Boozy Bookgasms - Fairy Smut Episode 5: A Court of Silver Flames

Episode Date: January 30, 2025

Pour yourself an "Oh Gods" Margarita and join Jen, Jennie and Aimee as they break down the final book in the ACOTAR series. We have some special guests joining us just in time for cocktails and the book discussion. We will be discussing Nasty Nesta, Cassian's impressive wingspan and the Fairy Hunger Games among other highlights. This one did not disappoint!   Cocktail: The Oh Gods Margarita: 1 muddled habanero pepper (seeds removed and sliced), 1 1/2 oz reposado tequila, 1/2 oz grand marnier, dash of cayenne pepper and a dash of luster dust of course! Shake and serve over ice.

Book 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. Hello, fairy smut fans. Welcome to our final fairy smut episode. This is Jen. Hi, this is Amy. And this is Jenny. Hi. I'm so. sad. This is our last Akitar episode together ladies. We've had so much fun in the forest. We really

have a good time. All things luster dust. Oh my gosh, you guys. Who's here? Hello. It's Lynn. What's happening? We heard some very smut was going down. It's Kim and Lynn are here to

us for our final episode. Welcome, ladies. Hey guys. Thank you. I'm super excited to be here. You guys are doing great. For our listeners who have been on this journey with us, tell us where you are in the Akatar series. We have mentioned to them, Lindsay, that you're kind of an Akatar fan. But Kim, how many of the books have you read before you joined us today? Oh, a whopping zero. Zero books have been read. I'm raw dogging this. I heard there's twinkly lights. There's some fairy wing expansion. I'm all in. I'm going to try. I did promise not to ask a lot of questions. So I will do my very, very best. Okay. And I bet you might be a little interested after hearing our episode. You might perk your interest in Romanticie. We'll get you converted. Yeah. Amy's really good at it.

And then, Lindsay, and where are you in the series? Yes, I have finished this series. I have actually reread the core books a couple of times. I'm a super fan. I'm really excited to hear what you think about this one, though. I actually finished the main series and then waited a long time to pick up this book. I really struggled with it if I wanted to read it at all. It is a good book, but I have many emotions about Nesta. Oh. I have opinions about this book that I'm excited to discuss. You guys are selling it. You're selling it to me. The main book is really good. Well, ladies, You have shown up just in time for our cocktail. So, Amy, what kind of fairy magicness are we drinking tonight?

Well, Miss Lynn, I'm so glad that you decided to read this book because it's the spiciest of the series. In honor of that, we're going to have the, oh, gods, margarita. Because they say, oh, gods, all the time. So we have one muddled habanero pepper, seeds removed and sliced. we have an ounce and a half of reposado tequila, a half an ounce of Grand Marnier, freshly squeezed lime juice, a dash of cayenne pepper, and of course, as always, a dash of luster dust. And then we season that and garnish with a little bit of habanero and serve over ice. Wow, that is a lot of chili peppers and that margarita.

Well, thank you, Amy. You have been an amazing fairy smut bartender. One of the best I've ever seen. You can add luster dust to anything and it just makes it amazing. I feel like you should be on Andy Cohen, like behind the bar. I should. I should. Yeah. As I mentioned, this is the last book that has been published in the series.

And it is a Court of Silver Flames by Sarah Mazz. And we start with Nesta. She is still on her downward spiral. She's living in the slums, getting wasted every night, bringing home. random men. Sorry Kim, she's not even changing the sheets between partners. Dude. We've dubbed her nasty nesta. Nasty for the win. But she sounds like she would be super fun to hang out with on a girl's night out. It's all organic, though, yeah? In the woods? Not in this place. No. No, they're not in the woods either. Oh, double gross. We see Cassian outside her slimy apartment,

knocking on the door, basically dodging rats because she lives in such a bad place. And she answers in a men's shirt and nothing else looking, you know, a little road hard and hung up wet. Yep. And Cassian says, get rid of the guy. We're going to your sister's house. The fairy male looks terrified when he sees Cassian. Everybody knows who he is. And so he kind of scrambles out the window and runs away.

But Nesta is wondering if this summons may have something to do with the outrageous bar bill she ran up the night before. which it does. Yeah, because she's on her sister's dime. Like Fara is, Reese are paying for her, I wouldn't call it lavish, but her lifestyle. They are. And they've offered her many upgrades. Like, you can move into a nicer place. We'll give you a job. She's not interested. She doesn't want to, nope. She knows how to piss off her sister for sure. She can push her buttons like nobody else. Yes. So we find out she and Amran are also on the outs. They had an argument that summer on what sounds like a party pun to. Like a Bo Crookruth.

Yeah. And she was really rude to Cassie in that day also. So, I mean, she's ultimately alienated everybody that cares about her. I have to say, this feels a little season one of Housewives of Beverly Hills because these two are in a fight, much like Camille and Kyle, about an argument that happened off camera. But the whole book, we have to like hear how mad they are at each other. You're such a liar, Camille.

I'm totally picking up what you're laying down. Why didn't they make that part of the story? It's sort of, oh, we had a fight on the boat. We're not there for it. But anyway. Glossed over. Yeah. It was glossed over.

I agree. They've all arranged a full-on intervention. Fahra tried to give her time to heal on her own, but it's not working. So they have an ultimatum for her. She can go back to the mortal lands or she can live at the House of Wind, train with Cassian at the Illyrian War Camp, and work at the library. at night. And she's really hurt because everyone's kind of ganging up on her, including Amran. That was hurtful to her especially. Right. Nesta chooses the House of Wind option begrudgingly and is taken away.

Yep, because the only other option she'd be plunked and dumped in the human realm and that's really not an option. Well, and what's significant about the House of Wind is she can't droid out of her front door and go to a bar or anything like that. She's got to scale 10,000 steps. So they chose that for a reason. Yeah, the stairs are a character in the book. She's got a great ass though, right? Because that's a lot of stuff. Eventually. Eventually. She does. Right now she's out of shape. So Cassian and Morgan catch up over lunch and we find out that Morgan's been in Valahan trying to influence the king and queen to sign the new treaty and they don't want to do that. So this is really where Morgan spends most of the book. But we never get resolution on this king and queen. We never get a lot of details. It really is just an explanation of why she's never there. So she sort of becomes a really quiet character in the book. Right. And then meanwhile, in addition to his new obligation of Nesta, Cassian is taking on more

responsibility with the court. Rees has asked him to be a courtier and to find out what's going on with the human queens. Cassian goes to the human lands to visit Vassa, Juryan, and Lucian, otherwise known as the Band of Exiles, the 80s rock band. I mean, party on. Party on, Wayne, party on Garty, party on Jerry. Cassian really feels like a duck out of water in the new role as a courtier. He is not smooth. He's kind of a hot dummy, you know. Yeah, kind of. He's quick to like to react, right? Like emotionally and like it uses fists and he's not so so good at politics or sort of like the game of wits is not. Right. His strong suit. Yeah. Yes. And then ERIS is there too because several of his soldiers went missing while on patrol and there was a strange human sense.

when he went to investigate. Cassian also finds out that Eris's dad, Baron, has pledged loyalty to the human queen that turned old and ugly in the cauldron. So that's Brie Allen. And then we find out the bone carver and the weaver had another brother. He's a death lord named Cochie. And he's the one that turned Vassa into the firebird in whom she's currently on a curse break with, which I still don't know how that works. But it's working for her. I mean, but my family, a black sheep. Like The river, the bone carver, and the death lord. None of them use their powers for good. So much happening.

