Boozy Bookgasms - Bibbity Bobbity Bang Me

Episode Date: June 25, 2025

The Fine Print by Lauren Asher Skip Disney World and head straight to Dreamland for a rollercoaster ride full of steamy banter, a beautiful billionaire and some real fireworks! Spoiler alert... there is no mouse in this story.  Signature Cocktail: Dreamland Sparkle A beautiful and super fun drink for the princess in all of us who sometimes end up with the villain and are glad we did.   Ingredients: 1 oz elderflower liqueur  1 oz white peach juice or pear nectar 2 dashes of edible glitter (you get to pick the color)  Prosecco or sparkling wine - chilled edible flowers or twist of lemon, for garnish Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add elderflower liqueur and peach juice to the shaker. Shake well until the shaker is thoroughly chilled (about 15-20 seconds). Strain the cocktail into a chilled flute or coupe glass, add edible glitter and top with the Prosecco. Garnish with beautiful flower or a twist of lemon (optional.)

Hello to all of our sexy listeners. Sometimes we're not perfect. Oh, myself in particular. It's going well. We're going to start this episode with a drinking game. So every time I call the author of this book, Laura Asher, instead of Lauren Asher, take a drink. And please don't drive after this episode is ever. No, seriously.

And just a little bit of grace, you're fine. I apologize for the air, but I hope you still have a lot of fun with the episode. to enjoy. Buckle of literature fans. We're in for some boozy bookgasms today. Join three cousins creating a titillating headspace where steamy romance novels collide with strong cocktails. So sit back, sip slow, and enjoy the ride.

Welcome back to boozy bookasms. I'm Jen. I'm Lynn. And I'm Kim. Tonight we are discussing the fine print by Laura Asher. But before we go on this magical theme park ride, what are we drinking tonight? I have a super fun one. It is beautiful.

And it is for all the princesses in all of us who end up with the villain and are really glad that we did. So this is called the Dreamland Sparkle. We're going to have some elder flower liquor, which is kind of hard to find. But I did find it at spec. Really? So, yes. White peach juice. juice and two dashes of edible glitter because it has to be pretty. You pick your color,

but it has to be pretty. We're going to top it off with some Prosecco or sparkling wine, and it just looks so magical and pretty. It's amazing. It's good. It's beautiful and sparkly and delicious. I love the peach. The peach is just so refreshing. Who knew? I have tons of it. Yeah, we called that luster dust in the fairy episode. So this is book one in the Dreamland billionaire series, which follows the three Kane brothers. And I love how a lot of these books, you know, there's three brothers, super handy dandy if you want to do a three book series. So we've got Rowan, Declan, and Cow. Each book revolves around one of the brothers seeing through the stipulation their grandfather gives in his will in order for them to get their inheritance. So the grandfather basically invented Dreamland, which is Disneyland.

What? Oh, my God. I never even put that together. This is so bizarre for me. And all the production companies and streaming services, it's a multi-billion dollar operation. This particular story is about Rowan, and it's a grumpy sunshine trope is what I would call this one. The second book is about Declan, which is a marriage of convenience. I'll absolutely be reading that. You guys know I love those. The third is about the middle brother Cal and his second chance romance, which looks pretty

interesting too. They are all interconnected standalones. Like I said, I'm planning on reading them all. I had a really good time with this one. I was really happy that they were interconnected standalones because, you know, how I feel about reading the first book and not reading the rest of them? My bookshelf is full, and I did not have time to read two more books. So I am glad I can put this one on pause, but it was very fun.

But it is nice to be able to just sort of pick one out and be like, oh, okay, maybe I'll read the other ones. So there's no cliffhanger. We open with our main male character, Rowan, at the funeral of his grandfather. And he's pretty much an unapproachable ass. He's the youngest of the three brothers and describes himself as tall as an NBA player with the emotional range of a rock. So he knows he's an ass. Very descriptive. But he's also like emotionally stunted.

He's an ass, but it's almost like a handicapped. He really just struggles with how to engage with normally humans. It's a defense mechanism. Yeah. So after the funeral, the boys all get a letter from their grandfather that they have to read before the lawyer will read the will. They each have been given a task to complete in order to receive their percentage of the company. Rowan's task is to become the director of Dreamland for six months. And he currently lives in Chicago, but will need to move to Orlando.

He has to find Dreamland's weaknesses and develop a renovation plan worthy of his grandfather's legacy. An independent party will vote on the changes. And if they are not approved, his percentage of the company will go to his dad, who's an asshole. Who's also an asshole. This is at least the second, if not the third book, where there's a patriarch figure who forces the... Of a very wealthy family. To do something they don't want to do. The elders are taken over.

