Boozy Bookgasms - Pirate or Playboy?

Episode Date: November 14, 2024

Yarrr! Join us as we recap Emily McIntire's dark fairy tale reimagining of Peter Pan. Kim leads this discussion and let's hope nobody ends up walking the plank! Hooked by Emily McIntire Signature Cocktail: Hooks Revenge Ingredients: Spiced Rum, Blood Orange Juice, Ginger Beer, Angostura Bitters, Orange Slice or Candied Ginger for garnish In a glass filled with ice add 2 oz Spiced Rum, 4 oz Blood Orange Juice and 2 dashes of Angostura Bitters. Top with 3 oz of Ginger Beer and stir gently. Garnish with an orange slice or a candied ginger.

kind of book is this? Oh my God. It's magic. It took me 45 minutes to get him there and back. Up to a great start. You know, we've never heard of, okay? I am no idiot. Buckle of literature fans.

We're in for some boozy bookgasms today. Join three cousins creating a titillating headspace, where steamy romance novels collide with strong cocktails. So sit back, sip slow, and enjoy the ride. Oh, literature fans. Welcome back to another podcast. I'm Kim. I'm Jen.

And I'm Lynn. And we have a great book to jump into today by Emily McIntyre. But before we do that, what are we drinking, ladies? All right, tonight we have a very special cocktail called Hook's Revenge. The ingredients, which I'll describe in great detail because I think it's going to add. It's going to add a lot. Rum, which will evoke the pirate theme and James's thirst for vengeance. Blood orange juice for a vibrant color and a hint of bitterness. Ginger beer, which will add a spicy kick and a dash of angostura bitters. I know I didn't say that right, but it's bitters. Representing. the underlying darkness and pain. No way. That is Hux Revenge. And it is quite tasty. Also, if you go out to Emily Macintyre.com, you will also see that she actually has a playlist that goes right along with this book. So it's kind of interesting to kick it off. May I,

have you guys ever like tried to read a book to a playlist before? I can't do it. No, it drives me. It drives me bananas. Like I, I mean, good for them that they have a playlist. But like, I can't. I don't get it. I can't focus on it. Like, no. I appreciate that sentiment, but it is really distracting. Totally. And I'm reading one right now where like I get to the chapter. I'm like, okay, here's the song. And then I go to my Apple music and I get the song and I play the song. And then I'm like, I just, it's a lot of work. No, it takes too long. No. I want to squeeze. The juice isn't worth the suitcase. I want an instrumental version of the song. So just like in the background. Yeah. Once the words start kicking it off, I'm lost. I can't read anymore. It's gone. No, I just, you know, I agree.

Like, it needs to be in the background. It totally is distracting. I just want to read the book and, like, get into the plot and move on if there is a plot. But I respect that there is a playlist and, you know, good at you, Emily. I mean, good for them. I mean, yeah. And it's kind of nice, like, once you've read the book to listen to the playlist, because

then you kind of get it, right? Like, you can kind of see, like, the thread. But, yeah, I can't listen to it while I read. No, definitely not. Yeah. And I'm definitely not going to go into all. all the triggers and the warnings, we've got family drama. We've got dysfunctionality. We've got depression. We've got vengeance. There's so much happening. Newfound families. Violence.

I mean, there's a lot of murder. Yeah. So much more. Oh, violent. Very violent. Betrayal. Lots of betrayal and implied betrayal. Well, we should, yeah. And obviously we get into the betrayal, but I was, I was like annoyed a bit because like, I knew the betrayal as well. I knew the betrayal was coming, but then I, like, didn't think it was coming. Then I did think it was, anyway, it did keep you on your toes. Yeah. So going back, because we haven't even told them what book we're reading.

Oh, fair enough. We've gone to all of those. So the book that we're reading is hooked a never-after novel by Emily McIntyre. And it is based? I get, like, is it based? It's kind of adjacent to the Peter Pan favorite. fairy tale, but this is like a totally different twist on this fairy tale. You know, I mean, there were so many like nods, right, to the Peter Pan like ecosystem and like,

but it did make me want to go back and read Peter Pan because I'm like, is this, is this matching up? Like, it kind of almost made me more confused, but it was, it did have that Peter Pan kind of twist. It was like, you know, stranger things with the upside down. Exactly. Like they are in the upside down. So it's like kind of their world. But it's a little darker. It's a little different.

