Welcome to your safe space. The podcast, your
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dirty. Don't have time to read books? Want to
understand all the jokes and the TikToks? We
got you fam. We're the spice traders and we deal
in spicy books. I'm Katie and I need it to make
sense. I'm Liz and I'm hypercritical. Before
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Thanks in advance for checking that out. As always,
we start this episode with three things. First
is a generic trigger warning. You can find specific
triggers for this book in our show notes, so
please check those out. We also use foul language
and talk a lot about sex. If you have sensitivity
to either of those things, our podcast probably
isn't for you. Second, our episodes talk about
books, the whole book, nothing but the book,
so help me goddess. If you don't want something
spoiled, don't listen to this episode. And finally,
we acknowledge that a good book can hit you at
the wrong time. Our views discussed in our episodes
are our opinion, and we don't want to diminish
the work or the talents of the authors in our
community. That said, we have some notes. So
girl, what are we talking about today today?
I forgot it was my turn Well, it's hard at coming
off of like a three four -parter because like
now we had so many times of me It's been me.
Yeah, you've been leading me in for a month now
exactly and now it's your turn Anyway anyway
today We're talking, I don't know why I said
it like that. I like shake it out. I'm leaving
all of this in, by the way. Yes, please do. I
think this is gold. Today we're talking about
Tragically Yours by Jamie Applegate -Hunter.
This was published in 2025. And it is a standalone,
but it's in the same universe as Viciously Yours,
which we covered last year. Technically, this
is the third one. We skipped the second one.
They don't need to be read in order. And we were
just more interested in these characters than
whoever the fuck was in the second one. I don't
know who those people are. According to Goodreads,
this book is 292 pages long. My Kindle said like
270. Either way, those are technically middies,
but we're couching them as shorties because we're
couching this one as a shorty because it definitely
is like I started this book on Tuesday and I
finished it this morning and I wasn't committing
a lot of time to reading it. It just flies by
yeah, and I think we were doing that from like
experience from the last book like They're fun.
I mean, I do have 11 pages of notes So it might
be a little bit longer than usual, but like not
a lot happens in it girl No, we got a last month
and that's that's about it. Yeah the cover is
Fine it's kind of like blue smoky, there's like
yellow smoke and blue and then you have what
is definitely a snake, which we'll get into because
Cassandra is my favorite character in this book.
And there's really not that much else to the
cover. I do appreciate it because it's for what's
in this book, you could have this cover in public
and people probably wouldn't know what it was.
I mean, it looks like kind of a dark romance,
which I guess sort of is, but it's not the Bodice
Ripper threesome on the cover that we've seen
with other romances. Yeah, it's just kind of
generic. It does feel like maybe there's More
of a villainous arc to it. Like it gives me like
Like maybe this is a Jafar fanfic. Yeah, it looks
the cover looks like Desperate Measures Yes,
is very far fanfic. Yes. Um, the snake is not
the villain. I guess it depends who you ask but
She's a delight. I should have also said that
this series is the Fae Kings of Eden. But again,
they're standalones. You can read them in any
order. You don't like there's literally zero
crossover besides just mentioning of other names
that you don't need to know. Yeah. Basically,
if you start with the first one, you're fine
to read the rest of them in whatever order. Exactly.
So let's get into it. Katie, kick it off. All
right, so first of all, this is on Kindle Unlimited,
which is great for all of us who are on that.
And then we kick it off with a great dedication,
which says, quote, to everyone who hates the
word folds, at least it's not flaps. That got
me immediately. I was like, OK, yeah, I don't
really like folds. Flaps is way worse. Yeah,
actually, this made me warm up to folds. Me too.
I was like, Oh, okay. Yeah, I can do folds because
if you give me the counter of flaps, make me
understand truly how much worse it could be.
And I'll appreciate it more. Yeah. And then,
you know, we get a lot of folds in this book.
Not a single one bothered me. Nope not after
that dedication. So moving on we then get a number
of different things before we jump in. First
is a glossary of terms which covers like the
different types of fey and mates and things like
that. But because we read the other like first
book in the series I didn't really need it because
this world is just like super not that complicated.
but you know it's a nice refresher if that's
you know what you're what you're into we then
get a map that shows kind of where everything
is and it's a fine map it's as good as it was
before and just as a reminder also not very complicated
there's the garden mountain desert and tropical
kingdoms that's where the fae live and they're
all kind of on the outside of the human kingdom
in the middle fine then we get a spotify playlist
which has a link that does work thank you very
much and that's great There are definitely some
bangers on this one. I was pretty pleased. A
lot of times when we get them, I have either
never heard of any of the music or I just don't
like it. This one, I was like, OK, girl. Yeah,
I like it. We then get a piece of fan art, which
is interesting because fan art typically tries
to romanticize the characters and make them the
desirable thing that they are in our head. And
these two characters just look so regular. They're
just like people off the street. I forgot about
the fan art immediately. That's how unremarkable
they are. The art is good. I'm not knocking the
art. But to your point, they're just people.
Yeah, and I'm not even sitting here trying to
tell you that that's a bad thing. I think it's
realistic. But it was just a little bit shocking
because I'm used to our female main character
being scantily clad on the lab of our male main
character and they're sitting on a throne and
he's looking like a shadow daddy and there's
gold everywhere and these two are just two people
walking in a forest. And they're not dressed
in any like particular way. Like this could be
from any genre. I mean, he's got pointy ears,
but that's about it. That's about it. So then
we get a content warning, which is in our show
notes. So please take a peek at those. It's the
regular stuff. There's nothing like super Adela
Field in this book. But do just take a peek at
that just in case. Finally, we get a disclaimer
that's pretty funny, so I think it makes sense
if you just want to read it for us maybe? Yes,
let me pull it up. Okay. If you're looking for
an amazing fantasy with an intricate plot, this
might not be the book for you. This is an unhinged
fantasy romance. There's no intricate world building
or big fantasy plot. The plot focuses solely
on the romance between the two main characters.
The books in the series were written to be quick,
fun reads, and are great for a palate cleanser
or a book slump, unless you hate them. The hero
makes a few morally black choices in the name
of love and thinks it's completely normal behavior
Do not expect him to have a moral compass. You
might have a good time. You might not good luck
Yeah, I'm in I got the shirt I loved that He's
not gonna have like a come to Jesus moment. Like
this is who it is. You might like it. You might
hate it I don't give a fuck right. I want to
hear about it And I really respect that from
an author. I feel like I can't think of the book
now, but I feel like there was one disclaimer
for a book we read at some point in our Spice
Traders career that felt like they were almost
kind of like defending themselves against haters
before they got hate. And it was too much. I'd
much rather have this like you like it or you
won't. Like it or don't doesn't matter to me.
Like moving on. Like I like it. And some people
will too. Right. Yeah, I remember like the vibe
of that book that you're talking about, but I
don't remember which one it was in particular.
But yeah, it's like it's just kind of refreshing
to have an author who's just like. So above it,
you know. And I really appreciate. An author
who's self aware of what they created like, yeah.
She's not pretending that she created some high
fantasy, intricate mystery. She's like, no, no,
no. I created this cozy little story about Faye
and romance. There's a lot of smut and not much
else. Yeah, like she's not winning like any high
literary awards for this. And honestly, good.
Like she's not trying to. Yeah, we need that.
And we need more of that. More of that, unless
800 pages of world building that don't matter.
That's not a knock against. what we're reading
recently, but against some other books that isn't.
It was not a dig against Guild so far. So far.
So then we get into the book. And for those of
you who listen to Viciously Yours or read that
book, this book really generally follows the
same plot, almost down to like a beat. But look,
still a good time. I'm not judging it for that.
It's the same story. It's the same story. It's
fine. We start with our young female main character
Fawn. She's 13 and she is half fey half human
and she's being made fun of for her teeth by
some other kids at school. As a reaction she
imagines what it would be like if her taunter
didn't have any front teeth and ends up glamouring
him to make it seem like that happened. And so
the long and the short of it is like she has
a little bit of magic and so her parents decide
to move her back into the fae lands to try to
develop that as much as possible. You'll remember,
or maybe you don't, I'll just say in this book,
fae magic is tied to the land very much and to
the monarch. So if fae live outside of the fae
kingdoms, then their magic is not going to develop
as well as if they lived there. On the way, so
they move in with Fawn's grandparents who own
a horse farm. And on the way, we get an adorable
interaction with Fawn and her parents. And it
truly seems like they have a wonderful family
dynamic, which immediately made me think that
her parents needed to die. Yeah. Right away,
I was like, this is too comfy. It's the start
of a Disney movie. It's like the start of Bambi.
You know Bambi's mom is going to die. It's too
happy. Totally. Yeah, or the start of Frozen,
or the start of The Lion King, or the start of,
wait a minute. Every other movie. All of them.
