Boozy Bookgasms - Romance on Tap

Episode Date: January 7, 2026

Passionate Brew by Sadira Stone Join the cousins and special guest for this cute enemies to lovers story that is guaranteed to leave you with a hoppy ending.   Signature Cocktail: Beer  To keep with the theme grab your favorite brew or cider and curl up with this quick read. 

Hey, it's Bozy BookGasms. I'm Jen. I'm Kim and I'm Lynn. We're back, baby. Welcome to Season 4. We've got a great mix of authors this season. An exciting lineup of guests. Head out to Boosy BookGasms.com.

Head to the liquor store to stock up for your cocktail. Cheers. Hold on. Before you go, can we just take a small break? Yes. Hopefully you all heard him just opened his next beer. We can continue. I'm keeping that in just so you know. Boosy 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, all you Boosy Book Lovers, and welcome back to Boosy Book Gossoms. So this is a very special show. We are hosting our first live recording. Yeah. Please forgive any loud noises you may hear echoes. We do have a live audience presence. Yes, we do. But our real guest of honor tonight is a local brewery owner at one of our favorite spots, a brewery called Invictus in Blaine, Minnesota. He is also a very good friend, Previn. Hello, Previn.

Welcome, Previn. Thank you. It's good to be here. So glad to have you. Are you questioning any of your life choices at this point? Yes, I'm definitely questioning just. Oh, no. Which is really funny.

I'm definitely questioning his choice. I know. Poor Previn. This is like not even the worst. Especially since you're three women, I'm just hoping to get out of this without a sexual harassment. Oh, Previn, you're fine. You're a good company. We're going to, you know, just like Dennis, we'll try to get you out here without getting you turned into HR. Provins are obviously not a romance book reader. He wasn't ready for this. When I dropped the book off at his house, he was a little surprised.

Now, the book is quite entertaining the cover. It looks. So good. Oh, it's something. I just love that Jin asked you. And you're like, yeah, I'm up for anything. And then he's like, what did you just ask me to do? Well, I said I was up for anything. And then I was like, wait a minute. You're going to make me read? Anything. Yeah. Anything? And you're making me read a romance book. Like, what are you doing to me? Previn is here to help us recap and review passionate brew by Sagerestown. This is an enemies to lover, Beachtown, Brewery romance. But before we get hopped up on this love story. Oh, nice. Kim, why don't we drink it tonight? Well, done, hopping up. So I really, I dug into the beers that we had locally, but I really wanted to find the salty dog brewing company.

I could not find anything local. It's in Canada. So it's a pretty cool brewery. But I ended up with just my community brew. So everybody just pick your favorite brew. Go with it. Mine is by community beer company, and it's a funnel cake. It's a good, solid golden ale.

Drink up, bitches. I like community brewery. We're in Texas. They're in Texas. So we're in Minnesota. Previn, what beer are you drinking tonight? I am drinking my very own Invictus listening through static. It's a hazy pale ale. That is my second favorite beer from your brewery. What's the first? Hasey crazy, IPAZ. Oh, you like Hase. I do. I can't do it. Can't do it. It's a hazy and IPAzy. Get it while you can. Yeah. Does anyone in the audience want to shout out one of the drinks there? drinking. I have a mold orders from Guporra than Julie. All right. Nice. Very solid beer. One of my favorite breweries other than Invictus. I do like a porter. All right. Well, we are

going to kick things off. We open our story with our female main character Lilo. She is 38 years old and the setting is in this fictional beach town of Trappers Cove in Washington State. Lilo is being told by her dad, Robert, that he is retiring after 20

years of being the head brewerer at the Salty Dog brew pub, and he wants her to take over for him. So, Lilo's a little surprise. She had other plans. She's been traveling Europe and the West Coast, toning her brewing skills, and thought she would open her own brewery. And her dad thinks she can take Salty Dog to the next level, but she kind of hates the owner, Ryan Lee, who also happens to be our main male character.

She has known Ryan since middle school. She thinks he's a sexist swine. So she's not a fan, even if he is really hot and a well-dressed, smooth talker. She does admit that she is attracted to him, but they had a falling out in like seventh grade that she cannot let go of. Eighth grade, and that's ridiculous. She's 38. Her dad convinces her to give it a year. If she doesn't like it, that'll give salty dog time to find a replacement head brewer.

And then he won't feel so bad about retiring so he can travel with his wife. Trying to give his daughter the heads up, but kind of also holding her back. She doesn't know how to feel about this. I mean, but she's 38. So I feel like he's lobbing a softball. career over her way. Like, she doesn't have one. Because she's not doing it. She's traveling around and just trying microbrewery places and judging contests. Good gig if you can get it. Like, you're traveling and drinking beer. I mean, sign me up. Yeah. It seemed like a softball to me. I didn't

feel guilt at all. I was like, take it and run. You're welcome. Yeah, but she was annoyed. Like, because she had other plants. And out of guilt, she kind of said fine. I'll do that. Non-funded plants. Just plants. Those are called dream. She had to find investors. You know, but that's all about starting a business. Hey, Previn was there once. He had a dream and a garage full of home brew. And now look at him.

Except, she said in the end of the book, she was going to do the Matt Foley thing, living a van down by the river just to fund her project. Which I didn't have to. I mean, van life is a thing. I have inklings to do that one day. No, thank you, times a million. Never. No way.

