Boozy Bookgasms - Meow, Mask and Murder, Oh my!

Episode Date: February 6, 2025

Lights Out by Navessa Allen We're back baby! Jen, Lynn and Kim talk stalking, kitty cats and polite mafia good guys.  Signature Cocktail: The Fred Fizz Ingredients: Bourbon Whiskey, Simple Syrup, Lemon Juice, Orange Curacao, Lemonade, Shaved Ice.  Grab a tumbler and fill it 3/4ths of the way full with ice. Then measure out 2 ounces of your preferred bourbon or rye whiskey and pour it into the tumbler. Add 1.5 ounces of fresh squeezed lemon juice and 1/2 an ounce of simple syrup. Put your top on your tumbler and shake till it's ice cold and frost starts to form on the outside. In a tall glass add 1-2 scoops of shaved ice. Strain your shaken cocktail into the shaved ice. Float a layer of orange curacao on top. In a second glass add 4 - 6 ounces of lemonade. Pour your first glass into the second one. This step seems convoluted but the pouring the first mixture into the second is what creates the fizz part of the Fred Fizz. * Remember you can substitute other flavors for whiskey, simple syrup and even limeade for extra fun and a little variety. 

Book of Clither Fence, 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 and welcome to season two of boozy book gasms. I'm Jen. I'm Kim. And I'm Lynn. We're back, baby. I hope you enjoyed our very smart journey. And we are so excited to dive into season two. And I'm really excited to talk about lights out by Naveza Allen. This has been on my TBR since it was released. But before we unmask this masterpiece, what are we drinking tonight?

Ah, yes. Your favorite bartender has returned. And we missed you. I know, I know. In honor of one of our main characters, aka Fred, our resident Furbaby, We're going to do the Fred Fizz. We've got some bourbon whiskey, some simple syrup, a little lemon juice, some orange carousel, and some lemonade. Now, what's really fun about this one, depending on what you like, you can mix up the flavors a little bit.

Like, you guys know I'm not a huge standard whiskey fan, but I can sub in like an apple whiskey or a honey whiskey and completely change the drink over. Or I can even, like, change up the simple syrups with a passion fruit or something else. A couple people actually wrote in and said that they changed out the lemonade with limeade just to give it a more like bittery kind of a little bit of a punch. So enjoy. Hope you guys like it. Yeah. I'm drinking with the regular and I'm not a bourbon fan either. But it's actually pretty good with the simple syrup and the blue color.

I like the orange. It definitely cuts it. Yeah. Well, we'll start with our female main character. Our first FMC of season two is Alice. She is a trauma nurse in an inner city hospital. I'm not sure that we ever got what city this was in. I kept trying to figure that out.

It felt very New Yorkie, Chicago-y. It felt Chicago. There was a mob. There's a mafia, so it's always a lot of them. Kim, spoiler. It's early in the season. I don't think we ever knew, but it's definitely like an urban environment. I felt Chicago, but it's a Chicago.

It's a Chicago vibe. We open with her training a new nurse in, and we're really getting the sense that this is not a job for the faint of heart. She works long days and doesn't get a lot of sleep. She doesn't get a lot of time for herself. But she does have a guilty pleasure. When she needs a break for her brain, she watches a masked man with a hot body who does TikTok thirst traps. As one does. I mean, hey.

As one does. We're not judging. This is a totally new thing for me. It's like a soft porno, but you never see the guy's face. It's just like this like creepy mask for what 30 seconds at a time. I think the main attraction is the body. It's the body. It's an interesting kink.

I'm not sure I'm totally here for it. Different. She's certainly was. And there's a whole community around this mask kink. Yeah, he's got millions of followers. And she watches a few of them on her break and gets a little horned up. And when she gets home, she hits up like her kind of friend. with benefits, Tyler, who was her most recent hookup, and she asked, like, hey, would you be willing to do this?

And she sends the video to him. And Tyler says, you know, thanks for asking Allie, but I haven't heard from you in a couple of months. And he's kind of a douche, but he's like, I've moved on. So our TikTokers name is Josh. And he also happens to be Tyler's roommate. But Tyler doesn't know about Josh's side hustle or whatever this thing is. He's also his best friend of childhood friends. Yeah. Josh has real job is that he's a computer security guy and he's an expert hacker and IT genius, but he does the TikTok thirst traps as a creative outlet. It's important to note that Josh's father was a prolific serial killer with a devilish good looks. And Josh is like his identical twin. He looks just like him, which has made him a bit of a recluse. He does the TikToks with a mask on for that reason,

and also it just kind of has kink. Tyler tells Josh he just broke things off with Allie, but she just asked him to dress like this masked man and he shows Josh the video. And Josh is like, oh, shit, but he like acts cool. This is where we find out Josh already kind of has an unhealthy obsession with Allie. He background checks all of Tyler's girlfriends as a general rule, which I thought was a little kind of strange. I mean, some sort of obsession. I mean, well, bet.

He dug a little deeper with Allie. He knows, like, where she went to college. what her grades were. It was like a little, you know, he's definitely got a stalker situation. When he realizes she's a fan of his TikTok, he gets so excited. He goes into his room and spends hours digging up any comment that she's made on his TikTok because he's got millions of viewers and commenters. And he finds that there are a lot. She's a super fan and he's not sad about it. Josh wants to see just how into him Allie is and breaks into her home to film a video. Oh, back up.

She basically asks him to break it. She DMed him and said, oh, I wish somebody would break into my house or whatever. Well, she, like, made a comment, like, I wouldn't hate this. She comments on a lot of things, and there's a whole community of girls that are, like, spinning. I want to say a thousand. Like she either liked her commented on almost a thousand times, right? Basically like, ooh la la and like give me more of that. And, you know, mostly just like commenting. But yeah, she did say like, wouldn't it be great if he showed up at my house. Yeah. He's so attracted to her. And he's like, I'm going to see if she's really down for this mask kink thing. And I'm going to break into her home. And he films a TikTok in her home. While he's there, he meets her cat and makes friends with the cat. Fred. And he's always been a little nervous that because his dad was a serial killer, he might have those tendencies. So he's never had a pet.

