Boozy Bookgasms - The Devil Went Down...and stayed there

Episode Date: April 1, 2026

The Devil's Advocate by Ashley Jade Hey Boozy Book Lovers! Today we are going to make Lynn smile when we finally finish the second book in a duet! The cousins are recapping and reviewing book two of the Devil’s Playground duet by Ashley Jade, and let’s just say… if you thought book one was messy, buckle up.  We’re talking obsession, political power plays, true crime, revenge, and a romance that refuses to behave itself. Damien and Eden are back, making choices that will have you screaming, swooning, and maybe texting your therapist “you up?” So grab your drink, lower your expectations for healthy relationships, and join us for some laughs! Signature Cocktail: The Devil Will Get You Ingredients: 1 1/2 ounce vodka or tequila 1 1/2 ounce peach puree 1/2 ounce lime juice Chile-lime seasoning Ice cubes Instructions: Rim your glass with Tajin. In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine your alcohol liquid, peach puree and lime juice. Shake until chilled about 30 seconds. Strain into the prepared glass.   

Why would we do that? Oh, my God. Okay, if you guys are done, I would like to get this on the road. Okay. Oh, Kim. Somebody's got a flight in the morning. Kim's getting our show on the road. This has never happened.

Kemp's drinking water, that's fine. I wish I had a cocktail. Kin Lindsey's only had four drinks. I mean, she's basically sober. Now me, on the other hand, not so much. All right. It's gotta be really good. Buckle up literature fans.

We're in for some boozy bookgasms today. Join three cousins creating a titillating headspace where steamy romance novels collide with strong cocktails. So sit back, sip slow, and enjoy the ride. Welcome back, boozy fans. I'm Jen. I'm Lynn. I'm Kim. We are here today to live out Lindsay's only wish. We're just to complete the second book of a duet. They don't feel like it's a hard ask, you know. You're welcome. Yeah. Thank you.

Actually, all I wanted was for us to not read one book in a duet. I feel like that's not too much to ask, people. So today we are talking about the devil's advocate. This is the second book in the Devil's Playground Duet by Ashley Jade. But before we take the elevator down to hell to join these two emmases, Kim, what are we drinking tonight? All right. Well, you may remember on our last episode, we did The Devil's Heart. It was delicious. It was nice. It was a little spicy. You had tequila. I had vodka. So today, we are diving into The Devil will get you.

Yes, it will. This is a different version. This one, which I love, has peach puree, some chili lime seasoning, such as like Taheen. And you can, again, vodka or tequila, you know which way I'm going. peach puree, lime juice, and a slice of peach right on top. It's basically a peach margarita is what we're going for. Yeah. It's delicious. It's got a nice sweet flavor, but the tahine on the side makes it a little spicy. Kind of like this book. We had some sweet moments and we had some really spicy moments. So drink up, ladies. Cheers. Cheers. So as I said, we did book one in this series last week. And I would recommend going back and listening, but the The truth is you'll have fun with us, whether you do or not. So let's get started. We open this book with Damien. He is bribing slash blackmailing, David Covey, basically taking advantage of a terminally ill man who is currently running for mayor against his nemesis, Cain.

And the poor guy has very little money left to his name, do it to an expensive campaign. He is about to die. And Damien tells David Covey that he will take care of his family financially. Damien is a billionaire, which is very handy in these books. Love that. He just needs David Covey to fix it so that Damien's the replacement candidate when he dies. And, oh, yes, he needs you to die the knight of the masquerade ball that's coming up. It's well-timed because there's some sort of funky rule that if he dies within X number of days of the election, they don't have to primary.

They can just assign the new candidate. So he just wants like a path of least resistance. He could pick his predecessor. Did this ring true to you as something that could actually happen? Welcome to Kamala Harris and Biden when he quit and they just assigned her as the candidate versus running another primary. If it's too close to the election, they can do that. That did happen. All right.

So this is going to happen for mayor in this little town also. In podong town. I don't know why he said mayor like that. but feels offensive to the small town people. Okay. Yeah. Anywho, back to our story. Next we check in on poor sweet Little Eden.