Yeah. And we'll get into some of the symbolism. But I'm going to blow your mind on this one. Did you guys realize that his name was the name of the actual person who wrote Peter Pan? James Barr. Oh, wow. I caught it and I was like, wow. That's what I'm saying.

Like all these Peter Pan references, like I feel like I should probably do a little bit of a reason. We start out in this dark kind of loungy room where Hook, also known as James Barry, murdering his uncle. And in doing this, he kicks his boots, which are made of snakes, right? Alligator. Alligator. Oh, my gosh. Alligator.

And that's when I first was like, wait a minute, we're going to have all kinds of little things in here we're going to look for. And there's tons of them. So basically the plot kicked off. He's killing his uncle. And then we fast as one does, you know. Yeah, as one does. We don't know how he deserves it. Some kind of dark, brooding thing that's happened between them.

And this is revenge killing, right? And I think we find out that eventually he's abused him as a child and there was some trauma. Yeah, the uncle's a bad guy, right? Like he takes him in. He's a garbage human. Yeah. Yeah. He abuses him as a kid.

Yeah, you find this out later on. But yeah, at the beginning. beginning, it's like this guy is basically like murdering his uncle to take over the family business, which is like illegal. Yeah. Then we go to, we fast forward. We go to Wendy, who is our next character. She's our main character, right?

Wendy Michaels, the daughter of Peter Michaels. So if you're, if you're tracking here, Wendy, Michael and John. We got a two for on those names. And we did have a John. Michael. 100%. So Wendy Michael, this shy, kind of demure girl, had daddy issues from the get-go. And she's got a little brother named, of course, John. Their dad, Peter, never around, absentee father. Always traveling. He owns never air land. Yeah. But the weird thing, the weird thing about this guy is that, like, he was around. It's not anymore. There's this whole understory about like how. He's got a great, like, they have a love.

He used to be a good dad and now he's like totally absent, right? The mom died. We'll find out why. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. Yeah, and you're going to have to help me out because I don't remember how the mom passed away, but she passed away. She got disappeared. She did.

Yeah. Well, yeah, we find. She disappeared her. Well, she died in a way that. the kids thought was natural, right? But you find out later that basically like Peter. Yeah. So anyway, Wendy decides to go out with her friends. She meets up in this bar, the Jolly Roger, and who any of you, sorry to interrupt again, but did any of you listen to the audio book? I did. I listened to their accents are so thick. I thought the reader did an

amazing joke. It's like, is it Boston or it's just like, pack the cats, I have a bar. Like, it was very like, oh, you're talking about her friends. Her friends. Her friends. Oh, they were Bostonians. Yeah.

She did an amazing. She did an amazing. Yeah. They go to the bar. They go to the bar. They go to the bar. They go to the bar. And the one girlfriend has a huge crush on book. But we don't know. Like, nobody knows who that is.

She mentioned that we do. But, like, Wendy doesn't and, you know. Right. Yeah. Like, the friend is Maria, right? Like, she's, like, caught this guy's attention or she's, she's amazing. Yeah. Yeah.

And she really thinks he's amazing and she wants to, like, get his attention. So she just keeps going this bar. And then she invites our heroine, Wendy, to this bar. But Wendy and Maria's relationship, this whole book makes me insane. They kind of hate each other. I don't understand. Her friend of me. Girlfriends.

Her, I don't get her whole girlfriend tribe there with her whole friend. It's a weird situation. But they get to the bar. They're hanging out. Hook spots Wendy and knows exactly who she is. She is the daughter of his arch nemesis, Peter Michael. And so here's another subplot. You're trying to figure out what's going on.

Does Hook hate Peter, which we find out later, but he hones in on Wendy from the get-go. He is, that's it. He's decided this is how he's going to get to Peter. But he also, like, finds her attractive, right? Like, it's from the very beginning. It's like, this woman's hot. Oh, wait, she's also the daughter of my arch nemesis. And like, how am I going to?

He does, but he's such a control freak. He just, he doesn't even want to let that piece of him go. like you open up earlier in another chapter where he's having sex with one of the waitresses at the bar. The bartender. Yeah. Yeah. And he basically like slams her around and says, you know, do what I want you to do.