I would do it. Not even a glamp. I need square feet. I would do it. So next we meet said sex as swine, Ryan Lee. Ryan is a blonde. Okay, so this is interesting. Previn, you may not know this.

But it is very unusual for a main male character to be a blonde. Right. It's very rare. And there's a lot of analytics around how blonde male characters are usually not very well liked. I didn't know this at all. Yeah. Yeah. Because they're always the dark and steamy men.

And they're always... All lurking and handsome, right? Fascinating. Okay, yeah, no, I had no idea about that. Previn, you're blonde, right? Yeah, that's like I could never get girls in high school. I don't have dark hair. This is a lot of parallels here. I have questions.

So we'll have to see if Ryan and also Previn avoid this curse. Ryan and his mom moved to Trappers Cove after his dad died him when he was in middle school. And Lilo's dad, Robert, has become a bit of a father figure to him. Ryan lives above the brewery and his whole life is his job. He's good at the business part of owning the brewery, but he really depends on Lilo's dad to. do the brewing. And you'll kind of see throughout the book, he's not really like a super adventurous beer guy. So Previn, I was going to ask you, do you think that's typical? Like, the business owner isn't always as much of a beer guy as the brewer? Or was that kind of an unusual dynamic?

I don't know what that says is really unusual. I think the one thing that is definitely very common in the industry is the prima donna brewer. And the owner that brings the brewer down to Earth a little bit. Okay. So that's a very, very common dynamic one that I'm very familiar with. And I did like where he was like, but the bottom line. That's not what our people are drinking. The bottom line. Maybe we try one over here, but not bombard with crafty snob beers. She's an artist. She's trying to make her mark on the world through him. And he's like, but I got to keep the doors open. I thought this dynamic was good. I liked the push pull. Yeah, that's a very common dynamic.

Yeah, I felt like the writer understood that. too. Yeah. So we see Ryan making the rounds at the brewery and he knows Lilo is there with her dad and he thinks she's a total smoke show, but also knows she hates him. But doesn't know why. Yeah, he's like, what's her deal? But he's scheduled a meeting with Lila's dad Robert and Lilo joins them and he notes her long ponytail. The color was dark and rich as a porter. So I was going to ask Previn if he thinks in terms of beers when he's thinking of colors like his wife hair, is it as blonde as a hazy IPA? Or is that how you think?

Is it a golden ale? Who knows? My wife is a redhead and I've never referred to her hair as like an Irish red. Irish red. That never occurred to you. I have been wiped. Right. Yeah.

I don't like it. She's probably grateful. This next part. So Leela says she's going to go get some samples and Ryan says as she walked away, her spine was as straight as an inconvenient erection. That was such an interesting visual. He's kind of got like a one-track mind when he's around her. Totally.

Yeah, he's a creeper through the whole thing where he's like spying on her. Oh, I didn't call him a creep. He wasn't creepy. I don't think he was creeping. No way. Hiding behind things. Well, he wasn't hiding behind things to like be a creeper, but he, she hated him and he couldn't take his eyes off of her. That's romantic.

He was doing what every other man does. Sorry, ladies. He's looking. Maybe his spine. Ryan should be as free as his erection was. He's saying he should have been a little bit more vulnerable. While our eyes frequently wander, it's usually erectionless. They taste some beers and the dad Robert makes sure that Ryan knows Lilo was responsible for the recipe updates.

And then he breaks the news to Ryan that he's retiring and he wants Lilo to step into his shoes. And by the way, my last day is this Friday. Way to give some notice, dude. Hey, Previn, how easy is it to find a brewer? Right. I mean, he got it. Someone leaves Friday. You're kind of fucked.

The dad was doing like a love connection. He knew that this is Ryan's only choice. Like, he couldn't do anything else. No, he had no choice. My daughter's taking over. Love you, bye. So he takes one look at Lee, though, and realize that's like, she doesn't like this plan either. But they both know, like, they don't really have much of a choice.

And they both love the dad. And so they're like, we're going to give this thing a shot. The dad is kind of like a second dad to him. Like they're very close. And she's doing it for the dad. He calls him son. So I think I think that feeling is mutual. Familial, yeah, relationship.

There is a retirement going away party at the brewery for Lilo's parents. Within a week. And then they hop on their RV. The whole thing together in a week. Everybody went out shopping, bought them all gifts. Big gifts. You act like that's not possible. Had things engraved.

It was fine. There's no story gaps here at all. In the small, tiny beach town. I don't think the party. parties is a three gap. Like, I can go to Walmart tomorrow and make a party. Yeah. Do you know why he could pull that off? Because he's a brewer? Because he's a dude. We send out, we send out text messages. Hey, party at this time. And then they show up. And if you show up, you show up. If you don't, you don't.

Well, I mean, also, it's at a restaurant brewery. Like, they're all there all the time anyway. Leila's a little emotional. She's going to miss her parents and you can tell. And she's not going to have her dad as a buffer at the brewery anymore, which makes her a little nurse. And she keeps like glaring at Ryan and bad-mouting him to her friend Gemma. And this is where we learned something happened in the eighth grade science fair that is causing her to dislike him. And it will take us far too long to uncover this stupid mystery. And did I mention she was 38 years old? Did we talk about that?

She suffered trauma from this. It's big. It's huge. She made it huge in her mind. It's affected her for her entire life. I will define trauma another time. But, okay, so the next day we're at the brewery, and Lilo's, it's our first day without her dad. And Ryan, not to Previn, but to me, he was really creepy because he's like watching her constantly behind this glass wall.