To get their money. This has been done before. And in this one at least, like, it's like they do it because they want to keep it from their asshole dad. So there's a lot of drama in this family. But the letter that the granddad gives to Rowan, it's somewhat redeeming in that he's challenging him to find his creativity. And he wants him to find his inner self and be happy again. But he uses this big stick of you're going to lose all your money and go to your dad that you hate. They calls him the dreamer, which will come.

up a lot. I wanted to talk about the other two brother's trips because I thought this is really funny. So Declan's the oldest brother. And his task is to marry someone and impregnate them within a year. Produce an error. Yeah. And we meet the secretary later in the story. Definitely getting with the secretary. Obviously. Yes. He marries her. It's a marriage of convenience for his book. And she is saucy. But in the book, he's making her date his potential one. Right. And she has to be the first date. Oh my God. She is so spicy. Yeah. I just did you already read it? No, I want to, though. Oh, I bought them all. They're all stacked up. That sounds hilarious. They talk about that in this book, too, where she makes a comment like, I've dated more women last week. Yeah, she does make that comment. I was like, what is she talking about? He's making her do the screening. Oh, he did say she was screening and I didn't take it like she was dating. Oh, my God. He's going to be

Don't guys. That's awesome. And we don't get a lot of information about the Third Brothers task, but if you read the book jacket for the third book, he has to live in a lake home with an ex-girlfriend

who he did dirty six years ago. Well, he's got issues too, right? It's a second chance romance. Oh, they all do. Yeah, they kind of dismiss him a lot too. Yeah, he looks drunk half the time. Their mom dies. Their dad shuts down.

He becomes an alcoholic, and then becomes this horrible parental figure for them. And so they all kind of lose their dreams. They lose their drive. They get into drugs. They just kind of break and they become a little. They become hard. Yeah.

Bicker, harder, shelds. Cowl dives into drugs, Rowan and Declan dive into work and they're workaholics. But they are all emotionally stunted because their mom died. They don't trust anybody. And they've been abused in that sense, too, where girls only date them to get the fortune. Right. That is a... They try and scam them.

And so they're a little bit... Jaded for sure. Cynical. Jaded. That's the right word. They're billionaires. And so they're targets. Never have I ever dated a billionaire.

Well, I'm still looking. We've talked about this before. There's still time. We could do it. I'm not saying no. Rowan shows up to Dreamland to take on the role of director of the park. And he sits in the back of the crew meeting to observe on day one. hilarious.

And in walks... I love this. Our FMC, Zara. And she is described as just breathtakingly beautiful with golden tan skin. And we find out later one of her parents is Armenian. So I'm thinking she's got kind of a Kardashian look about her. Very much so. Like a Jasmine from Aladdin look.

On a skateboard. Yeah. With like chucks. Like a Kardashian on a skateboard. Yeah. But the author also says she has thick thighs. Yeah. I did.

But I never caught it really throughout the book. Curve. Yeah. Curve. Laura Elizabeth Asher do not describe women as thick thighs. I'm sorry, but no, no, that is. I don't like it. Maybe they're muscular from skateboarding. But thick thighs, like not muscular thighs. Say muscular. Like, I just felt like her. Why do you say muscular like that? Why does she say it like that? I did catch that and I didn't like, I don't like it either. But basically, I was picturing like a more voluptuous, not fat, not skinny. like normal. She's curvy. I got curvy. She's late. She's 20 minutes late and she has a skateboard like Kim said. And so she sits next to row.

After tripping over him. Stepping on his feet. Right. He's sitting on like the aisle so she has to trip over him in the last row in the shadows. And he's immediately attracted to her. Thick thighs and all. You know, he's into it. Every time she brushes him with her arm, he gets like an electric shock, which is kind of a romance novel thing. Like, ooh, I've never felt this before. And they start to bicker. The banter in this book is fantastic. I have to say, like, it's very cute and very witty, and she's funny, and she's likable. She calls him an asshole right as the crew leader introduces him to the room.

And he kind of raises an eyebrow like, oh, and you didn't know you're fighting with the boss. And she just kind of laughs. It's kind of like, is she for real? She doesn't appreciate that I'm the boss. So Zara's the sunshine part of this grumpy sunshine trip, obviously, and I loved her. She's creative, and she currently works at the Magic Twan Salon, but her true dream is to be on the creative team. We eventually learned that Rowan's grandfather was her mentor, and she spent a lot of time with him. And together they created the idea of a world at the park called Nebula Land.

her now ex-boyfriend stole and presented this idea as his own after he cheated on her. He got a big bonus. Yeah, and he used it to buy an engagement ring for the girl he was cheating on her. Which happens to be the daughter of her boss. It's very incestual. It is a little bit because all the people that work at this park, like the families. They've been there for generations. Kids work there, generations.

She's got a lot of trust issues because of the way this all went down. Ultimately, Rowan tells his creative team they need to work double time to come up with the renovation plan that would typically take years, but they got to do it in six months and it better be good or they can find other jobs. And he comes in, guns blaze it, and he's a total. Well, he hates Florida. It's gross and humid. He wants out of there as fast as possible. Yeah, I'm here to do my job.

Well, he only has six months to turn things around. Well, to find the magic. Well, that's the other part. He's got to get this done. He's on the clocks. He has to present in six months. So the creative directors are like, can we open the employee submission contest early to generate ideas?

Because if they're getting stressed out. We don't have any. He's like, yeah, sure, whatever. That never works, but sure, do what you want. Then he goes, get to work. Because he's just like the worst. And they're all scared of him. Oh, everybody, because he's an asshole.

