Boozy Bookgasms - Who's your Uncle?

Episode Date: February 18, 2026

Braving the Storm by Elliott Rose We’re back with the second book in the Crimson Ridge series by Elliott Rose—Braving the Storm. And let me be clear… this is not a “will they, won’t they.�� This is very much “they absolutely will,” and you know it right out of the gate and oh boy is it complicated.    Signature Cocktail: The Stormbreaker This drink like the book is all about things that shouldn't work together but somehow do - so naturally, I made a cocktail that sounds like a horrific idea on paper. Coconut whiskey? Um no, Lime and pineapple - more suspicious. But not unlike Braving the Storm - messy, emotional, and a little chaotic - against all odds this shit works! It's strong, sweet and a little unhinged which seems right on brand for us.  Ingredients: 2 oz Beach Whiskey - Island Coconut flavor 3/4 oz fresh lime juice 3/4 oz pineapple juice Club soda if you need to cut the strength - wimps! Combine the Beach Whiskey, lime juice and pineapple juice in a shaker. Shake well. Strain the drink into a whiskey glass filled with ice. Top it off with a splash of club soda if you need to tone it down a bit. 

I'm just showing up to talk. I did no prep beyond reading the book and having the opinions. Typical. Fucking typical of you. That's fine. Book love 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, you boozy babes. This is Bozy Bookgasms. I'm Lynn. I'm Jen. And I'm Kim. Tonight we're talking about braving the storm by Elliot Rose. This one gives us forced proximity, a grumpy former bull rider, a sunshine heroine, and a relationship that is absolutely not supposed to happen. But it does anyway, repeatedly. Over and over again. It's amazing. But before we brave this storm, Kim, what are we drinking tonight? Okay, folks, we are drinking the storm breaker. This drink, much like the book, is all about things that should not work together, but somehow do. So naturally, I made a cocktail that sounds like a horrific idea on paper.

Coconut whiskey, lime and pineapple. Sounds suspicious, I know, but not unlike Braving the Storm, it's messy, emotional, little chaotic. But against all odds, this shit works. It's strong, sweet, and a little unhinged, which seems right on brand for us. Totally. Here for it. I absolutely love this. I just discovered it. It is called Beach Whiskey. It's an island coconut whiskey. It's delicious. Lynn, you tried this at one of our events.

Yummy. Sign me up. I love anything coconut. It's amazing. I'm on vacay. I used mine with peach juice and it was phenomenal. But here we're using it with pineapple. And if you're a big wuss, you can also cut it with a little bit of club soda or ginger ale. Boo. No wuss is on this pot. No wuss is here, baby. Drink up. Drink up, ladies. So we open with Storm. His name is Stormand Lane. We met him in a previous book. This is the second in the Crimson Ridge series by Elliot Rose. Stormon is a former bull writer, but he has been retired for quite a few years now.

And he lives in this remote area of Crimson Ridge on the top of a mountain that gets snowed in all of the time. And he currently works as a rancher. He has his own ranch. And then he helps the other ranches. He is very grumpy. he's very tired because he has been working several weeks at one of his friends' ranches. So he gets home and he is really ready to just go to bed. But he realizes he's not alone. First, he thinks an animal has climbed into his house. Second, he thinks like maybe it's a burglar, how dare those assholes.

And then he realizes, wait, maybe it's a buckle bunny, which if you haven't read rodeo romances, apparently there's this whole genre of women who just chase bull riders around. And they're called buckle bunnies. They're like groupies. Yeah, groupies, like rodeo groupies. So he starts daydreaming, great. I can maybe get laid and then kick this woman out on the curb. So he sneaks up, but she's in the bathroom. She's taking a shower. He realized that she has no idea that he's there, but thinks she's incredibly hot. Seizor taking off her clothes, starts to daydream about what he's going to do to her. Finally makes this move. He thinks she knows he's coming home. The whole point of her being there is to try and seduce him. That was what he has got in his head. So he starts feeling her up, talking really dirty to her, flips her around and how to her facing the mirror with him behind. And then he looks at her. And he's like, how do I know this woman? I recognize her.

And finally, she looks up naked, kind of freaking out and says, Uncle Storm? Oh, no. Top things you don't want to hear on your first date. Ever. Ever. At this point, dear readers, he's basically molested. His family member.

His niece. He bolts out of the bathroom. All right. So judging. Do you hear the judge dripping off of that? Oh, yeah. This is taboo. What's wrong with me?

You knew she was going to have to be open-minded. Our female main character is Breyer Lane. Yeah, same last name. She is an L.A. girl. Grew up in Southern California. Her life is essentially imploded. Her dad has died. She's basically escaped from this relationship that she's been in because he's a cheater.