And he has all these inappropriate thoughts about how nice her derrier is. Yeah. Why is that inappropriate? We read porn. He thinks their ass is hot. That is like typical male behavior. He's our boss. I hope that a guy is looking at my ass from behind a plant, okay?

If he's sitting there, like, licking the glass or masturbating or something like that, that's creepy. That's creepy. Yeah. It's creepy. It's creepyer. He doesn't do that, though. He's just looking. Kevin's not wrong.

That is all so creepy. It's a tear of porn is what I'm saying. Like, hiding behind the rubber tree. This is like the gateway to creepiness. Yes. It's the starting point. It's the kickoff. And then, man, you progress to masturbating.

First it's a plant, then it's like a picture behind a wall. You don't know. Okay. You're crazy. He asked her to come to his office and he wants to talk to her about this raincoast brew fest. He wants to enter the salty dogs beers, but he needs to have brewer to be there. That's part of the rules. And Lilo says, well, I'll do it if I can pick the beers.

And this is the diva thing that Previn was talking about. She really was very presumptuous. This is her conflict, the whole book. It's the only. thing that happens in the book. Leela wants to enter... Wonder what Jenny rated it. I can't wait to find out.

TVD! Leela wants to enter a Belgian-style Creek, Lambic, made with rainier cherries. Previn was going to bring one tonight. He left it at home. Damn you. Well, not a lambic, just beers. The Brewers was going to bring beer.

I thought you were bringing a creek. So Ryan wants to stick with the Amber and the trusty IPA. So the boring beers, basically. He calls her beers fruity patootie beers. He won't even give her a shot. That's what I think so annoying. His palate is not expanded yet. He's owned a brewery for like time.

He owns a brewery. I want Previn to weigh in on this because, like, who should be picking the beers? So I will say this. They're in the Pacific Northwest. I've been there three times in the last three, four years. And I will say that the beer there is not super innovative. in the sense of anywhere else or at least in Minnesota, we got the smoothie showers and the hazies and all these crazy things.

And they're very solid beers, but oftentimes when I was there, they were very traditional style beers. He's probably not atypical from, at least what I've observed over there anyway. It definitely seems like the author had her finger on the pulse of this community for sure. But as a book, I feel like he should have given her a little leeway. As a book.

Bottom line, that's what he's. looking at. He's looking at feeding and making sure all these people get paid. He's making sure his customers are happy. He could submit three beers. He's a conservative business owner. Pick one. Fun one. He didn't like any of them. Did he not like him or did he say he didn't like him? Just to prove a point. He kind of likes this cherry one at the end. It's growing on him. That's different. It's growing on him. Yeah. At the end of the day, the whole team's kind of having a celebratory beard to celebrate Lilo's first day. And Ryan comes by and asks how it was. And she He starts antagonize him by saying, here's a long list of expensive, costly upgrades I have that I need to make this brewery what it needs to be. And he's like, why are you so angry? And then she thinks about the eighth grade science fair again. And I'm like. Why are you so mad? I can't. Why are you so mad at me? She is a fucking brat through this entire book. I hated her from the get-go. Her name is a cartoon character from Disney. I don't like her.

This is typical, Kim, by the way. She held onto this thing for so long and just would not let it go. I liked her towards the end once they got over their beef. Lindsay likes everybody. Ryan asked her to meet him for breakfast the next morning. He realizes I've got to get on common ground with this person. Before they had to breakfast, they each had their own workouts. So every morning, Lilo runs on the beach and Ryan goes swimming in the ocean.

It is March, so he's had to tow in a wetsuit, which no way. But they run into each other and they're like oogling each other's hotness on the beach. Why no way? Oh, wet suit. I'm from the south. It's warm. No way would I wear a wetsuit because I'm so claustrophobic that I would feel like I can't escape. It's like being buried alive to me.

But your face is like out of the West. So not like being buried alive. It's similar. This is a whole other show. It's like wearing tight leggings and a tight shirt. One of the fans are not. are shaking their head. They're so disappointed in me. I don't know what the temperature of the water is, but I have swim in 51 degree water in a

wetsuit. And trust me, you want a wetsuit in 51 degrees. I'm just not going in. Have you done a polar plunge? I've not done a polar plunge. Okay. You guys live in Minnesota. You've never done? I don't want to. I did the Blaine triathlon, and one year the water was 51 degrees. It was not, not cool. It was not cool.

Here's why I won't do the polar plunge. Because it's cold. It's cold. It's cool. A. and then B, they drill a hole in the ice and you jump into the hole. Oh, I don't like that. It's the claustophobia again. Right.

Like, what if you drift away under the ice that doesn't buy the hole? They have people there to make sure that that doesn't happen. I think they tie something around your waist because this is actually a thing when they do this in Antarctica because you could literally go into shock. It's so cold and then pass out. So they attach you to a rope? A rope. A rope.

So that in case you pass out, they can pull you out. I'm at. Every movie I've ever seen, the person dies. I'm not doing that show. I'm not doing it. Every movie, they die from the polar plund. They're like, they're like under the eyes. Come out.

They never make it. All it is is just a ginormous cold plunge. That's all it is. I mean, no thanks, though. You could do that at the spa. That's what I meant. So they had to breakfast and they start talking about their ambitions. But it gets uncomfortable when Ryan starts flirting with her.