And he meets this cat and he's surprised how much he likes it. And also kind of glad he doesn't want to murder it. He's, so that was a close. I'm glad he likes it because he's never had a pet because he's worried that he might like kill an animal. And that would be like the first ride of his serial killer. That's a tendency of serial killer. Yeah, so he's like... So what he does do is he leaves a mask behind after filming the video so that when

Ellie gets home, she knows this guy's been in her house. She sees a video while she's at work. And although she sees the comforter and it's like, oh, I have that same comforter, she actually even comments on the video like, hey, she does not realize it's in her bedroom until she gets home and finds the mask on her bed. And she's pissed, but she's also a little into it. She kind of freaks out first. She goes and makes sure nothing was broken in.

to she like gets Fred in the Yeah, she gets a gun out bedroom and like locks the door and like she's worried he's still there She's no shrinking violate She's I mean she's in the city She's a trauma nurse She's used to douchebags all the time

She works out she does like She does self-defense classes She can shoot a gun She's got a gun on her She's pretty self-sufficient When it comes to that stuff Did I mention he planted a hidden camera You haven't yet but yes

That does happen Okay. That's important to note. It's not a spoiler. He should have mentioned that before. He sees what she's doing and he's like, ooh, ooh, I did this all wrong. Like I'm scaring her. But then she DMs him and is like, hey, by any chance did you break into my house? And he doesn't want to incriminate himself. And he's like, well, what if I did? They have a little back and forth. And then she starts getting a little annoyed. And she starts going on her computer and hold on before that happens. She pleasures herself to a video. But he stops watching. Yeah, he doesn't want to come. He doesn't want to be a perv. So even though he set up a hidden camera in her room. Too late.

But I think it was also funny. She puts the cat in the bathroom. Well, she doesn't want an audience. Well, he was watching her through her computer camera and the camera he planted. This secret camera. Yeah. She realizes he might be watching her through the camera. He's Googling like, how do I turn the camera off on my computer?

Gets that down, but doesn't turn the microphone off so he can still hear her, but he's got this other camera, right? And then she shuts down her computer and he can still watch her. And that's when she's like, I'm totally like pissed off at this guy, but turned on. So I'm going to get myself off here on the bed. Have good time. She's enjoying it. That's what he wanted to verify. This girl's into the same thing I'm into.

She likes this. And this guy's a little socially awkward, even though he's over hot, apparently. So he sends her a bunch of flowers and some security equipment because he's like, if I could break in that easily, you probably need some security equipment. And then he also sends her a hidden camera detector. He kind of calls himself out. She realizes he hit a camera, then she's pissed. But we should say, like, it's not just a bunch of flowers. It's a bunch of flowers. Like, she can't, like, there's no room for them anymore. It is like. There's so much she's like sending them away.

He's like overkilling because he feels guilty because he's scared her. But also he's like, she should be more secure. It's very you vibes to me where he's justifying it out. I really struggled with this part of the book too because it was like, okay, she's scared. She's like lock yourself in the bedroom getting a gun, but into it, getting yourself off. Then he's sad that he scared her. So he's like apologizing but not stopping. It lasted forever this pushbow.

between them. I'm like, okay, I get it, move on. Like, when's the kink coming? She calls Tyler, the roommate, and says, hey, don't you have a roommate that's good at computers? I'm wondering if he can help me find someone online. And of course, Josh is listening to this whole thing, and he's like, oh, shit, like she's going to ask me to find myself. And Tyler says he'll ask. He's worried because he has very distinctive tattoos and furniture. So then Allie goes to work one night, and she has a hunch that the masked man is watching her through the hospital cameras, and she flips one of them off. And he texts her and says, rude.

I'm like, I love that. I don't know. But she doesn't hate it. No. She really doesn't. I don't hear it. She gets a little uneasy, and she says anything. She's like, okay.

And then he says, tell me to stop. She doesn't. Because then I do believe if she had said stop, he would have stopped. Yeah. Just then she gets paged. There is a mass shooting and several victims are being brought in. She throws her phone in her locker and she works like a 20-hour shift. And she is dead on her feet. It's snowing outside, which is another reason I'm getting Chicago vibes. But she knows it's not safe for her to drive home. So she goes to her car to pick something up as she's going to Uber. And he is sitting in her car with a mask on, which is starting to feel a little silly at this point. to meet. This is where I was like, come on. But like, this is another part. I bought the book that just drove me bananas. It made me laugh. I'm like, I just expected something very different when I read the book jacket for this book. But, but he can't talk because she doesn't want her to recognize his voice. So he texts her, I'm here to give you a ride home. And she's hesitant, but he's got a gun and a knife in the passenger seat. It's her gun. And he says, you can point these at me. all the way home. So she's like, well, that works for me. Let me still get in this car with a stranger

who broke into my house and is stopping me. It feels so. Nothing wrong with this. She broke in my house and got the gun a knife for me to use against you in the car that you broke into. Yeah. I mean, but Jen, you listen to it, right? You listen to the audio. Lindsay, you read it. Red it. Like, I think you would have enjoyed it so much more. I think Jen, we had talked to. We had talked to it. about this. He's charming. He's so funny and charming. Yeah, he is funny. They are just like, you go, aw, oh, okay. I'm like, I'm not hating this. But then he brought her some snack. Yeah. Because he knew she didn't eat all night because he was, he was stalking her and saw everything she did. She's like, how do I know these aren't poisoned? So he peels back the side of his little mask and

eat some of it to show her. Then she's like, conflicted. But anyway, she's, like, conflicted. But anyway, She eats the food. She knows she shouldn't like this, but she does like it. And I'm on board for this logic. But the whole mass thing is getting silly. But he's not ready to reveal himself because of his trauma, because of his dad. So. Well, and because of the kink. And because he knows she likes the kink.