When her dad died, he gave her or willed her this house that she has broken into. that Storm has been living in for about a decade. She was in an arranged marriage for business arrangement. Yeah, it's loveless. You get a sense that she's in this relationship for awful reason. She hasn't had sex in a long time or bad sex at the very least. And he was a cheating asshole. It was a terrible situation.

Yeah, she's a runner. But we find out that Storm is not technically her uncle. It is her dad's adopted brother. They met in foster care. There's no blood there, Jen. He's uncle enough. He's not. There's absolutely no blood.

He hasn't seen her in 10 years. He doesn't even recognize her. Yeah. So last time he saw her, she was a child. So not the grossest taboo. He was like younger. Yeah, he was like 30 and she would have been like 16. He thinks of her dad as his brother.

Well, he also hates his fucking adoptive brother. That doesn't make him not his brother. Hate his brother. Adopted. Okay, you got to get over this. Adopted, adopted. that adopted no bloodline. So they, so basically poor Breyer is like stuck up here on this mountain with her uncle who's

now just said how much he wants to fuck her, but she has no place to go. And this is his house and he has no place to go. And so they have this whole dramatic thing. He gives her the bedroom. He's going to sleep on the couch. But he can't stop thinking about her without her clothes on and she can't stop thinking about him. Thus, basically the plot of this entire book is that. them just will they, won't they? Pretty much the first half. They definitely will. Yeah. Kind of

semi-slow burn. Spoiler. Spoiler alert. She says she is nowhere to go. He's like, it's winter. We've got stuff to do and she goes, so roomies. And he's like, fuck my life. So Storm has all this work to do. In the first book, we meet Colt and Leila. Colt. And yummy, that book was very good. And we did it on this podcast. So if you're just now listening to this podcast for season four, you'll have to go back. Season two. Chasing the Wild? Yes. Chasing the Wild. Yes. Chasing the Well, thank you. They go to Devil's Peak through the mountain, and Colt and Lela live at the very top. You find out in book one, she's a veterinarian and travels around. And so Colt, once he locks her down, they start traveling. But his son, Case is there on the ranch. I thought his name was Casey. But they call him Case. We called him Casey in our episode. And it reads like Casey. Oh, the audio calls him Case. Yes, this audio did. No, you're right. Yeah, but we thought his name was Casey. So anyway, that's really irrelevant. All right, well, sorry, dear readers. It's either Casey or Case. We'll just go with it. It's cold sun. And he and Storm had just spending a lot of time together because Case or Casey wants to be on the rodeo circuit. Storm used to be an amazing rodeo rider. And he's been helping out on the ranch. So he is to do work. And Breyer asks to go with him. He's like, well, it's cold outside. You have no clothes. But here's my coat. And they go to Devil's Peak. She starts to really decompress. She finds this is the perfect place. It's peaceful. There's no cell phone service. There's horses.

And she can really start breathing again. But Case keeps saying, hey, Storm's niece. And they're both having these very inappropriate thoughts if they're actually uncle and niece. So the fact that he keeps calling her this, I think is really funny. And I think it makes both of them a little underved. The fact that it turns them both on is a little weird. It was fine for me. I mean, look at all the people who like to be called daddy.

I mean, they could work with this. I'm just saying there's no bloodline. I'm totally fine with this completely. Who is like, you know what? I know a lot of people like Daddy, but I prefer uncle. I, somebody. Listen, who's your uncle, baby? I mean, somebody's going to do it. It's going to be a thing. I'm so uncomfortable. It's the same as if you have your dad's best friend who helped raise you and then you seduce him, like, same diff. Not going to do that either. Who's doing that? Daddy's best friend. Didn't we read that? We didn't do it, Daddy's best friend. We've done. We've done.

boyfriend's dad. The one that's coming up, the local author, is actually dad's best friend. Okay. Well, I haven't read a yes. I don't know if I like it. Okay. I know I don't like uncle. This episode's going to take three hours. Do you like aunt? I'm just asking. Like if I'm with a dude and he calls me Aunt Jen, no, I'm going to pass. Well, you probably wouldn't like money either. Okay. I mean, everybody's different. Your auntie. No judgment from this seat. Jen's a little judgy.

Listen, there was no blood involved. They were both hot. I think because I have step siblings that I think of as my real siblings, this is so weird. Oh, maybe that's your issue. But you grew up with them, which is different. She hasn't seen this guy in 10 years. She didn't grow up with him. She's known him as her uncle, her whole life.

She's met him like four times in her whole life. I have uncles I see. Maybe once every five, ten years. Nope, still an uncle. Are they hot? Are they step uncle? Are they hot? Tatted, tan?

This is very important. Washboard's stomach. Living on a mountain rodeo? No. You see the difference here. Oh, if they were hot, they wouldn't be. And step, and step, and you hadn't seen them in 10 years. I'm on the struggle bus.

