. But having it set place in the 80s without. cell phones of any kind gave it such more of like that isolated feeling to me because like when

you are hunting down a serial killer and you are in the middle of nowhere, you can't grab your trusty little iPhone and dial 911. Yeah. Did you watch bodies, bodies, bodies? I did. Okay. Awesome. I did. I bought it. I bought it on Friday. I bought it Friday. I watched it. I liked it for what it was. My only thing is nothing against anybody that's ever recommended it to me. But I don't know if it was the studio or if it was like actual film reviewers, but they kept like comparing it to this generation's scream. Yeah. I wouldn't have said that. it's no it's like a very like it's very much like a locked room mystery that is like very timely for yes young people today i thought it was really good i really enjoyed it but it did not it's not this generation scream like it's completely in its own its own movie it's own genre almost um but yes i did watch that yeah and i loved the setting to that one as well

Yes. And I was all lit with cell phones, like a lot of it. I thought that was so cool. Yeah. That was what I made me think of it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So yeah, I did enjoy bodies, bodies, bodies. Yeah. I feel like I'm a very poppy horror thriller kind of thing. 100%. Yeah. And I feel like it might be, I feel like it's one of those things that people are either going to like love or hate only because the. characters are all very annoying. Yeah. Yeah. It definitely makes fun of like Gen Z. We're cracking up. Yes. It definitely makes fun of them. To the point though that I was like, okay, I don't really care if anybody lives to see the end of this movie. I know, I know. Except for my girl. There's my girl. I don't know what her name is. Chase, I think is her first name. She was the girlfriend of Pete Davidson. Oh, okay. Yeah. And she was in a show called Generations on HBO that I absolutely loved and they canceled it after one season.

But I loved her in it. Yeah. Yeah. HBO sucks. Like you guys suck. Thank you for giving me a second season of Pretty Little Liars original sin. But Generations was my jam. And I feel like the thing is, too, is when you start a new show, you do one of two things.

You either, this is for you, HBO and Peacock. and Peacock because I'm pissed at both of you. If you are going to make a new show, you either guarantee it for two seasons or you do not end your first season with a cliffhanger. Because HBO did it to me with generations. LGBT super, like edgy show that is more of like a lighter euphoria.

It was really cool. It was funny. It was like fun to watch. Cliffhanger canceled after one season. Peacock rebooted queer as folk, gave us a cliffhanger, gave us this cast to characters we loved, canceled after one season. Oh my God. It's screaming homophobia to me. I mean, there was a common theme in what you just explained.

Yes, the common theme, other than me being completely and utterly pissed off, the common theme is, don't give me some LGBT. Because listen, like, I grew up without any, like, LGBT, because, listen, like, I grew up without any, like, LGBT. GBTQ shows or movies, you know, and there's still not a huge abundance of them now. So when you give me something like that, I want it. And I want it for more than one season. At least two seasons or wrap that shit up. Thank God. Euphoria has won a shitload of Emmys.

And Zendaya has HBO wrapped around her like, adorably talented little pinky because at least I can still have Nate Jacobs as my imaginary boyfriend and keep up with the queer themes in that show. But yeah, that is my, okay, those are my tangents. Those are my tangents. No, I think they were good. I like it. You're like, what I get myself into? What is today's theme? No. You're like, Ursulina, back to monster stories. Yes, yes. So much. Okay, so, with Ursulina, like you and I were very much like, loved it, loved it, loved it.

But I feel like because we knew we were going to be recording this, like we didn't really get into like the nitty gritty, except for a couple of things that were spoilers that like we could not discuss here. Yes. Yes. Yeah. It was so good. So good.

And it's cool. Like if you like police procedures or crime procedures, that's there. but it's not just like reading it's not like just reading like one crime and we're going to solve it like there's all the small town stuff going on and a monster going on maybe i like to call those like i mean this is like a totally made up term that i come up with but like i like i like to call those plots kind of like the spider web effect because they go in like different directions and have all these little like you know and it's spooky season so i love that i like that um but yes

I agree. Police procedure. Oh my God. All of the things. For our big oversized sweatshirt merch. Love. Love. Love.