Right. He doesn't want to give up the ruse. Yeah. So anyway, a truck full of rednecks pull up next to them and start cat calling to Allie. And that bothers him. He parks and gets out. out in the middle of a snowstorm with a knife. And he's holding the knife up to the window and kind of wiggling his fingers like, hello,

and says, boom, motherfuckers. And like the guys in the truck are like, what the fuck is that? And they like peel out of there. And Allie's like, you're a maniac, but actually she loved every minute of that. Then they're driving some more and he pushes up his sleeves. And this guy is like all muscle. And she's really into forearms, apparently. They can be very sexy.

She's into a lot of things, though. Let's be honest. And he's hot. True. He's hot. But she does realize, like, this is her fantasy guy. And there's his forearm arms, like, just haunting her. And she's like, I'd like to see her dick.

Fair. And Josh is like, this is all my dreams come true because she gives him roadhead. But right as he climaxes, she still got the knife because she doesn't want to be in danger. Right. She stabs him. Safety first. Which, yeah. So she's like, I'm scared enough to keep this knife on you while I give you head.

You know, it's like a giant laceration. It is in his hand. It was in his hand. But it's funny because like the whole time he's trying to focus on the road and not getting stabbed because he's so worried about her and her safety and getting her home. And he's like, oh, shit. okay, well, I have to keep my eyes on the road. Oh, my God, if it wasn't snowing. Meanwhile, she's going down on him with a knife stabbing into him.

And he just basically doesn't say anything while he climaxes. We didn't want to be rude. You don't want to point out your, you know, getting stabbed. Your partner's issues. Yeah, that's rude. I mean, she's a nurse. So Milton's services to take care of his staff. Medic.

It was nice. She had all the tools at home to, to, to, stitch him up. So the thing that was really adorable, the cat, I loved, because the cat loves him. And the cat hates every man she's ever had over. So while she's stitching up his wound, the cat's curled up in his lap. And she's like, what the hell? Like, she can't even believe it. He still won't take off the stupid mask. And she tries to offer him food, but her fridge is empty. And she continues to apologize. Like, I'm sorry, I stabbed you. He was just really nice. I mean, that feels fair. You should apologize by that. But he's like, you're exhausted. You've been on a 20-hour shift, like, go to bed. And she's like, but I'm horny. And he's like, go to bed. And she does.

She goes to sleep for like 12 hours and wakes up to a shoveled driveway. And pancakes. He went to her favorite restaurant, which is also stalky. How does he know? But thoughtful. I'll take pancakes in the morning with a stalker any day of the week. Yes. But the funny part is he took his mask off to shovel the driveway and met her neighbor.

Neighbor. Mm-hmm. But she can't ask the neighbor what he looks like. Because that's weird. Because he's like a war. He introduced himself as her boyfriend. I mean, there's a lot of just like assumptions here. Very, very presumptuous.

Yes. But he's like, I'll be back tomorrow night. And she's like not upset about it. She's kind of intrigued. She's getting into it. What caused pause for me on this was that he turned off her cameras to do that. And not even useful. This security system.

It's not benefiting her. Well, not with regard to him. He got her all the security cameras. so that this wouldn't happen. And then he's still able to manipulate. He works around it. Yeah. Perfect. So Tyler, the roommate, talks to Josh, and he agrees to help Allie, but first wants to make sure she's not a true crime fan because there have been a lot of documentaries and podcasts about his dad recently and he just doesn't want to go there. And Tyler's like, don't worry about it. She's too busy. So he makes a plan he's going to wear gloves to cover up the

stitches on his hand and the tattoos. And he takes a couple of other precautions for his identity. And this is where I'm like, she just saw him naked. There's no way this body type. Well, she didn't see him naked, just his dick. Not all the way naked. And she's seen him topless. That's not all the way naked. It's just like.

I mean, I'd say the top half of the torso. He didn't meet her at the door with his dick out. Like. So it would have been a much faster book. So, okay. Our girl, Ali, might be a freak, but she's no idiot. She takes one look and she's like, this is the guy. She figures it out.

No, but like, he wears gloves. And in order to pass that he has gloves on, he jacks down the AC to like 50 degrees and says they're trying to save money or something so that he is plausibly can wear gloves. He thinks he's thought of everything. She's no idiot. She starts to speculate. She doesn't know, no, but she starts to speculate. I think this might be my guy. Yeah.

Yeah. So she does shake his hand really hard to try to make his stitches hurt. Yeah. And he doesn't flinch, but he's basically dying. And then she sends him a text to the masked man and, like, watches Josh's phone. Of course, Josh has set up this whole bot to, like, respond to her text messages, which I was like, oh, my gosh. Of course he did, yeah. He really did think of a lot.

He did. You got to give the guy credit. And he really liked her a lot. I mean, the hoops he jumped through. And you don't realize right at the beginning that he's been obsessed with her. But then you start to realize he's been obsessed with her when she was sleeping with the roommate. and he's just like perpetuating his obsession that she's interested into the mask. And he really is thoughtful.

Like as a boyfriend, I mean, he's kind of a cutie. She's realizing that even though she knows this is. A little obsessive. Yeah. But we learn later why he's so obsessive and why he does what he does for everyone he knows. Everyone he cares about. Right. So she's there with Josh, the roommate, to basically see if he can track himself down online because he's a hacker.