He's a tyrant. He's a scary. Yeah. is back at her place. She lives in an apartment with a friend and she's getting a little tipsy on some red wine. As one does. Yeah. Hey, why not. There it is. The roommate talks are into submitting her ideas to this contest. This is her dream as to be a creator. Like, she's always wanted to do that. But she got defeated when the boyfriend stole the idea. So the roommate's like, this is your shot. Like, take it. Don't listen to Lance anymore. Build your confidence back up. He took her idea. He took her confidence. he took her trust. Now's her shot with red wine. What bad decisions have been made on red wine? Never.

None ever. Now, white wines and poor decisions have been made? What was that meme? It was like, have you ever been assaulted by seven? You've been like, yes, I have. But much like me, the more she drinks, the bolder she gets. And she writes a whole submission called the real Nebula Land Ride that would make Brady Kane proud and Brady Kane's grandpa.

The mentor. She called her ex-boyfriends write a big metal pile of shit that would make Brady Cain roll over in his grave. And, I mean, she took him to town. Basically bashed it and then wrote this creative dream that really should have been what it was. She's writing it for therapy and doesn't plan to submit it. But in her drunkenness, she accidentally hits the send button. Worst nightmare. I mean, can you even believe it?

It shoots off to corporate. It's so believable, though. It's so rom-com. It is so rom-com, but it's so believable. I don't think any of us would go, okay, send. Oops. When you're drunk? Not even drunk.

I'm very coherent when I'm drinking. I make very good decisions. I feel like some of my best work comes when I'm drinking. Fair. Same Z. So Rowan calls her in his office and she thinks she's getting fired. But he read the proposal and he promotes her to the creative team. There's still a lot of sexual.

tension between these two and their banter is glorious. I cannot stress enough like how hilarious they were. She's not afraid of him and says whatever she thinks. So now she has her dream job and she gets to work. They have to present once a week their ideas to him in a big meeting. And she's very talented, but the problem is she can't draw. So funny. She is a creative, but she's not an artist. And I love how excited she got that she had her own cubicle. with posty notes. It was so cute. It was like her first job. So at the first creative meeting, she has the best idea out of everybody, minus the drawing at the end. He makes her stay after and they do their usual kind of banter and bickering. And she tells them, you better have a massive dick to back up that attitude or else people are going to be mighty disappointed. She is very

snappy for someone who was so insecure. Well, yeah, like she's talking to like an owner. and she's 23 years old. And he asks if she would like to bring out a ruler. And she says she left her magnifying glass. I mean, it was just like, boom, boom, boom. You almost felt like you were watching a mat. And I was there for it. I loved it.

So the tension builds and he kisses her. He just can't control himself. The next thing she knows, his mouth is on hers. He immediately regrets it. He just thinks, oh shit. It's an HR nightmare. Right. Like he likes kissing her.

Well, I would an owner. of the company regret kissing a 23-year-old hourly employee. Me too, what? Me too, huh? Wasn't there a movement? I don't know. I feel like there was a movement. But he's also, like Kim said, he's had a history of being a target for extortion from

women and he's afraid she's going to go to HR and sue for sexual harassment. She actually probably would have had a case. She probably would have had a case, but she's like, she didn't even think about doing that, But he's very cynical and very worried about this, of course. Probably else he should have been. Yeah, he's got trust issues and who doesn't. But what we don't know about Rowan is he's also a creative. And his grandpa used to call him the dreamer,

but his dad made him feel like a loser because he preferred drawing over sports. So he quit doing it a long time ago. But he's good at it. And he goes into Zaris Cube after a creative meeting and takes a picture from a cube wall and says, I'm going to have someone make this. better. After he embarrasses her at the meeting when she does her presentation, I just envision like stick figures, like a kindergartner drawing at the last hour point. Well, it sounded like it was that and bad. So he reddoes the drawing himself and brings it back to her and it's amazing. She wants to

know the name of the person that did it and he lies and said it was a guy named Scott. Scott would rather stay anonymous. She asked, can I at least have his phone number and he says, well I'll ask Scott if that's okay. And then eventually he starts texting her from like a Google number pretending he's Scott. And so begins our text message banter between Scott and Zara. And it's cute and witty. Probably went on a little long. It was a little long.

It was a little long. It was kind of cute but also really creepy. I had a really hard time with this one. I got where he was coming from. But then, you know, they'd like strike up a friend. ship. Like you don't think you took that a little too far, dude. She starts crushing on him and he starts flirting. But I think it was more her.

I think he was crushing on her too in his alter ego state. Yes, but I think she started it with like little kind of sexual comments and stuff. And he like, he's like, wait, is she flirting with me? And then he would flirt back and then it would like, I mean, what did she offer dinners or pizza? And at one point, it was, oh no, she offered her streaming services for Well, she offered all sorts of things that he said, no, no, no. And then she's like, well, here's my passcode to my streaming service. Wait, who does that?