When last we left her, she had gone outside, even though she had agoraphobia and anxiety and attended a masquerade ball only to find that the man she loves was dancing with another woman. The man she loves happens to be her stepfather who is Kane. Gross. This was all arranged by Damien from our prologue in an effort to, exact revenge on Kane for breaking his heart in high school. And, you know, almost setting him up

to take a murder wrap. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, that. But mostly the heartbroken high schooler. I mean, if you want all the details. Listen to last week. Okay, fair. Last episode. Yeah. So Damien tricks Eden into going upstairs and finding Kane getting a blowjob from his dreadfully boring and drab fiancé. Kane doesn't realize it's Eden at first because of the mask. They're at a masquerade ball when he does realize he tells his fiance, Margaret, to leave the room so he can take care of this. And Margaret says, this had better be the last time she has to deal with one of his horse. Eden is crushed when she realizes they are engaged. He tells her he didn't want her to find out this way.

He says he warned her not to pursue this thing between them because this whole time he's been acting like, I don't want this, but it's happening anyway against my will. And she's feeling like I'm pressuring him into this thing. Also, Damien's been texting her as if he were Kane. So Damien's been perpetuating her interest because she thinks that it's actually Kane giving her all of this feedback. And as much as Kane is telling her, this isn't me. Damien's like, oh, it's me. It's Kane. I really like you.

But he's also going down on her on her 18th birthday. He's not helping the situation either. No. This poor girl. She really is like so tragic. He says he warned her not to pursue this thing between them. But then he starts leaning in and sweet talking her. And the next thing he knows he's got a heart on again.

And he makes Eden put her hand over it. And he tells her to get on her knees and finish what Margaret started. So gross. And finally we get a little respect for Eden who says, fuck off. Even naive little Eden knows she deserves better. Thank God. So he tells her he. loves her and he says, this just can't be, but I love you. She says, then why does this hurt so bad?

And she leaves. So she is starting to question the only thing she's ever known, which is that she's obsessed with him. Kane is extremely inconvenienced right now with a missing reporter. If you'll remember from book one, there was a reporter that pissed him off and then she went suddenly missing. And the police are looking for her and they're asking Kane where she is. The beauty of this is her mom is Kane's ex-girlfriend who was shagging Damien in the shed. Yeah, her stepmom. And the stepmom is like, hey, where the hell is my daughter? And it's his ex-girlfriend. And he's like, she's fine. Blows her off completely. It's sort of like a gnat. It's this minor stressor. Like, the police keep coming around going, what do you know? You were the last one to see her. And it's one of the

stressors. And now we've got Eden. And now he's got this new fiancee that's kind of a nag. And she's really annoying and her dad's always there. Kind of. Oh my God. She's awful. She really is awful. All he cares about and all he's worried about is how are these things going to affect my campaign? And while he's thinking this over, he jerks off in the bathroom and thinks about how he should really let Eden go because he loves her and he doesn't want to because she's like his faithful pet. It's just disgusting. He's a pig. This is really where you realize that he is just fucking awful. He's evil.

Yeah, he's sick, yeah. So Eden's sitting out on the terrace crying and Damien strikes like an anaconda going for its prey. He's like, oh, this is my moment. They banter back and forth, and we find out that Damien owns the castle that they're in for the masquerade ball. He just kind of purchased it. This is very Gatsby. It is. It is a little bit.

He is very rich, and he comes in and buys the mansion so that he can, like, position himself in Kain's. life and has this whole plan for Eaton. That is a really good analogy. So they start kissing and Damian tells her good girls get rewarded and as she says, you clearly don't know me. He said, I know some things. I know today is your 18th birthday. And I know your mom, Karen Williams, died in a car accident last year. And I know you think her death was a blessing. And I know she kept you away from people and locked you up in the house like some kind of animal and I know you're obsessed with a man who will never love you back. She tells him to go to hell as he's kissing her throat and he says it's a shame or not on the couch in your living room, which is where she and stepdaddy, Kane had inappropriate