Okay, so Storm takes Breyer up to the peak where they meet case. from the very first book. And Breyer immediately thinks that this is where I need to be for a while, decompressed. So she thinks Case is hot, but she says not as hot as storm. And she admits to herself that she has an unhealthy obsession with him. Not as hot as my uncle. And I didn't think Case was quite the same asshole as he was in the first one. No, he started being nicer in the first one.

Well, they also mentioned that he was an alcoholic in the first one and he's not now. He's like a year sober. At the end of the last book, he sobered up, he started being a nice guy and convinced his dad to go find Lela. So, like, now you're seeing kind of the new and improved case. He takes her out to hang out with the cows so she can learn about ranch life so Storm can kind of do his own job, but he can't focus and he can't stop thinking about her. And he says he needs to put her firmly in the, quote, family bucks, but he definitely cannot. He really should, actually. He's captivated.

So judgy. And he finally sends case away. She comes back from being out on the ranch and he wants to help her down from the horse. And he plays up the uncle thing. He's like, you know, would your uncle drop you? And she's like, I don't know. And he wants to see what she'll do. But there's some long looks.

There's some definitely close contact and some big fantasies. But both of them at this time are saying, this is bad news. We have to not do this, but they're saying it to themselves. They can't keep their dirty thoughts out of their own minds, but they keep trying to push each other apart. I felt like the first 40% of this book, this is what I. It was. It was. It was round and round and round. Well, they won't. They were gone up, but we shouldn't. But you knew they were going to. But I thought it was hot because there was a lot of almost, they kind of do, those start getting really good. It got repetitive to me, but I was also not enjoying it. The relationship from the beginning.

Because you were against it. I liked it. I didn't mind it. I liked how you started to see that relationship built, even though it shouldn't. They were building a relationship, which I don't think they ever had. No. I mean, I don't even think they interacted when she was a child. It was more like he was the uncle that was off doing this. She saw him maybe once or twice. It was not a thing. Because the brothers were estranged. Now they're building this relationship in an unconventional. We'll go with unconventional way. So they're building something, but they don't know what it is. And they're really trying not to build. They're trying so hard, but not hard enough. Not going well. So they're kind of playing house to some degree. She finds out he's a ex-famous bull rider. She looks up. old videos of him bull riding. So that just like feeds her obsession. She's like cyberstalking as Instagram. Yeah. She's like rodeo porn. Yes. And she's loving it. She says like, hey, can I decorate this house a little bit? And he's like, why? And she's like, well, I just kind of want to make it more homey. So he starts wondering, is she going to stay forever? And he doesn't hate the idea. She brings in some flowers. It's almost winter. So he calls them twigs because there is no flowers on them. But she

wants to make this homie and this comes back around later. She was really lovable. I liked her a lot. I thought this was fucked up. But I really loved, I felt like the character development. Tell us how you really feel. The character development in the other book we read was also really good. And it was done really well here. I agree. Like, I thought they were written really well in Elliott Rose, even though it was a bit drawn out. Like, you kind of need that for them to build that relationship and make it feel somewhat realistic versus it feeling kind of for. So they both toy around what they should maybe find somebody else. She says I should just go in like a dating site. She wants to go on a dating site to scratch the edge because she knows there's all this like pent-up sexual tension building with her uncle. And so she's like I feel like I should just go into town and screw somebody and just get it out of the way.

Because she thinks it's building because she's been in a sex-starved marriage for over many years. Yeah. His body is obviously wrecked because of the bull riding. She's already in bed. He sneaks in to get the muscle relaxers and the rub that you put on your muscles. And she finds them in the bathroom. And she's worried about him. He does exactly what she says. Sits on the bed. She stands between his legs. She's rubbing on his muscles. And he's feeling like I don't know that anyone has ever actually cared. She takes care of him. Yeah. She's very nurturing. Yes. His muscles hurt because he's had to sleep on the couch. On the couch. Because she's on his bed. And so she wants to give him a massage with. She does. It was very hot. I thought that was sweet. That was nice. So she finally pulls away and sleeps on the couch.

She says, no, you need to sleep in your bed. The next day, she's, like, incredibly frustrated because she's finally turned on her phone after being off for a while. Her husband keeps calling. She blocks all his texts, deletes all this stuff. But she has a hard time blocking her sister, who was, like, the second in command at their dad's company, but they have a really fraught relationship and that never gets better. Sister's name is Crispin.