That's pretty balsy. Well, but also, like, he owns the streaming company. Which was so funny. She obviously didn't know that. And so, like, that part was really funny, too, because her favorite show was one he produced. I mean, this guy's a big deal in Disney. She shares the streaming service as, like, a thank you. And then he logs on to her streaming service.

Sure. He can see what she likes. And apparently big Pride and Prejudice fan. I'm here for it, girl. I feel you. Yeah. Love it. I've seen them all.

But he watches all 17 versions of Pride and Prejudice that she has bookmarked. How many versions have you watched, Lindsay? I've watched three. And your favorite is? The five-part miniseries BBC. BBC. I would say I've probably seen four. And that's probably one of my favorite.

It's my favorite. It's my favorite. Yeah. It's great. It's good for like a rainy Sunday, like when you're home alone. Yeah. I like the Hollywood version with Cura. It's like Gone with the Wind.

Kyrnaightly, though. Like, I like that. But yes, it is. It's kind of the same speed. Anyway, Pride and Prejudice. I was with her here. But he also was with her, watched them all so he could know her better. He did.

All the while, he's doing her drawings for her. And it's bringing out this creative side and Rowan that he thought was in the past. Meanwhile, he's also starting to soften that hardened heart. Getting the feels. He's getting some feels. He volunteers for Zara's buddy program for her Down syndrome system. Wait, wait, let's back that off.

Kind of like breezed over his ass wholeness before that. Yeah, she puts up a flyer with her number on the little tabs and he takes it down to nobody goes to her fucking event and he shows up. Also, because he was jealous, asshole, because he was starting to fall for her. And he was like, I don't want all these Yahoo's to have her numbers. So he stole all the numbers. Right. She gets excited.

Not knowing what the buddy program was. Not knowing anything about what she was trying to do. And then he shows up himself to figure out what's going on. He's the only one that shows up. Surprise, surprise. Because he stole all the numbers. Jerk. But he does end up developing a relationship with her sister.

That is adorable. The sister is so cute. Very sweet. The buddy mentor program raised for those with special needs to help them acclimate to jobs at the park. Yeah. I loved the relationship he developed with the sister because it was totally separate from her and it had nothing to do with her. And so he's also realizing the park employees are underpaid and their insurance is crappy because of business decisions he made. He made over the years.

Granddad was in a coma for like multiple years. Three years. So he and his brothers were running the company. during this whole time when the granddad was in the coma, right? So he's been making business decisions, good business decisions, not good people decisions. On paper. This barely sounds like a notch above being a carny for a traveling circus. It really does.

People are making minimum wage. It's like their living conditions. It's just, yeah. It's multi-generational. They live in the park. They have like housing for the staff, but they use that to like, keep. keep cutting costs, right? Oh, we're giving them free housing, so we'll cut their health care. They actually do have housing and stuff at Disney for people.

Yeah, no, this is like a Disney ripoff for sure. Disney adjacent. He made all these decisions from Chicago. He didn't know the people. He wasn't at the park. Like, these were business decisions on paper, but he just never really cared enough to talk to humans about how it really impacted them. I think he did it first, and the more toxicity between him and his dad. His dad ruined that creative side, that kid, that childlike side of him. So it kind of turned him against the park. I mean, that park is like it's in the past. It's my childhood. It's who I was. I'm not that person anymore. I'm businessman. So it's easy to put on paper. They don't need insurance. His dad also told him he was weak and worthless. And so he's constantly

striving to prove him wrong and to be successful in business. And so when he cuts, when he increases is the margins and shows this great earnings for the park, he's seen as a successful businessman. Like the people didn't matter because it was all about him showing his dad that he was successful line. Oh, for sure. Throughout the book, you're kind of seeing his thoughts. And it's the words his dad said to him. And it's, you know, listen. It's sad. It's heartbreaking. We all probably should be in therapy. It's like I constantly think about how much am I fucking up my kids. Because for the rest of your life, what happens to you and your first. 18 years will live with you forever.

It's crazy. Anyway, there was a really funny interaction with his secretary where he figures out she's working a second job and he wants her to tell him like, why do you need a second job? And she's really uncomfortable telling him. And he's like, Martha, I thought we had a connection. And she goes, sir, our connection is weaker than the dial-up internet at the local library. But he ends up giving her a life-changing bonus. Yeah.

He does care once he knows the people he cares. And so he's kind of seeing the park and the people through her eyes and starting to kind of wake up to these are real humans. On the backs of which you've made all your money. And they're like, they're struggling. They can't afford health care medications or surgeries or Christmas presents or anything. Yeah. So meanwhile, Rowan and Zara, there's a lot of flirting and fun angst building and in the setting of Disneyland. It was really fun to read about.

Rowan and Zara kiss again and he decides it's time to tell her he's Scott. This goes badly. Yes, as you would expect. She doesn't want to hear his apology and she shuts him out giving us our act to break up. Indeed. I was really impressed with her willpower because if my... I hot billionaire boss was like begging me to forgive him and let him take me out of date. I'd have been like, I love you. It's great.