And that's it. Yeah. She does exactly what he wants. And he's just fine with it, very naive as we find out through through the book that this woman has a bigger part to play. So Hook gets with Wendy. they start kind of a deep relationship. He's starting to get kind of hooked on her,

but he's still staying focused on the revenge plot against her dad. Did we mention she's a virgin? Oh, I did not mention that. Sorry, she is definitely... But she's gotten herself off, you know, like, you know, she knows what she liked. Yeah, she doesn't want to come across, you know.

And she's not waiting for marriage. It isn't real clear. And she honest... waiting for date three. I mean, Oh, no, she, she falls right into, yeah, she falls right in this.

So basically, backtracking, Hook was in a plane crash with his family, and the plane belonged to Peter Michael. And right before the plane goes down, his dad reads a note from Peter Michael. But you don't know what it says. Yeah.

It tells them that that's it. Like, you're about to die. You're a gunner. Yeah. Like, good luck. But that is a, that's a missing piece for me in the whole book, not to like, you know, spoiler, but spoiler. They never say with that, like, note sets. But I don't think they have to. I think it's like he read the note and then the whole plane went down. I don't know. That was a missing piece for me. Oh, but you do find out, and we're all over the place. So sorry, but you do find out that James or Hook's dad had an affair with Wendy's mom. And that's how you get John. Yeah. That, that. that's kind of where it trickles out. So I'm sure that the note kind of implied like, hey, I know what you did and now you're going to die for it. It explains why he doesn't, he refuses to have a relationship with John, which Wendy doesn't understand.

Right. But dad. He disappeared the mom and now we know why because of the affair. Then he tried to murder that entire family because of this affair. So this is the root of a lot of this animosity. It does all come together at the end. Like, you get it, right? But, like, I think my biggest, like, issue with this book is that it's, like, it felt, even though it, like, culminated, it felt very fractured. Like, you know, you have Peter, who's, like, sort of this absentee dad, Wendy could never get him to, like, just pay attention to even her, much less the brother. But the symbolism there, Peter Pan, couldn't grow up, always ran away from his problems, always all over the place. So it kind of brings that piece back for him. Because then you have,

instead of Tinkerbell, you have Tina Bell, right? Like, and she's like, has some sort of, like, jealous, but like in a very bizarre way.

Like, she's such a huge part of Peter Pan. Like, she felt like such an ancillary character. But she was jealous in Peter Pan. She was always pulling Wendy's hair and always nagging at her. And just like,

she was a fairy, right? So she's a little mischievous and moody and whatever. So we do find out that Peter Michael is also part of kind of the underground Neverland mobster kind of drug. Oh, yeah, he's a mobster. Right. So which Wendy has no idea, right?

So Tina Bell is his assistant and also kind of his pusher. Right. She goes around and she takes out part of Hook's group and she's all over the place and she just antagonizes the hell out of Wendy the whole time. And she's just, she's just not good through throughout the whole thing. So, and, of course, the drug of choice is pixie dust that they're all on the streets. Right.

I was just say like all these nods, like this is funny. It's funny. Right. Like there's a lot of, the lines are there. The plot is very lucy goose. Like, I mean, but because it was like, berry tale, I could forgive it. You know, it's like if I was reading another book. where it wasn't like giving all these nods to fairy tale.

I'd have been like eye rolling like, you kidding me? What is this? But it read so light and fluffy and just sort of gave you these like fairy tale feels. So it was like, I think I can forgive the fact that the plot's a little loose. And when he's a virgin and sleeps with him on first date, I think. Like, I mean, there were things that happened. Well, he fingered her. Yeah.

But like, as a like trashy romance novel, like the sex was. light, I feel like, in this book. And it was fine. Like, it was appropriately cadenced, but it just wasn't like a hugely trashy romance in my... No, I, I 100% agree. I do feel like it was like, I think it was done smart. I think the way that she wrote it was smart to, to bring in the fairy tale features, but making them, like you said, the upside down world of everything. It's very interesting. Like, even stuff like, you know, hooks got a hook as a hand, but carries a blade. Knife, yeah.

And it's like, it's, it's an extension of his trauma, right? So the whole deal with his uncle is that because of this big plane crash, ends up having to move in and live with his uncle who just torments him and beats him and abuses him the entire time. Well, there's a nod to, like, sexual abuse, right? Oh, yeah. Like, but they never say that. But, like, it's basically like he's his bedroom at night.

Yeah, absolutely. So we fast forward a little bit. He's just really enthralled with Wendy. He's really starting to, you know, get the feeling. Yeah. Because she's so good in bed, you know, like, oh, she's so good in bed. I must love her. Yes, exactly.