Crispin. And she's a total heinous bitch. Awful. It starts to really bother. Briar, so she does what any good L.A. girl would do. She decides, I'm going to go chop some wood because he went to chop wood to get rid of some tension. I got to try this. I assume this is going to go very badly, but it doesn't. She chops some wood. She says it's very cathartic. But as she's walking the wood back, she slips on some ice, hits her head and passes out. Right as Storm drives up and is completely panicked that she's hurt herself. He brings her inside. He makes sure she's okay. Sits her on the cabinet, like wants to make sure she's. He's good and basically says, we have to go to bed, but you can't be alone. So I'll just sleep in the bed with you. It's the only solution. It's the only way. He's a saint, I tell you. Uncle or not. Yeah. He's practically a doctor. Basically. When she wakes up, he has his hand cupping her private parts. And she

does not hate it, but is kind of freaking out because she doesn't want to address the issue. And so she just sneaks out of the bed. and just pretends like it never even happens. So then they finally end up in Crimson Ridge, which is the little town. They go to this little bar to have lunch. And this is where the waitress comes over. Loose, I think, is her name. She was. It's almost kind of trying to make Breyer jealous.

And it's like, oh, is my chapstick in your truck? And he's completely oblivious. And she's getting. Where I left it the other night? Really jealous and like runs away to the bathroom. Poor. But on her way back out, she also gets hit on by a local rancher name, Weston, I think his last name is Hayes.

I think they're in the last book, the Hayes family. They own half the town. Yeah, they're kind of low-key mentioned, I think, in a couple of the books. But he's super hot and successful. Yeah. Tick, tick, tick. She was going to do a tender date. She doesn't have a spark, but she's trying.

Yeah, so she agrees to go. I think you have to look at it, too. Storm has a reputation of basically sleeping with every woman on this mountain being a playboy. And so I think when Lou said, approaches, she intentionally insinuates that, yes, we hooked up. I was in his truck. Staking her claim. Yeah. And it's uncomfortable for poor Breyer. I mean, as his niece and also his possible lover. Calm down. She just got so flustered and frustrated that she would have let any any old cowboy could have hit on her that night. Anybody could have hit on her.

Totally. She lucked out and he was cute. And she did say he often. coffee and she was like, what about dinner? Yeah. She was pushing it even further because she's like, screw coffee. I just want to get late. Well, I think she was also trying to put storm out of her brain. So she's like, I need to take this attention and put it somewhere else. Yeah.

Yeah. So they've been dancing around us. They drive home. They're both jealous of people they probably shouldn't be jealous of. He tells her, don't you to drive your crap rental car down the mountain in the winter. You need to drive my truck, if at all. She's like, well, I don't know how to drive sick. And he's like, well, what else don't you?

you know how to do. And she's like, well, lots of things. And it becomes very sexually charged. And he says, we'll slide over here. I'll teach you. And she does. And he sits her on his lap. Fershadowing, maybe. I don't know. It becomes incredibly sexual. But I love that the line for him is we can't be doing this. So I can't be the one to touch her. So I'll just tell her what to do. Right. Come sit in my lap, little girl. I'll teach you how to do it and walks her things. through verbally of what she should do to get herself off. Since I'm your uncle, I'll just tell you to masturbate. It was hot. I'm going to have to side with Jenny on this particular scene. I was like, this is creepy A.F. I don't like it. It sounds very pet-o-y. It was very awkward for me. She's in her 20s, and she's going to slide over and sit in his lap and then put her feet on his feet like she's a child. It was hot. This is uncomfortable. I didn't like it. I like the foreshadowing. So let me show you how to drive my stick. And then it just.

Well, and this becomes a big thing about, like, him teaching her because she doesn't have a lot of experience, but she wants him. I like an older man. Just not my uncle. Not non-related to you. Well, they weren't related. He starts freaking out and kind of sends her inside alone because he obviously needs to, like, talk himself down. I don't think he was talking. He was struggling ethically morally.

He was stroking. He was not struggling down. He was stroking. He literally had to get off. You know what? It's so funny, Jen. He just had his niece in his lap, so what guy wouldn't need to go jack off in the woods? I'm sorry, Jenny's being so rude. Brier has to go on the state now with Wes, and she's kind of freaking out because I don't think she really wants to go. But also Storm has left her home alone, and she can't drive her car down the mountain. But then knock, knock, knock, Layla from Devil's Peak shows up because Wes has called and said, I can't be the one to take her on this date. So you're going to have to do it. And bring a gun. Just in case Wes oversteps. I think Layla's already like spiny senses, like what's happening?

But she goes over. She's no stranger to taboo relationship. Right. Correct. For those who weren't with us in season two, Layla gets with her ex-boyfriend's dad, Case's dad. So Breyer's a meth, she's got three outfits laid out. She doesn't know what to do.

She doesn't even know she can get down there. Layla comes to save the day, helps her pick out on outfit, tells her she's gorgeous, and how great Wes is, and takes her down to Crimson Ridge. But right as she's walking into the restaurant, her ex calls and she accidentally picks up the phone, and you start to get a sense of that relationship. He basically says he wants her to come home, she's been away long enough, and if she doesn't, that he's going to send a private investigator after her and make her come home.