So much happening. And Cochie is trapped in the lake, but he will never die. But he wants out. And so he's partnering with the Queen Briallin, working with her so that she can get her youth back and then so he can escape. And they also want to rule the world. So there's probably a war on our hands coming up. Yeah. So back to the House of Wind.

And this is a lot of daily rinse and repeat with Nesta's. routine. She'll eventually start to grow and evolve. But I just kind of wanted to summarize a few of these storylines. So I make sure that we're covering everything. As we mentioned before, that 10,000 step staircase is its own character in this book. And Nesta on several occasions will try to run those stairs. The first time she does it is because she wants some booze. Bitch wants some wine. Can't blame her. I mean, I'd probably try. Never have I run stairs for one. But would you when you didn't have any?

No. Be like, throw that shit down. Throw it down here. Eventually she does it to blow off steam. And Cassian is usually waiting for her at the top. And there's one time when she trips and falls in her hand burns into the bricks. So we realize she still has some powers in that moment. But ultimately, this becomes her Mount Everest and is a symbolic challenge that

signifies her inner strength and how she's evolving. And towards the end, she is able to climb all of the stairs. which comes in handy. But for her, that's the gist and probably what you need to know about the stairs. But as you're going through the book, it's like today she made it to 300. Today she moved to 1,000. And you get a lot of updates about that along the way. It's like a montage.

Yeah. And she, I think this is when she also starts to really like push herself and starts to realize like that she has strength. But she's using it as her sort of barometer to how like, you know, these are her milestones. As she, her growth. Another daily occurrence for Nesta and another character in the book is her job at the library. Anesta eventually starts making friends with her library coworkers. All of the women in the library are recovering from some sort of trauma. Most of them are priestesses.

Rees created it as a safe place for them to work and live. And so first she meets Clotho. We've met Clotho before in previous books. We have. She can't speak because her tongue was cut out. and she has some deformities with her hand. But she communicates through writing notes. And she's kind of like the shift supervisor.

She is. She is, yeah. She's like the din mother. She's a sassy clotho, though. Like, she can't talk, but she's got so much sass behind the notes that she writes. And I love her. She will tell you like it is, for sure. And then she meets a saucy redhead named Gwen and helps her out of a bind with her

demanding boss. Those two really start to bond. But what's really important is that Gwen, Ben's boss is writing a book about female warriors called the Valkyries. And their history becomes a major plot point in this book. And so, Jen, can you tell us a little bit about these badass women? Well, yeah, absolutely. So we're just being introduced to them now as far as the name Valkyry. The Valkyries are a clan of fierce female warriors from all species, but were wiped out in the war 500 years ago. So they were fearless and brilliant.

They were like crazy individual fighters, but their true strength was fighting as a badass female unit together. And they were even better and braver fighters than the Illyrians alone. So like that just kind of introduces you to who they are. And they'll referencing that later. Yes. More to be seen later. More to come. Yeah.

Awesome. Thank you. Another character we interact daily is the House of Wind itself. And this, I freaking loved. I know. It's like, this house is enchanted. There's magic throughout. I think that's one of the reasons I love the book so much because it just felt like

magical the whole time. Right. And so food appears when you sit at the table as requested. And when Nesta first gets there, she asks for wine at dinner and the house plunks down a glass of water. House has some facts. It's just like it. Yeah.

I would be so pissed. Yeah. Eventually, we realize the house and Nesta have bonded and the house loves Nesta. Yeah. The house like takes care of her. Yes. It like heats her room. Nesta's afraid of crackling fires.

So the house will heat her room without a fire. And it brings her chocolate cake and like special treat. Smutty novels. Smutty novels. They exchange smutty novels. They do. Nesta will read one and be like, hey, this is a good one. And then it disappears.

And so it just, it was a really fun. part of the book and made it magical. So Nesta's main storyline, though, really revolves around her physical training. And that was one of the conditions that were made for her during the intervention with her sister. Nesta's training starts in Windhaven, which is the Illyrian War Camps. Morgan winnows her and Cassie in there on day one. And Devlin is there. He's the Lord of the War Camps. And he's a misogynistic jerk. They have been trying to get the women training. And Devlin just is very against it. He's against women at all. They should be cooking and cleaning and having babies, basically. Right. Anytime they train with the weapons, the men bury the weapons, the women

touched. It's just really backwards thinking. Cassie on that day one puts him in his place, says he's not burying weapons. She's going to train and he brings her into the training ring. And she sits on a rock and doesn't move. So she really embarrasses him on day one right after he went to bat for her and sits there like a diva. And he even pleads with her, you know, at one point, and she still like will not get off that rock. Yeah, this goes on for some time. She's just determined to prove them wrong, right? Like, she just doesn't want to give them anything. She is an infuriating character for me throughout the entire series, but she doesn't redeem herself in this book, like, very much at all. Oh, I disagree. Oh, I disagree. Oh, Lindsay. We're

We're going to have to talk about this. Okay. So Moore comes back to get them, realizes what Nesta's done, and is like, you know what? My vote was to dump you in the human lands and you don't deserve Cassian. There is no love loss between these two ever. Moore, remember, in one of the other books, Moore told her to keep her mouth shut and to like not talk to Cassian at all. Yeah. Yeah. She's not like Nesta. She doesn't like the throlet. There's budding relationship. Yeah. Well, and even in the Hallmark Special book, the last one, she had him by her long. lingerie and she bought him silk boxers just to piss Nesta off. Yeah. Like she's just, yeah, taking jabs. So after the sitting on the rock happens a few times, Cassian thinks Nesta may be resisting because she doesn't want to look like an idiot in front of the Illyrians. So he offers to train her at the House of Wend and he makes a bargain with her that if

she engages in one training session, he will owe her a favor and they get tattoos about it. Yeah. So she starts training and she takes to it like a duck to water. She loves it. She used to be a dancer, is having muscle memory, and really is kind of a natural athlete. As the training goes on, she asks if it would be okay for her to invite the priestesses from the library to join her. And he says, sure, but don't get your hopes up. This is where I start loving Nesta.

The fact that she wants to bring them that kind of strength. I found this kind of significant because this was the first time in the whole series that she is doing something for somebody else other than her. And no one's looking. No one's watching her doing. No one. Yeah. Cassie and Nessa are starting to get to know each other more and they're being nicer to each other. She's learning a lot about his life as an Illyrian and he talks a lot about the Blood Right, which is basically the Illyrian version of the Hunger Games where you kill people to climb to the top of a mountain and touch a magic stone. Yep. We'll hear more about that later. But one night she has a big argument with Elaine, and she feels like Elaine chose Fahara over her, and she decides she's going to run the stairs to blow off steam. And Cassie is waiting at the top, and they share a moment that

ends with a kiss, and she kind of gives them an over-the-pants handy. Yeah. Which results in a quick climb back. On the stairs? Yeah, the top of the stairs after her workout. Yeah. But he's embarrassed, but she misinterprets the look on his face as regret. Yeah. And she, she tells them, well, you're a little quick off the mark. Haven't we all been there? I was like, oh, I really felt for her. It was like, what's this guy thinking? I can feel for her.