And of course, he can't find the guy. because it's himself. So she leaves there pretty certain. Josh is my mask man. I was glad because I'd have been really annoyed. Like it would have been like Clark Kent and Superman. Like they're identical without glass. If you can't figure this out, like Lois Lane. Come on. So he stalks her all day at work and is running on no sleep. So he falls asleep and doesn't wake up until she's already home from work. But he promised her the night before that he would be there. And she was kind of expecting to walk in from work and find him there. And when he wasn't, she was disappointed. So she hooked back up the hidden camera that she had unhooked when she found it and gets out a giant, giant vibrator. And he's like, wait, what are you doing? She knows he's watching. And she puts on a show. I think she put the cat away again. She did. Yes. It's a big thing that Fred cannot. Fred, no. He's a child. He's a child. Yeah, he's their child. The baby. Which was another whole issue. It was so cute, though. Mommy and Daddy need private. It's weird.

She hears a loud bang and he basically kicks the door down because he knows she's in there doing that. And she's terrified but also relieved to when she sees it's him in the mask. And now he has a voice modulator that makes him sound kind of dark and sexy. And she's into it. Like a man. Yeah. Yeah. So they have fun and the scene is hot.

I'm going to say. The spice was written really well. But they don't have sex. Well, he blindfolds her to eat her out. So he can take his mask off. Right. Because it's hot. Because he's dying.

It gets itchy in there. Yeah. And he couldn't eat her out with the mask on. Yeah, that was in the way. But imagine putting it back on after. Lots of smells. Like comfortable in there. Gosh.

Absolutely. I mean, he was really uncomfortable. He did think it through. But she gets home at like, like early in the morning because she must have worked the overnight. So after they have fun, they don't have sex. He doesn't want to sleep with her before she knows who he really is because she wants him to know like who his dad is and be okay with that. But he does make her bacon and eggs. And we find out like he's the worst cook ever. He's a horrible cook. Because he's a vegan. So like,

you know. But why is he a vegan? That's the other thing. It was so gross. Oh, that's so gross. His dad ended up murdering people and then cooking them and serving them at the neighborhood barbecue. So for him, any time... Only to the people that ate the hamburgers, though. Yeah. He had a hot dog, which Tyler. Yeah, because Tyler had a hot dog. So he was like, but it was like every time he smells cooking meat, it makes him sick,

which makes sense why he had, like when he was making the eggs and bacon, he left the eggshells in because he was over vomiting in the sink to clean up because... Yeah. But he... And the bacon was raw. Like it was... Yeah. He made her breakfast, which was thoughtful.

It was really, really sweet. He tried. But so she slips a tracking device into his bag. So she can confirm he's Josh. Yeah. So good. I got this guy. Well, Josh, of course, you know, two steps ahead of her.

He sees her do it. And... Well, he can't be without her. So while she's still sleeping, he puts his first. he puts his phone on the counter with the camera in her bedroom. He's in her kitchen. She's in her bedroom and he is watching her from one room. From the hidden camera that she plugged in to masturbate with.

Because he couldn't be away from her and then sees her sneaking this tracker. And it's like impressed. He thinks it's adorable. Yeah. He's like, this is awesome. They're a little game. Yeah. So he, when he leaves, knowing he's got the tracking device in his bag,

He drives the city blocks in the shape of LOL. So that the grid. Yeah, the grid of LOL. And so then she realizes he knew. But he also sets it up. Like you can set it up where it's like breadcrumbs where you can track it. Because I was thinking about this and I'm like, how does she know it's L-O-L? But then he says like I set it up where she could see my path.

So it literally on her screen is spelling out L. Oh. It was hokey, but like this is their flirting. This is when it started getting cute for me. Because it was a long time coming before it became kind of their cutesy little relationship. And he is really cute when he says rude or like, you know, he kind of like claps back at her. That stuff is really kind of adorable. The banter was cute especially on audio.

Like he, his voice was really great. So she looks into the hidden camera and says, Josh, I know. with you. And I took hair from your sweatshirt when I was in your house the other day and I've got blood from a gauze from when I stitched up your wound and I'm going to test the DNA and he's like, ooh. I got you. I got you. Yeah. But he wore his roommate's sweatshirt that day. So the hair is of his roommate. So I'm like, oh, come on. She went to the lab at work and called in a favor with a friend. and then rightfully so felt kind of guilty. Like I'm jumping the line in front of all these rape kits and like all these other things people need DNA for just to see if I can win this game with this guy I like.

Well, and she knows it's Josh. And so I think she also is kind of like, do I want to ruin the game a little bit? Like she just starts second guessing herself, I think, in general. Yeah, I felt like she was really torn on it, whether it's, I want to win. I want to win. I want to prove that I'm right. but at the same time, do I want to prove that I'm right? Because this is kind of fun.

Yeah. Does it stop? Does it go away? Is he really safe? He is hot. He is fun. He, you know. It was, she was very torn, I feel like.

And then once, and then she's like, oh, shit, now I also feel bad because I'm jumping in front of all these people. But I feel like she was torn before she even. Yeah. And everyone at the hospital is working all these long hours. And now I'm asking her to do a side thing. Like, she had a few reasons why she felt a little bad about it. But the friend was like, you know, whatever.

I'll do this for you. Yeah, shut up. I got you. So he texts her at work and asks on a scale of one to ten, how mad are you about the LOL? Are we going to need to create a custody agreement for the cat? It's so cute. But she knows she's catching feelings for him and she wants to protect her heart.

And she basically thinks this is a little unhealthy. I'm not sure if this is good for me. So she tells him she needs a little space. And he's like, he doesn't like that, obviously. You get three days, three days. And then he's like, I'm coming for you. Yeah, you said those words. And he's like, also the entire time you're taking your space, I'm going to be watching you.

Yeah. So. And she didn't. She didn't care. I was kind of like, okay. I need my space while I think about this. But feel free to keep watching. It's kind of like how my entire family can see me and find my friends at all times.