And she says she wants to keep her professional. And I'm going to say right now, this is where he should have stopped from an HR perspective. Super glad you brought that into it. So Lilo says she thinks he's attractive, but she doesn't do casual hookups. She has to at least like a guy before getting intimate. And she isn't sure she likes Ryan. And he's like, why? Does eighth grade bitch?

That's what she said. Pam, junior high is very traumatic for some people. It sticks with you. Your dad's been working for this man for 10 years. You haven't been able to, like, be an adult and just get the fuck over it. I'm annoyed that we have to talk about it, but what happened was that Lilo did a fermentation project. And right before the judges came over, Ryan and his friends drank all the samples and then Ryan

puked all over her table and ruined her project. Rewened her down. Thank you for the sound effect. You're welcome. I'm sure. I'm sort of calling bullshit on this because would a school really let a 13-year-old ferment. Ferment some beer for the science project? Probably not. Calling bullshit on this.

I don't know what they do in Washington. You know, guys, you've got to suspend with reality. Oh, here we go. Lindsay says this in every podcast. You just have to take it for what it is. Disagree. It's just a story gap. That's what I'm hearing. Another one, yet another. I thought this was biographical in that fiction, but I'm a little.

I'm a little disappointed now. Not not fiction. This could happen. They're kind of granola up there in the Pacific Northwest. Not granola enough to let eighth graders bring in beer samples. The teachers were probably loving that. Our Washington listeners should send us a message and tell us that. Yes, let us know.

For my science project today, I have a flight. Here it is. We're going to be doing test tube shots. Tell us off for everyone. You get a shot. You get a shot. No, I'm calling it. Bullshit.

Make some sourdough bread. Much like us, Ryan is completely surprised that she held a grudge this long. And he does apologize. Like, sorry? He did. He's very genuine, I think. If it makes you feel better, I got suspended and I was grounded because it was eighth grade. Are we over this now?

And it should have made it feel better. It didn't. He did say if he hadn't been such an asshole back then, maybe they could have been friends. And they agree to move forward as business partners. They run into each other on their respective workouts again. mainly because Ryan's purposely swimming near Lilo's house in his wetsuit. But anyway, they almost kissed this time. The hallmark almost kissed.

Yeah, it is sort of hallmarky. He asked her to dinner and she says, just dinner, right? And he says, I won't try anything you don't want me to. I thought that was very nice of him. I'm here for that. Because he's like, you might want me to. So leaving the house and open. Yeah.

Here's a deal. She's like really insufferable, in my opinion. and she bites at him for everything he says. She's a bitch. Considering he's the boss, I feel like he's sort of pushy about the romance thing, too. So I had kind of a hard time rooting for these two in the beginning. He's not really the boss. They're partners.

He's like, we'll do this together, but I'm kind of still the boss. Kevin, is he the boss? Technically, I suppose in name, yeah, he is. He's telling her we'll be partners. Like, he still wants to make all the decision. That's not a partnership. Yeah, there was a point where she says something like, we're in this together, we're partners, whatever, but she's not an owner or the dad wasn't an owner either, was he?

Ryan owns the whole thing, right? Yeah. That's the thing that's crazy is that she's like, we're partners. And he's like, yeah, we are. Except I own it. But I'm not, that's not being a partner. I pay the bills. It was a very awkward like, yeah, we're partners until I don't like what you're doing.

And then I'm going to big foot you. But I do think this part was true. And you can correct me if I'm wrong, Previn. It is so hard to find people that are good at this that you do have to cater to them and let them get their way. Are they leaving going to another brew? There's a lot of that. Tell us, Prevent. We won't be naming names, but our first head brewer, that's exactly what happened.

They're prima donnas, their artists, they're egotistical in some respects. And you sell their wares. Like, they are your commodity, essentially. The hard part for a lot of these brewers is to read their audience. They want to make the beers I want to make. Using us as an example, you know, we're located in the National Sports Center. So we get a lot of soccer families, a lot of hockey parents. I'll say it.

Hockey moms, soccer moms. Yeah, big drinkers. Well, they're big drinkers, but they don't always like beer, and they come in and say, what do you have that's not beer? You have wine. Yeah, yeah, exactly. They want wine. And then the brewers get offended by that.

Well, you know, we diversified our offerings to the level that we could legally enjoy it. He has a beer that tastes like root beer. It's so dangerous. And you can pour it on ice cream. Like, it is that much like root beer. It is so amazing. That's my only carbonated soda that I like. You can sense a little bit of boozyness out of it, but it's.

And he has beer, ice cream. Ice cream. ciders, slushies. But you're in business. You have to cater to the widest range that you can. It takes only a few times for people to say, what do you have this, not beer? And we say, well, all we have is beer. And they said, well, I'll just have a water.

And they're sitting in a seat. So, like, you want to buy something. I think there is that dynamic between the brewer not understanding the business aspect of it and the owner not understanding the art, art history of it, the creativity of it. It's a delicate balance. Off we go to date night. And Lilo gets all dolled up. And Ryan shows up looking very polished. And she's kind of excited. She's excited. He's excited. He's excited. He's a snappy dresser. He's a player. So he tells her she looks different, which is the wrong thing to say. And of course she snaps at him. Off we go. Here we go. Yeah. She makes him feel like an idiot. Then he just like shoves a gift at her. He got her a candle, which I felt it was kind of a random first date gift, but sure. It's so random.