I thought you meant the over the pants handy with the quick claim. I know. Like, no, the regret. Like, I haven't done one of those at a long time. We all remember our 20s. So it's just like, am I misreading that? Oh, totally. Okay.

Yeah. Assigning people emotions they don't have, right? Like, yes. That's what I meant. Thank you. I think Nesta is like to. or points before. She's a bit selfish. She doesn't do a lot for anybody else. It's always just all about her and how she's feeling about these things and she doesn't give a shit about anybody else.

But she does like Cassigan. And, you know, now she's a little hurt herself. But this is classic Nesta where she just puts up another wall and like shoves you away. And that's just... Well, she kind of called him quick draw magras and like went back. Yeah. To piss him off because she was hurt. So the next day, they're summoned to the river mansion of Fara and Resant. And Asrael has been spying on the old ugly queen, Bri Allen. Is that her actual title? I just have to ask, the old ugly queen.

Like, when they introduce her, they go, No. Here she comes, the old ugly queen. All right. Shut big. That's terrible. I don't like it. And the other queens have fled from her, and we don't know where they are.

So Breaulin wants to find the cauldron to get her youth back. And Cochie is partnering with her as well as Barron because she also just kind of wants to rule the world, which is what we had talked about earlier. And Cochie has pointed her to the Dred Trove, which objects of power are created by the cauldron. Yeah. So Ames, can you tell us a little bit more about this dread trove and what's in it and what does it do? Yeah. So like you said, it's Caldron made items that hold. and old and ancient power that like hardly anybody knows about. There are three components of the

trove, which is the mask, which is used to raise and summon the dead. And we'll find out later that it's hidden in the bogs of Urid. And then we've got the harp. And the harp's power is that it can open any door, physical or not. It's got 26 strings on it. So it kind of moves through space and time. So time travel, I guess. So Nesta went into a trance and saw the harp. And, and saw the harp. been a vision underneath the prisons. We'll talk about that in a bit. And then finally, we have the crown, which can influence anyone. So even it can get a person to kill their most, you know, their mate if they wanted to. So it can really influence. And now it's kind of claimed by Greeland. Old ugly queen. Old ugly queen. Yep. But the mask and the harp are still up for grabs. So we're

going to try to find those. Elaine says she can try to look for it. And Nesta says, no way. You got kidnapped last time. We tried something like that. And she's still extremely protective of Elaine, even though they're fighting. And Elaine gets annoying and tells Nesta that she always turns her trauma into something that happened to Nesta. So Elaine's like, I've been through all this and you always make it about you, basically. So Nesta says to Fahill, you should do it. Why don't you go find it?

And Fahira says, well, I can't because I'm pregnant. Don't, don't. Records grad. Weeky, weeky, weeky. What? Yeah. I thought it took a long time to get a fairy pregnant. They got pregnant right away like honeymoon. Yeah, for sure. She's two months along, and fairies are actually pregnant for longer. They're pregnant for 10 months, which just sounds horrendous. But Rees has an obnoxious shield around her all the time, and he's been overbearingly protective, and we all know she kind of hates that. So he's driving her crazy. Nesta finally agrees to search for the trove, so Elaine doesn't have to. Begrudgingly. though. Yeah, she's kind of snotty about it. She's pissed about it. But again, it kind of treats Elaine like a child and she steps into volunteer as tribute again. And Elaine is all too happy to get bailed out again. Elaine, let's step up. You know, let's get our hands dirty, Miss alligator arms. Yeah. But obviously, like, through all of this, Nesta hasn't grown so much because she's still a total bitch. Well, it's early, Lindsay. It's early. Just hang tight. Later that night, though, Cassian comes to Nesta's room and says he owes her an orgasm since he came the other night and she didn't. Oh, I loved that.

And she says, let's be clear on one thing. This is just sex. So he just looks pressfallen. Like, he's devastated, but he's still a man after all. And so he decides that he's going to give her some oral sex and the spice is. Oh, it is. Oh, you guys, the spice is spicy. Wait, he's a man or he's a fairy or...

He's a male is what they call him. He's a fairy male with wings. And so just imagine this big hulking... Really large wingspan. Just imagine just this big hulking, like mussely, gorgeous man with a man bun and wings. And he's between your legs. So, you know, visual. Nice?

Yeah. He's an Illyrian. Okay. All right. Just made sure. So this. part was crazy to me. You guys, I'm going to surprise you right now. Okay. So the next day, Asriel joins them in training. Anesta fantasizes about having a threesome with him and Cassian and thinks about all

the other threesome she's had. We have come a long way since book one, which was basically PG. Okay. So first of all, there's that Sarah J. Moss. But second of all, I've heard there was a threesome scene that Sarah had to take, the publishers made her take it out of the book. Oh, I would have loved. Oh, I didn't know that. That would have been amazing. And we think that it might have been, have happened in this scene. With Azria? Oh, Asriel needed to get laid.

What the hell? He does. Oh, man. But I think it would have cheapened the book of it. Yeah, that's true. Like, I'm kind of glad that didn't happen. Plus, I'm like still holding out hope for him and Elaine. I know.

I know. Yeah. At this point, you know, there's nothing exciting happening except for just like, you know, you know, side long glances. Oh, Elaine, I know. I really hope she steps up her romance game. For anybody. This feels like Hogwarts meets Lord of the Rings meets Peter Pan meets Jack and the

Yes and yes and yes and yes and this feels like. And hunger games. Not so far out. Oh, definitely hunger games for sure. Sorry, sorry. Sorry. Yeah, I forgot about that. So Clotho calls Cassian down to the library one night because Nesta won't stop practicing

or training moves in between the aisles of the. the books. And they've asked her to stop several times. And he's kind of secretly proud, but he says he'll talk to her. And when she sees him, she tells him she's trying to just get this one move right and then she'll stop. So he shows her how to do the move and she nails it. And when they look up, several priestesses are watching this training. And Cassian realizes this was Nesta's clever plan to make them all feel comfortable working with a male. So they get to see like it's safe to work with Cassian. and how easy it is and how easy it was to learn. So Gwen's our first one to sign up, and then eventually 11 priestesses sign up for the

training. And it's a really big deal. Many of these women have not been out of the library and some of them 80, 200 years. Yeah. Yeah. Again, she's advocating for women's power. She's advocating for these women who have been through trauma to feel stronger. And I just, my heart grows for her.

So she also invited Emory, who is a woman we met in the last book and owns a leather shop in the Illyrian Village. And they met during Nesta's rock sitting days when she refused to train and Cassian had to go somewhere. So she went shopping with no money. No money. Yeah. But she and Emory bonded and they really liked each other. And so she invited her to the training. And eventually Emory does come.