I just makes me feel safer. It's not. He tells her to watch a video later and he does sort of an apology video on his thirst trap TikTok channel. And he has already like kind of let his fans know he likes Allie and she's getting a little online like TikTok backlash from the jealous women. Yeah, he commented on one of her posts. And so now everybody knows they know each other in her life. And she's getting like hate mail because this video. Because they're all in love with him. The video he put on, he was like all sad looking out a window.

And so now they're like, how dare you make the man sad? And they start beating on her. Our guy. So I mean, this is where the kink. I was like, this exists. Like, this is a real. Everything exists. Oh.

Everything exists. Well, TikTok might be already disappeared by the time we do this episode. But if it's not, I have. I'll show you a few videos. There's some good stuff. That's so funny. So Allie has a very disturbing situation at work where a rapist named Bradley Bloom, who was there a few nights ago, comes back in. He's a serial rapist.

He keeps getting away with that because his family has a lot of money. And he's in the hospital because the victim's brother beat the shit out of him, which I didn't feel bad about it all. I'm sorry. Well, he got caught in the act of raping the girl. And he had her on ketamine and it was obvious. But he still got away with it. with it. So the brother beat the shit out of him. What did he say to Allie about how she should be thankful? He provokes her enough that she calls him a shrimp dick and he starts screaming in the

hospital like, oh, she's like, I'm being threatened by her. And I mean, he's just a piece of shit. He's garbage. And of course, Josh has researched him and knows he's garbage. Like he, the minute he sees the guy come in, he's like, and figures out. like this guy is total garbage. So no one will treat him. And so Allie just wants him out of the ER. So she's like, I will go do it. Well, usually men treat him.

Usually the men treat the rapist. They only have one guy on staff that night. Right. So they're short staff. Yeah. So she's like, I'll do it. I'm immune. I won't let him get to me.

And then she goes to HR because of calling him a shrimp dick. And they basically give her a high five and send her back to work. But I like that HR department a lot. But she sees a woman coming into the ER that reminds her of her mother who passed away and she has a breakdown. And she leaves really upset. So we find out later that her mom died in a car accident while she was driving. And she really blames herself for that. So she's got some mental health struggles with the way that happened.

And her dad actually passed away two months later. Josh comes over that night still wearing a mask. But he comforts her. He just holds her. he's wearing a balaclava mask instead of his Halloween once. He forgets to change his voice a few times and she's like, it's so Josh, like she just, she knows. So they start getting sexy and he stabs a knife into her bed and he's like, don't worry,

I have another mattress being delivered tomorrow. He wanted a bigger one. Well, yeah, so he and Fred could fit on it. That was huge, too. He's also ginormous, like, which is why it's like, of course you know. This is Josh. Yes. Yeah.

Yeah. So he stabs the knife into the bed and basically she has sex with the handle. He encourages her to. Encourages. Yeah. Well, I love that she's like a sex toy. The handle. Right.

The blade is in the matthous. And he puts his hand in between the blade and her to make sure she doesn't get hurt. But I love this. She's like worried about getting infected, getting something. And he's like, wait a minute. Here's some hand sanitized. and he sanitizes the knife handle. And I was like, that a boy, good job.

I was so impressed. I was so impressed. He's a detailed guy. Yeah. The next morning he wakes up and there's some comedy because the mask is covering his eyes and he thinks he's blind. He thinks he's blind. And she goes, it's just your stupid mask. She's over it too.

I am too, Allie. I mean, by the same, like, at this point I'm like, come. I was done with the mask at this point. Thank God it's not on for much longer. But there's an alarm going off on his phone because someone's trying to break into her home. And of course, he is set up an alarm to be alerted if someone tries to break into Allie's home. Absolutely. Luckily, he's there because he goes to check it out.

And it's the rapist. Bradley Bloom is breaking into her home with a kill kit in a backpack. When she called him a shrimp dick at the hospital, it made him. so mad that he showed up there to murder her. But he got her name from a security guard that came in. They don't usually give their names out. But a security guard came in, he's like, are you okay, Ali? Yeah. So that's how he got her name. But I just, I have questions about a kill kit. One, what's in a kill kit? Two, where do you purchase a kill kit? Or do you have to home? Girl.

DIY kill kit. It's like zip ties, like rope. There's a whole aisle at Walmart. They like, like, And it's always Walmart. I'm sorry. Always. Kilkett, I.O.4. Yeah, it's bleach, ziptized, you have to put it together yourself. Garbage bags. Yeah, it's a DIY. Yeah. It's not pre-wipack.

I mean, it's self as simple. Can you go to Etsy? But I feel like if a cashier sees some, like, low life at the cash register with bleach and zip ties and garbage bags and all, like, rags. And a Jansport backpack. Yeah, in a backpack that, you know, I don't want trace back to me. Like, you should maybe push an alarm or something and be like, like, that's Watch this guy for a minute.

I don't know. Well, he waits until he breaks in. So he's, like, waiting outside for the sky to bring in. He breaks in and then. Josh punches him out. Like, it was a knockout. And he passes out. Because Josh is also a workouter.

Like, they're both, like, gym rats. Oh, big time. Allie comes in. Josh told her to wait. She didn't. She came in with the gun, but he was already knocked out on the floor. And they take off the mask. They see it's the rapist.

And they're like, oh, shit. So Josh has this great idea. like, hey, the victim's family wants to kill this guy anyway. Let's wrap him up and put a bow on his head and drop them off at their doorstep and they'll finish the job for us. And, you know, then we don't have to murder anybody. Actually, like, not the worst. It's not a bad idea. They don't have to do the dirty work.

And they are going to call the cops because he keeps getting off. And you give the family that satisfaction. They really wanted that closure. So, however. Well, there's a, there's a problem. So they tie him up. It's Josh that puts. Yeah.