Yes. Yeah. But yeah. Ursulina was, there were just so many. There are so many elements in the story, too, that, like, you can connect with that were so small. Yeah. When you have a town that's kind of haunted by something like that, like every, every town has, like, It's ghost story.

Every town has like something like that. But like even the thing that I was telling you about tonight where like this town has their own ice cream called the Ursulina poop with like whoppers or like malt balls whatever they are in them. Yes. It just cracked me up so much. But like even the atmospheric elements of Rebecca coming home and being, you know, on a shift as a deputy.

Yes. Coming home like the winter has changed. chilled her to the bone. She is exhausted. She takes that hot shower and like passes out in bed. But she's also afraid of what's happening in her town. Yes. Dying. I was dying because I just loved how effective things like that are. Yes. It makes you feel like you really are there. But it's also very relatable. It is. I didn't know if you were texting me if I said a spoiler. because I turned my phone on do not disturb. So I was like,

Ursulina poop is a spoiler, you idiot. We can't tell them about the ice cream. No, I was actually trying to look because speaking of Easter eggs, there was, he literally says in the deep, deep snow in the Ursulina. There's a sentence where he says that. And I was like, oh my God. Yeah, I was just trying to figure out where it was. But I was so impressed by that too.

I caught that too. And, but the thing is, is my reading patterns when I was reading that was around the time that our episode came out where I was like, this is how I tackle my TBR. And but like that week was just like insane. So I was like not reading until like 11 o'clock and then reading 11 to midnight and like not knowing when to like send you a message because like there were a couple of days that we were talking and you were like, I'm sleeping like shit. like I need to just like put my electronics away and like get to bed. So my and I did notice. Yeah. I did notice.

Yeah. I thought that was so cool. I had a couple. I had a lot of highlights for a book like this. I don't normally have that many. I had a lot. I couldn't even find the deep, deep snow reference. I loved.

I loved so much about this book how the town felt like. like another character and the history of it was like actually something interesting, you know, like it wasn't like our founding, like our founding fathers. Yeah. Yes. I wanted to tell you that. Of the mining community. Yes.

A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Yeah. I wanted to tell you this so bad because I love to do that thing where like, if you like this movie, you should read this book and vice versa. but there are two things that I wanted to mention to you that I did not talk about because I wanted your genuine reaction and one of them is I'm not going to spoil my cast

but Sandra was one of my favorite characters Yes, she was very cool and I picked Stevie from Schitt's Creek for her gosh, that would be really good. I was upset. Like, she was like the first choice. I absolutely love her.

And I just thought like 100% that would be her. So that's your little like Easter egg from me. And the other thing was, have you ever watched the original or the remake of the movie My Bloody Valentine? Mm-mm. I know it's one of your favorites. I added it to my IMDB watch list. Love, but it deals with. a mining community in a serial killer. Oh, nice. So that element made me kind of think of that movie,

which like had me immersed in this even more. Um, but yeah, it was so good. If they turned the Earth Selena into a series in the 80s following some of these other characters, I would 100% gobble it up. because I am reading the deep, deep snow now. Me too. You're a little further than me. 30% in, and I am enjoying it. It has a very different feel than the Ursulina, but it's still very interesting to me.

And I'm really enjoying it because I DNF three books. I could not do anything. We both were like, no, we'll try to read something else. And then we'll get to the deep, deep snow. I had both of us failed. We should have trusted our instincts and just kept going. Yes. Yes. Because my thing is, and I've said this a hundred times before, like, it is very important to me what I read on the weekends because that is the time that I don't have to worry about work. And I was reading things that, like, were just not doing it for me whatsoever. And I'm almost intrigued now on finishing

the two in the Frost Easton series. Yeah. But he also has another series. Hey, boys. Bruce. Bruce wants to read it with this. Bruce is like, fucking love that book.