But I think he sees her kind of as the light to his dark. Good in bed when you're a virgin. I, you know. Some people. Some people. She had a knack for it. it. She's tight, you know. So we find some other characters

that we're missing here. We've got Rue who is, for all intense purposes, he's one of the mob bosses. He actually takes on hook as a kid and basically helps him get them. Yeah, he gives him that power to get revenge on his uncle. And he's helping him with the, I don't even think he knows about

Peter at this point. Rue doesn't. I think he does. I don't think he ever really does. He doesn't understand the extent, but he does understand the trauma, right? So he is definitely trying to help hook, like, basically deal with his trauma. I don't think so. I don't think he will be due of the uncle's trauma and then he let it go because he, in this whole thing,

Rue is trying to set up a business deal to stop the undercurrent of the pixie dust going through without them. Right. And when he does this at some point, Rue gets murdered. And we're sure it's Peter Michael who did it. And so... That was so... It was tragic.

I mean, I did actually have some feels during this session. And you knew it was coming. You told... I mean, I totally knew it was coming, but it was so... It was actually quite tragic. Because, you know, you have, like, the main character who is, like, has so much... loyalty to this character, Rue, right? He was his father figure.

Yeah, who raised him, essentially, after. Then Rue dies. And he died so tragically. Like he was awful. And this is where it takes like this dramatic, huge turn, right? Hook decides to go help Wendy put her brother John in a school. Like a prep school that her dad has made. This is where he's going, so I don't have to deal with that.

Horrible prep school. It's terrible. It's known for abuse. It's known for all these other things. But hook goes when he's supposed to be meeting up with Rue and Peter to do a business deal. He's like, wait on me. I'll be there. He gets John in. He makes sure that the school understands if they screw with this kid, they're screwing with him. So he's protecting John without even knowing really anything about John at this point, right? Yeah. Just like he is the brother of Wendy, this woman that is like, his own brother. Obviously. Yeah. Brother. Yeah. So when James were hooked finally gets to the meetup, he finds the body of Rue just mutilated.

It's gross. Just so nasty. And he goes on like all red. All vengeance, all the time. And he is convinced. Wendy had a part in it. Well, that's the thing, right? It's like he is so laser focused on Peter.

Revenge. And he knows that Rue was meeting up with Peter Michael, right? So he and so now he's thinking, did Wendy have a part, right? Like, is this woman that I'm now kind of falling for like a part of the situation? So fun fact, I didn't even realize until we got to this part how young Wendy was. Oh, she's a baby. realized when she couldn't really order drinks and stuff like that. I'm like, okay.

She's 20. So on her 21st birthday, she gets knocked out in her home. And happy birthday to you. Get kidnapped and thrown in the basement of this place and is basically just left there, chained up. It's actually so tragic because she is like, I love books. right? I love them madly and I love her virginity. They were going to be known. And he he hasn't called me on my birthday, even though I didn't know his her birthday, but he hasn't called me for days. Oh, he knew it was her birthday. Yeah.

But he did, but she didn't know that he did. Awful. And days and days. And like the mindset of her, she's like, what did I do? Who did this to me? What the fuck is this guy? Yeah. You know? And then he shows up. He's in the basement. And she looks around. There's pixie dust everywhere, and it's starting to kind of connect, right? He's a mob boss. He's into the drug ring. He's kidnapped me.

Is this a move to get my dad's money? What's happening? And he figures out the best possible move is to release her and take her to a dinner gala. Yeah. Brilliant if you think about it. I mean, that's where they got a kid back together. I mean, this is where it kind of goes off the rails, right? Listen, I like a good...

Off the room. Listen, I like a good romance where there's a little bit of a, like, you kidnap and you fall in love. Okay, I can buy into it a little bit, but like she is literally struck, not like I'm in a beautiful room where I'm just going to push you aside. We've read those books, right? Like, I am hanging you up by your arms. Your arms are like literally numb because I mean, he is not. I'm just a met face. I'm basically threatening to gut you.

But yes, I am actually still in love with you. And I will go to this. Take your hair and going to the prom. No, no. Go to this. It wasn't because she was in love with him. It was because he threatened John. She either went or he would take out John.

She wasn't like upset about it. No, she wasn't sad about it, but that's why she went. Deep down, we all know. We haven't introduced me yet. Oh, that's true. Like the boat captain. I'm a, I fucking hate that guy. Homeless, who happened to be homeless.