So they tie him up and put tape on it on him. They get to the place where they want to drop the body and they open the trunk. They accidentally closed his nose hole and his mouth hole. So he's just a move. So he's already dead. I mean, so now they did a murder. That's when you realize these are like, these two are kind of an apt to. Like, I mean, they're not breaking up to pick on murder.

And Josh's reaction tells you he didn't pick up the serial killer gene from his dad because he freaks out so badly. He drips off his mask. Thank God. Runs into the bushes, pukes his guts out. So DNA everywhere. Yeah. And that was also something he was worried about. And Allie's like, I knew it was you this whole time, but we have bigger problems.

Yeah, but we did say like, Ali says the minute he punches him out, this guy's got to die. We need to die. He needs to die. She's so on board for killing this guy. She's angry. And thanks to Josh is the only reason they didn't kill him right there. Right. Then Josh accidentally. I don't think it's on purpose. I was not on. I don't think he felt terrible. Yeah. Josh accidentally kills this guy. It was a real accident. So poetic. But this is also when you realize like, okay, Josh is like he's this kind of nerd. He's a hacker. He's stalking her. He is like, he is like, he is like, He's romantic. He's romantic and all of this. He's romantic and all of this.

And then he starts freaking the fuck out. So like maturity level and this guy is all over the place. Well, who's going to be cool and calm in this situation unless you're already a murderer? And he's all against all that much anxiety about maybe being a murderer that now he did a murder. He feels real bad about it. And then Alex says, it's time for plan B. Oh, by the way, my uncle's in the mob. So I don't know if you guys knew.

And he's the killer guy in the mob. Yeah, we got a mafia thriller on our hands. Always. Always. Like, I was, uh, I, I, I, this was a last turn. This was a plot. This was a plot twist for me. I was like, huge.

And then Ali's the only one. Ali's the calm one. She's like, I've got a plan. We're going to figure this out. I haven't talked to my mom family in 20 years, but they'll help us. I'm sure. So the dad that passed away right after the mom because of his sadness, like had a brother who was wayward.

And there was no family, like, drama. He just fell in with the wrong crowd. So he's a cleaner for the mafia. So his main job for them is to go in after they do a murder and clean it up and then get out. She's like, he's perfect. You know, we haven't talked in years. He's always wanted a relationship with her. And she doesn't know where else to go.

So they show up at his house with the body in the trunk. And the uncle's not real thrilled about that? No. He's like, livid. The fans are watching them night and day. Anyway, they get rid of the body. They get rid of the car. They scrub Allie's place top to bottom.

And while that's happening, Allie and the cat move in with Ty and Josh. So while the mob is cleaning. Yeah. Right. I'll get out of your way and take my cat with me. Yeah. No big deal. So Allie gets a call about the DNA test from her girlfriend at the lab.

And they say, you know, it wasn't a match. She wasn't surprised. She knew Josh was up to his tricks and whatever. She's like, but by the way, you know he's related to the Ken doll serial killer. He's his child. So she freaks out for a minute. I was like, please don't. I do not want a third act breakup over this. Not after your kinks. But they didn't. I mean, she talks to Tyler. Before Josh even gets there, she asked Tyler a bunch of questions. They're childhood friends. Tyler answers everything. And I wasn't sure where we were going to. to go with Tyler. But I mean, he's dushy, but like he's a good enough friend to Josh. He ended up being an okay guy. Yeah, he's okay. So Josh gets back and she tells him she knows everything and they finally have sex and it's hot A.F. Like it's in the shower. He has a giant penis. Like I don't know why there was a pause. I know. Just say it. I was like, what do I call it? Number Do I need to

Units? Units. I'm rusty. It's our first episode. I don't know. Like, it's called boozy bookgasms. You're not that rusty. In the fairy episodes, it was wingspan, you know.

I was like, what did they use? Oh. The mafia guys call the next day and they're like, we need to scrub the rapist's computer. So we're going to do this covert operation. We're going to get into his house. Josh, you need to go in, scrub the computer, get out. There's some back and forth here.

Ali's worried that he's going to get in with the mob, and the uncle's going to, like, assume that Josh will do. She was like, didn't want him to be doing favors for the mob, and they were really back and forth, but he does ultimately agree. But there's some tension there between the mob family and them. I have to say. They want the help, but they don't really want to be indebted.

Well, this is my issue. It's like you showed up to his house with the body in the trunk. He did you a favor. You're getting a little judgy about the fact that he's a mobster when you just did a murder and he covered it up for you. But it was an accident. It was an accident. Glass houses, you know. Yeah, but still, like they're hiding a body for you. Like to. Yeah, do whatever they need. Like go in, scrub the computer, you know. You're a master hacker. You'll be fine. Yeah. It's almost like a SWAT team. These guys are pros. So they get into the house and it smells like dead bodies, which is a problem. Because there's cat litter everywhere. There's cat litter. There are dead. Bad body, spoiler alert.

Well, and actually, this is weird. So the mob is like, oh, that smells bad. Why is their cat litter? And Josh is like, oh, I know why. And they're confused. They're like, are there tigers in the basement? Are there? I'm like, you're the mob.

You're the cleaner. You're the family of the cleaner guy. And you don't know any of this. But Josh is like, oh, I do. But they don't cover it up. They clean it up. I still think that that was a ball. Yeah, that was, I agree, Lindsay.

Like, the mob should have known why the catlil was there. But while they're there, the parents of the rapist pull up, and they are there to cover up this most recent race. So the mob's like, let's get the fuck out of here. There's dead bodies here. There's cars pulling up. We're out. We're out. And Josh is like, no, because Allie's stuff is on this computer, and I don't want her to be tied back to it.