I love Brian Freeman. Yeah, Brian Freeman is the best. But he's awesome. That's amazing. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. What is his other series

called. I can't remember. Jonathan something. Okay. But it's like 12 books and I'm. Jonathan stride. Yes. I'm kind of into maybe checking out the first one. Yes. Because I'm going to tell you what. I don't know if I'm completely manic when it comes to what I'm trying to pick out next. What is going on in this little brain of line? Probably. But like I have made. I feel like binging a series which brings me to my icebreaker

for the evening. You said you had a good one. I have a good one. I have a good one. I am so curious to hear your thoughts on this because you and I have very similar thoughts and

you're like my reading twin. Like my little twin baby with her cute little bangs and her full Kindle. And I want to know Kate the Great. If you had a choice, because we've discussed how amazing it is to find a series that you start and you love the entire way through. Yes. But we've also discussed how hot under the collar it makes us when we find a debut author.

And it's so exciting to find a new voice. So my question is, if you had a choice to read five books next to. month, would you pick a series written by one of your favorite authors, or would you choose five debut authors? Oh my God. I see why you're so proud of this question. I was so proud. I thought of it at like 1230 last night when I was trying to fall asleep. Oh, I love that. I have some of our, I have some of my ideas for the podcast in the middle of the night too. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Five of a series. Or five of an indie or new author, indie author. Yeah.

debut author. Debutt. How many ways can I say that? Well, I mean, that's the thing that's like tough, right? It's because you either have like, you have a situation where you might have a favorite author in this series just doesn't hit the mark for you. Oh, you're right. Or you have the possibility to read five books that all hit you so hard like Ashley Winstead. Yeah.

I thought yeah it took me back to like reading hers her first one man oh my gosh that is such a good point because I also I was leaning towards a series because I was going to say I'll probably know that I'll like it but you're right sometimes you can't imagine not liking a book someone puts out and you finally find the one you don't like yeah yeah and then you'd be stuck with five books and you would like never want to read that author again. Yeah. Like I started reading a book the other day. That was the start of a new series. And I was really liking it until I realized that it was going to be set in New Orleans. And I was like, I don't want to be in the hot muggy weather. I want like, I want her Selena. I know. So for me, it would be it would be five debut authors. I think is what I would choose.

I think you're right. I think that's what I would pick. Yeah. I think my reasoning is that like surely at least two of them would be good. Mm-hmm. Because it's always exciting to find like a like I love reading debut authors. And you don't get me wrong. I get excited when my favorite authors release something as well. But like there's just something about a debut author. It's like it's almost like a blind date. You know, like you don't know if like it's going to. be like, okay, like maybe I'll check out their next book. You don't know if you're going to be like, I'm signing up for everything that they write from now on or if you're just like, this author's not for me, you know? So. Yeah. And it's like there's the, you don't have any like preconceived notions going into it about like, oh, this author does this kind of thing. So you're like, there's the possibility of being really surprised and like experiencing something really unique. and then you could also just completely love it.

And that part's fun too to be like, I didn't even know what I was expecting and it was great. Well, yeah, because like, have you ever noticed like sometimes you read a book and you're like, oh, this kind of deals with like some tropes that I'm familiar with and like thrillers? And it turns out to be like a lot darker than what you thought it was going to be. Yeah, yeah. Or vice versa. Like you're like, oh my God, this book is going to be so dark and twisted.

And then like you're like, okay, this could have been a life. movie. Yeah, exactly. Like there's, and there's almost nothing happening. The twist at the end was a little lifetime for me. Yeah. Yeah, we've talked about that a little bit. I still, I almost texted you what you're talking about in the middle of the week

last week because I thought of the way you phrased making fun of the ending. It just pops into my head. So, I was so pissed. I was like, give me darkness. Oh, God, just go there. Just go there. But then also, I say that, but then also, like, I will be completely honest with the Ursulina. There are some trigger warnings when it comes to, like, violence and stuff.

Yeah. So, like, when that came, like, I've always been like, don't hold back. Like, the world is ugly. Like, you know, protect people and, like, show them how shitty it can be. So they just want to stay at home and read a book and not put themselves and take. by leaving their houses. And then like Brian Freeman did that with the Ursulita and I was like you're like you really took it too far man. I was like wow like that was not expected. A lot of it was not expected. A lot of it. Yeah. In the last like 10% and especially in the last 5% you were sending

me things like this again. What? Things changed again. They were like those like I think the call is coming from inside the house, dot, dot, dot, dot to like just complete rambling sentences all in capitals. Yeah, yeah, both of it. And I was like, there were so many all caps messages when we were reading this. I was just like, but then again, I can't read anything after it. So I'm just on a kick. But I did make a list because I'm like, I don't know if it's him and his writing that

made me feel this way. but like I kind of want to get into a series that I can binge again. So I started doing a little bit of research today. And I made like a list of some different series that I want to read. Nice. The Stillhouse Lake series is one of them. Have you heard of that? Yes.