So you can now tell the very toxic relationship that they have. He is being very aggressive, but she's sticking up for herself to some degree and saying, like, no, I'm not coming. Bye. And she hangs up on him. is 100% miserable while Breyer is on her date. He's alone in his truck, definitely taking care of himself at this moment. Got to do what you got to do. But he finally goes inside. And when Breyer gets home, he is kind of questioning her. She comes in, but she's still wearing his jacket.

He really likes seeing her in it. He's pissed, but not at her. It's just that he can't act on it. So he storms out and tells her, don't wait up, darling, be giving her a sense that he's going to go out with a woman, too. And so she's then, of course, re-jalous. As Jen said earlier, the whole first half of the book is this push, pull, trying to make each other jealous, trying to stay away from each other. Storm comes home from being out late, and she comes out to ask if he's okay, and he steals her phone from her and realizes that she's been watching his old rodeo videos. She's completely mortified because her crush is a bit exposed, and he loves it. He throws her on the bed, straddles the back of her legs, really manhandling her for a woman who doesn't have a ton of experience is loving it. They agree they shouldn't be doing it, but they do it anyway. So this is now their second almost sex, but he takes care of her.

Gives her his shirt. There's a training session. They're not having sex. But he does crawl into bed with her. He helps her get undressed, puts his t-shirt on her, and then crawls into bed behind her and they go back to sleep. So they're both like, this can't go on, but they're loving it. So now it's even harder for them to stay away from each other because they both know that they want each other. So they go back to Devils Pete and Sage, who is Layla's best friend, is coming to town.

So they plan to meet up at this bar in town. And Case asks her, like, are you going to bring Wes? And she starts getting awkward and basically says, like, I guess I can. And Case keeps trying to sell Wes is this, like, great guy. And I think, again, this needling store. Oh, he knows. And so Storm asks her, like, are you going to bring him? And she says, is this my uncle asking or the man who shows up after dark? And that really hits him. That was a good line. Totally good. So Storm pushes her asking her why she's even in Crimson Ridge. Instead of answering, Breyer circles back to West. She admits she doesn't actually want to meet up with him again because all he talked about was Storm. And then she finally admits that she doesn't have a lot of a sexual experience, but she really wants him. So she tries to get out of the truck, but her door gets stuck. This part was hot too if it wasn't her uncle.

It's so hot. You got to move past it. I'm trying. I'm trying because it was hot. Storm gets out of the truck, just stands there staring her and says, you're going to have to come out this way. But he calls her Darling. He goes, looks like you've got to come out this way, darling.

Oh, he's so hot. Cowboy. Blocks her in, spins her around. They finally kiss for real. And Storm asks her, Let me teach you all the things you want to know. And he knows he shouldn't and doesn't matter. But she agrees.

Yes. He asked her, like, what do you like? What do you not like? And she tells him that she wants him to use her to show her what she might like and to be in control anywhere. And he calls the kink a free use kink, which I had never heard of before. I've never heard of that. I did think that was interesting. They're both turned on. He says, you're mine now. Even if it has to say a secret, you aren't allowed to look at another man's hat. He wears these leather cuffs on his own wrists. And he takes it off and puts it on her and says, listen, if you're wearing the cuff, it's game on. I have access to you anywhere I want. where I want any time I want. But if you take it off, then game over. Those are the boundaries

I'm setting so that we make sure that you're comfortable because you aren't as experienced. And she agrees and they both say they don't care what anybody thinks, but they don't want the drama of their relationship to be out there because it's so taboo and they agree to have secret romance. So they do end up at this bar in Crimson Ridge because Sage is in town. He sits right next to her in the booth. All their friends are there. This is hot too. He starts feeling her up in the booth. and she's panicking because all of the people are there and she thinks somebody's bound to notice. He starts texting her at the table. Everyone notices.

Yeah. He doesn't give a shit. And she is totally winging out. She tries to get away from him and he just pulls her closer. So there's no way people are noticing. Layla's asking her, are you okay? And she's like, yep, yep, totally fine. Nothing to see here.

Just pull her closer. He pushes up her sleeve and checks for the cuff. And he's like, oh, well, game on. Game on. Anywhere, everywhere, anytime. And his hands under the table. Just one. Yeah.

And she even says Colt has his hand on Leila's lap and I can see it. So there's no way no one else can see this. Right. But they're all just kind of pretending that it's not happening. But then her phone starts ringing and she picks it up and says, I have to take this. And so scurries away and goes into the bathroom. It is her ex. Right as Storm comes in behind her in the bathroom and locks the door.

He knows the ex is on the phone. He's saying you have to get here right away. I'll have a plane ready for you. She's saying, no, they're fighting. He goes down on her in the bathroom and she can't contain her orgasm. And he picks up the phone and says, this is what it sounds like when you make a girl orgasm, lose this number and hangs up the phone. Love that. Yeah.