So he stays. And the cousin is like trying to get out of there. And Allie refuses to leave. So she gets out and she stays. and the cousin goes with a getaway car and just waits down. He waits far enough away that he's not going to get caught, but so he can also pick her up. So Josh scrubs the computer, doesn't let the parents see him, stays way too long and it's a narrow escape. When he gets out of the house, he breaks a window so the alarm goes off, which will automatically trigger the police to come in.

They've been waiting on a warrant, but if the alarm goes off, they don't need the warrant anymore. They'll find the dead bodies. Josh is like, I'm a genius. It's actually pretty smart. Well, except the cops are on their way and they have to get to the getaway car in the snow and also avoid the cops and there's like helicopters and spotlights. Also, he fell out of a window, hit like a pergola like four thing and then fell in his concrete on his back.

He like barely can barely stand to get away. It wasn't the smartest. I don't know. That's what I'm saying. The maturity level. is up and down. Here's the thing. It was a brilliant idea. It was not executed well. That's the problem. He could have thought that they do escape a little better. But they do, they escape. They get to the getaway car. In exchange for helping her out, Allie's uncle's deal is she has to have dinner with him

once a month. And he thinks this is going to be lovely. And he'll get to know his niece better, but she's kind of a biotch about it. She is totally not appreciative of what they did for her. Yeah. I agree. The aunt is trying to like make nice with her and she seems very charming. And the cousin, Junior, the cousin, I liked him. Yeah. Like, I just felt like they were being super judgy. I thought so too. After they just did you all these favors, like be nice about it.

The mob just covered up your crime and you're like, tell me everything. And they're like, we won't get over it. We covered up your crime. You'll be fine. And she's like, tell me everything. I want to know everything. She's just being bratty. She was.

For someone who did. didn't know these people at all. But she is a control freak, though. I mean, think about that. She's in the trauma. She's always in charge of everything. She's go, go, go. And this is something totally out of her realm and not in her control. So she wants more information so that she can make sure she controls the narrative. And she's not getting that. They're like, oh, we're drinking and eating first. That's what we do. And by the way, Lindsay, the aunt, it has like an Irish accent. So it just makes it perfect. And she's like, nah, we're doing this. Well, and that was the The aunt is from like the IRA, the Irish mob marries the Italian monster.

It's a whole mob family. But they were just so insufferable about, yeah, it was like, hey, let's have dinner before we talk business. And she's like, what's the updates? Like she was just kind of a brat. So the whole dinner was super tense and the after was tense. But the uncle eventually tells them what they want to know. And Josh records the whole thing.

And they're leaving and Josh reaches out his hand. And the uncle knows who he is. The uncle follows true crime, obviously. And he knows the Kendall killer's son is standing in his living room. He's kind of worried for his niece a little bit. Yeah. He's trying to play like the dad figure now, like treat her well. She was probably raised to not talk to that. It's in a strange part of her family. So for her, don't go near him. Don't talk to him. Don't get involved with them. Don't hang out with them. So I think that's her hesitation too. But this. uncle is like, you're the last piece of my family. I want to be close to you. It was, it was sweet. I thought it was sweet. I thought it was sweet. I did too. I thought she should have been nicer to them, but. A little bit, a little bit. When he doesn't shake Josh's hand, Josh threatens him, which I thought was kind of stupid. Because he basically says, I just taped our entire conversation. Don't fuck with me. I'm a hacker. I can break in your bank accounts. I can lead the feds to you. He threatens him nine different ways. And then they leave. And I'm like, you're an idiot. Like, why don't you do that? He snaps, right? Like, that's the thing throughout the whole book is that Josh is like, happy go lucky little puppy dog, cutesy stalker.

And then if something happens, like the knife with the truckers and like scaring the shit out of those guys, he does it a couple of times where his like, once he feels threatened or hits like a thing. Or someone who loves feels threatened. He goes psycho. Which we find out through Tyler, like when he was a child, he got hooked up with a bad therapist. You put him on bad drugs who diagnosed him with the wrong diagnosis and just kept feeding that you're probably a killer. You're probably going to kill someone.

You should stay away from everyone. It just kind of perpetuates, right? So he just goes off the handle. And now as an adult, he's not taking medicine. He's kind of doing this TikTok thing as part of his kink, but also kind of a therapeutic for him. He's kind of a hermit. So like this is sort of way to engage. He only talks to Tyler. He works from home. He talks to like his mom and Tyler and I guess the stepdad. Yeah, he's got a good relationship with the parents. He only has like four people in his life that he cares about and Allie's now one of them. But that's part of his weird infatuation with obsessed tracking and research and diving into people is so that he can get like the real dirt on them and be able to trust because he had so many trust issues with the therapist. Well, and to keep them safe, right? Like even Tyler says, like, yeah, he tracks me, but it makes him feel better. Somebody's always watching. I allow it.

Yeah. The uncle kind of backs down. It sort of ends there. There is a second. He's like, see you next month. Right. Totally. See you have dinner.

See you dinner. So the epilogue has them role playing through the forest. Josh is chasing Ali for sex games. If he catches her in a certain amount of time, then she has to be in one of his TikToks. And she doesn't want to do that. So they have 20 minutes to catch her. But it's not just catch her. It's put your dick inside of her within 20 minutes of the chase starting.

And he goes, you know, consents a little light here. But I'm going to do it anyway. And he does wrestle her to the crown. And she's fighting him because that's part of the game. Yeah. And she totally did pre-consents and she does lose. She does. And I will say throughout the book,

Consent is very important. And they do talk about that a lot because their games are a little rough. And so he always no safe words. Like every time they have a situation, they're very clear on that. Well, he says if you tell me to stop him and to stop. And you know he will. Like you know he will. After they have sex in the woods, he's behind her.

She's post-quital and she's just so happy. And she says, will you marry me? And he's like, what? And then she feels like an idiot. Her clothes are destroyed, but she turns around. And he's on one knee with a ring. With a ring. Of course he is.