relations in book one. So this kind of freaks her out. As it should. She's like, who are you? That was creepy. Like, how did he know that? We don't ever really know how he knew that. I'm sure he has cameras. He has been plotting this revenge for years. Long time. He was just waiting on Eden to turn 18. So she gets freaked out and she screams for help and he covers her mouth and he dangles her over the balcony. She thinks he's going to kill her on her birthday and she keeps thinking like this is my birthday and I'm going to die today. She tells him she hates him. She rips off his mask because she's like, if I'm going to die, I want to see the face of the man that's going to do this to me. And then she thinks to herself, how can someone so beautiful be so vicious? I mean, it's a fair question. Well, Plosley, he was turning her on. Well, yeah, this is very confusing for her because he's mean, but he's also hot. Damien convinces her that he's been hired by Kane to kill her and says that he will protect her.

And she asks, why would you do that? All the while he's like finger banging her. Well, they're having this conversation. And he tells her he wants revenge on Kane. He wants her help. And she agrees to do it, just I think, out of in that moment, confusion and desperation. She's pissed at Kane for the whole secret fiance thing. And so... Yeah, she is. So he ties a wrist to the railing and tells her to hold on because this is going to hurt because she's a virgin.

Yeah, we remember that. If you weren't in the last episode, this is a virgin. She's 18 today. Happy birthday. She was saving herself for Kane and instead she basically got raped on the balcony. Lindsay, I don't know if I'd call it rape. This might be a time where we disagree. He does start to line it up and she's like, what are you doing? And he says, I'm taking what's his. So he wants our virginity because he knows how badly Kane wanted it. She says, I don't remember giving your permission. And he says, tell me to stop. And she says, don't stop. So I feel like consent-ish. It's consent-adjacent. There was not consent like four hours early. when she thought it was someone else and he knew she thought it was someone else.

He did finger banger in a coat closet. Pretending to be someone else. That was rapy. I'm not saying this wasn't a little rapy. As long as you acknowledge it was a lot of rapy. There was a lot of on the edge stuff here because she was so manipulated and so sheltered. Also in the category of that's not romance, that's a felony. I would say is when he injects her with a new.

needle and she passes out. That seems wrong. Yeah. That was definitely not legal. Also disturbing if this was a real life situation. I'm stepping back with my popcorn for the movie. Okay. We're divorcing ourselves from reality.

Interesting. Kane, meanwhile, is still in the bathroom jerking off. He hears a couple having sex on the balcony and he goes to watch. He's a purve. Because he's pervy. It's turning him on until he realizes it's Damien and he walks up just as Eden. is having an orgasm and passes out and he's like horrified when he realizes Damian took her virginity. And it's exactly what Damian wanted.

It worked out perfectly for him. Kane, he gets a text that his opponent, David Covey, just died. And he tells Damian, this isn't over. And he leaves. Bum-Bong commercial. His stepdaughter, who he's the guardian of and semi-love interest, he keeps stringing along, is literally out on a balcony passed out. who's just her virginia's mistaken and he just like leaves her there he's got other stuff to deal

with no he's a dick oh he's awful well his campaign's a jeopardy yeah he got to go yeah i mean if we didn't recap this well enough from last episode this guy's a dick fucking sucks he's a sociopath i think is where we ended yeah we diagnosed him yes again boozy bookasms empty aging doctor jenn yeah even wakes up tied to a bed in damien's house oh my poor Eden. I felt bad for her the whole time. Yeah. She was manipulated. She was raped. She ended up with Stockholm syndrome. Twice. There were so many things. And you're like, I don't care. It's not that I don't care. I just enjoy the story in spite of these situations. That's fine. We all have our moments. I'm just saying, like, this poor woman. Yeah. She's a little annoyed about being drug, totally and kidnapped. But not annoyed enough not to have sex with Damien. He's hot. She knows that she shouldn't want him. Sure. That's what makes it fun.

And she's kind of getting a little of her own back by, like, doing something she knows Kane's going to be annoyed by. By sleeping with her kidnapper, that drug going to. Yeah, talk about it. But you didn't have a problem with that while it goes. You're right, Lindsay. Like, go eat it. It's not that I didn't have a problem with my breath.