Is that? No. I'm thinking of something else. Nope. I was thinking of Summit like. So no. Oh, okay. So Still House Lake, I read the first one years and years ago, and I really enjoyed it.

And it's about a woman who basically, like, is driving home one day with her kids and the police are at her house because they found, like, a dead body hanging in her garage and her husband's a serial killer. I did read this. Yep. And then she has to like. It's amazing. Yeah. But I want to read the series. I want to read the rest of them. Yeah. I can't remember if I read. We're the same.

I read that one years ago and haven't read another one since. I'm going to reread it and read the series. That sounds fun. I'm adding it. And I need to order the rest of the Tracy Crosswhite books. I didn't realize there were like eight of these. The Stillhouse Lake. They're six.

Six. I can't count. The author unfortunately passed away. What? And they have, I don't know if the sixth one is going to be the last one, but it says it's by her and another author because I think they had somebody maybe possibly wrap up the series with the sixth book. Oh my God. I don't know if she's going to continue it, but yeah, she did pass away, unfortunately, of cancer.

That's terrible. Yeah, it's very sad. It's very sad. But I. She's also giving me verity vibes now. So there's that. Yeah. I want to.

If someone else came in to write it. I want to I want to see how that is because didn't they do that with the like the girl with the dragon tattoo did they? I don't know.

I think the author passed away and they had somebody finish it. Oh wow. I've never really fascinating. Yeah. So I want to do that and I want to do Tracy Crosslight.

Yes. And then I want to do the two Brian Freeman once because yes because we clearly love the way he writes. Yeah, yeah. I was a little, like, I was a little hesitant to continue the Frost Easton trilogy because a lot of people said the third one was not their favorite. And it deals with like crime bosses and stuff instead of like your typical thrillers. So that was like, I don't know if I'll love that as much, but we'll see how I am with it. five when I read it. I don't remember tons about it.

Dude, you read like spy thrillers and espionage and like all of that stuff though. Okay, that's what you mean. Okay. I get what you're saying. This might, I think this is like crime bosses and like it's the underbelly of the drug world. And like you can get into that shit because you're smarter than me. If you want to move to San Francisco. Yeah. Not that. Well, I am smart. Yeah. You can get into that shit because you have like the, I just want like. Yeah. Yeah. I know. you mean.

Hot toxic men and murder. Hot toxic men and murder. I almost picked up a rom-com or something because I like could not get into anything. But then I gave into my Brian Freeman vibes. And I've just, I've been wanting ever since I brought it up, which might have been last week or two weeks ago. I've been wanting like murder with a romance on the side. Like in the same book. Alice Blanchard.

Alice. Yeah. He gave me some good recommendations. But then I also want to read the hacienda because that one has some romance in it, apparently, and supernatural stuff. And it looks so good. I can dig that. I can dig that. I don't.

I thought of you. I went shopping this weekend. I went to, I drove an hour in 15 minutes to like home goods and T.J. Max and the closest target to me. And I looked for the hacienda and I could not find it. Oh, that's. sucks. It did come out in like March or something, but still, like it's spooky season. And I think it has to do with like witches kind of. Oh, a priest and forbidden romance. Okay. I know. There's a hot toxic man in it or maybe he's not toxic. If he's a priest dealing with a bunch of witches, he's toxic. That's a good point. And I'm into it. It's a really long. I'm not going to read it. It is a long description.

But yeah, that's the gist of it. Maybe I'll go to Canada this weekend and pick up a copy if I can find it. Yeah. Do you want to read it? I think it's the right season for me to read it too. Hey, guys, I hope you enjoyed part one of this episode. If you did, make sure that you come back on Thursday for part two. And don't forget to stay up to date with everything that we're reading and talking about on our Instagrams at Gare Indeed reads.

and at the girl with the book on the couch. Links are also in the show notes, so make sure you follow.