Yeah. Yeah. Plans ahead this week. Yeah, I know. He thought of everything. He knew it was coming. So he proposes. She says yes.

They've rented a VRBO. They're vacationing, which is good for Allie. She really needs to get away from the hospital. They've added a kitten to the family, who I guess is kind of a tyrant. I think, Lindsay, I think you got your. They do end up together. They end up together. There's a happily ever after. There should always be. I will say, though, that the cringy factor throughout this entire book negated the H.A. It's the math. Oh, you didn't feel like it was an HEA? I mean, it was an HEA and that's good. I'm glad they ended up together. Like, you know, kink found kink. But I just, I don't know, like I didn't end this book going, oh, like it just was just cringgy. Yeah, the epilogue was unnecessary. And there was like a weird part too. Like the first time they slept together, right?

I have questions on this because he's like, wait, tell me you're on birth control. And she's like, I am totally. And then when they're done, she's like, let's go get plan B. Right. I don't trust my ovaries. That was. I don't trust my sperm. It's like, pleasure sperm is so spermy.

Strong? There's so many questions. I was like, this is weird. It's random. I don't like it. I don't need it. I don't need you running through the woods. You know, it's not thing. Kim wearing the mask for two-thirds of the book. That I struggled with in the mafia storyline. I also. Yeah. I mean, I guess it was the easiest way to just clean up that part like once they killed the guy. It was convenient. Yeah. So would it have been different if they would have introduced the mafia in the beginning when she's in the trauma and she says something maybe along

the lines of, you know, I've seen a lot with my family having mafia ties, da-da-da-da-da. And then it wouldn't have been so like, right? Out of the blue. Yeah. Maybe some like brief mentions when talking about, like, her history, her parents, the fact she's an orphan, but her uncles and the mob so she doesn't have any family, you know, maybe. Something brief in the beginning where you're tired to go. Just so not out of left field. Yeah. Because that was a struggle for me. I was like, of course there's a mafia. And they were like the nicest mobsters ever. I can't believe you brought this body to my house, but let me help you, of course. And then you must come to dinner.

I'll serve you the best wine. My wife would be lovely. My God, I wish the mob would come clean my house. She was like, it was so spotless. And the magic man cleaning the carpet in the car. I was like, I need to be part of the mafia. That's what I'm missing. Just have a dead body every so often that will come in, deep clean.

All right. Ratings. Where are you at? I put this at a thing. three because it was good, but it took me a while to get into this and it took me a while to get through it. And there were some cringy moments and so much unrealistic. Like, and, you know, and even some of the sex, even though it was hot, I just couldn't get past the mask thing to really get into it myself. And so I just, I struggled with this book like a lot. Yeah, two and a half three. I will say

3.5. I was told by many, many people to listen to this on audiobook, and I would also recommend the same. It's in duet style and they do an incredible job. It was really, really well done, but you lost me at the Mafia storyline and the mask was on a little too long. So because of that, it's not a four, but it was pretty close. Like, I enjoyed it. I was entertained. I had a good time with this one. Camber. I gave it a four because I listened to it. I started reading it. I was like, oh, I don't know about this one. But once I started listening to him, he made it for me because he was so charming and so funny and sweet. Granted, he was, you know, very, very kink fest. But yeah, I gave it a four. I didn't mind. The mafia thing for me is like old hat now.

Like almost everything we pull up, we're like, oh, you know what, bet the mafia is going to show up. They're going to be there at some point. This did not bother me as much either. I do think she could have tidied him. better, though. All right, spice. I gave it a three and a half. I thought when you finally got to the spice, it was spicy. There were moments, and especially listening to it, you're like, oh, oh, you know, through the whole time. But yeah, I gave it a three and a half. I feel like that's fair. Same. I'm going to say three and a half on spice, but it was written well. But it wasn't like so much spice that it took over the

book. Yeah, it wasn't porno. It was not a porno. It was just like a very subtle, oh, there's lots of banter. There's lots of stuff going on. Sex. Okay, oh, lots of banter. Sex. I like that. Evenly distributed. Yeah, it was written in where it made sense, right? That they would be having sex at this time. It didn't feel out of the blue.

I'm going to say again, three. I'm just with the baby here. This book was Schmedium for me. The sex was not horrible. It was good, but it took a while to get there. I had just really struggled with how it came to be. Somebody said the other day, you should rate it based on how horny it makes you, or how much you want to be in that scene.

And I just never wanted to be in any of those scenes myself. Oh, you didn't? See, he was so obsessed with her. He worshipped her. And I thought that was so hot. You love that, though. Like, that for you makes... That's my preference.

I don't want a male character that doesn't worship the female. Like, where did all of these stories come out of the blue where everyone is having sex with weapons? Because I feel like, this is like a new thing coming up maybe. I don't know. I don't love that. I don't love that. I feel, you know. Yeah. And one of the other ones we read the other day had like the gun, the pistol. No, thank you. And a knife. We're not going to finish that one. Yeah, it's on my DNF. It is on my DNF list over here. I try it again. You did? I can't do it. I keep trying. Eventually I will finish that book. We won't tell. It'll be 2027, but it'll be okay. The people that have read it will know exactly what we're talking about.

Yes. Well, overall, great read. Yes. Good first starter. Yeah, really good first book for season two. And always fun to recap this stuff with you too. Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. If it's still around when this episode airs, we are at Boosy Book Chasms on all the things.

So be sure to check out our season. to reading lists and show dates on boosybook gossoms.com. And this is a special thing we're doing for this season. So you can email book suggestions to Jen at boosybookgossoms.com or send a note right from our web page. We will be selecting a listener suggestion for an upcoming podcast and we'll make sure you get a shout out if we choose your book. Thanks again for joining us and we will see you next week. But until then, 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 boosybookasms.com. Enjoy the ride, and we'll see you soon.