I was like enjoying the story in spite of the sad part. That's what I'm saying. I'm just saying I feel like she sort of gave Damien a little good. Grace because she was trying to get back in Kane. I agree. And I think Damien was giving her her power back. Mm-hmm. He was trying.

I was giving him a lot of credit. He was building her up. He was mean and he was disrespectful and he did kidnap and drug her. But he did it in a way where he had redeeming qualities. He did. I was rooting for him like from day one. Same. Same.

I hated Kane a lot. But I liked Damien. as much as I hated the way he did this, he had redeeming qualities. Made you want to root for him. I think both of these men were despicable human beings, but I loved the story. I would have totally got home with Damien. I would have, too. I would be like, tie me up again.

Yeah, absolutely. Oh, same. I'm here. Damien tells Eden that he wants her to go to the funeral of the former mayor who just passed away that he kind of set up. I would like you to kill yourself on December 17th, please. Thank you. Blackmailed him to die.

Yeah. But he wants her to go as his date and her anxiety kicks in and she's like, I can't do this. Like you don't understand. I can't do this. We meet the staff at the castle. Jeffrey, who's Damien's loyal servant. Then there's a slutty housemaid who gets dismissed later. Oh, the one that's jealous. So we head to the former mayor's funeral and Damien gives Eden a ring and says, oh, by the way, we're engaged now. Then, of course, they run into Kane, which is the plan the whole time. And Margaret. and the governor. And Margaret's being really nasty to her. And Damian says, stop talking about my fiance, unless you want to end up in that casket next to David Covey. So high. I'm here for that. I was so hot. I'm always here for the danda. Back you up. In spite of himself. It was like, I'm really here to just give it to Cain, but then I can't help myself. I have to protect her. Yeah, she had a soft spot for her, but he had a soft spot for Mrs. Miller. Damien has a soft spot for

people who were mistreated. He had ambotion. He was not a sociopath. I think he definitely needed some therapy. He felt things. If you didn't, you wouldn't want revenge. Wouldn't care. Right. So he was very passionate. So the service starts and Eden is having a massive panic attack again and she goes to the bathroom and Kane shows up in there and locks the door. So gross. They end up having sex in there. Oh, he's annoyed that he didn't get her virginity. Oh yeah. And his Thoughts are really disturbing. Like she's a whore. She's the worst.

She's not pure anymore. And you realize just like he's so selfish. He's gross. He's a pig. He tells her that Damien killed his parents and he's an evil man. And so Eden, she is going to flip back and forth between these men throughout the whole book. Oh, Damien is bad or, oh, Kane's bad. Or Damien's bad.

And you're on a tilt-a-whirl here with her. That does get exhausting. I didn't feel like she flipped. I think she did. Especially through the first half of the second book. You can see why, because they're both manipulative assholes. And Kane is, and she's like for years has been obsessed with him. And he's played into this. Like, I'm the only one here for you. I'm the only one that can take care of you. So it takes a long time for her to realize that he's a fucking dick. It's only been a couple of days. Not very long. And this man that has been her only person, her North Star, for years. Meet her in the bathroom. And it's. explains everything that's been concerning to her and manipulates her. She's 18. Tells her he loves her, which is the only thing she's been waiting for, and then fucks her. But then he also tells her she looks like a whore. He did. He bucks her, tells her he loves her, and then he's like, oh yeah, you look

like a whore. And then walks out. He's got to knock her down a peg always. He's got to keep her insecure. Oh, it's awful. There are men in the world that do this. So Damien is waiting outside the bathroom when she comes out. He asks her, did your stepdaddy use a condo? him when he fucked you in there. He totally knows what just happened. Me? She's like, what? No. He's like, don't mess up the seats in my car. We got to go. Let's go. They take off. He could tell that Kane was getting in her head. And he's like, I really need to show her what kind of guy he really is. He shows her the medical records from over the years. That was so hard. It was proof that she was being drugged by her mother. So it started with her mother, who basically put her in a catatonic state

to just not have to deal with her, which is just so sad. Then more proof, he has a recording, the shrink admitting that he was blackmailed by Kane to make her more agoraphobic and more dependent on him. And he just manipulated her through therapy. Now she's back on team Damien. She's like, oh yeah, Kane is kind of an asshole. Now I'm back on your side. She's not. She's doesn't know up from down. No. Throughout the book, you see how she does, I think Damien helps her grow a little bit and she gets more self-confidence.