Where he worked. Right. And, and seemed very trustworthy. I fucking knew that guy was the case. I knew this guy was going to be shady, but I just. From the many. We met him on like, this is the bad guy. Okay, so Hook locks her in his yacht, like any yacht bedroom, right?

Like he's like, she's on a yacht in a bedroom, locks her in there. And then she just opens a door and it's unlocked, right? So you know, obviously Smee has unlocked this door. And she doesn't go anywhere. She doesn't try to escape. She just like patses around this yacht, no big deal. Before or after the prom. It was not the prom.

It was a gallon. It was, it was before school. Oh, that's a good question. Was it before? But I know, shoot. I think it's on the dot. No, she's hanging out of the dot. She was scared.

She was her brother. But she also didn't want to leave. Like, she is like now in love with him. Like, she is not going anywhere. But Smee lets her out. And you don't know that he does, but you're assuming. You know, right? Yeah.

Yeah, you know. You know what? It was after. Because she was back in love with him. this happened. But there was a little doubt in his mind, like, on account of my kidnapped her. Does she really love me? She's just, I mean, I mean, I've kidnapped this woman. I've hung her up her in trails, like, but she must be in love with me. Like, of course. There's a seed of doubt that she's, you know, maybe just fake. But he, but he jolts right down the dock, finds her,

yells at her for having, quote, of all of that. We should, we should go back to the gala because that, there were some really important Well, yeah, it's a transition for her. That is when she transitioned, right? She's like, my dad saw it. And I think that's when it clicks in his mind and he goes, wait a minute. Maybe you want to be wrong. Yeah.

Yeah, she's not the bad guy. I thought she was. The whole point of taking her to the gala is obviously to parade her around on his arm in front of none of their- dad, or Michael, her father, who is furious at this gala. And here's my thing with the audio on this. I hated the voice of Peter Michael. I did too. Oh, was it bad? Okay, so I read it. It was a very British accent that was very hard to follow. And I love a good Brit like accent. Like, don't get me wrong all day long. I'm here for it. But this one for whatever reason, I could not

follow it. And it was like overly pronounced. Like it was a struggle for me. I was just like, he just reeks slimyness when you hear him. And it's very funny to me that she took all of the characters that were good characters in Peter Pan and flipped it. Well, that's the perfect part, right? Character in Peter Pan, he actually kind of let him go, loosen the ropes. He was helpful. I mean, he worked for a hook, but he was a good guy.

He was like the cook or something, the decan. And now in this one, he turns out to be the slime. asshole, yeah. You know, so anyway, words are exchanged. There's a lot of, you know, back and forth. And he's thinking, he's going to be like, aha, I knew. I knew you were working with your dad. And then the dad and the daughter are bickering, and he's like, what the hell is this?

Like, why am I not having my aha moment? Like, these two won't shut up and stop fighting. Like, so he figures out like, oh, shit. Thunder stole. pulls her aside and they he overhears the conversation he knows he knows yeah well i mean and that is like a big part of it right like you know as the reader that she has this issue with her dad right like he continues to like kind of alienate her he hates her brother like he she can't figure it out and he right hook is like no she must be in on it and so this is when he realizes actually

no, there is a lot of tension here. And he basically says in the book, oh shit, oh shit, maybe I had it wrong. And why did I string up this woman I love? And that's, but that's when he basically stops stringing her up. He may stop for, I mean, he feels real bad. Yeah. And I mean, I mean, as one should. A lot of things are happening.

Like the Jolly Roger gets burned down. There are other things happening where he's like, is she in on this? Well, what about this? Where's this? And so, you know, he's really, he's struggling because I think he really does love her. But at the same time, he's got such blinders on for vengeance and, and there's a woman that is taking money. So he just knows it's a woman. A woman is going in two beats before him and, you know, he's real mob style. Like, if you want my protection, you better pay, you know, like so he's got all the places.

That's beautiful. You know, like, it's so bad. You're most daunting. No, then, but she's beating him. A woman is beating him to the punch, getting the money. Now these people don't have enough to pay him. He's having to threaten their lives and murder with the book and all the things. And, like, it's really annoying.

And he thinks it's her. It's a woman. It must be Wendy. Right. Yeah. So there's all, you're right, Kim. Like, in quick succession, many horrible things happen to him. He would be hurt.