Emory's backstory, you know, she is of the old school allerians where they used to clip the girl's wings when they were born so they could never fly. So Emory's wings are deformed because her dad did that to her. And her dad was a douchebag. He was an abusive father and husband and just awful. And when he died, she inherited his shop. And the allarians are very bitter about that because she's a woman business owner. And they do not like that. But she's like, fuck all of y'all.

And that's the only place Cassian shops for stuff, which I think is really cool. I know. So Gwen Nesta and Emery become this amazing trio. They become best friends. And they really excel in training together. They start bringing in some of the training practices from the Valkyries and pull a lot of inspiration and girl power from it all. Jen, is there anything you would add about like some of their training practices?

They start doing this Valkyry technique called Mind Stilling. To me, I call it the Serenity Now Namaste all day on steroid. Because it's kind of a meditation that we all want to achieve through focused breathing, surveying and becoming one with our body. It did feel a little yoga like. Yeah. Yes, it was yoga. It was like hot yoga.

And if an errant thought pops up, you acknowledge it and then send it on its way. and let it go. But use this technique three to four times a day to calm their minds and emotions and fight their inner demons. Once they've mastered this, their minds are sharper than any blade by staying calm and composed during any battle. So I think that could be our very ticket to deal with our husbands and our teenage voice, don't you think? Yeah, it can't hurt. I'll try anything at this point. Well, thank you. It really is a big part of the book. And them coming to learn those trainings and start putting them into practice, they become these just incredible warriors. I was so inspired. I really was. Right. And more so their friendship, too. She's finally binding her tribe. I love it.

Yeah. And it's interesting that she found two girlfriends because she's one of three sisters and could never have that friendly relationship with her own sisters. But these women, she was able to forge this friendship with. Yeah. It's the family that you make great. One night. Cassian is grumpy at dinner because Eris called him a bastard that day. And he tells Nesta all about it and she gives him a blowjob at the dinner tip to make it feel better. And it would have gone much further, but Asriel walks in and he's kind of like a cock blocker. Well, maybe this was supposed to be our threesome scene. Who knows?

Maybe. I mean, it is kind of a good porno scene, you know, like walking. In the house, Warner, Ezrao was coming. That is a plot hole, Kim. Good call. They're so friendly. What I loved about this is that, like, Cassian, she described him as enormous. And I was like, woo-hoo.

Oh, yeah. He's the only one that we've really gone into detail about his size. Yeah. I mean, a little bit with Reese. There was one scene in the last book that was hot, hot. Yeah. The only scene. So we get a lot more detail about Cassine's anatomy.

Yeah, melted my butter. Okay, the first book was like almost young adults. Yeah. There was no detail. And now we are giving, we are getting either. Like, where have you been, Sarah, Ma? What the hell? Like, you had it in you the whole time and we had to wait until book five.

So Nesta tries to scry to find the trove, which is when you throw bones in a bowl and it tells you where to go on the map. Like scry. Sounds ridiculous. I mean. If you're desperate times, it's called for desperate measures. Woo-hoo magic. So it doesn't work. And Nesta think her powers are gone, but Cassian tells her he knows they're still there.

And later that night, Nesta has like a poltergeist-ish nightmare. And she is screaming. And Azrael and Cassian run in there. And she is bathed in silver light, screaming at the top of her lungs, like levitating off the bed. It's exorcist, for sure. Yes. I'm picturing. And then Reese shows up and he looks in her mind and sees that she's in the cauldron and her dream and how scared she is. And he sees what she takes. And Cassian asks him,

what is this power that she has? And Reese says it's pure death. Oh. What does that mean? That's why she's Frankie. Right. That's why she's so mad all this. Oh, maybe. She was mad before she went in the cauldron. That's a good call. This really brought it out in her. She wakes up to see Cassian asleep in the chair next to her bed, which kind of makes her feel loved for just a second. She doesn't ever let that last very long. But Rees, later Reese tells Cassian and Asrael, the baby has wings. And he is devastated because this means since Fyra's not Illyrian, she's probably going to die when she gives birth to this baby.

And they are doing everything they can to find a solution. And they have not told Fahara how serious it is because they want her to enjoy her pregnancy. And they want to find a solve for it and not stress around. I have a thought about that. The baby has wings, whatever. But you guys have flushable toilets and hot running water. I mean, can't you find a proper, like, surgeon in the village? You know, like, can you guys do C-sections?

Well, I think they were looking, right? They went to all the scholars and asked if they knew anyone. can you do this? And they've all said no. And so they're still doing all the research to try and figure it out. I've had two C-sections. I mean, if you can flush a toilet, you can have a C-section. Okay, moving on.

Were they not born with wings? Well, okay, so the Elyrian women have the anatomy to give birth to babies that have wings. So if an Elyrian man impregnates a woman that isn't Elyrian, there's never been a case where she didn't die. And so they are really freaking out and trying to find a solution so that Fahara doesn't die. Recent Cassian spar so he can work out his frustration. And Cassian comes to dinner with a black eye and he's kind of beat up. And he asks Nesta why she hasn't sought him out. And she says, you haven't sought me out either.

But once your face heals and you're pretty again, I'll have sex with you. So. First thing's first. I know. Yeah, you have to look good. And that's fair, Nesta. I'm with you on that. So Nesta tries scrying again, and they find that the mask is in the bog of Urid, which Amy mentioned earlier. So Cassie and Nesta and Asriel go to find it. Urid was once a sacred place where warriors were laid to rest. So it's a graveyard, basically.

But now it's also a swampy evil place. And the mask is in what they call the middle, which is this vast, dark, misty, smoggy area that you don't want to go into. Asriel flies in there first, but he gets shot with an ash arrow by one of the fall court soldiers. So here's where Eris's missing soldiers went. Cassium basically hangs Nesta on a tree branch. And she's hanging on like a monkey. And there he goes after Asrael. Nesta makes it 20 minutes and then becomes every girl in every swampy horror film we've ever seen and hops down to go find everybody.

Right? So a kelpie comes out of the war. towards Nesta and grabs her. And it's this disgusting white monster with black eyes and fingers as long as her arm. That was so disgusting to me. Sarah J. Moss had this. I really love this scene, just the description of how, like, awful and, like, deprived this place is and all of the creatures and you couldn't even breathe. And there wasn't even echo in the sound.

It was so muffled. I just loved the way that she described this. It was a creepy horror movie, which you like those. I do. These are folklore characters. These are real characters. Valkyries. Yeah.

Yeah. These are all real characters. Oh, I didn't realize that. Peter Pan hooked all over again. Yes. Calipies. Kelpies. Yeah.

I did not know that. I'm such a virgin to this whole romance. Her descriptions, like the way she writes is so good. Graphic. Yeah. You really do feel like you can picture everything. Yeah. I just felt like we were in the swamps of sadness.

Exactly. And she's holding onto this tree with no leaves and no life. And there's just like this like boggy mist and it's all great and a dead. And she's great. Oh, so it gets so good because, well, first of all, the kelpie pulls her under the water and starts making out with her against her will. Obviously. Well, he's trying to like to take her down to the bottom to keep her, right? I mean, yeah.