But there's always that like little devil. In the back of her brain, should I trust this guy, right? And you can see how you would still have these moments of uncertainty. Well, yeah, you were treated horribly as a child. And then once your mom dies, you are dependent on this guy who gets you off of some of the drugs. He lightens the load for the drugs, just enough where she's not cat. catatonic anymore, right? He can screw with her. But she's in love with him and he knows it. Now all of a sudden she's not catatonic anymore and he saved her. This is her savior. And now she's being told that he wants her dead and he's a bad guy and he did all these things. He's trying to take away this thing that Kane has, which means he has to hurt her. He's breaking the spell. He's struggling with that. He is struggling. I feel that's a redeeming quality. She almost has Stockholm syndrome, time.

twice. Yeah, both times. Almost. Both guys. So they go to the courthouse to hear the announcement that Damien will be Kane's opponent in the race to the mayor's office. That was so good. And Kane is pissed. Yeah, this goes badly. There's also going to be another stupid masquerade ball. God, there's so many of these. I felt like this was well written, but we could have gotten a little more creative with the balls. But whatever, we're going to have another one. The announcement goes badly, just the way Damien wants. They're very creative with balls. Kim's one lighters. There were a lot of balls.

There were a lot of balls. They were very creative. So, Kane tells Eden to meet him in the bathroom. She shows up and he slaps her across the face. He regrets it immediately. So she's like horrified. Like, oh my gosh, this man that I worshipped, he just hurt me. I don't understand.

This is the beginning of the end. Even with the medical and everything else, this is when she. She starts really turning. Yeah, she knows. But he feels like she's still a dumb kid. And he's like, I'm going to manipulate her. I've got all these scars for my own abuse. And I'm going to be vulnerable with her.

And he takes a shirt off. And he's like, look at me. I was abused. And she's trying really hard to fake it with him because she also has revenge goals. Yeah. Yeah. She's disgusted now and realizes what a dick he is. But he aggressively fingerbanks her.

in a way that isn't comfortable for her. She doesn't enjoy it. And she just kind of endures it. She needs him to think she's still on his side to perpetuate Damien's revenge goals. That was more rapey to me than the balcony scene. I agree. But Damien shows up and they used to get in a punching fight and it's kind of, you know, it's a little tacky. The governor's like, hey, knock it off, you know, whatever.

So everybody leaves. So we have a few chapters of Eden and Damien getting to know. other, but he's dark and broody and he's really fighting his feelings on this. He doesn't want to get attached and she's 18 and she's confused. Well, he knows he has an endgame and she wasn't supposed to be a part of that. She's not part of the plan and he's really struggling with, I don't know what to do. Meanwhile, Kane is having sex with the police chief. Male police chief. Male police chief. Yeah. Yeah, he's a man for favors. He wanted him to reopen the case of his family's death and blame it on Damien.

He's got that tape recording of Damien saying how he's going to kill his parents. And he's like, hey, I'll let you bang me. But would you mind reopening this cold case and pinning it on my opponent for mayor? Well, and the police chief tries to say no. And then he gets dick stunned. It must be that good. He's dignitized. I've never heard of that.

You haven't? Oh, it's a thing. I feel like we've said that before. Taylor Swift, baby. Yeah, exactly. Meanwhile, we have debate night. Kane tries to manipulate Damien with a blowjob in the conference room. And Eden just happens to be walking by and she sees...

Planned? Hmm. I don't think so. I don't think either one of these guys wanted her to see this. I thought Damien did want her to see it because he wanted to burst another bubble. Okay, so she walks by. All she sees is the blow job. And then Damien push.