You know, but like she didn't. She was like, no, you wronged me and you lied to me. And she made him work his way back in. And ultimately, he asked her to just come over and join me for dinner and hear me out. And he gets vulnerable and spills his guts about YES trust issues and blah, blah. But most importantly, we finally get our first sex scene, which, It took forever. Forever.

It did take forever. I was not reading this on my Kendall, so I can't give you an exact percentage. But it was probably 60. Over 50% of the way in, for sure. But it was hot. We got what we came here for it. It was good. It ended up being really good.

He Rowan says Zara turns him into a fucking animal. And this might be my favorite line. He said, if this is what it's like to be around someone who's pure sunshine, he'll accept the. burn every time. That's your favorite life? Yeah. Oh, God.

I like it when he asks about the measuring tape again. Oh, yeah. She's like, I can fill you in my throat. I'm good. Yeah, like I don't need to measure you. The only part of this that was off-putting to me was that he gets our all horned up right before he puts on the condom. He's like, this is just casual, okay?

And she's like, okay. Okay. She has no choice. Like she just wants to have sex at that point. And she's like, sure, whatever. I thought that this was lame. Come on, Rowan. Like, you're just, that's when you bring it up.

Like, come on. Well, when's a better time? He does. I mean, I guess. Yeah, before. He does like her, but he also knows he's going to leave in like three months, right? He's only there six months. He's already spent half his time there.

He's leaving. He's going back to Chicago. So he is trying to be. honest, I guess. But he's not telling her, I'm leaving. He does chase her. So you'd kind of want him to be more honest. But then it's like, they've only known each other a few months. Is he requires him for him not to be honest? He was throwing up his guardrails. And honestly, Jen, like, if he said it too early, there's no sex. He says it after. He's a total asshole. No. He says it right before. It's like, what are you going to do? You're going to say no?

I'm just about to put the kind of mine. You're good with casual, right? I mean, what are you going to go? Whoa, whoa, whoa. No, thank you. I'm going to put my pants out and leave now. Thank you, though. A better thing. It's not a good time.

He tried so hard to get her back for casual. Why try if all you want is casual? He didn't like anything else in the castle. In his heart, he wanted more. Yeah. Maybe. So we spend the next few chapters with him treating her like a princess and being the best boyfriend ever and leading her to believe this might just be more than casual. Yeah.

Rowan takes her to a fancy, fancy restaurant, like very Julia Roberts, pretty woman. She doesn't know how to use the forks type situation fancy restaurants. $200 glass of wine. $200 glasses of wine. That she gazels. He is whining and dining her. She does not know what to do with this. But this is part of his courtship for her, for his very casual relationship.

Turns out fucked hard boyfriend is at a table. So she starts acting all twitchy. He's like, are you regretting this? Do you not want to be here? And she's like, no, my ex-boyfriend is over there. Boyfriend comes up to Rowan to introduce himself to totally suck up. Oh, hello, Mr. Like, what kind of balls you have?

Mr. Kane, I just want to introduce myself. And he's like, oh, I know who you are. I'm going to give you a promotion. And he's like, oh, that's so amazing. That's so great. And he's like, in Singapore. Yay! Or you will lose your job forever.

So basically banishes him. My bitch. We're supposed to be really nice, but like whatever. You could take your new wife to Singapore or you can lose your fucking job. And she was very a flutter about this. She felt like, woo-hoo. Like he likes me. He's banished my ex-boyfriend.

This must be more than casual. Yeah, it would lead you to believe. I was one of my favorite parts in the book. Definitely casual. Banishes the ex-boyfriend? That was amazing. No, she's getting the feels. It's like he did that for me.

And then he did. does take her to New York on a private jet. Just for a random day, you know, we're cash. Random. She sees snow for the first time in her life, which she's super excited. This was so adorable. He sets up a book signing with her favorite author. This is my thing.

You ready? Okay. Did anybody else put the tie together that it might be Julia Quinn that she's referring to? Yes, definitely. Yes, it's like Regency romance. And it's like something with a bumblebee. Yes. Yeah. Totally. You didn't put that together, like Bridgeton? I did not. Oh, God, I love Julia Quinn.

Me too. If she writes it, I read it and I watch it on Netflix. Lab it up, yes. But then he takes her ice skating and they have hot sex in his penthouse with a view. And it's like this dream. She's being winds and dines. Yeah. It's a dream.

Like, how do you not feel like you're falling in love with that? It's like you're on The Bachelor. She does make the mistake, though, of making Snow Angels in Central Park, which leads to a horrific case of pneumonia. Well, he does say you're going to get sick because you've been in the cold for like 12 hours and you're rolling around in the water. I don't feel like it was the snow angel that put her over the top.

I think it was the entire day of being out in the freezing weather. I will say that's not how you get sick. You get sick from viruses. And gross people walking around all over the place. And maybe it was because he kept tapping her nose. We don't know. And laying on the ground in Central Park is probably a party. problem because that's not safe.

Well, it definitely lowers your immune system. No telling what to roll into. Needles. I've watched a lot of SVU and there's dead bodies out there. There's people. People in the park. Not in beautiful Central Park with the snow. There's people at the park.