So it keeps going and eventually, right, Wendy gets kidnapped. Of course she does. Again. Real this time. For real this time. I mean, she was kidnapped for real the first time. Like, he strung her off for a week. I mean, two kidnappings and like a week.

Like, where are you? I mean, she forgave the first kidnapper. I mean, this is, I mean, it all ends in a cave scene where Ruth was killed. Well, this also finds out. Like some of his crew is there with him. Like the twins are with him. And he's got his other friend that's with him. And he starts putting together like his waitress was against him.

His crew was against him. His whole inner circle basically turned against him. I don't think he had. He maybe had one guy that was not a thing. The twins, which had no personality in the entire book. We had no idea who these guys were, but they were the only ones. But they were like, they're in the, they're in the. the Peter Pan story, too. They're just these twins who are all over the place and helpful in

and play. So I'm so much about Peter Pan. I love that you know about this. Yeah, I'm like, why didn't I do some research? That's how you put this book, isn't it? Because you were like, I can not remember twins and Peter Pan. Yes. Yeah, you'll have to go back. So anyway, they get through this thing. And at one point, Tina Bell has a gun to Wendy's head. Smee shows up. And we found Smee, we turn out he's like the mastermind of every horrible thing. Orchestrated all of this. He's working with Tina Bell. He's working with Peter Michael.

And it turns out Smee's actually Huck's cousin, who was in the room when Huck killed his father. Way back when. Holt's uncle, right? So at the very beginning of the book, Huck kills his uncle, as it turns out. A lot of family just son. It was a bastard son, right? It was a bastard son. Yeah.

And the son is like, you know, basically my dad said he would legitimize me, de-legitimize you, and then you killed him. So you were the reason why I'm... I have nothing. Yeah. Yeah. Except he has this giant empire along the way, like Smee. Right. We're all doing okay.

Like, calm down. But also, like Smee's basically been like, you know, like the boat hand for like 10 years. year. I mean, what? Like, this book just drives me in the part where you've had a problem with the book. I mean, there are so many problems with this book. So many. But like, that's one of them.

I mean, it made such a big deal. Like, he had an own little inner gang of Hook's people. And he had them all tattooed with a crocodile. Oh, that's right. You know, to prove it. For his dad, right? Because a tick, tick. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, he, he, but, I mean, just, like, really creepy stuff that this dude did. It was, just to get on her skin, like he, he bought that clock. Oh, that watch on the boat.

Yeah, just to watch him, like, be a, if you didn't know, when he bought that clock and it was ticking and he sat there like an innocent man, that he was the bad guy in that moment,

there was something. fucking wrong with you. Like this guy was a big reveal in the cape. But it was the whole thing drove me. But, nah, I just hate it. I feel like I was watching a cartoon with a little.

Yes. It just didn't. And there was none of sex. They, I think they had sex twice in the whole book. Like, he fingered her more than he had sex with her. I swear.

That's probably true. Yeah, that's a fair, that's a fair assessment. But, you know, he kind of ruined the mood when he changed.

her to a basement. Wow. Whatever. This is a trashy romance novel. He should have fucked her with like I don't care. Actually, Lynn, you're right, because I was actually surprised. He didn't. I was actually.

Right. He didn't when she was in the basement or after the gala. Or something. Like, I mean, this is a trashy romance novel. Like, he already took her virginity. Like, he literally fingered her twice where he had sex with her. Then he had sex with her. maybe once, maybe twice.

The figure to get, I mean, like, there was a lot of fingering and not a lot of sex. And that was really annoying. I don't think he was, you know, he's not, he was a giver. He was a lover. Whatever. No, I disagree. There was drama there. But, you know, you find out in the end, you're in the cave, everybody's got guns to

their head. And it turns out, like, Peter Michael, this is where he spills it all, right? And he tells, yeah, I actually killed your mom. Yeah, John is not my son. Yeah, this is, and it goes off and, and Wendy kills her dad. I mean, she kills her dad at one point Wendy gets a gun, struggle with Tina, whatever, and shoots her own father and kills her father. So let's talk about all this family dysfunctionality throughout the whole book.