Yeah. Also, the name of the book is tragically
yours. I'm like, this isn't going to be a happy
family. No, yeah. So we switched to Dean, who
is the prince of the Garden Kingdom. He is experiencing
some emotions of fun through he and Fawn's mating
bond. But similar to Viciously Yours, even though
Dean got the name of his mate when he was 13,
Fawn, there's no record of her in any of the
Fey kingdoms. And his parents have not been able
to locate her in the human kingdom as well. OK,
this book doesn't does not ask for a lot of questions,
but there's five things that I wish we had answers
to. One of the questions that I wish we had answers
to is, why is it only the dude that gets the
name? Yeah. Or does the other side get it, and
because they're not royal, they don't know that
they're going to get it, and so they just dream
it, or they think somebody said it in passing?
Oh, that would be interesting. Which like, again,
I don't need that much world building in here.
But that and then like for this, why is there
no record of her being born? Granted, that's
from her parents, his parents, which we know
that's a problem. But like with the same problem
in the first book where how does the human kingdom
just not keep records? I think that's what's
happening. Possibly. I mean, it could also be
the thing that like, I mean, I don't know. So
many things could have happened, but it's just
like. What a convenient thing for this person
to not exist. Yeah. So Dean's best friend Braddock
tells Dean that if he can't find Fawn, then he'll
have to marry somebody else. And he's like, you
could marry my cousin Callie. She's nice. Cool.
Boy, 13 -year -old boys. This conversation, this
riveting conversation is interrupted by Dean's
daddy, the king, who's upset that Dean was laughing.
Can you believe it? Laughing. Disgraceful. When
you should be training. Disgraceful. Oh my god.
Gonna tank the whole kingdom. Right? Immediately.
So he takes Dean to be trained slash punished
by General Craven and these sessions are brutal
and abusive and it's his father's way of trying
to mold Dean into a monarch that, you know, Dean's
dad sees fit to rule. We'll get more about General
Craven and I will say for such a simple book,
he's a fascinating character. Like if this were
a more complex book I would be really interested
to learn more about General Craven. Me too. Me
too. Back to Fawn who lives with her parents
on her grandparents horse farm in the Mountain
Kingdom and they live literally right next to
the castle and they provide the castle with horses.
Fawn tells us that though she enjoys being around
horses and working with them she does not like
riding because she's afraid of heights and these
horses are described as being fucking massive.
Like two or three times as tall as regular human
horses right and i can't really blame her for
not wanting to ride them but it is weird to me
that she's comfortable around horses but just
not on them i know because horses in and of themselves
are kind of intimidating anyway even like regular
non -fe horses but she's cool with like training
them and brushing them and grooming them yeah
and to me it feels like it would be almost be
more intimidating if you were underfoot of those
things than on top of them but yeah to each what
do i know Or what I know. So that night, Phan's
father suggests they go into the village for
dinner. Phan is ecstatic about this, but as they
head inside, she sees the shadows of people in
their fields sneaking toward the palace. She
realizes pretty quickly that it's rebels trying
to sneak into the palace to harm the royal family.
And so her father, mother, and grandfather intervene
while she and her grandmother hide inside. But
as Phan runs into the house, she bumps her head
and blacks out. Unfortunately, when she wakes
up, her grandmother tells her that her parents
were killed in the attack. Fawn feels an overwhelming
sense of grief. She tells us, quote, three people
died yesterday, but only two stopped breathing.
She sees their death as partially her fault because
she couldn't contain her emotions as a 13 year
old child. And so rather than deal with that,
she shoves her emotions down into a box that
she doesn't allow herself to open. That's going
to work out so well. So well. So on the other
side of things, Dean goes from feeling something
very intense to feeling nothing at all. And he
fears that Fawn has died. Really quick. So mates
can feel each other's emotions. Fawn has been
feeling Dean's emotions and tried to talk to
her mom. And her mom was like, that's just puberty.
Don't worry about it. I'm like, Fawn's mom, what
the fuck? I know. That's why I had to bring it
up, because I was like, make fucking excuse me.
She's just like, oh, it's just hormones. You'll
grow out of it. I'm like, it's just your women's
time. What is your puberty like? Like, what the
fuck? I don't like. OK, my emotions. It got out
of whack, but I knew they were mine. Right. They.
I wasn't feeling something that was completely
foreign and I didn't know it was where it was
coming from. Like, yeah. OK. Just ask a follow
-up question, Fawn's mom. So Dean's suspicion
that Fawn is dead is seemingly confirmed because
two weeks later, he's called into his father's
office, and the King tells him that they found
Fawn, but that she died in a carriage accident
along with her parents. Cool. Awesome. Great.
We know she's not dead, nor was there a carriage
accident. Right. So we fast forward to 15 and
Dean is being punished by General Craven This
is when his familiar a giant black and blue snake
named Cassandra shows up She offers to kill general
Craven for Dean, but he knows that that would
be more trouble than it's worth And so he calls
her off But Dean does use this as an opportunity
to tell his father and General Craven that he
won't be doing those trainings anymore. And though
initially his father tries to strong arm him,
Cassandra intervenes and the King knows that
his son is no longer fully under his control.
Good. I fucking love Cassandra. Me too. She's
the best. Even though she's kind of useless,
she's also the best. We'll get to her uselessness
in just a second. But it's useless in a very
hilarious way. It's amazing. I think it makes
up for the fact that she's so deadly. Because
in this brief scene, we learn that Dean's dad
has a familiar that's a fucking stag. And I'm
like, you can't just have a stag walking around
in the palace. That's so useless. I was trying
to picture that, too, because we don't really
see. I guess only royals get familiar. We don't
see anyone else as familiar like ever in either
of the books we've read. It's like, where is
your stag just like with the horses? Like, where
does he stay? You probably can't fit through
doors very well. You're definitely not using
him to spy on your enemies like. No, that Fox
one from the first book, I think, is the most
effective, not deadly, but effective for like
spying and shit. Definitely. So this conversation
is interrupted by Lilith who is a fallen fate
from the heavens and has revealed herself to
Dean for the first time just now. But it's clear
that Dean's dad has known Lilith for a long time.
Lilith tells Dean's father that he essentially
has to cool it and let Dean be his own man. Otherwise
Dean will kill himself. Yeah, that was a really
dark turn. Yeah. So essentially like Lilith is
like a soothsayer and she tells us later that
she has some idea of what's going on or what
will happen but it's never precise and it's never
like a hundred percent clear and it's not for
everything. Like there are apparently rules that
she has to follow but those are very opaque to
us. Yeah I think they're opaque to her too in
a lot of ways. Yeah that's a fair point. So back
to Fawn who's completely emotionally stunted
for the past couple of years and she overhears
her grandmother and grandfather talking about
it They're worried because she's been completely
emotionally stunted for the past couple of years.
So she decides to fake it for them and I'm like
Okay, also Grandparents I love that you're thinking
about this. You've let her be despondent for
two years and you're still just like casually
talking about how you're worried They're like,
maybe we should bring her to the village more
often. I'm like, it's been two years. OK, so
is she emotionally stunted and you don't let
her get out of the house? Yeah, like, what is
happening here? And does she not go to school?
This is bizarre. Yeah, no wonder she's emotionally
stunted. Yeah. And so when Fawn, like, starts
to fake it, she starts to feel genuine emotions.
Sometimes it's even joy. And these end up filtering
up to Dean. And it's confusing for him because
he's been told that Fawn is dead. And so essentially
his therapist or someone is like, you should
write a letter about it. And so we see some of
those letters and they're signed, quote, tragically
yours. Which is a nice homage to Viciously Yours,
which also had a lot of letters. Right. But I
love that. I forget who we told and they're like,
weird, you should write letters about it. It
is like a therapist basically. He calls him like
a healer that specializes in emotions or something
like that. I'm like, okay, so a therapist. Right,
a therapist. Okay, cool. So on the other end
of the bond, Fawn is feeling Dean's emotions
as well, sorrow, longing, but she has no idea
where there's a coming from or like what to think.
And like you said, doesn't help that their mom
is like, or her grandmother at this point is
like well it's just puberty honey you'll get
over it don't worry about it in fawn's early
20s we learned that she's taken a job at the
palace and indeed this is where we meet her in
the first book because she's appointed as like
a lady's maid to um the human main character
in that book i think that person's name was amelia
yeah i think it was yeah okay so one day she
gets off work from the palace and she goes into
town and stumbles into a pleasure house She's
invited inside and she's intrigued and she tells
us that she's had sex, but it hasn't been anything
to write home about. But the way that these people
look and act, she's like, there's got to be something
to it. I'm just missing a key point. When she's
inside, she sees the dancers and she's entirely
enthralled. And from that day forward, she becomes
a dancer herself. Which I was like, go girl,
I didn't expect that. Get it, girl. OK. Yeah.
So then we see Dean who is now 24 and his father
is telling him that it's time to learn about
Lilith and to take a wife. So he gives Dean a
list of names for who would be suitable for him
to consider and tells Dean that he must be wed
in a year so that he can take the throne. Dean
notices that Braddock's cousin Callie's name
is on the list. Then his father takes him down
to like the dungeons and there's like a grotto
where Lilith lives down there and he leaves them
alone to speak. I didn't understand where she
lived because it sounded like a grotto to me.
But then it's just like a regular living room.