Cain off of him and kicks him in the balls. And he's like, fuck off, I hate you, whatever. And then he runs after Eden. Then she's feeling very betrayed. Which is fair. It's an awkward situation. She's super confused. He explains the whole backstory to her. He tells her about high school. He tells her about the betrayal. He tells her about the revenge blood. And he really fills her in on everything and is finally honest with her. He now has fallen for her and actually has, like, a heart and emotions and doesn't want her to feel that way. And he does, I think, Kim, you said it, like really trying to build her up and get her out of this shell that Kane has forced her into. So off we go to another masquerade ball. Forgot there were so many. I know. There were two, which feels like one too many. As much as all these people are sleeping with each other, I would think you would want a lot of masquerade balls. That's fair. You don't know who you're sleeping with. It's like a key party. What's that masquerade sex?

Isn't it, though? How many people had sex the first masquerade? Three? Eden had sex with Damien in the coat closet or... Then on the balcony. No, that did happen. Margaret or whatever her name was, went down on Kane. Yeah.

That wasn't masked. And then Eden got railed on the railing. You know what? That should be like a bucket list. Be railed on the rail. It's like railing or railing someday. I'm here for it. Let's go.

So Eden tricks Kane. into meeting her in the basement so that he can, he wants to break into Damien's computer and steal his files. The first thing that is on the computer when he pulls it up are the pictures of him and the police chief having sex and he's giving him a blowjob. He's like, what? This is Photoshopped. Never happened. The worst. I can't even believe how bad this photoshopping is. This is terrible. And Eden's like, you know, whatever. I think it's kind of hot. And she, strips down to her underwear. And he's like, this is like a master plan between Damien and Eden to get him down there. Totally.

Jeffrey's involved. I love it. She was like, if we could get some kind of way to shackle him to the couch, maybe we could get some ropes or something. And he was like, they're already there. They're already there. Damien's like, don't worry about it. I already did that. Personal use. She's like, tie me up next time. So she gets him over to the couch and shackles him under the guise of the sexual situation. And Damien walks in, she's like, thank God you're here. I almost puked. Because she's like so disgusted having to be sexual with him.

Kane's like, what? Like, he's so shocked. What do you mean? That this woman doesn't want him stuff. Damien hogties Kane and lowers his fish tank down with a piranha in it. He tells Kane that he'd better tell Eden the truth. So his pants are down because he was about. to do stuff with Eden. And he's like, you better tell her everything or I'm going to put your

dick in the fish tank with the piranha. They make him call Margaret, the fiance, and tell her he's going to go home sick so that she doesn't start looking for him. Then they say, start talking. Tell her everything. There's a few times where he's like, oh, whatever. And then they lead him for it. He's like, okay, okay. He admits that he killed his dad and brother and framed the teacher. And Damien's like, who else did you kill? And he's like, nobody. And then, Damien Damien puts his dick on the side of the fish tank without the piranha, like with the nice fish, the little tropical ones.

He's like relieved. And then the tropical fish start nibbling at his dick. And I have to say this isn't the same, but I was on a lake one time in a floaty. And my toes were hanging over. And these little sunfish. They have pedicures like that. They do in Mexico. It doesn't feel good or comfortable or fun.

And I'm just saying I can see why he gave in and admitted to the other murders at this point. Especially depending on how small those fish were. They can get into some pretty remote areas. So the nibbling, it gets painful enough. And he says, okay, fine. I also killed Karen Eden's mom. He says, I only did it because Karen was abusive. And they're like, whatever.

Damien's like, who else did you kill? He's like, nobody. And then Damien releases the piranha and puts the penis back in the time. I mean, this guy didn't need a penis. He was such a spineless asshole. We knew his time on this planet was coming to an end. Very limited, yes. And I didn't hate that this was his final moments.

So he's like, okay, fine. I killed Christy, the teacher, and her husband. He's like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. And he's overly apologetic about it. She's like, what's up with him apologizing? He's already told me the worst. And Damien says, because Christy was your actual mother. Bum, bum, bum.