He wants to make her his bride or something really creepy. But meanwhile, Cassian saves Asriel and they capture two of the fall court. soldiers who seem to be under a spell of some sort, which is weird, but we're kind of realizing, okay, the ugly queen with the crown probably did something to them. And so while Nesta is playing underwater time, she sees the mask from the trove. And it's coming to her and saying, like calls to like. And this is one of the thousand times. Oh my gosh. A million times. That phrase in the book. She puts the mask on her face and it basically rises the dead from the water, from the burial ground. And they kill the Kelpie while Asriel and Cassian watch like mouths agape.

This army marches out of the water followed by Nesta holding the dead Kelpie's head. Walking on water. Damn, girl. I will say this part was better. Totally badass. No shit. It was incredible. But then she takes the mask off and passes out.

She beheaded two people. So now it's the Kelpie. Yeah. You don't want to be on the end of her death lawyer. No, for sure. No way. So the next thing we know, we're in the court of nightmares and the two soldiers are tied up in the torture room and they're trying to get information out of them. But it's kind of pointless because they're under this trance. So Farah makes them stop. She's like, why are we torturing these guys? They aren't going to say anything. And then they find Nesta in a room with the mask. There was a locked room. It was warded. All these spells were on it so nobody could get in. And they walk in and Nesta's there. with a mask. Like it was like called to like. Yeah. Like calls to like. We get it. So Amarin said nobody who's ever worn the mask before was able to take it off. So the fact that she wore it and took it off was really special. And now for a little bouchy-w-w-w-w-w. Yeah. So Nesta decides she's going to stay the night there. And she takes a hot bath because she's covered in sludge from the middle and the kelpie makeout and whatnot.

Right. It smells like swamp. She says she smells a little swamp. Yeah. Swamp bass. Swat. So Cassian comes in with a tray of food and she's naked and he's like, and so then they finally have sex. And it is like, I mean, you guys. Oh, girl. And Wingspan is not the only thing that's impressive.

I know. Like he is good. They play a lot of cat and mouse. But Sarah did keep the spice consistent. She did. Like we were getting every few chapters. We're getting our fix. Like we're getting the spice.

It's not a super slow burn. And we're getting something. And here's my thing about Cassian. Because he won't stay the night with her after they have sex. He puts his pants on and he leaves and makes her feel cheap and use. And he's like just sex, right? You said it was just sex. And so I think he's trying to get her to say, I want more.

Yeah. But she is so vulnerable and she's so insecure and she's going through so much. Like just show her that you love her. He loves her and he is making her feel cheap and used. And I'm just badly done, Cassie. And I don't like this. I want the man to beg and plead and tell you how much he loves you until you finally give me. You're worried about the girl giving handies on the staircase feeling cheap and used. I just want to clarify. Yeah. That was just nice and nice of her. So I'm just saying that like the nice guys always finished last. She's kind of a bitch. She said it's only sex, right? And so he kind of giving her a taste of her own medicine. And she is, she's kind of having a hard time with it.

You know, the bitchy girls always go for the asshole guys. I'm just going to send. But if he was nice, she'd walk all over it. For sure. I like this. Like, is he an asshole though? He gave her exactly what she asked. Exactly what she gave him.

He was smug. He wasn't, I mean, he just left her feeling like. She put herself in that situation. Sorry. But she told him. That's what she was. I'm on his side. I don't even know him.

I don't like this behavior. Anyway. I'm sorry. She tells him what she wants. She just wants sex. He's not a mind reader, you know? No. Just tell him you want him to stay and cuddle.

Yeah. She's never happy. You read what you sell. She got exactly what she. She was happy about 20 minutes ago. But then he put his pants on. Yeah. He's got a big peepie.

All right. Continue. I don't like that term. I don't like that term. We could have chosen so many words. But so, okay. The cute thing is the next day at practice, the BFFs totally suspect what happened. And they're all like giggling about it.

And it's just super cute. between the rhythm, and I thought that was adorable. So as part of Nesta's training, Cassian takes her to a blacksmith to see how swords are made. And she asks, can I try it? She says to the blacksmith, can I try to make one? And he's like, yeah, sure, whatever, woman, you and your weak arms and whatever. Yeah. And so she gets really into it, and you can feel her magic stirring in her when she's making these weapons.

And the blacksmith shows up on Reese's doorstep with these weapons and is like, get these out of my store. They're giving me the creeps. They've got all these magic powers. I don't want them anywhere near me. And he leaves them with Rissand. So Rysand calls Amaran and Asriel and Cassian and they want to talk about it. And they realize Nesta created a magic sword and daggers. And they have the same powers as the trope. And they don't want to tell Nesta that she did this, but Cassian does. And they bring Fahara in and she's the final vote. And they decide, okay, we'll tell Nesta that she created this. magic sword, but we're putting the swords under lockdown for now. And it's really funny because Amaran's like, don't touch those swords. I'm going to leave this room down. And then the guys are kind of, oh, blah, oh. Like, do you want to touch the sword? I want to touch the sword. Well, they are just big kids. Yeah. They are. And they're warriors. And this is a magic sword. It's like, it's a super big deal. That they haven't seen in 10,000 years. Yeah. They were like really geeky about is really cute. Again, Cassian and his big hot dummy things that he does. Like, he goes to tell

Nesta about the sword, but Slipson tells her how everyone voted. And only he in favor were the ones that wanted to tell her about the sword. And I think he's trying to make himself look good, but it really upsets her. And she is so mad. She goes down all 10,000 of those stairs and into the city, pissed as hell. And she goes right over to Amherne's house. And she goes right over to Amherens house. and interrupts her mid-sex. She's climbing on a penis. When she's like her first cowgirl in her apartment. It might have been my favorite part.

Well, she's with, and we haven't really said this, but Varian from the summer court has been hanging around a lot. Those two are inseparable these days. And they're hot and heavy. But Varian doesn't say very much. So he's kind of an answer. hilarious character, but he's her guy and he's always there. And anyway, these two get into a fight and it's kind of long overdue. They've been mad at each other for a while. And she feels like Amaran took

Fahra side and Amherne calls her spoiled and entitled. And they don't get very far. All true. All true. Absolutely. And then Fahra comes in to break up the argument and Nesta tells her the baby in your womb is going to kill you. And Amaran and Reese don't respect you. enough to tell you the truth. And then she sees Faira's face and she runs out. Nasty. Yeah. Do not like this girl. She made a mistake for sure. She made a big mistake. A big mistake. And this is her thing. Like, you know, I mean, I know it's her redemption story and she grew, she growing like throughout the book. But it just, you know, every time she's in any situation until the very end, that she gets an opportunity to be the,

bigger person, she fails. Well, and she, anytime she can hurt Farah. Oh, yeah. It feels like she does take that opportunity to hurt Farah. And Farah did, like, absolutely nothing to, like, deserve this treatment from Nesta ever. No, that's true. But this is sisters, you know, I think this is something, sometimes you take the people you love for granted. And it was heartbreak, heart, break heart. And she has a lot of guilt about it, but she doesn't want to face it. So she just keeps being an asshole about it. She runs away from it again. So Reese tells Cassian to get Nesta out of the city before I fucking kill her.