Well, it's definitely underground. And I was
like, if I was basically an immortal, I wouldn't
live underground. No, I wouldn't either. So in
essentially Lilith's living room, Dean notices
that there are pictures of monarchs on the wall.
But noticeably, his parents are absent. And Lilith
is like, yes, they are. End of conversation.
Because they suck. She then shares with Dean
that the fae came into existence because Cain,
a god, had an affair with a human and that child
started the Garden Kingdom. Thus, the fae line
from the Garden Kingdom is the most powerful
because it's the first and most ancient. They're
special. Lilith then tells Dean that he must
be betrothed before he takes the throne. And
the consequence of him not doing that is that
Eden will fall. And so they refer to the Garden
Kingdom as Eden sometimes. And I think this is
kind of the thing that gets a little bit old
about Lilith as a character because everything
she says has to be followed with like, you know,
if you don't do this, a catastrophe is going
to happen. Like there's no gray area with this
bitch. No. And like when we first introduced
her, it seems like there should be some gray
area, but there's not. No, it's like, I mean,
like we first saw her and she was like, yo, you
got to lighten up. Otherwise, Dean's going to
kill himself. This time, it's like, well, if
you don't get betrothed by the time you take
the throne, then like your entire kingdom is
going to combust. And it's like, OK, no pressure.
And later, there's other things I have to do.
We're like, she has to stay or else everything
will end. He's like, everything? She's like,
everything. Everything, Dean. It's all because
of you and your decisions. You're the problem
here. God. So Dean's like, how do I know that
you're not lying? And she just smiles at him
and says, you don't. Again, I kind of like Lilith.
Because like, what are you supposed to do with
that? Like, I guess you listen to her. Just in
case. But like, how do you know she's not evil?
She's not. It's very straightforward. But like,
your dad's evil. Yeah. I mean, like, I just love
the idea that maybe she, like, fudges the line
sometimes. Yeah. I like that a lot. Those are
funsies. Like, maybe some of it's just a little
self -serving because she just wants the drama.
She wants to watch the tea. She wants the tea
to happen. And so she says, If you don't do this,
you'll die. Yes. Is that sufficient? Yes, it's
sufficient. Does that work for you? Good. You
fell for it. Yes. Get to my popcorn. We next
see Fawn with her fiance, Warren. Yes, fiance.
Enfianced? a fiancée. Warren tries to kiss Fawn's
neck and she tells us that she doesn't like that
and how she's told Warren this before and so
it makes her feel unseen and unheard and I'm
like fine cool whatever but she brings up this
thing the neck thing and it comes up again a
little bit later it comes off as her being like
a little bit OCD or for her being like a little
bit differently abled but like it just was never
that big of a deal like the She brings it up.
It seems like a big deal. It's not actually a
big deal. And so I'm not really sure what to
make of that. No. And it was a little confusing
for me, too. Like, I kind of was hoping we were
going to get some backstory on the neck thing.
Like, is there a reason with your neck? Because
it comes up again multiple times. But then the
only other OCD -ish thing is sometimes she doesn't
like certain fabrics on her. Like, she feels
constrained. She'll start to freak out. I thought
that was just a product of her repressing her
emotions for 13 years. So she has, like, an anxiety.
disorder, but I don't think that's what it is.
I think it's like a texture thing, but it was
a weird character trait, and I don't think it
was necessary. Yeah, I think that's what it is.
It just didn't feel very well integrated into
the story. And I'm not saying that you have to
be differently abled as a plot point. That's
not what I'm saying at all. It just was like,
I wanted a little bit more about that. Yeah,
because even in her internal monologue, like
she doesn't even explain it to herself. Right.
Yeah. It read to me as if we were missing information,
like a chapter got cut out or something. And
that's where it gets distracting. That's a really
good way to put it. So anyway. They're waking
up together, she and Warren, and Warren tells
Fawn that he has to run an errand and that he'll
see her later so that they can go on a trip together.
Kind of an impromptu thing to the human kingdom.
She hasn't been back since she was little. And
so Warren was like, you know, this can be a surprise
pre honeymoon thing, because like after we get
married, like I've got work to do and we don't
really have time. I'm busy. Busy. So Fawn's getting
ready a little bit later. She finds something
of Warren's that he left behind and decides to
go to his house early to drop it off. When she
gets there she overhears Warren arguing with
another woman and it quickly becomes clear that
these two are married And that she Fawn is the
other woman in their relationship So she barges
in just as Warren tells this woman Naomi that
he's taking Fawn to the human kingdom to kill
her Whoops, which escalated in credit like that
light speed for me. It was like zero to a hundred
Real fucking quick But so what I love though
is that both Fawn and Naomi are like equally
horrified and then things go from that a hundred
plays to like 200 really fucking fast because
Naomi just fucking kills Warren Stabs him in
the back. Yep. Yep. And so he dies And this is
an immediate bonding experience for Fawn and
Naomi. And to make it better, they go to Fawn's
grandparents to ask them to help them try to
hide the body, which they do. That's just so
fucking out of left field. How did you two meet?
We kill... Well, you see, we were sleeping with
the same man and he was going to kill me. And
so... In self -defense. In self -defense. But
not in a court of law. No. No. He left of his
own volition. And no one has heard from him again.
Right. And the fact that they go to their grandparents
and grandpa's just like, I'm on it. Right. No
follow -up questions. No follow -up questions.
And then her grandparents are like, well, so
Naomi should probably live with us now. Because
we all share a secret. And it's easier that way.
Well, then it doesn't matter. But later we see
them all together and Naomi calls them like grandma
and grandpa. Like she just is the family now.
Which I love because we we complain so often
about our female main characters having zero,
zero friends. And I feel like Naomi is a true
friend because literally ride or die. You got
a problem with somebody call me. I got a shovel
and a manure pit. Like, let's go. I'm going to
kill my literal husband because he threatened
you. Let's go. I don't know you. I've never met
you before. You're my sister. Yeah. No, you're
my sister. I love it. It was so nice that that
she has a real friend with such a fun backstory,
a fun origin tale. Well, and Naomi continues
to be that unhinged friend, which I love. Oh,
yeah. Give me more about Naomi. Yeah. Does she
have a book? I'll read her book. I'll read her
book, too. So we get another letter from Dean
to Fawn and he tells her that he's engaged to
Callie. He says, like, I can't give up on trying
to find you and I'm going to look for you before
I marry Callie. I would regret it if I didn't.
And he also says that he's made no bones about
like how he actually feels to Callie. Specifically,
he said, like, I don't have any affection for
you. I'm doing this because I have to. Which
he sees as a level of respect. I also see it
as a level of respect, but I don't know how Callie
is like, she's clearly deluded still. Callie
is deluded until the very last chapter, I think.
Yeah. Yeah. Because we even see right after we
read this letter, we see a brief interaction
with them. And it's clear that Dean is not lying
to Fawn in his letter. He does treat Callie like
they are in a business arrangement. And it's
so obvious she's deeply in love with him. Yeah.
But he's not leading her on in any way. He's
respectful to her, but he's not flirtatious.
He's not affectionate. They've never kissed.
Right. Yeah. So fast forward to the crowning
of Amelia which happened in the first book in
the series that we read last year and Fawn is
invited again because Amelia has a fun spot for
her and like is she's her lady -in -waiting or
whatever. It's very strange Amelia has no real
friends. She has service. She has servants. That's
true So we saw this party at the end of the first
book and that we saw Dean recognizing Fawn and
declaring that she's his maid. And so we essentially
see that scene again, but from the perspective
of Dean and Fawn, which is really fun. It was
really fun. I actually jumped back to Viciously
Yours because I wanted to like see how that looks
from Amelia's perspective. So I read that and
it was it's a really fun tie in. Yeah. So after
this, Dean and Fawn are given privacy in a different
room where they can essentially introduce each
other to each other? Awkward. Great. Dean tells
her that he's the king of the Garden Kingdom,
and Fawn is confused because she's only half
-Fae, right? She's half -human too, so she shouldn't
be able to be a mate because it's just for the
purest of the pure Fae to do that. Which I did,
because I kind of forgot what happened in the
first book. I was like, girl, you were just at...
Like the wedding of a human queen. But then I
forgot that she's like a long lost daughter of
some bullshit. And had her ears clipped. Gross.
But the rules in this game in this world are
not consistent. And not in a bad way, like for
the characters themselves are like, what? And
I want. Yeah. And I feel like weird. I feel like
that's. An interesting loophole, because like
I'm sure other books in the series will. exploit
it a little bit, and I'm interested to see how
far they can go. And me too. Anyway, Fawn asks
why Dean didn't come for her sooner, right? Because
they are given the name of their mate, at least
the dudes are, when they're 13. Like, what's
up? And he tells her, look, we looked, we couldn't
find you, and then when we did find you, you
were dead. So during this exchange, Fawn can
feel Dean's emotions more acutely and clearly,
and it doesn't take very much to convince her
that what he says is true. She admits aloud,
quote, you are my mate, and he tells her, quote,
you are my queen. And she's like, queen? I can't
be a queen? That's really when the reality of
her situation sinks in, and she was not prepared
for that, right? Like, mate is one thing, queen
is another. Fair. Dean tries to tell her it doesn't
matter who she is or where she grew up that she'll
be perfect for him and his kingdom. He goes on
to ask about her family and so she immediately
takes him to their ranch and I was like there's
no okay you can whatever fine. It's like night
time. Yeah and so they go inside and Dean just
fully introduces himself as the king of the garden
kingdom with his full chest and like says that
he and Fawn are mated and Fawn's grandpa is literally
like quote I think we better sit down and talk.