Love it. That was hot. They're fully and absolutely absorbed with one another. He still takes her out on jobs with him. Then they're home alone and loving it. He is at a job and she's home one night. He comes in. But oops.

Sisters there. Crispin has flown in from L.A. and Breyer is completely unraveling. She becomes meek again. She doesn't know how to act around her sister. And he immediately knows that Crispin is the problem. She's trying to get Breyer to leave. And Breyer says, no, he says you can stay here for the night, but then you're out.

She shares the bed with her sister. And that means poor Storm is back on the couch. And Breyer hates it. But she finally gets her sister to leave. And Breyer is desperate to talk to Storm because she thinks that he's going to be really pissed. They do this little cute thing over the radio. He's 100% not pissed, but he wants to get her out of the house. because he doesn't want the sisters show up.

Crispin is toxic. Every time she talks to her, she tries to manipulate her. She hates her, and we know it's because when their mom had Breyer, she died in childbirth. Crispin blames Breyer. She's jealous of her. She's not as pretty as Breyer. That's nice. And she's not nice.

And she pushed for this marriage. It is the right thing for you. It's the right thing for the company. We'll make you miserable if you don't do this. I mean, she's horrible to her sister and just beats her down. So when she does arrive, it is instant out of the gate. This place is shambles. This is awful.

It's dirty. It's dingy. It's gross. How dare you be here with our creepy uncle? She is just nagging everything. Really taking her back. She was like the second in command of the dad. And the dad, as we've established, is a total dick.

So she's like the second in command dick. So she doubts that Storm had a wife who died. while pregnant. Killed herself. While married to Storm. Which is what sent his rodeo career into shambles, the scandal of it all. He's working on Bow's Ranch. So Bo's in another book.

He's helping him fix up his house and he invites her over for the night just to get her away from potentially her sister coming back. And they both really talk and start connecting. They explain their situation. Vegas. He just woke up and was married. And his brother, dear old Eric Lane, convinced him to stay married to her because it'd be, quote, good for his career and he never has to see her.

Again, fast forward 10 years, she's pregnant and kills herself and leaves a note alluding to the fact that she's blaming him. Eric tries to clean it up. But that's when Storm moves into the house, his career tanks, and he's now like a ranch guy. And we learn her situation is that she married this Anton guy. It was a business deal that the dad set up forced her to do it. Her husband's been cheating on her with every assistant he's ever had and treats her like shit. And she's miserable. And so she escaped. So both of them are kind of. of connecting on their situations. But he does admit that he can't have children. So he knows that the baby wasn't his, but there was nothing he could do about it in the eyes of the press. They do commit to each other and move past the horror stories of their past and have a full night of yumminess. One of the things that they do that night is that he takes her phone and videos them without showing faces. It was a sex tape. It's definitely a sex video. That she'd see it later. Back to the cabin, more flowers on the table. They wake up at very, very early morning,

start having sex and Crispin barges into the house. And Briar's like, you didn't lock the door? And he's like, why would I lock the door? We live in the middle of nowhere. She doesn't find them in bed together. She suspects. She finds his boots by the door. She's like, he's not here.

Why is his truck here? He went out with friends. Why are his boots here? He has more than two boots. But he's not letting up on the sex either. And she's starting to get real breathy. Finally, Crispin says, just meet me at the diner in town once you get your lazy ass out of bed.

I mean, this woman fucking sucks. She's so horrible. The worst. awful. So she finally drags herself out of bed with Storm and gets down to the thing and texts him and says, wish me luck. And she gets into the diner and Christman's there, but so is Anton, the husband. And he has a vanilla folder and he says, you're going to do what we say and start showing her the sex tape that they made a couple of nights before. And she's like, how are you, how'd you hack in my phone? And he's like, it's called spyware. It's been on your phone so they met you. I have years and years of like texts. And now I have.

have all these texts between you and your uncle and this sex video. So he knew the whole time. Yeah. He didn't care. He said, I wanted you to come back to me on your own, but since you won't, I'm going to basically ruin your uncle, and I'm going to tell everyone that he molested you as a teenager, make his life miserable. No one will believe him because this old drama that he had with the wife who died.

She's like, he did not molest me until I was 25. First of all, it's not molesting at 25. It's not molesting at 25. It's an adult choice. He's got like a bunch of people set up to be on paper. roll to say that they witnessed this molestation. That never happened. She's just so gross. He's shady as fuck. He doesn't even like her. No. He just wants their two names. Total control. He wants the access that he thinks her name gives him. Why didn't he just marry the

bitchy sister? The crispy one. The crispy one. The crispy bitch. She was crunchy. I don't know if she was but Briar's trapped. There's always this sort of third act breakup. She has to save for the day. She drives back to one of the ranches and he's working with the horses. They're flirting. They take care of each other. It's a goodbye, fuck. And he says, don't go anywhere. This call will be done. And she's like, no, no, I'll see you later. And she leaves.