As it turns out, Christy, the slutty teacher, got pregnant when she was very young and gave her baby away to her cousin Karen, who was a lesbian and wanted to have a baby. She needed a beard, basically. She thought she wanted to be a mom and then realized, like, she didn't. Too much work. Yeah. Christy thinks she's going to have time with the baby and help with the baby and have access to the baby. So the cousin skips down with the baby and Christy's devastating. And blocks her legally from everything.

That's a closed adoption. Because she's an attorney. So Kane actually knew the whole time that he was marrying the woman whose cousin he murdered and that he was in the house with the child whose mom he murdered. He knew this entire time who she was. He's just completely despicable. But Damien didn't know the whole time. No, Damien just found out when he came to town and started researching things.

So story time's over. Damian wants to cocaine and be done, but he gets a phone call because the governor is dying of a heart attack in the middle of the dance floor of the ball that he's throwing in his home. And he's like, ugh, damn it, I got to go deal with this. He ties cane down. And he's like, Eden, come out into the hallway. with me. She's literally in a bra underwear and his suit jacket. And she comes out there. He's like, listen, there's a check for $25 million in your pocket and a plane ticket to Spain. And she's like, what? Stupid. Yeah. And she slaps him across the face and says, are you really dropping all this

on me and leaving me to pick up the pieces by myself? And he says, you can stay the night and Jeffrey will take you to the airport in the morning. And he walks off. And he walks off. and just completely crushes her. He thinks he's doing the right thing. He does because he doesn't think he's good enough to love her. And he wants to take care of her. He's like, go be free. Grow up.

Have a good time. Well, and 25 million softens the blow. A little bit. A little. But that doesn't really protect your heart. She went out of this horrendously toxic relationship, into this toxic relationship, but actually kind of loves this guy for real.

And he kind of loves her for real. and it does feel more real. And then she's let down again for like the 87th time in these two books. She got ping ponged that she was treated badly the entire time. He has redeeming qualities, but he's still an idiot. Yes. Agreed. So she's like, okay, fuck you.

I'm going to go put my ball gown back on, which is in the room with Kane, who's tied down by the piranhas, right? She goes back in there and they get to talking. And he convinces her to untie him so they can stay the night together. and they'll fly to Spain together in the morning. And we hear Cain think to himself that he's really just going to fuck her and then kill her the way she deserves.

Because he's mad that she fell in love with someone else. At this moment, it's like, Eden, again, she's flip. The flip-flop. I love him. I love him. I love him. We are thinking she's going back with Cain thinking she's in love. And so they get back to the house and Eden is stripped down to her bra and underwear

and they're about to have sex. He bends her over the desk in his office. He wants to pee on her the way he peed on Damien. This is a dominance thing that he wants to do. Yeah. So he actually pees into her underwear and then she turns around and stabs him to death. Love it. Murders him with no problem.

Absolutely everything he deserved. And he deserved to be murdered with his pants down thinking he had the upper hand. Fuck this guy. It was exactly perfect. Damien shows up. He's super proud of her, obviously. He kind of says into the ether, she did it, Christy. She killed your murderer. And he's like, proud of her. Yeah. And then he lights a house on fire. And he leaves a bloody knife outside the door with his fingerprints on it on purpose. The bloody knife she killed him with with his fingerprints, right, to take the blame. He finds Eden at her mom's grave site covered in blood and he takes her back to his place for a shower and some sacks of it. obviously. Tucks her in. Yeah, tucks her in, gives her some sex. And then the next morning, Eden wakes up and Damien's been arrested. Eden goes to the precinct and basically blackmails the sheriff with photos of Kane giving him a blowjob and Bada Bing, Bada bang, like Damien's free. She's like, you got to let him out because actually Kane was the murderer of everyone. And you're

an idiot. And I have photo proof that you're gay. Which how handy was that? Those came in handy like two or three times. Right. Like this guy's got to get better about... Hang on to that. I mean, you hope that he learned his lesson. Probably not. But he did. He did. So epilogue, these two ended up getting married. Aww. So cute. They moved to somewhere tropical. We see her in a bikini on a balcony and they're having some kinky sex. The end, I mean, it ended up just being kind of adorable. Beautiful. Love story. I would love to hear our ratings on Book 2. And I'd like to start with Lindsay's.