Yeah, calm down. There was no time. Yeah. This
is just such a wild thing to think about actually
happening in real life. Yeah. Yeah, it is. Don't
worry about it. It's going to be fine. Yeah.
So the grandparents ask essentially some of the
same questions that Fawn had. And this is when
Dean reveals his certainty that somebody lied
about her death. But he's not certain who or
to what end, but he promises to find out. Fawn's
grandfather then asks if Dean will protect Fawn
with his life and Dean swears to it. Then it
comes out about Warren and how somebody sent
him to kill Fawn and that they slash Naomi killed
him in return and that ever since he's been at
the bottom of their manure pile and Naomi's been
living with them. Hi. Hey, brother -in -law.
We learned that Warren was in the military essentially
of the Garden Kingdom, and so Dean vows to follow
that lead. He's like, that's strange. But just
more indication that somebody within the Garden
Kingdom is plotting against him. So they go on
to talk about marriage and Fawn's like... What
we just met and everybody like slow the fuck
down but her grandmother's like honey You don't
have a choice and Dean says quote. She'll always
have a choice. My job is to convince her to choose
me. Oh Which is the right answer. It was the
right answer. Yay How'd you know I wanted one?
It's the link thank you. Hi, did he bring you
a soda treat? He did bring me a soda treat. Yay.
He loves me. He really loves me. He loves me.
So then we cut to a conversation between General
Craven and a nobleman named Samuel in the Garden
Kingdom. Samuel is upset that Fawn still lives
and it becomes clear that he's the one that sent
Warren after her. He's now commanding General
Craven to get Fawn out of the way himself. We
go back to Fawn and Dean who are traveling back
to the Garden Kingdom along with Naomi Obviously
Naomi's gonna come because she's Fawn's only
friend and what is she gonna do to stay with
grandparents that aren't hers? That's weird.
That's weird They talk about Dean's parents and
how he doesn't get along with them Especially
his father because his father's an abusive asshole
and his mother just never protected him from
it Therefore still an abusive asshole. Yeah,
I think agreed He goes on to say that during
those dark formative years, Fawn was one of the
only things that gave him something to hold on
to, some happiness. Dean gets in touch with Cassandra,
his familiar who's still back at the ranch at
the garden palace, and asks her to look at some
of these leads for him about, you know, who's
trying to murder Fawn, and this is when it becomes
obvious that Cassandra doesn't have ears, so
she can't drop her eaves, and she also doesn't
read, so she can't go rifling through papers.
And Dean is essentially like, God, what a useless
familiar. It's such a funny conversation because
he's like, no, no, no, but you'll respond to
things that people say. And she's like, yeah,
I'm like to you. You have ears when I'm alone.
Yeah. And she's even like, like he can like cue
into her side. She's like, do you hear anything?
Have you never noticed that you don't hear anything
from me? And he's like, we can read, right? And
she's like, I'm a snake. Why would I be able
to read? You idiot! Okay, but we hand your in
our debrief to your point. I thought it was so
funny because she's like a magical being, right?
Yeah, she should be able to hear, I think, because
she's magical. Well, and it's like if you can
share consciousnesses, can't you just share tacit
like knowledge like that? Like if she's connected
mentally to Dean, can't he just port over like
how to read to her? That I wanted to know that
too. And I mean she does have some magical ability
She can like change her venom to do different
things, but you can't grow an ear So that was
just a wild thing to happen So anyway, she can't
do any research essentially. She's useless. She's
just a snake. Yeah They stop in an inn overnight,
but not for very long because Dean is very keen
to get Fawn into the Garden Kingdom where he
feels more in control of her safety. As they
get ready for bed, he helps Fawn find something
to sleep in and pulls out a silk nightgown like
a sexy one from her little side hobby day job.
Her dancing days. Yeah. Anyway, so we mentioned
that Fawn has this job, right? But she's like
really into it. So she's got like all of this
sexy underwear that like doesn't make sense for
her to have and Dean just keeps finding it and
is just like, when, what, why you have this?
Who grew up on a horse ranch? I can't handle
it. I can't handle it. And it's also really funny
because at some point Dean asks her if she has
any hobbies and she thinks about dancing, but
then she's like, no, no, I don't have any hobbies.
I'm pretty boring. Which is fucking wild. Like,
that's a red flag to me if you don't have any
hobbies. I don't know what it is. You need to
do something. But I think it's I think it's funny
for two reasons. I think it would have been funny,
one, if she was just trying to like hide the
fact that she dances from him. But that's not
the case because she's not embarrassed about
it. No, I don't think it even crosses her mind.
That it's a hobby. Yeah. Which is doing more
fun. Exactly. Oh, for fun, I'm a stripper. I'm
a stripper. No, pretty boring. That doesn't count
as a hobby. No, that's just something I like
to do. Define hobby. Anyway, so they take turns
taking baths. And of course, Dean is ever the
gentleman and turns around while Fawn is naked,
et cetera. But it's the one room trope, if not
the one bed trope. So like when Dean takes his
clothes off to bathe, that's when Fawn sees like
his body. And what she sees actually is like
all of the little scars on his skin inflicted
by General Craven. Dick. Dick. So they talk about
what to expect when they get to the Garden Kingdom
and Dean tells her that there's a lot of stuck
-up motherfuckers in the Garden Kingdom because
they're the oldest fae, but that his best friend
Braddock, his biffle, his ride -or -die isn't
like that. He's different. He's different. They
then talk about having kids and I think it's
pretty clear that they both know that Royals
only have one biological kid, but Fawn suggests
that they could adopt more and Dean really likes
that idea. Dean is all in the camp of like, I
had a shitty childhood and I want to give as
many kids the best childhood as possible. I love
that. And I had that thought with Amelia and
whatever the fuck his name was. Because they're
like, oh, only one kid. There's nothing we can
do about that. I'm like, I'm sure there's a lot
of homeless kids in your kingdom. Which is wild
because didn't Amelia grow up in an orphanage?
Yes, she did. Oh no, there's no option if we
can only have one. There's nothing we can do
about that. Sorry. Okay. So when they get to
the Garden Kingdom, Callie is there and treats
Dean like a fiance would, greets him with a kiss.
Despite the fact that Dean tried to send a letter
to Braddock to get Callie out of the palace for
this, which obviously didn't happen and so this
is not ideal. Naomi immediately goes like attack
mode on Dean and has to be physically restrained
by Cassandra and Fawn is devastated and angry.
She's like, God damn it, not again. Why do I
keep doing this? Keep falling for taken men,
right? So they all go inside while Braddock takes
Callie aside. And this is when Dean tells her
who Callie is and that they were betrothed. But
now that he's found Fawn, obviously that's not
the case. And he's never had feelings for Callie
and never told her anything different. et cetera,
et cetera. Fawn rightfully asks, why didn't you
bring this up earlier? And he stupidly says that
he thought that she would take it better if he
could say that he used to be engaged rather than
he is currently engaged. What an idiot. Yeah.
And he's such an idiot that Fawn and Naomi ultimately
believe his earnestness. Because he does. OK,
I did have the thought within here, since they
can feel each other's feelings. It would make
arguments a lot easier to, like, Feel like I
genuinely feel bad about this in this moment
and you feel that with more than my words That'd
be kind of convenient. It would be super convenient.
Yeah, it's like Okay, you're just an idiot. But
like I forgive you but you're not lying, right?
Yeah, you're not actually hiding anything from
me. You're just stupid So Dean and Fawn go back
to their chambers to unpack and this is when
we get like a very a Christmas story -esque scene
where Fawn literally tries to wash Dean's mouth
out with soap because he called Callie an endearing
term. Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Yeah. Dean tries
to explain like, look, I call everybody sweetheart.
Like, it's not an endearing thing, but it is
my thing. And Fawn's like, well, it's no longer
your thing, sweetheart. And it's really cute
because Dean has actually never called Fawn Sweetheart.
He's only called her, like, darling. Yeah. We've
seen him call other people Sweetheart beyond
Callie, but then Sweetheart becomes like Fawn's
name for him for the rest of the book. I know.
She's just like, well, I'm going to use this
and rub your nose in it. It's going to be fun.
Forever. Yeah. So they're soon joined by Braddock
and his husband Monroe. And Monroe is probably
my favorite character in this entire book. OK,
so like. Braddock, up to this point, he's huge.
He's a strong fighter. He's super cocky. I did
not expect him to have to be gay and for his
husband to wear gowns. Yeah. I mean, so Monroe
was essentially Nathan Lane from The Birdcage.