You know there is. SVU. So she goes back to Florida and it ain't good. She's sick. She's dehydrated. She ends up. passing out in his bathroom and hitting her head on his counter. And he has to ride an ambulance with her to the hospital where she stays for several days.

And although he sits vigil, he starts talking himself out of this relationship. Because he really freaks him out. He knows he's about to leave and he likes her a lot. So, yeah, he's questioning his life choices. He's getting attached and he doesn't like how the idea of losing her felt. Because he's got this history with his mom died of cancer. And like it all kind of tied into that. He made him feel vulnerable.

He has this whole other life that he's like this alternate life with the he's going to be the CFO and he's got to walk to Chicago and like he's got the brother in his ear saying what do you do when? He's back here. So I think he's, yeah, he's starting to get the feels for her but getting torn. This felt very real to me. I can totally see someone battling with this. Like I like this woman. I'm starting to enjoy working here. I'm getting my creative juices, my dreamer personality.

but like I have this other life that I've built up over the last 10 years and I don't want to lose that. This part felt realistic to me. To me, it just felt like third act breakup. That's all I kept saying was like, here we go. It was a third act breakup. But his angst felt very realistic. So while she's in her hospital bed, hooked to tubes and barely able to speak without coughing up a lung, he tells her he's leaving at the end of the six-month assignment. She didn't know that was happening.

His timing is impeccable. He dumps her. He doesn't necessarily dump her. She's like, get the fuck out. She says, is there in us? And he pauses. And she's like, okay, we're done. Get the fuck out.

Get out. She's very spunky. I love this girl. Get out. So Laura Asher makes us endure a second and a third act breakup. But Laura Asher does right. She does. This is what we don't always get in the books.

And this is what I need. If you're going to give me a breakup, I need some good. graveling. And I feel like we got some very good graveling. But prove you want me back, even if you have to do it twice. I want to see it. I want to know. I want to feel it. I want to feel

your ang. While she's holding down her ground, like I'm not taking this guy back, she gets a letter from Rowan's grandpa. As you remember, like that was her mentor and she had a relationship with him. And she tells her she's on the

voting committee for Rowan's project. to determine if he's accomplished the task that was given in the will. She doesn't know that that's even a thing. No, but now she's like, is this why he pursued me? Like, she's wondering if there were alter your motives. Communication. Communication is key. And if they just would have had a conversation.

You know, Kim, that makes for a shorter book. Fair. No, why would we do that? So Zara decides to put in her two weeks notice, and Rowan finds out in her last creator, meeting and tells everyone to leave except her. And he's done this a couple times in these meetings. A couple times. Yeah. It usually ends in a makeout, but this one doesn't so much. So they argue about why she's quitting and she says she wants to work for a company that makes a difference in

people's lives because they care. And this company doesn't. And she makes a big statement. She's like, I'm out of here. And Rowan takes it all in. And like the presentation she just gave is about how this part can be more inclusive and how we can do more for people with disabilities. And her sister has a disability. And she's very empathetic to that. Rowan flies to Chicago for some soul searching and stops at his dad's house. The dad has been uncharacteristically sober for the last few times he's seen him. That's not the point.

Actually, this is going to play into other books, I think. He got a letter to. I think dad's going to have a redemption arc in the other two books because he is trying. Yeah. And we don't know what his motives are. We don't know what was in his letter from grandpa. And we didn't know that he got a letter from grandpa because at the beginning, only the three brothers were there with the lawyer. Yeah. Until mid in the book, we didn't even know if the dad got a letter.

And the brothers are worried because if they don't complete their task. The dad gets it all. The dad gets the shares according to their letters. They're like, he's out to get us. But that wasn't how it played out in this bucket. So I'm excited to see what happens. at the dad, but he's lucid. Rowan knocks on the door.

Dad answers. Rowan doesn't come in. He's like, I just got some questions for you. And he's like, do you think my mother would have been proud of you? And the dad hangs his head. And he's like, no. It was super sad. Which was unexpected because the dad had been such a dick, you kind of assume he's going to be a dick.

But why do you think Rowan would go and ask that one question? The dad admits, I've been a pathetic, angry man that wanted to drone everyone in my grief so they could hurt like me. Rowan needed to hear you're admitting that you were a selfish asshole. And Rowan says, do you regret falling in love with mom? And he says no, because the greatest rewards come from the biggest consequences and nothing that great is given for free. And Rowan says, that's all I need to hear. He turns on his heel and he leaves his dad. So dad's like mouth agape, like, wait. Rowan's like, I came here to hear that. He's basically just convinced himself to go after the girl. The love is worth it. It's worth it is what his dad said. So Rowan goes to tell his brothers, I'm sorry. I'm not coming back to Chicago. I'm staying in Orlando. They found a girl and she's worth it. And I'm going to be the director.

And I'm going to see through the things that I've promised I'm going to do with this place. The day of the big vote comes and not only is Zara there, but so is the dad. He's on the voting committee. And so is a secretary. Mark. Oh, Martha. It's fabulous. So great. And some other stuff shirts that we don't know. Rowan scraps the entire presentation on the park renovations. And he does an presentation on increasing employee wages and benefits along with making the park more inclusive. He uses a lot of ideas from Zara on the inclusivity like wheelchair ramps and costumes that accommodate disabilities.