That was weird. Here's a candle. You know what, though? I will never say no to a candle as a gift to like, I don't ever buy them for myself. Depends on the candle. I don't have her had a bag of them. I will take all candles as gifts. It's just a weird first date gift. Totally. Like just don't give her anything.

You're buying her dinner. Anywho, dinner is the usual banter. To me, with no chemistry. They go back and forth and everything he says is wrong. And then she snaps at him. Anyway, they end up back at Lilo's place for after dinner drinks. I don't know if you guys remember when she said just dinner, right? Like she said that.

Yeah. But she was the one that said. said, how about back to my place? Bought chikawao-wow. And that's why he said, only what you want. Yeah. It's good. He put that caveat in there because otherwise he wouldn't have done this. So they sit outside of the fire table looking at the ocean.

They kiss. It's good. Now this is where I'm going to get stuck. Okay. So Lilo says, before we go any further, I need to make sure we're compatible in bed. She says, I know what I like. I know what I want and you need to let me know now if that's a problem for you. So she's implying she's a dumb.

Yes or no? Yes. Okay. I didn't get that actually. I 100% got that. I'm with you, Jen. May I ask also to Previn and the men in our audience. Would any man in this moment say, I'm going to take a hard pass on that and leave?

Help. No. Oh, you want to be the boss in bed? That's a deal breaker. I'm out of here. I'd be like quagmire, giggity, giggity. Let's see what happens. Hard pass. I don't want that.

Please don't boss me around and spank me. I don't like it. I'm going to take my inconvenient erection and leave now. Right. Here's a thing, though. He's a player, and I wasn't. So maybe he's on to something. Maybe there's some lessons that I should have picked up on when I was a lot younger and single.

So they go inside. Lilo has lit her gifted candle. While he was waiting outside, she went in and got the place all ready for bouncing about a while. She changed into something more comfortable. No, without undergarments. Right. Who needs him? And then she tells Ryan, welcome to my layer.

Wow, wall. Wow. Do I stop reading now? No, I'm like she's going to chain him to a wall and get out some whip. He's going to be like a praying mantis. Like, she's just going to eat him. I think she actually did do just that. No

Revin's funny After all that buildup The spice was like Three paragraphs So it was there But she basically told him To spank her Which means he's the Dom

Not her And then we wrapped up In like two vernon I don't think she's a Dom I think she was saying I like what I like Which is like I want you to dominate me

So we always have this conversation Dom versus Sub Right So if she's telling him to do it You guys talk with this all the time Yeah Previn This is a very G rated book vest

Okay. This is the part where I start to blush and feel uncomfortable. All right. We'll try to ease you in. If she's telling him to do it, she's still the Dom. If he's doing it without being told, he's the Dom. Okay. That makes sense.

I was just expecting more after the buildup. No, all of this sudden was a closed door romance. And I was like, what happened here? It was like those Skinnamax shows where just get a little bit, but. I feel like the skinamax is a little more aggressive than this was. I don't know anything about that. What are you talking about? This movie could play at 7 p.m.

Skinimax is 11 p.m. Oh, okay. And no matter what we thought, Lilo and Ryan felt this was nuclear level six, and they end up doing it again, I think four times, whatever. He stays over. They wake up the next morning, and they both acknowledge that they have morning breaths. So they have a lingering, closed-mouthed kiss. Nope. Not doing that.

I was okay with this. A lingering clock mouth kiss with morning breath. That's disgusting. Bye. That's why it's closed mouth. Lingering. Well, how long is lingering? Did they define how long lingering was? Lingering to me is more than two minutes, which is a little bit of fucking time.

More than two minutes. What? It's a long time. I think it's just more than a peck. That doesn't happen in my household. It's the lingering part of it that's a little bit weird. Yeah, that was weird. So anyway, I did feel like Ryan handled the morning after perfectly. He tells Lilo, last night was amazing.

She has bewitched him. He's like, what do we do now? And she says, we go to work and we'll see each other at the brewery. They have plans to meet at lunch and go over Brewfest. Lilo, meanwhile, has tweaked the recipe for their Irish Red, which is a regular thing on their menu. This is when dating your boss becomes a problem. Before he even tastes it, he's like, you can't just change recipes.

We have to do market research. He's really shitty. I don't think he was shitty. I don't think so either. I think he was totally valid. What's it going to cost me to add another ingredient? Like, he's bottom lining. He knows his regulars, and she just showed up and changed the recipe.

I think she was shitty to change it without asking him. This too has happened to me. Oh, no way. And did it piss you up? It happened more than once. Usually was for the better. It isn't necessarily, was the beer better or not. It was just, we'd ever discuss this.

It's a process. I very much empathize with him. Although the whole market research thing, you're a small brewery in a small town. There's no market research. The market research is like put it on the bar. Yeah, the market research is make it and see what people think of it. That's what your market research is.

He tells Lilo, the beer is fine, but she needs to ask before making changes. And she gets annoyed, but then pictures of naked and gets over. it. That is one plus of sleeping with their best. You don't say mad as long. I'm like used what you got, you know, he used his body to get her over the home. You can still be mad and have sex. Well, hate sex is some of the best sex. You know you got to do. That's what I'm saying. It happens every day. But later that night, we have a similar scene. Mind you, this is pretty much going to be every scene. So Lilo brings an orange sickle ale to the brewery for him to try and they bicker about what the

judges would want to see at the contest and more interesting after. the orange sickle situation. He takes his belt off and ties her to the bar. And then he asks her to give him a safe word. Very hot. Right? And I'm like, now we're talking. And then half a page later, the scene is over. I'm not sure why we needed a safe word. Because nothing happened that would require a safe. Did I miss something? I mean, it's always good to be safe. Safety for it. I used to work. Yeah, that's true. So anyway, two weeks later, We have another evening of beer tasting. And dear listener, if you were hoping for more plot than awkward beer tastings and makeup sex, you will be very disappointed.