That's what I pictured, too. It's just perfect.
He's perfect. And he's so, like, cheerful and
happy to Braddock's, like, Surly it's it's definitely
the grumpy sunshine black cat golden retriever
combo. I loved Monroe. Uh -huh. Yeah So they
show up to reprimand Dean for the way he treated
Cali and Dean says look I wasn't expecting here
to be here because I wrote you a fucking letter
to get her the fuck out of the palace But they
never got that letter and we never go back to
this and at the end of the book I'm still like
why didn't they get the letter is this political
intrigue or is the postal system just shit? I
know that was like I said, I have like four questions
within here. That was my second question. I can
only assume it was intercepted, but I've never
referenced again. Yeah. Yeah, there's a couple
of things in here that of the political intrigue
side quote unquote, that feel like There maybe
was a string that was connecting them but for
brevity like they got cut out and like look I'm
not here for the political and intrigue in this
book necessarily it just felt like the boat like
the The puzzle pieces were there. They just weren't
connected exactly because you could give me the
bare bones, which is what we get But there's
a few that are missing. Yeah So anyway, this
is when we learned that there are rumors circulating
that Dean is just punishing Kali and pushing
her aside for a human whore rather than Fawn
being his actual true mate. Oof. Fawn's like,
okay, I'm gonna leave because I don't need that
in my life. And Dean's like, no, no, stay, stay.
And the entire back and forth that they're having,
Dean is like counting for a reason that was immediately
clear to me, but Fawn was totally in the dark.
I knew where this was going. Yeah. And Fawn doesn't
know until literally somebody smacks her ass.
And says, one. Yes. So this entire interaction
is interrupted by Lilith, who has the worst timing
and tells Dean that she needs to meet with him
alone. So while he does that, he leaves her with
his familiar Cassandra and Braddock. Dean meets
with Lilith and Lilith says that he needs to
keep Callie close at the palace for reasons she
can't tell him. But if he doesn't, it will result
in the death of Fawn. Also, he can't tell Fawn
about this at all. Cool. And this is where Lilith
is just a problem because everything is a catastrophe,
but I can't tell you why. You just gotta trust
me or don't and your wife will die. Right. And
also, you can't tell your wife. You can't tell
your wife while your ex -fiance has to live in
her house. And this is one of those moments where
I'm like, does that actually have to happen?
Or do you just have your popcorn? I think she
just has her popcorn. Because even Dina's like,
what am I supposed to tell Fawn? And she's like,
I don't know. Think of something. I'm sure you'll
think of something. You're a smart boy. Is he?
Debatable. So while Dean meets with Lilith, Fawn
convinced her guards to go look for Naomi. And
so when Dean actually gets back to their room,
Fawn is gone. He immediately starts to panic.
They quickly reunite, but Fawn basically tells
him, like, look, you got to get a grip because
I'm not going to be a prisoner in my own goddamn
room. Like, you got to chill. You got to chill.
He is too much. But I kind of get where he's
coming from because he's got Lilith in his ear
constantly telling him that, like, Fawn is at
risk of death. Yeah, and she did have someone
literally try to murder her like last year. Yeah,
that's true. So they go to the dining hall with
the intention of introducing Fawn to some of
the household. This includes a traveling princess
named Violet and her two escorts. And so I couldn't
tell if Violet and her escorts were having like
a threeple situation or like later it's alluded
that Violet is a twin and her sister is like
the mate of a prince and that prince might actually
be in love with Violet. There's something interesting
there. There's something interesting there. And
I will say, even though these books are so like,
it's the same plot we've read before, I kind
of want to read more. Yeah, no, it's super fun.
Violet has a book. I think Violet's book might
be the second book. Oh. interesting. That kind
of makes sense because I think we read the name
Violet and we initially thought that they were
like Amelia's kids. Yes, yes. It was something
like that. I was also a little confused here
a little bit later because she has like these
two escorts and then later were introduced to
these like tiger things and I was like are her
escorts tigers? I thought they were people. But
that's just a product of me reading too fast.
Yeah, she's got like a tiger thing traveling
with her, and that's the king's familiar, or
like the prince that's mated to her sister, her
twin sister's familiar. Which is weird, because
like, why would your mates... There's something
suspicious going on. There's something there.
There's something there, we're gonna get to it.
Yeah. Anyway. Fawn is anxious because she doesn't
know if Dean's parents are going to be at this
dinner. And this is when we learned they're traveling
to the desert kingdom for that king's funeral.
You'll remember that we learned at the end of
the first book, and the beginning of this one,
that the desert prince committed patricide because
his daddy was a dick bag, which seems to be kind
of a trend. Yeah, all these, um, I would say
first generation. The previous generation kings
all seem to be assholes, and the new generation
seem to be better, thankfully. So unfortunately
Callie and her younger sister are at this dinner
as well and Callie takes every opportunity to
try to like poke fun at Fawn But the evening
is pleasant enough and after speaking with the
others at the table Fawn realizes quote how half
-lived her life has been Yeah, girl people are
fun sometimes the right people are fun the right
people are fun The next day she and Naomi and
Dean go to the stables and there they meet a
gentleman named Jeremiah and it's clear right
away that Naomi has a thing for Jeremiah which
I also am into. I'm super into that. And this
is where we learn that Dean is very fond of writing
and Fawn immediately realizes that she's got
to get over her fear of writing so that she can
go with Dean. That's cute. Yeah. That evening
we finally get the first scene between them where
Dean admits that he doesn't want to pressure
Fawn into sex, and Fawn admits that she wants
him sexually, but also feels the connection of
the mating bond. So even earlier, when she threatened
to leave because of the whole rumors swirling
around the palace, she wasn't actually serious.
So they give into their feelings for each other.
And it's nice. Yeah. Look, Applegate Hunter writes
Great Smut. So she does write Great Smut. I do
want to say, and this is probably rude. to this
fictional character of Dean. But they have a
really great foreplay in their scenes. But then
whenever they have penetrative sex, he comes
immediately. Yeah. He does have that magical
ability to get hard again immediately. But it's
like they'll have three pages of foreplay and
then he'll enter her and then he'll immediately
come. And I'm like, oh. OK. Which I appreciated,
because I feel like he's self -aware. He is self
-aware. It's like, okay, I gotta make you feel
good before we're done. Which is great, and she's
not having a bad time with it at all, and neither
did I. I just thought it was funny. Yeah. So
in the morning, before they go to breakfast,
Dean surprises Vaughn with a present that he
finds charming and she finds revolting. It's
a set of handcuffs, and they both wear a side
of them, essentially, so that Dean can... keep
track of Fawn and her safety. And Fawn is enraged.
So Dean ends up physically carrying her into
the breakfast room, because she essentially is
like, I'm not fucking moving until you take this
thing off. Which I don't blame her, because that
would be mortifying. And then we also get that
weird OCD where she starts to freak out. But
he doesn't seem to feel those emotions. Yeah,
exactly. So pertinent to that, at breakfast,
Fawn tries to saw off Her handcuff with a butter
knife, but it slips and she stabs Dean in the
side. I was so surprised this happened. I was
like, I'm sorry, what? Excuse me. Okay, but it
gets worse because Callie is the palace mender
also. She rushes over and has to tend to Dean's
wounds even though he's not mortally wounded.
She makes a bigger deal out of it than it should
be. It's a butter knife. I'm sure it didn't feel
great, but he's fine. Yes, but - It does have
the effect that Dean's like, OK, we won't do
the handcuff thing. But I really like how he
handles it, because she stabs him enough that
he is bleeding and needs help. And he's like,
oh, honey, I didn't know you were into blood
play. As he's like, you're ridiculous. And Cali's
like, what the fuck happened? He's like, just
foreplay. Don't worry about it. Don't worry,
darling. So later that day, Fawn goes into town
with Violet, Naomi, Monroe, and Braddock, ostensibly
to look for clothes, because she was from the
Mountain Kingdom, which is hot, and they're in
the Garden Kingdom, which is, no, sorry, Mountain
Kingdom, which is cold, and the Garden Kingdom,
which is hot. There we go. And they ostensibly
leave Dean at the castle to do kingly stuff.
But of course, Dean glimmers himself invisible
and follows them anyway. He witnesses Fawn get
into a verbal altercation with Callie at the
dress store and that's when he chooses to reveal
himself But it's clear to both Dean and Fawn
that Callie is just genuinely hurt and heartbroken
over you losing Dean and isn't like actually
a threat Yeah, it was it's really obvious to
us as the reader as well. And like I feel kind
of bad for Callie I would be mad too and I would
also probably be trying to pick at Fawn just
because That's what humans do when they're hurt
Yeah, and she has a valid reason to be hurt,
right? Just because she's not as made doesn't
mean that she can't have genuine feelings for
him. Exactly. And you showed up with a new woman
and I had no warning. That's painful. Yeah, that's
kind of a dick move, dude. Ouch. Yeah. So they
leave the dressmakers and Dean can tell that
something is bothering fun So he asks her to
hang back from the others so they can talk about
it She asks why Callie is still at the palace
and he eventually tells her that it's politically
motivated to keep Callie around Which is not
technically a lie, but it's not the full truth
either because he's not allowed to say that if
I kick her out You will die somehow. Yeah. Yeah,
don't worry about it um so then they end up fucking
against the wall in an alley they have sex in
the weirdest places they super do um and look
it's it's one thing to have sex in the alley
and like it's dark and nobody can see you or
you're like glamored and visible no they do so
fully visible just glamored as a regular people
yeah so everyone can see them they just don't
look like them Right. And they do get a couple
of onlookers. And it's clear during the scene
that they're both kind of into the voyeurism
thing. Yeah, cue the Public Sex Act. Yeah, cue
the Public Sex Act for real. But yeah, this scene
is hot. It's really hot. All of their scenes
are really hot. Yeah, they're really good. Even
the one that's weird with the saddle coming up.