Yes. And that is why I love Reese. He is. Love him. And then we go on the longest camping trip in the world, which sounds like my own personal hell. Yeah. Sounds pretty miserable.

I'm like, still hiking and camping, eh? I know you need to get out the raw emotions, Nesta, but oh, this sounds like a nightmare. It was really, really long. So it's therapeutic for her. And she and Cassie and makeup. And she talks to him about her dad and says, the reason I don't like fires is because every time I hear the logs crackling, I think of my dad's neck cracking. And it's really upsetting to me. And Cassian's like, oh, I didn't even think about that. You know, he's having some hot dummy moments too. Which is significant because for not only this book, but the last book, we're realizing why she's so damaged is because she is so traumatized and she's not telling anybody, and she's finally admitting it. Yeah. Yeah.

No, it's so true. It definitely comes out sideways, like how she's obviously dealing with her trauma. And I mean, you know, you can't judge people for that. I mean, I can because I am. I was like, I totally can. I do not agree with how you are dealing with your trauma. Your family's wrong. You're doing it wrong. Your trauma is wrong.

Your handling is wrong. So when they get back, Nesta asked Gwen if they have music at your little worship services that you do with the priestesses. And Gwen says, yeah, we sure do. It's great. And so Nesta says, I love music and I would really love to go. So while she's there, she has a vision of the harp from the trove, which as Amy said, is under the prison. And so another book, another trip to the prison. So here we go. Here we go.

Horrible scary prison. No one ever wants to go to. But they bring Nesta's magic sword, and she does name the sword atrexia. Adiraxia. Yep. Eteraxia, Jenny. I always fuck up these names. The whole series you've misprudenced, like so many names.

And I love you. I love you, post. Aurora Borealis, I love you so much. And it's Koste, not Kucci. Yeah. Koochie? Did she call him Kucci? Postchay?

Yeah. I like Kucci better. Nesta works her way through the wards and chambers and eventually gets her hands on the harp. And while holding it, it opens a portal to Queen Briallon, who's because she's wearing the crown. from the trove. So Queen Briallon says, I see you, and I know you've got the harp, so I've got eyes on you. And then the harp tricks her into opening the prison door of a monster named Lantus. And Cassian, this is his most feared creature he has ever conquered, because he had to really trick this creature, because it's basically

missed. And Cassian's terrified. He sees the creature come out and he tells her to run. She says, No, I'm going to stay her with my badass sword and kill this creature. And that's what she does. She like, yeah. She kills the creature. And it's like, go girl. Like she protects her man. And it was a really badass moment. I don't love a lot of battles and whatnot. But I thought that was a little bit of a cool battle. Off we go to winter solstice and Hallmark Christmas time again. And we find out that ERIS is coming to the celebrations. And when Reese hears that Nesta once seduced a duke with her beautiful, beautiful dancing moves. He decides he wants Nesta to do the same to ERIS and see if she can get closer to him for Intel. She agrees to do it. But Moore has to teach, more who hates, they used to hate each other. She has to teach Nesta the Faye dance moves of the times. So their plan works at the ball. Nesta is a thing of beauty, dancing with ERIS. She's got ERIS dancing into the palm of her hand and it's going really good. A lot of chemistry there. Yeah. Yeah. I would like to talk about that a little bit. Cassian, again, the big dummy, yeah, I'm sorry, hot dummy.

Hot dummy. Kind of a dummy. And so, like, but he cuts in because that's his woman, you know, and he doesn't like it. Yeah. But Aris asks Reese later, whatever you want in exchange for Nesta, I would love to marry her. I'm like, he, it works. He's enamored. He's in.

And Reese tells Nesta about the proposal, because this is sort of a Bridgeton thing. Like, you had to ask the man, you know. Yeah. And but Reese isn't like that. He's very women's rates. And so he's like, Nesta, it's your call. This is where I'm frustrated because I feel like the storyline got shelved. I was secretly hoping this would go somewhere because I feel like ERIS is a much

worthier opponent for Nesta than Cassian. Cassian's hot and he's really good and bad and he is impressive wingspan. But I would have liked to have seen where she went with this hot ginger. There is some fan theory. saying that perhaps that, I mean, the story's not over yet, the series not over yet. So there's some fan theory that said maybe that might be. Didn't they announce a six book? There is a six book coming.

Yeah. So stay tuned. But I will say I was disappointed that it stopped here because I wanted to see more of the chemistry between these two. And she's very charming and very cunning. And I don't know. I think she deserves a worthier opponent. But for now, back to the house to open Christmas gifts.

So we find out that last year Cassium bought Nesta a tiny miniature illuminated manuscript. And it was one of the first printed books in existence. And if you guys remember, he threw it into the Cedra River when they got in a fight that night. I know. Our last one, what was it? What was that? I'm like, hold tight. We finally found out.

Yeah. But this year he topped it, I feel like. So he gave her a silver ball that plays music. It's a rare device from Helian's court, and he went around asking musicians to play, and he recorded their music for her, and so that she could listen to all her favorite songs. So it was, he had to do a lot of work.

So sweet. It's a mixtape. But he had to do a lot of work to get that. But, hey, when I made mixtapes, that was a lot of work, too. You had to listen to the radio and wait for your favorite song and push record, try to get the commercials out of there. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, lots of work. Lindsay. We're even around with CDs and cassettes. Lindsay, did you even have cassettes? I did have cassettes, thank you. Did you call it a cassette? A cassette. Yeah.

Cassettes. I'm sorry, what was that a swords name? I'd VHS too. So they have a hot holiday sex and she tells him she's not going to marry Eress and that he's the one for her and she's the one for him. they finally sleep in the same bed and they finally let each other love each other. They finally spoon. They spoon. They sleep in bed together.

It's very adorable. And then he wakes up the next day and goes to his grown man snowball fight. Well. Then he's gone for a few days. This is so cute. She's like, I miss my man, but you know, this is a good night to have my besties over for a slumber party. And so she has all the girls over to the house of wind. And I feel like the house is at the slumber party, too.

The house is both. Totally. It was so cute. And so like the house would give them junk food. And like at one point made three bathtubs appear so they could take matching bubble baths and like two. I mean, it was like really, really adorable. Then when Cassian gets back, he realizes that these three are advancing in their training and he wants to level it up a little. And he sets up obstacle courses, which they, after months,

they eventually master these obstacle courses. And the Illyrian, if you guys remember Devlon from the Illyrian camps, he's the asshole. He's watching when they clear the obstacle course that qualifies them for the blood right. Right. And it is a really big deal. And the blood right's in a couple of days. And it's really hard to clear these obstacle courses. So he's completely shocked that they do.

It's an honor. They have no interest in doing the blood right. but they're very proud that they were able to do it and that their training got them there, and it's a really special moment. Right. So Cassie and Anesta have a fight because he tells her he's her mate. Now, I have a question about this. Is he her, like, fairy mate, like they're mated?

Or he just is using that term loosely, like... In his mind, he were a girlfriend. Yeah, he made. He thinks that they were mated, even... Even before she turned to a fate. Yeah, they were mated when she was human. And he was mine. Oh.