Extremely disappointed. Just rinse and repeat a few times. This book turned into like a Miller light to me. Interesting analogy. Thank you. It just went to watery bullshit over and over and over again. I was going to say, did the book leave a taste of stale pee in the back of your mouth or something? There goes that potential sponsor.

You did edit that out if you want. By the way, the entire brewery knows they're sleeping together. Yeah, they figured it out. Well, obviously. How did things work at your establishment? Because I mean, this feels a little whiskey. Well, he would never. But if you're not living a workplace or a romance, you're trying to keep it secret.

These two are holding hands. They don't even have an HR system. Jen, it's a very small town, small brewery. don't give a fine fup. There's probably no policy. Well, these are the reasons why you need that. Listen, I worked in the restaurant industry. Everything is very normal. There's nothing amiss here. There is nothing amiss here. They will break up and then date other people in that same restaurant. Okay, so we are back at the beer tasting. Again,

and the next one. Lilo's invited the chef and the beer tender and wants to do like a beer and food pairing, which is actually kind of a normal thing. She's actually looking to manipulate the situation because she knows they all like it. So she's trying to get everyone to say they love it to manipulate him into doing it. And he figures that out. He's not stupid. Or he goes in like, I got to watch my face. I have employees tell me out all the time, Jen, fix your face. It's what I was born with. It is what it is. Ten years ago, I had a boss say, fix your face. And I'm like, I don't know how these people are idiots. I appreciate that they tell me that. Anyway, of course Ryan doesn't like the beers. And they get into an argument.

The rest of the staff runs out of there. Awkers. I'm going to call this an act to breakup. She gets mad at him because he doesn't like her beers for the festival. And he keeps talking about the bottom line and whatnot. So Ryan goes to his friend Jesse's herb farm to do some manual labor to get relationship advice. Who's married to the tarot card reader, who's her best. Yes.

Jesse and his girlfriend, Gemma, are characters from another book in the Trappers Cove series. This book is called Passion in the Cards. Because Gemma is a fortune. I did ask Previn before the show if he would be reading other books in the series and he didn't want to read this one feeling like no I don't want to read this one of the big fat no I'm not surprised I'm gonna have to side with Previn I would not pick up another one of these books he was leaning towards no but we don't know you know after the recap sometimes your feelings change we'll see if he gets bored he's not they do not take he's not gonna read this book so Jesse tells Ryan not to chase Lee away with his uptight bean counting and bullshit. And he needs to stop trying to control everything. And then Lilo's moping around the brewery.

And of course, everyone is asking if she's in an argument with Ryan because everybody knows they're in a relationship. So now everybody knows they're in a fight, which is why you keep it a secret. I still thought this was wildly unprofessional. It's hard to do that, though. You want to keep it a secret. But it's not the easiest thing to do, especially in the restaurant industry where you spend all of your time and that is your center of gravity usually.

Yeah. That is incredibly difficult. But you don't have to hold hands and like sit by each other with your arm around them. I don't know. You could be a little more discreet. People still figure it out. The only person you can successfully keep a secret from is the owner. Everybody else knows your shit.

Really? Yeah. Oh yeah. You don't know everything. I am the absolute last one to find anything out and it's usually months after whatever happened. It's because you don't give a shit. Until you need to.

Yeah. But it's also like a concerted effort. And he's the owner. So like, they all know it. Yeah, they all know his shit. So Previn, what you're saying is there has been passionate brew at Invectus. There actually has been, in fact. Yes.

Yes. Because he works in a fucking restaurant brewery. Not with me. That wasn't involved in it. It wasn't with the owner. I know that. But there has been with other. Interesting.

There is absolutely no restaurant on this planet that has not had. Right. I met my husband working at a restaurant. My husband at work, not a restaurant. I had plenty of restaurant workplace romances because it just reads that. Me too. You're just sitting in the trenches together. Usually the way that I find out about it and this happened once, it goes something like this.

Oh, why is so-and-so not working on Tuesday nights anymore? Well, because he requested not to work with somebody. I'm like, well, why? Well, they hooked up one night and he really likes her, but she doesn't like. him and it was just a hookup to her and now he just can't stand to work with her because all he thinks about is her and I'm like oh my gosh seriously you got like 12 people that work in your radius on the same time frame that you work and socialize and that's who you date yeah and there's also late nights booze cash in your pocket every single night like that's what happens

yeah okay lilo's moping Ryan s lilo come to my office they make out a little he leaves the room for an emergency and she sees the entry form for the Raincoast. And he's picked two of us safer beers and not her new experimental beers and she has a tantrum runs out, calls her dad crying like the mature 38-year-old that she is. I would not call her mature. Thank God this was her first tantra. And she wasn't upset the rest of the time. This is how she acted the whole book. I don't remember him committing to submitting the beer. He never really committed. He said, I'm open to it. Right. Oh, her beers? Yeah, no. I didn't think so either. But he never said he wouldn't. And he kind of kept her on the hook. Yeah. Because they were sleeping together. Yeah. He strung her along. I don't think he ever had any intention of doing it.