Yeah. And the one in the bar, that one weirdly
did it for me, even though it's so fucking weird.
That one didn't do it for me. I was just, we'll
get there when we get there. But that was the
only scene I was like, maybe not one. I had to
suspend the fact that there were also other people
there. In my head, it was just the three of them,
and that was fucked up enough. Yeah. Yeah. But
yeah, I get that. Yeah. So the next day all of
the dresses that Fawn ordered arrive and Dean
tells her that there's a ball to celebrate the
new kings in the mountain and desert kingdoms.
Something that his mother had planned but again
she won't be there. So don't worry. Don't worry.
But then Dean tells her it's time for her to
pay up for all those times he was counting when
they were fighting and this is when the spanking
happens. Which we all knew was coming except
for Fawn. Except for Fawn. But she loves it.
It's so intense and she loves it so much that
she says, I love you. And so does he. It's an
intense banking. Yeah, it's an intense banking.
That evening at the ball Fawn is nervous, but
Dean tells her that everything will be fine.
And with a crowd of nobles gathered, he announces
that he is so happy to have found his mate, not
dead, but hidden away in the mountain kingdom,
that he makes everybody kneel to her. And she's
like, awesome. This is one of those things where
he's trying to be sweet, but he's just putting
a target on her back. Yeah, I was like, dude,
read the room. Read the room, dude. And I also
love that he's just so... secure in his ability
to handle shit, he's like, don't worry about
it. They can come for you and they'll have to
deal with me. Me and my Braddock man. My Braddock
man. So then they receive guests and one of the
first people to come up after this display are
Kelly's parents. And Fawn's kind of taken aback
because they both seem really nice. Like she
was kind of expecting them to be dicks. Yeah,
I would too. Later, as Fawn mingles, somebody
comes up to her who's seen her dance at the Pleasure
House in the Mountain Kingdom and says as much
to her. And this is how Dean finds out that she
used to be a dancer in Pleasure Houses. In retaliation,
Fawn tells Dean that this man shouldn't be allowed
into any Pleasure Houses in their kingdom or
be allowed into the palace at all. And Dean's
like, bet. But instead of doing that, he just
immediately kills the man. And she's like, what?
He's like, you said that he shouldn't be allowed
in these places and now he'll never go into them.
What's the problem? And then I love the description
of like. people being horrified and like the
staff just cleaning up his body and the party
continuing. There's like people sobbing and other
people are just like kind of ignoring it and
going about their business. Right. But this is
one of those things where like this person ceases
to exist and like no one cares. Not really. Nope.
No one cares at all. So then to cap off the evening,
Dean asks Fawn to dance for everyone in the room.
like the stripper dances that she did at the
pleasure houses. And she does. I thought that
was also so weird. Like, I appreciate a supportive
man. But and like you're hot. Do whatever you
want. I'm not judging you for being a dancer.
It just seemed like the strange time and place
to support her hobby. Here's your future queen.
Allow her to dance for you. Right. Do you guys
want to see your tits like? Yeah. It's kind of
the opposite reaction that we tend to have where
like people are like, the mailman character is
usually like, no one can see her. I want to put
her in a fucking percuss so nobody can see her.
Right. Yeah. And now he's just like, no, look.
But I think it's because they're both kind of
that voyeurism like kink. Yeah, I think they
they found each other in that because I kind
of thought the dancing was going to be a plot
point that he was going to be like weird and
jealous. And he's like, let's go. Yeah, let's
do it. I love it. All right. So anyway, a few
days later Fawn and Naomi are walking in the
garden and they come upon a tarantula that Fawn
immediately takes over as her pet and calls it
Tickles. Tickles. It's really funny because Dean
is like super afraid of spiders. He can't handle
it. He's like, he only refers to it as a monster.
He's like, she needs to put that monster down.
Look, I get it. I'm not a fan of spiders either,
but I'm the spider slayer in our house. So there
are things that intimidate me more, but certainly
a tarantula I would be not OK with. No, and it's
just chilling on her shoulder. Yeah, her and
Naomi both are super chill about it. I'm like,
y 'all are different humans than me. No. So we
don't actually ever get this confirmed. But I
suspect that Tickles is her familiar. And I find
it really funny that Dean is so terrified of
her familiar. It's so funny. And I don't know
if you're going to mention it, because it's just
a subtle thing. Because he is terrified of Tickles.
But he also creates a royal decree that no tarantulas
are to be harmed in his kingdom. Yeah. It's like
the filth of the house. I feel like he's doing
everything in his power to make sure that Fawn
is happy. has Tickles in a safe place, but so
that he, Dean, doesn't ever have to interact
with Tickles ever. Yes, Tickles gets its own
house somewhere else. Far, far away from me.
Do not ever let me see this thing. Yes. Later,
Dean and Fawn go riding together, and Dean is
definitely taking his time making sure that Fawn
is comfortable. They don't ride for long, but
this first outing gives Dean an idea of how to
make Fawn more comfortable with riding more quickly.
And so before we get to that, we have another
scene. But it's an interesting idea, and I think
it's kind of genius. I think it's kind of genius,
too. Yeah. So the scene that we have to get over
before we see that is meeting the parents. Dean's
parents have come back and they join Dean and
Fawn for a meal and it's clear that Dean's mom
and Callie are like great friends, the best of
friends actually. Eww. Yeah. Dean's dad swears
at this meal that he saw the death certificate
for Fawn and genuinely thought that she was dead
and apologizes for like essentially believing
that. Yeah and Fawn seems to sense his... and
also believes that he is truly surprised that
she's alive, which surprised me. Yeah, surprised
to me too. But then it also, two things were
happening. I was like, well, if it's not you,
then it's someone close to you. And I've suspected
like General Craven or - That random Samuel?
Yeah, the random Sam guy, but yeah. Anyway. After
this meal, Dean is called into Lilith's grotto,
which leaves Fawn alone to wander the gardens
with Cassandra in tickles. While she's out there,
General Craven introduces himself, and he is
very kind to her, actually. It's clear that she
doesn't know immediately who he is, though. But
he's super kind, and he does say, like, you shouldn't
be alone. Yeah. It's not a threat, but kind of
it is. Kind of it is. After this seemingly innocuous
interaction, we get a perspective from General
Craven himself, and he tells us, quote, he thought
he'd choose power over loyalty to the crown.
But one look at her protecting a little creature
from a great serpent, and he knew the kingdom
needed her. And so he decides to flee the kingdom
with his family. OK, listen. What the fuck, Craven?
We just never hear about him again and what bothered
me is like you're choosing loyalty, but why wouldn't
you go tell? Dean or even Dean's dad like who
is hunting his wife if you care about loyalty
and think the kingdom needs her Why wouldn't
you tell somebody what you know? Right, like
do you not have faith in Dean's ability to like
root out the Samuel guy? Or is he just so much
of a coward that he doesn't want to get in trouble
for like association? Yeah It's fucking weird
though. He's like, we're just gonna go, okay?
You won't see me again. Well, and this is one
of those another instance of somebody just ceasing
to exist ostensibly and like Nary a follow -up
question like there's one person who seems irked
by it, but like Dean doesn't bring up Hey, I
haven't seen that dude around his father doesn't
bring it up. Like no one no one misses this guy
No, and I can only imagine his name is General
Craven because he has something to do with the
military. And I feel like if your general goes
missing, you would notice. Maybe, yeah. But OK,
I guess not. What do I know? So Dean finds Fawn
quickly after this interaction, after Lilith
told him the whole reason she pulled him away
from Fawn was so that Fawn could run into General
Craven. So Dean's like, I hate this so much.
But he tells Fawn who General Craven is and Fawn
is immediately upset that she didn't use the
opportunity to kill General Craven. But then
Dean changes the subject to the gift that he
has for her, which is literally a saddle with
a dildo on it. Like a rocker. To help her learn
how to ride. Good. Obviously. She knows how to
ride a dick, but she doesn't know how to ride
a horse. And they're essentially the same thing.
That's what he's implying. It's a great idea.