Well, how convenient that the three sisters are mated to, like, people that all know each other. Isn't that unusual? Yeah. Small town. Small town. So when Reese told Fahara that they were mated, she decides to go to the cabin and seclusion for a week. And so when Cassian tells Nesta, she. She's like, you're going to be excluded for a week and I don't want to talk to you.

Well, Farah did it because he had lied to her for their entire relationship and kept, she was mad at him for that, not because they were meets. That's a good point. Yeah. Well, Nesta uses her magic tattoo favor and makes him go away and won't talk to him about it. Don't like her. We know. I like her, but you and I, you know what, Lindsay and I always does.

agree on heroines. So this is funny because I thought you would like this because this is your genre, but she does go, they do a little slumber party at Emory's to eat chocolate and read magazines and cry about her boyfriend. It's very cute. But they get kidnapped in their pajamas that night and they are dropped into the blood right with the Illyrians completely unprepared. Cassian, you know, they both had kind of come to the realization. This is a lot of. This is. my maid. I love this person. I can't wait to tell them. So of course, now she's put in just this harrowing situation. Cassane can't save her because there's a law that apparently the High Lord Resand can't do anything about. What's up with that? Yeah, I thought that was horseshit. I thought you

were the Lord. Exactly. So he cannot save her from the blood right or he will be executed along with the warrior that he removes. Meanwhile, ERIS has been kidnapped by the old ugly queen. Yes, that is her name. Friallin and Cassian is being forced to go get him because Reese can't. And so this is where Reese and Fara tell everybody that they got a tattoo promise about that they would die at the same time. And everyone freaks out because they think Fahra's not going to make it through this pregnancy, which means Rysand is going to die automatic. Like Rysand, the baby, Fahara, they're about to lose all of them at the same time.

And it is like super duper sad. So basically Cassian has to go rescue Eros from the ugly queen. So the book is written in a back and forth between the two and their harrowing adventures and here's what's going on Cassian. And now here's Nessian, now Nesta. And so Ames, do you want to give us a quick recap of what happens in the Illyrian hunger games? Yeah. As you say, it's accurately described as the very hunger games, which is the blood right. So basically they spend a week to do their best not to get killed. And if they're skilled enough, to climb the mountain known as Ramiel without magic, flying, or weapons. So women are not allowed to participate. And Emery and Gwen and Nestor were all like, fine by me. So unbeknownst to them, though, like you said, Devin snatched them up in the middle of the night and started the blood right with them included.

So they wake up in the middle of nowhere, completely separated, and they're off to find one another. While they were making the friendship bracelets at their little sleepover pajama jam, they realized quickly that the friendship bracelets that they made, because Nesta makes these, like, weapons and she made these bracelets that... Oh, yeah. Yeah, they're magical now. And so they glow and lead them back to one another because when Nesta made them, she said, may we always find our way back to one another. So...

You guys. I know. I know. So Nesta found an injured Emery, first in the river, and then they found Gwynne near a male camp. After a few months of training, they go on and easily kill warriors that, you know, are trained since birth for this. But, you know, I digress. Well, there are also weapons there and there aren't supposed to be. There's not supposed to be.

Like somebody dropped a bunch of weapons into this like Hunger Games episode. And that was not allowed. Yeah. That was not allowed. So the next few chapters highlight them killing soldiers, stealing their clothes and trying not to get killed. And they're all battered and bloodied. And while they technically don't have to climb the mountain itself to be. past the right. And actually, the smart thing to do would be to wait it out in a cave somewhere

for the next week. But whatever, they were ridiculous enough to still go for making the summit. Gwen, the priestess wants. She talks. She's the one that kind of tells them we're going to do this. Yeah. I mean, only 12 people have successfully done this in like 10,000 years. But yeah, sure, you got this. You guys that have been training, what, a year? Okay, let's go. And you're at death's door. Everybody's entered. Yeah, you can barely, you're all gray because you're losing. Yeah. Well, they did the obstacle course. They can do it. So while Emery in a badly entered, Gwen climb. I mean, basically Emory is like carrying Gwen up this mountain that is so hard to climb. Nesta stays behind to fend off the warriors and the two miraculously and unbelievably reached the most elusive peak and they win the whole thing.

So we soon realize though that, you know, while Nesta stays back, Brielen had orchestrated for them to participate in this right as a trap. So, dun, dumb, da. So Nesta's facing off. She's protecting the two girls as they're like climbing the mountain. Yeah.

And she's facing off with the last guy, the bad guy, Emery's mean cousin. Like, she's already killed at how many warriors. So like he sent all these guys ahead of him to make her tired. And he's about to give a death blow. And Cassian flies out from the sky. and kills this guy. He wraps her in a hug and says, and now I'm going to slit your throat.

And you're like, what the fuck? So he's under Bre Allen's control because she's got the ground. I'm going to cut to the chase. Don hits, Nesta's powers come back, she rises up to kill the queen. Cassian's struggling the whole time because it's the real Cassian and he knows he doesn't want to do these things, but he can't not because of the way the crown.

controls people. Well, Breelan tells him to kill, but she doesn't say who. So he turns the knife on himself and that's when Nesta goes, okay, fuck this. Yeah. Like she had leashes. Yeah. So then she kills Breallin. But, you know, there's really no time to be happy about that. More winnow's in and says, Fara's dying. She's having the baby early. It's time to go. And so, I mean, Sarah Maas is real good at this unrelenting torment thing where you think like, oh, we can be happy. No, no, not yet. No, no. Not yet. So they winnow back to the house where she's in labor and she's like literally one breath from dying, which means so is resand. I mean, this is the deal. Which is so dumb, by the way. I mean, is this dumb, dumb, really? That they made the pact or that it's a thing. That they made the pact. Yeah. I don't know. Oh, I thought it was romantic. No. But Amaran called them dumb too.

Oh, everyone was like fools. Well, now it feels dumb, you know. It's gross, yeah. But like in the moment, it's like sickly sweet. But it's, yeah. It's like they love each other. They don't want to live without each other. And they have that near death thing before.

Yeah, so it made sense why they did it. I guess. Anyway, so they do a C-section and the baby is not born alive. And Faira is nearly dead and it's all looking very tragic. And the next thing we know, we just blink. And Nesta is standing there, wearing the mask, playing the harp, and wearing the crown. Which has never happened. Which has never happened.

First of all, no one's ever done that without dying. But second of all, where did you get all that shit? Like, it just like showed up on her. As Amy said, there were 26 strings. And I don't think anybody's ever plucked the last one. So she plucks the 26 string, which suspends time. So she plucks it right as fair as like taking her last breath. Right before she got it.

And yes, and she's like slow-mo like, no, no, no, no. I love to. But she makes a deal with the cauldron. If you'll show me how to save her and resand and the baby, I will give you back what I took. And the cauldron says, you've got yourself a deal. Nope. Yeah. Deal.

Done. And poof. But Favre's babies alive and full term. Yeah, it's crying. Faira's alive, no blood anywhere. Her body's been shape shifted so that she can give birth to Illyrian babies now. And Reesands on his knees thinking Nesta, just hugging her and weeping. And she falls to her knees and hugs him. And the cauldron also, like I said, fixed Fara's anatomy. So this is never going to be a problem again. And while the cauldron was down there, she said, could you fix my anatomy too? So she wasn't like a two-hri-old. That's a surgery. Just in case. So Nesta finally tells Cassian she wants to be his mate. And Rissand is planning a very fancy wedding for them that doesn't happen before the end of the book.