Zara, he was listening. Yes. Like it was just, she's getting misty. Tear jerker. Yes. You guys, you know, I cry at books. I cried at this book. I did not cry at this book.

I totally cried at this book. So. There were no tears. No tears. No tears. No tears. But, you know, if I have a couple of cocktails, you know, I don't get the water. I guess.

You got the wine. I'm like, of course, everyone's votes yes for his presentation and he gets his inheritance. I would say. Martha asked some very. Probing questions because he practiced the presentation with Martha. That's so awesome. Not knowing she was a voter. And then she shows up and she's like, wait, he hasn't gotten to the best part.

So I have a probing question. And she like literally leads the witness. She did. It's so good. He announces he's staying in Orlando to see through his promises as a director. It brings Zara to tears. But then we get to one of my favorite parts. Zara stays and she's waiting for the dad.

Yes. And he walks out and she says, hey, although you are considered to be a good businessman, you've done it at the expense of being a terrible verbally abusive father. And one day you are going to look back on your life and regret the way you treated your children. I hope it hurts you as much as you hurt them. So fuck you and fuck off. And she spins around. She blows Martha a kiss and she flips off the dad. I love that. Perfect. It's perfect. I love it. I was. If you decide you're going to quit, you may as well ensure you aren't eligible for rehab. That's right. You know, like go out guns blazing. Lock that shit down. Yeah. She's done already.

Ultimately, Dara and Rowan make up to the surprise of nobody. And then they have great makeup sex. They do. And say, I love you. And it's very amazing. He never accepted her resignation. So she still has a job. Oh, right.

Yes. He told the... That's good because if she had left, she was not eligible. No. But in the prologue, it's like three years later and they're married and they're cutting the ribbon to the nebula land. The real one. The true vision of Grandpa. Yes.

This part was a little interesting to me. So she's wearing a pin that has a bun in an oven. She had a pen on and then the best friend came in. They distracted Rowan. Then she put the bun in the oven pin on. on. And then he was like, whoa. But still, you're in a very public forum, and this is how you tell your husband you're having a baby. I've heard worse.

Tell me worse, Kim. They were doing the ribbon cutting. The brothers were there. The parents were there. They were all happy. There's the hunters of people there. People bring out pee sticks and put them on your dinner plate. I mean, I've seen some.

Oh, shit. She's like, I don't know about that. I feel like a better. And the other pin is fine. I don't know why you're so offended by this. Wow. Yeah, like, there's plenty of worse ways to do this. I thought the pin was cute.

I would have done it differently. Everybody has their own journey. We talk about this every other. Exactly. You also cried. We did not cry. We did not cry. We did not cry.

Well, and I'm not married to a billionaire. So I don't say how I've done it. If it wasn't, yeah, right. Then we get an extended epilogue from Rowan's of view and they have a daughter and he reads her stories and they've got a son on the way and they live in a house on Dreamland and they watch the fireworks and the porch every night and I'd be like it's a same paint it is a it's a little Disney Atea it's a Disney H-EA and it's really fucking adorable I love you I don't know how but I got the hardback version of this book and it is

really beautiful there's some illustrations in the back of the pictures of Zara and Rowan They're really cute. I loved. And this one came with the Spotify list, right? Yes, Kim. Thank you. Right on the front page, there was a barcode and you just scanned it and it boop. Spotify list. But I still, I tried my hardest.

Can't do it. I cannot read to a Spotify list. I would like to listen to it now and think about the book and be like, oh, this is great. As I'm reading, it's so distracting. I wait until the end. And then I go back and I listen to the music and I'm like, oh, this would be perfect at this part. They're always really cool songs, and sometimes I don't know the songs that are on there. So it's kind of a cool learning.

They're often great songless, but I can't read and listen to it. I can't either. It's an accompaniment to the book. Taylor Swift's Tortured Poets Department. It's so musical. That's not in the background. Like it doesn't just read. Yeah.

Like white noise. Yeah. No. I'm like Jenny running a podcast. I need silence. I can't listen to music or watch TV or anything. Like if I'm reading a book in their husband. comes in and turns the TV on, I get up.

Because I'm like, I can't read this book and watch while you're watching TV. I'll get distracted. I'll start with the stars. I gave this four, like a solid four. It was so cute. I loved it. It's been done before. It's a little predictable.

But I loved it. It had a landscape. The writing was so, so good. So I really, really enjoyed it. Yeah, I would give it a four too. It was a little sickly sweet for me at times. But to your point, the landscape, you could pick up. picture it helps that you could probably we've all been to Disney but there were some realistic

parts there were some unrealistic parts and parts I didn't love so I wouldn't say a solid far. What part didn't you love? Tell me. It was just almost too sweet, too predictable. I didn't the fact that he pretended to be Scott for so long. It's Cinderella-e, but I liked it. I mean, I gave it a four. Like it was good. It was like a 3.7.5. I will say when I tried to give beneath the mask a 3.25 as I was allowed to do that. Well, I gave it a four. I rounded up. We'll give it a four. I forgot you gave it a 3.25. That was a good book.