Nobody's family is normal. Everybody's killing everybody. There's, I mean, these two have to end up together. I mean Now she's with her brother's brother Which gets a little That is weird Her brother

Another mother It's a little It's awkward It's weird about that It's awkward It is awkward I mean I'm kind of proud of Wendy

Because her dad was a fucking psycho Like the whole time But it's still weird And it was her dad Before John came along They had a great relationship He was there

He was home He was the perfect father. Even when John was there, I think. I mean, they're only a few years apart. So he really, okay. But he was really, he was very, obviously, she was a Doddy's girl. But he then. Her shadow, he was the shadow, little shadow.

But he distanced himself from her. And then basically like persona got to the brother, right? So that was her, that was the beginning of her end. And then he was going to kill her. Boyfriend. He wasn't. He wasn't because he knew he was using her as bait. But he, I think Tina was about to kill her or someone else. Like, whoa, whoa, oh, Smee was. The dad was like, whoa, whoa, no, no, no. This wasn't part of the deal.

Like, you can't kill my daughter. No, no, but like the dad was going to kill. Wasn't the dad going to kill Hook and she shot the dad? Yeah. Yeah. So he was ready to kill Wendy. Oh, totally. And the dad was like, bu, blah, blah, blah. Like, yeah. But then he was, Hook was like, how could you do this? How could you use your daughter for this? And he was like, sacrifices had to be made.

But he didn't make those sacrifices. He did love his daughter. Yeah. I mean, I didn't. He took him after kind of lose their fate. I mean, honor in the year he ain't. So overall, like for me, I love all the nods to the nostalgic Peter Pan. That, it was fun for me.

I don't, like my spice meter, I'm with you like one chili pepper. Not good. Like if I'm being super generous, one chili pepper. Definitely not the hype that I heard it was supposed to be for the spiciness. But like the dark and broody and the upside down of the whole thing, I actually enjoyed it. So I'd give it a three and a half to a four. I ain't going to like him. When you recommended this book, I was like,

grown. I went my to say my expectations were low is an understatement. I went in with none. Like I bottom floor expectations did not think this was going to be good. And I loved the entire ride. I was like, this is a blast.

Like I didn't take it seriously at all. It just felt like I was watching, you know, some sort of animated adult energy with, you know, in the upside down. And I gave it four stars in Goodreads because I really just, it just surprised me how much I really, really liked it. And I, I mean, sure, it was cheesy, but it's like, it's a fair, you know,

you were expecting of the choosing. Knowing it was going to be cheesy, right? Yeah. Yeah. The Belfth made it fun was that you knew it was, and we did. We talked about it prior and I was like, I don't know, you know, the reviews that's either a hit or missed. It was one star or four. Like, that's where your choice was. There was no way in between. But I don't know. But I, I am surprised you didn't like it more, Lindsay, but I think you take your smut very seriously. This book was not taking it self-serious. That's fair. That's fair.

Yeah. No, I think that like this one for me, it was like probably a three and a half. Like it was, it was, no, I mean, it was good. It was entertaining. Like, you know, like it had, you know, had a plot-ish. And I think, you know, if I had probably Googled some Peter Pan references, maybe I would liked it more. But, you know, it was funny. Like, you know, like, there were cutesy things in it that were kind of... And they called each other Darling. Oh, Darling. Wendy called each other.

I mean, it was kind of adorable. And as I read it, I did like kind of thinking like, oh, what's that going to be? Oh, it's me. Is he going to be good or bad? You know, like, but yeah, I don't know. It was a little cheesy for me and definitely none of sex. And, but I liked it. It wasn't, It wasn't a horrible read. I liked it. It was fast. It was really easy to read. But I think three and a half for me and like a one and a half spicy. I think we can all agree that spice was. The spice was not there. But I mean, she does have a whole series of these. And I'm so curious now where I'm like, okay. Yeah, like are the other spice here? Do you do the other anti-heroes? Because I'm curious now. There's some good ones out there. But would I read it again for this purpose? Probably not. but I might go ahead and read the rest of her her series. Oh, okay.

I would read another one. I don't know if I could have meant to the whole thing, but I'd regard it to it. Just because it was fun. It's kind of a palate cleanser, like if you read something, you know, like a credence or something just really horrific. And then I think it's a spoiler. I think it's a pretty of a smutty one. Yeah. It sort of scrubs my brain of anything.

It's easy. It's like super simple. And it's quick. It's quick. Yeah, it's quick. It's not like I wouldn't recommend it. That was fun. And looking forward to our next read. Yeah, it should be a good one. Yeah. It's going to be a good one. That I will promise you the discussion will be good. I'm excited. Can't wait. Happy reading.

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