No, he clearly didn't. But they didn't talk about it. This whole situation is both of their fault. I don't know. I blame her for everything. They were really getting down to the way here for these submissions. And it's like she had to have known that. Well, but he had also drafted emails. Like, oh, maybe I'll change my mind. I don't think he had completely decided. He was waffling. So anyway, Lilo's dad, after she calls him crying, he calls Ryan and makes him feel guilty. And so the next thing we know, he's asking the beartender to make some phone calls and pull a focus group together because that's like his thing.

Is it really called a beer tender? Because I really love that. Previn, what do you call him? We call them beer tenders because that's all we have is beer. I love that. I'm here for it. Just a quirky thing in Minnesota, as a production brewery, like the license that we have, we can't have a full bar. So we only have beer that we make.

So that's why we call them beer tenders as opposed to bartenders. Okay. Trivia. Fun fact, digression. I love Minnesota facts. So the next thing we know, we're at the Rain Coast Brew Fest. And Lilo and the staff are slinging beers and she's daydreaming about having her own brewery. She's already decided she's quitting.

She's like, I'm just going to ride this out for another month and then I'm out of here. Honestly, she should go. If she feels that strongly about what she wants to do and he feels that strongly about not making changes, then she shouldn't work there. Like it's not a good fit. They're having creative differences. Yeah, it's just not meant to be. The judges are behind the curtain and they finally say it's time to announce the winners.

And Ryan asked her to join him and she's grumbling about it. Like, what's the point? You entered these boring beers. As it turns out, he gave up his regular entries to enter three of her specialty beers. and guess what you guys? All three of the beers win a medal. What are the odds? I actually did like this.

Browns and two gold or something? I loved this part because it was so perfectly hallmarked. Like he drags her, she's grumpy. Her first beer wins. They get it. And then they're like, don't go anywhere. And she's like, what do you mean? And then the next beer wins and then the next beer wins.

Ryan's happy because the whole point about submitting the beers was to put the restaurant on the mat. And it was also him trusting her. So they both won the day. So Ryan gets on the microphone and tells everyone from now on he will trust his brewer queen. That was cheesy. I don't have. I didn't like that. Like, if I were hurt, that would have actually diminished my win.

Yeah. Loseer. I'm out of here. Don't fucking make that a thing. Call me your beer bitch. She was a little off put also. But anyway, a wave of applause from the audience and they start yelling, kiss, kiss. This is the part where I was like, oh, come on.

High school. Good Lord. Ryan gives Lilo. a passionate kiss. And the crowd goes wild. Wow. Of course they do. Why wouldn't they? And then... Salty duck. Salty dog. And then later, Ryan gives a toast and says to Lilo the brewer who brought Salty Dog into the winter circle, despite my misguided stubborn ass from now on when it comes to brewing, what she says goes. And Lilo says, no, partner. From now on, we make decisions together. Someone has to watch the bottom line. Whatever to that too. Whatever to both what they said.

We're going to be at each other's throats and Western Owing. They will be divorced in a year. They're not going to make it to the altar. We're not going to make it. After celebration with the staff and some regulars, Ryan and Lilo head upstairs to Ryan's apartment above the brewery. Of all the scenes we got, this one was really spicy. They tell each other, I love you, and Lilo agrees to stay with him rather than leave to start her own brewery. And she says, I want to build a beer empire with you. And fuck you on my lunch break. I want all of it, Ryan.

Me too. I want all of it too. And Ryan says, let's do that. This was the hot part. I thought the spicy scene was pretty spicy. Me. No. I liked the spicy scene.

No, they won't be together in a year. No, they're not going to be together in three weeks. No. But I did like the beautiful hallmark end with the heart. Kim, I thought you'd be happy, though. There was no epilogue. You just got catapulted into the next one. You just got like 25 book record.

Recommendation. Into the Trappers Cove series. I mean, we got our H-E-A. Have to. I'll call it a H-FN. Happy for now. Because we don't know. Without an epilogue, you don't know if it's forever.

There's not another one for them. No. Thank goodness. And we're just going to assume that they're happily ever after. And they go to therapy and they work out their emotion. No, they go to their tarot card reader. That's like her therapist. They need therapy.

Yeah. They just need to get their stars alive. Yeah. I would like to start with Lindsay on ratings because I'm dying. My rating is three and a half. What? I'm not judging. That's a good rating.

You are a little judging. Okay. I'm definitely judging. I thought it was like a classic Hallmark book. It was fast. It was super easy to read. She was still infuriating. The banter was good.

It was very predictable, but I liked. Did you think they had chemistry? I like a good enemy's to lovers. Yeah, I struggle with that trope. I could really see. the passion while they were fighting. It was just like building up the tension. I didn't mind it. Kimber? Hmm. Well, you see. Well, you see. I would give it maybe a two. Maybe. I'll give it a two because I don't like those quarter ratings. Was it going to be a 1.75? Yeah, it was. It was pretty tight there. I hated her from the beginning, which made it hard to read. I hated her name. I hated her. I hated her name. I hated her I hated that she was in her 30s holding a grudge from eighth grade.

That was annoying. Like there was not a redeeming quality for her other than that she could make beer. That was it. That was the only thing I liked about it. I guess. She talked to the tanks. She's just, she's weird. She's a brewer.