And she leaves him a note with two words, I'm sorry. Next scene, she's in L.A. Living in her husband's house, miserable, crying. She doesn't know what to do or how to fix it. Storm keeps texting her. But she won't text him back. So it's all one-way conversations. And he just keeps talking to her about life, what the horses did that day, sending her photos, posting

on Instagram and leaving comments that she knows her. for her and she just can't make herself respond. Filling the flower vase. The Instagram post. The Instagram of the flowers on the table because he was making it a home. He renowed the kitchen. He got a new couch. He was posting on Instagram pictures of the home.

Which was very out of character. Right. He's not a social media guy, right? He lives by a ham radio. He's clearly like, I'm still here. And he even says that in one of his text. I don't know why you left. I don't know what's going on.

Just know that I'm here. and when you decide to come back, I'm still here. Oh, so sweet. It's so sweet. It really was. She's had a pity party, but she pulls up her little britches and decides, I'm going to fight this. So she hires a lawyer. And as a part of her dad's estate, she has access to digital and analog files. She hires a lawyer. They're pouring through them. She's been there for weeks. And they just haven't found the smoking gun yet. But this is when she finds out that the cabin that Storm is living in is hers, free and clear and has always been hers. And there's nothing that they can do about it because actually her grandparents, Storm's adopted parents, gave it to her. And it was only held in trust with her dad until she turned 18.

He had actually not given it to her for like seven years. Only when he died. Did she learn that she had this? But he was letting Storm live in it for the 10 years since his rodeo career went bye by by. So they can't find anything. She's leaving the lawyer's office. All of a sudden, lawyer chases after her. He says, wait, I found it.

I think I found it. Cut scene. She's now knocking on a door of a house and this woman answers the door. And it turns out this is the mother of the wife who committed suicide. Storm married the woman. Dorm's biggest wife. Didn't see her for 10 years. And then she dies pregnant. So this is her mother. Her name was Teigen. She finally lets Breyer in and they say, listen, we haven't said anything. The NDA is still intact. So you know something fishy is going on. So as it turns out, her dad paid off the family of Teigen because actually Teigen was. with Eric, not with Storm. Didn't see that coming. Did not see that coming. Right. He was grooming her from when she was 16. When Storm, poor Storm, blacked out after a rodeo thing.

Was she his niece? No. No. Eric Lane. But she was entering. Fix this whole thing. Married her off to Storm so that he could put her up in a house and say he was helping and like saving the day.

But really he just had his side piece cooked up in an apartment. Completely gross. When she died, he paid off the parent. And as it turned out, she was not pregnant. She had already had the kid a year beforehand. And as we know, Storm cannot have children. Eric Lane's kid. So this is now Breyer's half brother.

He has a nephew. She had the baby. And my spidey sense says she tried to hit Erica up because, Kate, this is your kid. And he was like, I don't want anything to do with it. And she committed suicide. And then he was like, oh, fuck, I got to write this. this up and he started paying into the parents or grandparents at this point. Paid off the parents. So Breyer learns all of this. She asks if she can take pictures of all

of this information that they have and they said, sure, thank you for helping our grandchild. Please don't date him. So she's still fine, but she's still got the husband. She calls the lawyer, sets up Anton and Krispy, puts out documents for both of them. She's got the lawyer on the phone on speaker and the lawyer has a car on standby. And she is ready to just put these two little fuckers behind her. And he's like, fine, signs and papers. Crispy's still yelling at her, slaps her in the face. Briar tells her, Crispin, you need to get therapy or take up wood chopping and then walks out. She thought it was very all full circle. So we're back in Crimson Ridge. We obviously know where she's going. Storm is renovating the house. He's put in all these new things.

Layla, Radio Storm, and says, oh my gosh, I have a horse problem. And he rushes up to Devil's Peak to help her with a horse. And as it turns out, no horse problem. Just Colt. waiting there with two beers. It's a total setup, but they're there to basically talk to him about love. They know that he's been mopey. He's obviously was in love with her. And Colts saying, like, listen, I did this and waited six months before I got balls enough to go after Lila. If you love her, you should go after her. And Storm's scared. He doesn't know if she wants him to go after her because she's not answering any of his texts or like his Instagrams or anything. And he really does want her to be able to fight her own battles. They finally convince him. They help him book a ticket to L.A. so he can go find her. He rushes back to the cabin and sees a fire. And he's freaking out that the fire is burning down the house rushes in. Oh, no, she finally learned how to make a fire. She hasn't known how to make a fire the entire book. He was running in to pack his bags. Like didn't even let the car stop running. He ran in. I'm going to get my bag and I'm going to go catch my flight. And then he walks in and then. Well, and he thinks the house is on fire. There's also that. Yeah. That was also that. They look at each other. It's very cute. They collide. She said, I didn't know where you were.