I tried because I did. We said no. We vetoed that. Well, I rounded up. I said a four. You did say a four. Just not a solid four. It was just a rounded up four.

She gave it a tipsy four. What tipsy four? Kimber, what do you say? I actually gave it a four for the banter alone because I love a good banter. I'm down for that. Like Lynn, it was super predictable. for me, but I don't mind that in some places if they're bantering. I had to listen to it and read it, given my time crunch. I laughed out loud several times. I did not cry. How was the audio book?

It wasn't bad. I don't like it when it's the female part and then they try and do the male part. I would rather it just traded off. It wasn't duet style. But there was two voice actors, but they just traded off based on the chapter. Oh, yeah. They trade chapters. Yeah. So, and I loved that. I love that. I love the diversity of it. I almost felt like we were meeting a new princess coming into the Disney-esque land for Zara. So the inclusivity was cool. Give it a solid four. I liked it. I'm going to read the other two. They're on my stack. I'm totally reading the other two, especially the next one because it's a marriage of convenience. That's your jam. Yeah, you love that. This writer writes to a formula. I think that's what keeps it from being more than a fork because it's like, oh, okay, we got the second up breakup,

we got third act break, you know, you're chit-to-tech, we're kind of, we're writing to a formula, but it's a formula I like to. It works. I don't mind it. There's a reason why it's a successful formula. I don't think we need to extend the epilogue. I hate it when they do that. I just want one epilogue.

You don't like an epilogue. I really don't. Just finish that shit. You always say we didn't need that. You always do that. Or just put it in the chapter. It's over. Just make it like a 37th chapter.

Like, why do we need? It's like hanging out in the movie theater after a Marvel movie. You're going to wait 20 minutes to see a clip of something else. Something might come on the screen. Don't need it. Move on. I have sons. We have to wait.

We got to wait. I would have waited anyway, but yes, we do have fun. You don't want to and you're mad that you did. But what if you don't see something? Correct. The fomo on the film. So, Spice, I actually said 3.5 because I did. feel like the spice was good.

I would like whole numbers. When we got it, but we didn't get it to late and we didn't get a ton of it, but it was really well written. Okay. I wish it had started a little sooner, though. Like chapter two. I mean, 10 at least. Like, yeah.

Something. I myself was also a 3.5 for the same reason. The sex that we got was good. It was late. There wasn't enough of it. But it played into the story very well. But there just wasn't enough of it. I'm going to go with a whole number.

like normal people. And I'm going to give it a three. Hives are fine. You do have. I'm going to give it a three. I'm rounding down for this one. Because I feel like we only slept together three times in the book. There was only three sex scenes. They were good sex scenes. But it's like I think they're. The one in New York City where they're in a penthouse. Like we're looking at the skyline. I don't know. I still like the one the first time in the house. Okay, so back to my rating. I gave it a three because they only had sex three times. It was good sex. It wasn't enough. I think there's like 48 chapters. And to only have three chapters with sex in it just felt a little light. For a trotchy romance. I'm particular. Yeah. I'm particular. There has to be a ratio there for me on the chapters. I don't know what it is yet, but it's not three to 48. I got a book for you. I have a book for you.

What are you got, Lindsay? Yeah, some novellas that are like chapter one. So the chapter. Wait, the chapter to six ratio is very high. Could you define novellableness? Wendy, you got to spell the beans on these juicy novellas. I will send you there straight to the sex and very short. And your chapter to sex ratio will be satisfied.

Okay. So good about it. I'm going to come up with the right ratio. I just haven't quite balanced. It is hard to do. That's what gets you the five-star rating. Right. I want that you figure that out.

Yeah. I think too sometimes this is always subjective and it depends on the mood I'm in when I read the book. The mood I'm in when we tape this podcast. Not fair. How much I liked it then versus today like thinking back. So all of our viewers should know that this, I think, overall good book recommended. Oh, it's a great book. I enjoy it.

Yeah. Such a good book. Lightsex. Very Disney princess. It's just like, does it resonate with you? Does it sit with you when you walk away from it? And I think that really... It wasn't my favorite, but it hit all the bright marks. Yeah, it was a cute...

I liked it, but I tend to like this kind of novel better than... Yeah, this checked a lot of boxes for you. Bing, Bing, Bing. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for recapping and reviewing it with us. If you haven't already, please find us on all our social. So TikTok, Instagram. and Facebook and go to boozybookgasms.com and send us your book recommendations. We are still looking for a guest host for our final podcast of the season.

We love doing that. So you can also send a email to genaboozybookgasms.com and let us know what you think of the show. And if you have any book recommendations. And until we meet again, happy reading. Happy reading. Bye. Thanks for tuning in. We hope today's episode was the climax of your day, leaving you breathless and wanting more. Until next time, remember to indulge in the pleasures of life and to keep the passion alive.

You can find more tantalizing episodes at boosybookgasms.com. Enjoy the ride, and we'll see you soon.