It's a great idea. And honestly, I think this
scene did it more for me than I thought it was
going to because the description of the contraption
is comical. It is comical. And when the scene
first gets introduced, I was like, no, I don't
think this is the one. And then you get into
the scene and I was like, all right, I don't
think this is the one. And then it was like one
handed reading club. So what do I know? I mean,
I learned something new about my own tastes every
day. I was so surprised. I think this was my
favorite scene. Yeah, honestly. Yeah, I think
so. So anyway, it's here that they talk about
having a small wedding and about having kids.
Dean tells Fawn to stop taking family planning
immediately so they can get pregnant like tomorrow.
He's like, I've been trying to put a baby in
you for weeks. Right. And then he does that thing
where he's like, every drop counts. And I'm like,
she's still on the. She literally is like, I'm
on the pill and he's like, every drop counts.
I'm like, no, do that next time. Do that next
time. I mean, do it now if you're getting your
rocks off, I guess. But like she's got you literally
just said the words get off the thing and she
hasn't done that yet. Right. It immediately has
happened. Yeah. So we next see Fawn looking through
Monroe's wedding book and Monroe is distraught
at having to do a whole wedding in less than
a month. Callie comes in and is upset that Fawn
is using Monroe's books because Callie used them
to plan a wedding that she's no longer having
with Dean as well. And so Monroe's like, okay,
I got to go do something about that. Because
remember, it's his cousin -in -law. They're like
related. Yeah. And like they, it does seem like
Callie and Monroe and Braddock all had a good
relationship and were friends. Yeah. So later
on we see a fun night out in a local pub with
Braddock, Monroe, Naomi, and Phan. This is ostensibly
her bachelorette party and so Dean is supposed
to stay home. At the bachelorette party Phan's
friends tell her that she has to let some dude
buy her at least one drink and so a man sidles
up to her and she lets him do that. But... This
is when Dean whispers in Fawn's ear from his
invisible place behind her that she should go
sit with this dude. And so she does. And Dean
pulls her down into his lap and begins a scene
with her while she's trying to have a conversation
with this poor guy about maps because he's a
cartographer. He just wants to talk about maps.
I thought it was interesting. And both Fawn and
Dean are so mean about it inwardly. They're really
mean about it. So I mentioned earlier, so this
scene, the first like portion of this scene almost
did it for me, like when he's just like teasing
her and he's like, you better hold a conversation.
But then they straight up have sex. And I'm like.
What? Yeah. It was not a weird one. And like,
it's so fucking weird because he says, like,
no one can see me, no one can see you moving.
They can just see your face. But then he decides
to show everybody. Both of them. So again, they're
just like having sex in a bar Publicly Yeah,
like I'm typically not into the voyeurism side
anyway And so this one was just super weird and
I just felt so bad for a guy across from her
because he just seemed so earnest I know and
he didn't seem like a lech like he just seemed
like like he was he was hitting on her But then
he was like, hey you want to hear about my hobby?
And she's like, Yeah, it's fucking weird. Well,
and something that we don't talk about very much
in the voyeurism side is like, usually when we
get the voyeurism, it's in like the context of
like sex clubs, right? The public sex acts usually
happen in sex clubs. Yeah. And we talk about
consent a lot. But usually that's isolated to
the characters having sex. We don't talk about
consent of the people like being exposed to you
having sex. And I think that's something that
matters. Like, yeah, this whole. Bar didn't consent
to watching you have sex right now. Totally.
But I also think that falls into like the morally
gray slash black thing because like Dean's essentially
like, I'm a king. I do what I want. You all like
I literally own you. Yeah. And it's weird. It's
not my favorite thing. Also, it seems kind of
humiliating. Like if I were Fawn, I'd be like,
get the fuck away from me. Or you can just leave.
Even if Fawn's into it, I just think it's humiliating
for the poor dude. I know. And look, you know
I'm not defending men at all. But this poor guy.
But this guy didn't do anything wrong, and he
didn't deserve that. No. Anyway, just went down
a rabbit hole about a character that does not
matter. We never see him again. Yeah. He's probably
in therapy. But they're probably telling him
to write a letter about it. That's a terrible
therapist. So the next day, Fawn is on her own
trying to find her way back to the kitchens,
and she runs into Emmy, Callie's younger sister.
Emmy presents as this very meek girl just looking
for her older sister to give her a message from
their father. And so they part ways, and Fawn
doesn't think much more about it. But when Fawn
is back to her search for whatever the fuck she's
looking for, She overhears Callie talking with
somebody that you can't quite see, but when she
rounds the corner, it's clear that that person
is Dean, and Callie and Dean are in each other's
embrace and they kiss. Fawn is obviously distraught
and runs away. She runs immediately into Emmy,
who comforts her and offers her solace and solitude
in her family's house in order to regroup and
think about what to do. At Emmy and Kelly's family
home. So their last name is Gallo. I'm just going
to refer to it as the Gallo home, which I thought
was interesting, because isn't that your family
name or a family name for you? Gallin. Gallin.
Yeah. But that book you read about the mob, those
were the Gallos. Thank you. OK, I knew it was
similar for some reason. Yeah. OK, so Gallos
are back, but not in a mob way. Well, kind of
a mob way, but that's fine. Kind of a mob way.
Yeah. So they're at the gallow home and it becomes
obvious pretty quickly that Emmy is unhinged
and she's lured Fawn there in order to kill her
for her father. Her father is Samuel So Emmy
incapacitates Fawn by stabbing her between the
ribs and that's when Callie comes home. She's
like Lucy. I'm what the fuck And she's appalled
by what Emmy is doing even though Emmy says that
she's doing it for Callie so that Callie can
marry Dean and become Queen Cool and Callie's
like not like this girl Mm -hmm. This is a different
way to do it. I don't like her. I don't want
her dead, especially in my foyer truly So, Emmy
is essentially like, you should leave so you
miss all of the gory details and Callie does
leave and Fawn thinks that she is left for dead
essentially. But Callie is just going back up
to her room to get her medical bag and she comes
back downstairs to help. When she does, Cassandra
has arrived at this point and Callie communicates
to Cassandra that Emmy is the real threat and
so Cassandra kills Emmy immediately so that Callie
can work to stabilize Fawn. Which is crazy, like.
OK, Callie, and it's it's. Not subtle, but it
is kind of between the lines that Emmy is a psychopath
and has always been a psychopath. Yeah, like
Callie, Callie knows things about her sister
that are concerning. Yeah. And I only bring that
up because it seems really ruthless that she
would be like, all right, Cassandra, kill my
sister. But she has something in her internal
monologue of like. Emmy's not okay and she's
not fixable. We're just going to call an audible
on that one and start over. Yeah, I mean, sorry.
Yeah, which is kind of rough because I feel like,
I mean, Callie's entire family is going to get
fucked up, right? Yeah. not coming out unscathed,
which is interesting because at the end of this
book, I really come around on Callie in a way
that I hadn't come around on the one that they
killed in the first book. I forget her name.
Oh, yeah. The one that they just like leave in
the forest for dead. And then they write a letter
from her to her dad saying, bye, daddy. Yeah,
I never came around on her. But Callie, I feel
for. I feel for and it's not giving away anything.
But like at the end of this book, Fawn says to
us internally, like, oh, I wonder if there's
like a future or a version of events where we
could have been friends. And I think that's a
much more interesting and relatable character.
Yeah, than just killing them and leaving them
for dead and then no one ever questions it again.
Yeah. It's far more interesting. Kelly's not
a bad person. She's not a bad person. She's just
very human. Yeah. And we have enough people in
this book who are either left for dead or disappeared
enough without a follow -up question. Exactly.
I'm glad this was a little bit more nuanced.
Exactly. And even at Callie's, like, worst, like,
insulting, she's not even that mean. She's really
not. She's not a mean girl. No. She's just hurt.
Yeah. So meanwhile, while all of this chaos is
happening, Dean meets with his father, who confides
in Dean about his suspicions about Dean's mother.
I didn't see this coming. Me either. I thought
it was all either Samuel, like, or it was all
Dean's dad, and he's just also a psychopath.
Right. Yeah. So Dean's dad essentially says,
I keep thinking about who gave me the death certificate,
and it was from your mom. And Dean's like, are
you saying that the human monarch tried to forge
her death? And Dean's dad's like, no, I'm saying
it's your mom. It's kind of weird that he has
to spell it out. And Dean's like, oh. Dean's
not the smartest. But I think it's because his
mom is such a nothing burger that he's like,
she wouldn't. Not even that he respects his mom.
I just don't think he thinks she's conniving
enough to do anything Yeah, exactly. She's like
totally under the radar, but I like the Dean's
that is like no, that's not what I'm saying I
think it's your mom, right? So Dean is grateful
for the information, but it doesn't make up for
all of the years of abuse from his father So
he tells his dad that he has until Fawn and Dean
conceive To find somewhere else to live, which
is kind of a weird place to draw the line. Why
not the wedding? Like, why not next week? Like,
why are you I mean, conceive is such an interesting
because like. I had so many questions. One, why
is it when you get pregnant? What if it takes
you years to get pregnant? Do you really want
him to be around for that long? Two, a conception
point is already in the past because you don't,
I mean, unless Faye are different, which maybe
they fucking are, I don't know, but you don't
find out until you miss a period. So you're at
least a month behind. And so you're like, oh,
this is your retroactive 30 days notice to get
the fuck out. It was such a weird point. And
I had the same, like, stumble over that. I was
like, why? Yeah. Like, OK, cool. Go now. OK.