I just want to do a quick recap of book one. Lindsay thought it was a two-star read. So Lindsay, how did we feel about book four? Book two. I only read two of them. There's four? Wine number four for Jen. Book number two for Lindsay.

Book two redeemed the series for me. I did like it. And it pulled it full circle and it made things make sense. But I was still very frustrated with the whole dynamic of the two male characters and the female character. I wanted her to be stronger. I wanted Damien to be less manipulative. But he was manipulative till the end. Like, that's just who he was.

But he had redeeming qualities. So that saved him a little bit. I love the fact that we finally realized that Cain was like a fucking dick. Finally, page two. For a little bit of the first book, I felt like I couldn't decide on him. But I couldn't decide where the author was going to go. And that made me uncomfortable. So I will give book two a three and a half.

It's not a huge jump, but I'll take it. Still, this whole book gave me a lot of anxiety. Kim. I actually upped my score on this one because I like, I gave it a five star. Five star? Oh, man. I know. I might, maybe it was the moon in retro or something.

I know, but I loved it from the get-go. I was down for the first one. I was ready for the second one immediately. and I was just all in. I was rooting for Damien from day one. Oh, really? Didn't matter how gross he was. I felt like he was the good guy out of all of the bad guys.

No, totally. He was the least bad out of all the bad. He was like not even really a bad guy. He had some bad characteristics. He certainly had vengeance and like traumas. He wasn't a killer. He wasn't a bad human. He treated all of the women, even though he may have been dominant,

he treated them. all with respect. I mean, there were some dominant moments where he was like, no, you're doing this. But if she would have said no, he would have stopped. He may have still drugged her. I was going to say that there were some moments. The drugging needed to happen to get her quietly where he needed her to go. Not to abuse her, but to relocate her. Right. Which justifies that, I'm sure. Thank you, Kim. I enjoyed this entire journey. If you didn't listen to the last episode, I rated.

at four stars there. I'm writing at four stars here. I really liked this book, even though many of these tropes typically aren't my fave. No, they're red flags for you. This is shocking. This was just a really fun adventure for me, and I could divorce myself from some of the taboo things that normally would upset me because I was just here on the sidelines listening to the story. You're like a voyeur. I wasn't judging. I wasn't being asked to be too invested in the relationships. I just want to see what's going to happen in this true crime drama. It was pretty dark, though, like for a few years haven't read it. Like, it's darker than a lot of the books that we read.

It's not the darkest. It's not the darkest. It is dark. It is very shadowy in black hollow. Should have known. It feels very poetic. All right, Lynn, how did you feel about spice? The sex was good.

I liked the sex. So I'll give it a four star. Okay. Kim. I gave it a five. No. Five and five. Have we ever had a Kim?

5-5. No. No, I'm usually pretty tough. This is your 5-4? Maybe the moon, maybe it's a spring forward moment. I don't know. The moon's in retrograde or whatever? Maybe.

Something. You were just in the right frame of mind. It's a leap year. I don't know what's happening. One day we're going to figure out like some sort of definitions because it definitely depends on where we are in our own headspace. Would we read it? How we read it, right?

Like whether we vote on it. You could ask me in three more weeks and I'll totally change my mind. We need some data points. I'm actually surprised you didn't like. this Marlin, especially because... I am too. We did a duet just for you and it wasn't like your face. Just because it's a duet doesn't mean I'm going to like it.

It's not even a duet. Why isn't this a duet? It's two books. First book was a prelude. It's not even a real book. It's a book. That's what it is. A faux book.

It's a book. I gave it three and a half on spice. It was spicy and there was enough of it and it was well written. I enjoyed this journey very much. So thank you, everyone. I hope you enjoyed our first duet. Or we're not calling it a duet. What are we calling it?

There was a prelude and then a book. Our first prelude plus book. I hope you enjoyed it. Two part episode. That's what we'll call it. Thank you so much for joining us. Please go out to boosybookasms.com to check out our reading list, cocktail recipes and episodes of the show.

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