I knew, I worked, I worked in a brewery. I know brewers. Like, I love brewers. I wanted to like her, but I didn't. I kind of liked. Tim and that the sex was meh at best. I'm going to give this one 2.5 stars. I did not understand the chemistry of this couple,

and I guess I'm realizing I have an aversion for enemies to lovers. Or maybe it was just like too short to build the romance. There was only 130 pages. Well, I will say I like the scenery. I felt like I was at the beach. I love that. I love the brewery setting. All the beer talk felt like she knew her stuff.

Like the author really got it. And that was really fun. But at the end of the day, this was a below average read for me. All right, Previn, what are your thoughts out of five stars? Well, I don't really have a very good frame of reference. So I'm just going to base it on how much I enjoyed reading it. I'm probably right about there.

Well, I'm right there with Kim. It's a two, maybe at best. You know. 1.95. I don't know. I'll go 1.95. There we go. You do not do not.

Absolutely not. We're not allowed. It was all right. It was hard for you to pick up because I remember, I kept seeing you and I was like, how's it going? And you're like, oh, don't reading it. Full disclosure, I'm not a reader. The problem with this right now is I have to read another book, like a respectable book,

because the last thing that I want to do if I ever run for political office, when someone asked me what my last book that I read was, I can't say passionate move. We're sorry we put you in that corner, Robin. So if you have any recommendations. I was going to say, we have to. a list. If you have any recommendations of a respectable book that I can say that I read and tell the truth, if I ever run from political office. In any book, we're going to tell you about it. I mean, it's perception, right? Respectable? Look, there's a spectrum. I always struggle, though, when we dip into a series,

even if they're interconnected standalones, in the middle. This is so standalone. You did not need the other book. I got to say, yeah. But there's still so much that you lose from the first book. of like tying everything together. I will die on this hill. You're going to be alone. You're dying alone. You know what? I will find another friend that will die with me.

Lindsay, what is your thoughts on spice? Two and a half. It was subpar. The sex we got was good and I felt natural in the storyline. But there was enough of it. Yeah. All right, Kim. One and a half.

Whoa. All right. It was me. And I'm sorry, like who knows what kind of candle this dude gave? her and she just went in and just blops it in a room and lights it up. I mean, it could be the dollar tree in a small town. This guy

was too bougie. He would have bought her a nice candle. Sorry, I call bullshit again. But that tracks though, you heard two rating one and a half sex. Yeah. And half to two and a half. So like, the sex was not good enough for the book. Yeah. Hottest thing was when she said, spank me.

That's it. I'm sorry. I'm out. One and a half. Okay. I did give a 2.5 because I thought the last scene was super hot, but the other scenes were too short. They felt very rushed. What I came here for, I didn't find it. Yeah. All right, Previn, chili peppers, scale in one to five.

So I have no frame of reference here, because this is the only one that... We need to give them more books. He did tell me I was sick at my party this weekend. Yeah. Well, I'm just saying that because of the choice words that were used in the book to describe female genitalia and that kind of thing, it was just kind of, like, eh, in kind of weird times. Too dirty. We're so desensitized.

We're immune to it now. But as a newbie, like, this was kind of, this was like a lot. It's just a different side of Jen that I'm seeing. I guess that was probably more of the shock than me. When I brought him the book, he was like, how did I get roped into a romance? And I'm like, Previn, have you not listened to the show? And he's like, I didn't even know you had a podcast. And then I was like, maybe listen to it.

So I sent him the one with Dennis. And I'm like, just make sure, like, I'm giving you an out. Did you listen to the episode? A little bit. It was only about 10 minutes. No. So, no. It's like that one time when I got Lindsay to read that book, not telling her, there was a, I feel like I tripped him a little bit.

Do your research. He did have an out. And he's a man of his word. And he read this book. And he showed up tonight. And we appreciate you. Previn. MVP.

I saw everything I've said. I've said in jest. I knew what I was getting into. You're a five. This is a five for you. It's like your baseline. I would say probably about a two. Oh.

There I got, Previn. You don't even know what there is out there. No, I, and that's what I'm saying. I mean, obviously, I'm not the best judge here, but I think I was expecting more. Yeah. Lots more. That's all. And I told Jen this weekend.

I am shocked. You kind of knew, just reading the title of the book and the cover of it, you knew where this was going to go. It seemed to take forever before they hooked up. a good point. It just seemed to take forever. And I'm just kind of going, when are they going to get it on? You know, let's go. In a novella, you want it to. I thought you said it wasn't a novella. So confused. Could you tell me what a novella is? But this is probably a novella because it is a short novel. Yeah, that's what I was big of you. But I'm no expert. Let's call it under 180 pages. We have an ongoing torture between each other about novellas that Previn's like, what are they flipping each other off about? But we have. But we have. read other novellas where the sex is like chapter two. Your dad will do. Page two.

That was like chapter one. Previn, you know, if you're looking for ever next one. I'm not. To not have this be the last book you read. After this experience, I think I might be looking for some sort of self-help or some kind of a therapy book or something. I might need therapy after this. I don't know.

Well, we appreciate you, Previn. Thank you so much for joining us. And thank you to our live audience. Check out Boozy Book as a podcast. com for reading list, cocktail recipes and episodes of the show. Check us out on TikTok, Facebook, Insta, and YouTube. And until we meet again, happy reading. Happy reading.

Thanks for tuning in. We hope today's episode was the fine next 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.