I thought you had already left. He makes her laugh and he asks if she's back and she tells him she never really left that she's been here with him the whole time. He tells her that doing life without her is miserable and he asked her to stay and she say yes. And they fall in love. He has storm. Finger tats on his hand and he had gotten Briar on his other hand. He says, I never knew what I was saving that space for until you. And this way I could always have you close to me.

That is a very prison inmate gesture to me. I did think that was a little weird with the knuckle tattoo of his own name. Well, he wasn't a prisoner. With his own name. Storm. Breyer. Storm. And then Kim's favorite, an epilogue, we get our final, final sex scene of the book.

I would call it the back door. Oh. Back door. That was what it was all about. Or is it the tail end? Oh. That was how we ended the story in the back door. Yeah, that's how she ended.

Everybody ended in the end. They had their ending. So that is our book. Let's rate it. I actually want to start with Kim. Me too. That's weird. Because I think she knows what I think.

I actually gave this a four-star. I do love this series. I thought the scenes were hot. I thought the writing was good. Just like Chasing the Wild, I could see the cabin. I could see the angst between these two. I love the banter. There wasn't much about this. I didn't like except Krispy. But other than that, I enjoyed it. I loved it. I loved it. Jen? I'm going to give it three stars. Better than I thought. Oh, that's more than I thought. I gave Chasing the Wild Five. Elliot Rose can write a book. The character development is there. Like you said, Kim, the scenes. You see the mountains. You are there with the horses. Everything about her writing is amazing. I'm just not a big fan of a taboo romance. As you guys know, I struggle with the whole incest trope. We're working on you. We're working on you. I don't know if I'm ever going to get over this.

Incest if they're not related. I had to divorce myself from it to finish it. She knows how to write yearning. And then to take like a man slut and make him so obsessed with this woman that he's Instagram posting. It was just ripping my heart out. It was so good. She can write a book. But it just wasn't my favorite trip. Well, I read another Elliott Rose 1,000 percent, yes. I love the way she writes. So I won't say I really liked it. But I do like Elliot Rose enough that I gave this a three. Three star.

Okay. I gave this a four and a half star. Ooh. I really like the way Elliot Rose writes. I think the only half tick for me is that I actually didn't see the scenery as much in this book. But because I had read the first book, I had already had it all in my head. Though I think she kind of breezed over some of those things, probably because it's the second book.

But the rest of it, I loved it. They kept saying it's a small town. It's a small town. We don't want the rumors. But then, like, everybody knew. And nobody had an issue. And nobody made a comment. I feel like that could have been introduced, too.

Like, oh, my God, are you dating your uncle? That's disgusting. Something along those lines. And most towns, that would be frowned upon. Right. Not crimson. They get together right at the end. So you don't know what people are saying.

We got to read the next book to see how much people are judging them. I don't think anybody's judging them. I think they're kind of used to the taboo up on that mountain. The only time it snows in is if there's someone underage that should be there. They're not underage. Then they're trapped. Under the age of the men. There is an age gap.

Yes. This was taboo. I do like the age gap. Sign me up for that. Just don't be my uncle. All right. Kim. Chili peppers?

I gave it a four. I thought the hot was hot. It was spicy all the way through. Yeah. Four chili peppers for me. Hot all the way through, except for the truck scene where he taught her how to drive his shift. I still love that scene. Okay, I'm going to go three chili peppers.

Just because you just didn't want to be there. I just couldn't handle the whole, like the way your uncle's giving it to you. Like they kept... Nobody said that for the record. They were constantly... They kind of overplayed the uncle thing. Like, if they would have just dropped the references, you probably could have gotten over it faster. Yeah. She loved it when he would do that. That just gave me the ick. It was a three. Daddy, I will say Joe Bob cousin. I was a four and a half. I think they could have spent more time on the relationship versus like the yearning for so long. I think they just drug it on a little bit too long. So four and a half for me. Wanted it be in every seat. Yeah. I would do another Elliott Rose book for sure. Oh, the Boe Sage one is really good. Is it? Yeah, it's good too. So that is Braving the Storm by Elliot Rose. Thank you so much for listening.

Please keep up with season four. You can go to our website, boozy bookgasms.com, see our reading list, our cocktail list. You can email us through the form there or gin at boosybookgasms.com. You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. And please send in recommendations. In the meantime, happy reading. Happy reading. Bye.

We hope today's episode was the climax of your day, leaving you breathless and wanting more. Until next time, you can find more tantalizing episodes at boosybookgasms.com. Enjoy the ride, and we'll see you soon.