So I just want to reserve that. I know. I know. I notice that too. Let's put a pin in that. I don't hate these two together, but I just would have liked to have seen what her and Eress could have been like. So Cassian goes. was to meet with Aris. And Aris has been, his dad got him back and basically tortured him for

information. But Aris didn't tell him anything useful. And Cassian asked, why didn't you help Morgan that day? Why did you leave her there? And he won't answer, but I have to say, I think he and Morgan have a secret between the two of them. They do. Because he keeps saying, like, ask Morgan. Like, I don't think he did anything wrong. Yeah. I don't. And he won't say it. And it's just very frustrating. And I think Cassian in that moment realizes you're not evil. There's something else.

Yeah. Like you're not such a bad guy. And while he says, I think you might be a decent male. And he's kind of looking at him with pity because he's got to live in this court with his evil father. And he probably grew up in just horrible torment. And Ery says, like, don't look in me like that. Don't pity me. And so it was kind of an awkward departure.

But interesting. all the same. So we end with the three sisters visiting their dad's grave and Nesta finally makes peace with him and leaves one of his, he used to do these wood carvings for money and leaves one of those on his gravestone. And that's how we end the story. And there's so many things that are left open. What about Tamplin? What about Elaine and Lucian? Like what's going on? Or Elaine and Asriel. Or Elaine and Azriel. As real. Lucian, the long-suffering Lucian, the red-headed stepchild of everyone's world, like this poor guy, someone get him a lady, you know. There's a six book coming out, so like we can have a little bit of closure, hopefully, to these guys that are just so hard up that just need some release.

Okay, so I would love to hear ratings, especially your rating on this book, Lindsay, because I did not realize you weren't a big Nesta fan. I'll start and then we'll kind of round circle. So I would give this book four and a half. I absolutely loved it. I'd like Mist and Fury just a little more and I gave that one five stars. But to me, this story, I plowed through it. It was such a fun journey and I loved it. I will read it again and I don't reread a lot of books, but I would, I can see why you've read these over and over, Lindsay. So definitely four and a half stars and probably the highest spice in this series. I mean, this is a It was a four chili pepper spicy book for me. There was spice throughout. The spice was hot. It was really, really fun to read. I'm going to kick it to Amy. So I would have to agree. I would put Mist and Fury as my favorite, but I would put this one as a close second. So I would rate it of 4.5. Four chili pepper, I'm so glad that they finally had some spice and was getting my buttermilting and all of that thing. But Nesta is insufferable. And she still kind of was insufferable throughout the book. But in my opinion, not as insufferable as Fahara. Right. Exactly. I know. There was a redemption

arc and I was here for it. I love that she made some friends and I just love following the journey. So yeah, I loved it. All right, Jenny. I rated a 4.52. I love Nesta because I liked seeing her journey from being in a very bad place to being a very good place. So I kind of forgave all of her insufferability. I don't know if I forgave like Fahara's. inseparability because she is like she's been insufferable the whole series but I digress. She finally came around but yeah. I was like, but spice, I'll give it a five man. Like I was just fan in. I was throughout the series. So I like read stuff for Thanksgiving. I know. A step for Thanksgiving. I was trying to compare

it to the books that you guys read. So I that's why I rated 4.5. In my mind, it was a five like compared to like You guys, it's probably like a four-pointed. Or a two-wise. That's good. That's good. I was, I really would. Well, what did you think, Lynn? I'm excited to hear your writing because you've been a fan for a while.

I am. I'm a huge fan of this whole series. As much as, like, Nesta drives me absolutely bonkers and Inufferable's the right word. I did like the book. Sarah Moss is, like, a really amazing writer. You really do feel like you're there. Like I like how the story unfolded. I like that it tied everything together. I like that you still get to see Fara and Reese and like all the characters like still play in. So that's so fun. So I get I would give in this book a four. The spice to me is also a four. Like super high spice. Really fun. It was I thought that it was like a slow burn in a good way where you just like you could really feel like the tension building between them. And then every time they got together it was just like you were like really rooting for them. I am glad she ended up with.

Cassian, I think he's perfect for her. That's where I meant. Okay, so I have to ask Amy. Yeah. So Sarah Maas has three series, right, that sort of are all in the same ecosystem. Mm-hmm. And so what have you, and you've started thrown a glass, correct? I have. Okay. So there's thrown a glass and then Crescent City. Are there any of these characters in that book? You know, I don't know. I am not far enough in the series, but I don't think so. I don't think so. What I'm here, From like the fan fantasy talk. You are so nerdy. I love it. Is that?

Okay. Anyway, what did they say? I'm like teasing you and I'm like, tell me everything. Is that you need to read at least Crescent City to understand book six when it comes out? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I haven't read Crescent City.

So I've heard that same thing though. I've heard that same thing. So my plan is to go to plow through a little series. Yeah. for sure. But like, but thrown up glass is like, I don't know what Lynn's like eight or nine books. Yeah. Oh yeah. There's so many. Yeah. I mean, I think her entire series is something like 16, like what's out now. It's like somewhere between 13 and 16 books. Like it's a lot. Yeah. She's built an impact. Yeah. For sure. Okay, Kim, did we get you hooked? Are you going to pick up some romantasy at the bookstore next time?

I would definitely say if I had an extra 30 to 60 hours. free time to listen. This would be one. Actually, that won't be enough. I don't, well, for this one book, for this one. Yeah, it's definitely a commitment. I'm, you know, I'm a turn and burn. I'm not into the long drug out. It's like me and Netflix, right? I watch the first series. Maybe I get to the second series season. Third season, I'm fucking out. I can't. It's too much. I want to move on. So it's probably not my thing, but you're making a lot of Akatar fans very angry right now. I just, I'm sorry. No.

That's why they have to listen to the podcast. They get the hour and a half version. Yeah, exactly. I feel like I read it. I'm going to give it a four. I'm going to go three and a half because wingspan is not everything. and over the pants and candies on the stairs. It's not my thing.

You know how I feel about privacy and clean sheets and those kind of things. Well, the clean sheets. Our job here is done if you're rating the books and you haven't read it yet. There you go. That's what it's all about. Well, Jenny and Amy, thank you so much for joining us and doing our very smut episodes. Oh, so fun. This is a really fun project to do with both of the view.

And who knows, we may meet us. again and could have you on the podcast sometime. Like, it's just been really fun to do this with you. And for our listeners, please be sure to check out our season two reading list. It is on boozybookgasms.com. We've got all our books and show dates up there. Please email as book suggestions. You can email me, Jen, J-E-N at Boosy Bookgasms.com or send a note right from our web page for a book suggestions. So we are selecting a listener book suggestion for an upcoming podcast. And we have some other surprises in store for season two. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok as long as TikTok's around at Oosie Bookcastms on all the things.

And that is all we have for today. So thank you for joining us. And until we meet again, 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.