Anyway, his father balks. And Dean essentially
tells him, quote, I would never let a monster
like you around my children. You're lucky I've
decided to let you live. I cannot say the same
about your wife. Whoa. Yeah. I also just really
love like every time a child refers to one of
their parents like that like your wife instead
of my mother just it hits everything. It does
hit it's uh yeah and we don't get enough of that
I think. I agree yeah. So Dean leaves the meeting
resolute but unsure what his mother's motives
could be and then Cassandra gets in touch and
she's like, yo, shit's going down at the gallow
house. Like, meet me there. And when he does,
he finds Callie tending to Fawn with Emmy dead.
And he's like, what the fuck happened? I leave
you alone for five seconds. This is why you can't
be left alone with a deaf snake. This is why
I wanted to wear the handcuffs. Well, Cassandra
is like, she got upset, but I don't have ears.
So I don't know why any of this happened. Well,
and it's interesting because Cassandra... Okay,
so this was interesting because Cassandra can
see through glamour, royal glamour, which is...
I didn't realize that that was the case. So what
she sees is essentially... Okay, I'm trying to
remember names in this moment. So Dean's mom
and Callie... colluded together to make it seem
like Callie and Dean were still together or to
make Fawn believe that and so they glamored this
rant well specifically Dean's mom glamored this
other guy because she's a royal fae and they
have strong glimmers so they've glamored this
guy to make him look like Dean but when Cassandra
sees that scene she sees the other guy and she's
like I don't know why she got upset he's like
I don't understand the problem and then she ran
away right but if If but she's not royal, so
she shouldn't have been a bit. She shouldn't
have been able to see through that, right? I
don't know if that's just like a familiar thing
that maybe like they just have the power because
like we get kind of a one liner later that when
they're married, Fawn's power will be like elevated
to that of a royal. So maybe if you're like since
Cassandra so closely tied to Dean's power, she
essentially has like those same powers. But it
would be super nice if you could see through
glamour, but also see what the glamour is. Like
you know that there is a glamour in place right
exactly like to be able to see Like some kind
of aura or whatever. Yeah, cuz that seems like
it could cause a lot of confusion like it did
here She's like, I don't know what the fuck happened
And you're gonna tell me that Cassandra gets
the powers to be able to like see through that
without knowing that it's there But she can't
get the ability to fucking read. It's fine. Exactly.
It doesn't make a no sense Make a no sense and
don't make a no sense. It's not what I'm here
for. It's fine. It's fine So they all go back
to the ranch, the ranch being the palace, and
Fawn is being tended to and out of danger. And
so Dean confronts his mother with the information
that he that she lied about Fawn's death certificate
all of those years ago. And so she does reveal
that it was her and tells Dean that she did it
because she didn't think Fawn would be able to
handle being queen, whereas someone like Kelly
was born and raised for it, which is a fucking
wild reason. It's a wild reason. And like Like,
mates are, in the world of this book, mates are
gifts from the gods meant to make the royal lines
the strongest that they possibly can be for their
kingdom, and if they don't... Happen for whatever
reason then that kingdom is weakened, right?
And so it's like she thought that she would be
so bad that it would be better to have like a
Materially weakened kingdom with Cali as a queen
like that doesn't make any sense No, and essentially
like Dean's parents are mated because they're
royal, right? So she knows how strong that bond
is and she still thinks that like Cali would
be a better choice Yeah kind of a weird thing,
but Whatever. It's really not point of the book
anyway um so dean has her taken to the dungeons
and we never mentioned her again nope we never
see her again she might still be there i think
our body count is up to four yep cool so when
fawn wakes up we get the full story of what happened
about dean's mother colluding with cali glamoring
this dude to make it seem like it was dean and
then you know All of that fun stuff. And so Callie
immediately admits that she had a bad taste in
her mouth when, like, as soon as it happened,
like, she saw Fawn's face, saw her run away,
and she was like, oh, that feels bad. And she
apologizes for Fawn. And Fawn also apologizes
for essentially stealing Callie's life. Oh. Sorry,
girl. Yeah. Sorry, girl. Didn't mean to. Yeah.
So Fawn tells Dean that even though she saw him
and Callie together, she wasn't going to just
leave him high and dry. She was going to fight
for him. And it's in this interaction that...
Fawn, like I mentioned before, thinks in another
life that she and Callie could be friends, which
I kind of hope that they grow into a friendship.
Me too, because there's no reason for them not
to be like once Callie's broken heart heals.
Yeah, exactly. So then eight weeks later, Fawn
and Dean marry and we get one last scene on their
wedding night, which is great because I feel
like we so often have a complaint that like we
have this happy ending now and we don't even
get to relish it a little bit. Yeah, and I really
didn't want you to leave me on that weird bar
scene. Yeah, that would have been, I mean, a
choice. But yeah, I'm glad that we could just
get this one more scene, because this is literally
dropped at the end of the book for once. It's
just like, here you go, we're married, now let's
bang. Yep. Yeah. And then we get an epilogue,
and it's 13 years in the future. And these guys
have a whole mess of kids with their one biological
daughter. And Tickles is still around, but we
still don't get a confirmation of whether or
not he's a familiar. Tickles is totally a familiar.
And there is also a brief scene somewhere in
here where it doesn't matter where at the timeline,
but I'm bringing up this is very funny to me
where tickles is like in a box. For some reason,
they're like going somewhere and Fawn opens the
box and something happens to tickles jumps on
Dean and Dean passes the fuck out like a little
girl. And I think it's delightful. Yeah. Yeah.
He shrieks and faints literally like loses. All
body consciousness. It's hilarious. It's hilarious.
So yeah, and that's where the book ends. I love
it. A lot of fluff. A lot of fun. So much fluff.
So much fun. So let's get into our ratings. So
how did we rate the spice? We gave it A4, which
you probably saw. So far in our coverage, it's
great. We get all the detail, all the communication,
all the foreplay. It's pretty creative. Like
it's not it's a heterosexual couple, but it's
not straight vanilla. I mean, she literally fucks
a saddle, which is delightful. There's like the
spanking. There's also we didn't call it out,
but there's some of that like derogatory language
and also praise. There's like the good girl and
like my little horror kind of play. Which is
fun in the way it was used and we get a lot of
scenes for a less than 300 page book. And yeah,
the point of reading books like this is a lot
of smut and we got a lot of smut. So I don't
have a lot of complaints. Honestly, the only
reason it's not a five. I think it would have
been a five if not for the weird bar scene for
me, honestly. Yeah. If that was just a foreplay
scene, I would have been fine. But just got kind
of strange. Yeah, it got a little strange. And
I also think that like Look, it's it's good.
It's specific. It's long. It's plentiful, but
like It is just kind of a little bit vanilla,
right? Like yeah at this point We're splitting
hairs between like what is a lady approach grave
manner? Alex and what is like just everything
else? So I think this falls into like a solid
everything else category and like I don't have
any complaints But it's a solid four. Yeah So
then we're into writing style and we have a bit
of a difference here. So what? Explain your reading
because you might bring me down. Okay. Okay.
So and I actually have an example for this So
I rated it a three there are there aren't any
typos, but there are a couple Parts in this book
where it just felt like it wasn't edited like
the reading gets a little clunky So for example
when they first get to the palace And they like
split ways or whatever. There's this line that
says to the crowd Dean waved and walked inside.
Well, not everyone And I think what he's trying
to say is like he didn't wave to everyone because
the point here is that he's invisible. So he's
like waving to people who can see him. But it
doesn't make sense. Like to the crowd, Dean Wade
to walk inside. Well, not everyone. What? Oh,
and there were that's the only one I highlighted.
But there were a couple instances like that where
it was just. like a word was missing or it just
wasn't like read closely enough where it just
didn't kind of it didn't flow the way it should
have been and that knocked it down for me because
things like that made me read it a couple times
to try and figure out what was happening yeah
and i think if i'm honest i probably just didn't
read it that closely but i agree with you like
now that i'm thinking about it and i like i'm
kind of not surprised like right like these these
books are consumable, they're quick, you know,
whatever, like I'm not looking for high lit here.
So yeah, I think I'm gonna bring mine down and
agree with you on three. But I will say, right,
like the writing style is very accessible, right?
Like there's not a lot of overly flowery language.
The formatting is good. So even if there were
like minor typos or like weird things like that,
like it was always clear who was speaking or
whose perspective we were looking at. And there
wasn't like weird like blocks of text or something
like missing or ill -formatted or anything like
that. So solid three. Definitely. And I might
be getting a little bit harsh on it, but we've
done this for a while. So I'm going to rate it
how I rate it. Yeah. Okay. Bringing us into quality
of storytelling. How do we rate that? We also
gave that a three. We know what we're here for
in this book, but there are some questions that
are kind of left unanswered, like the characters
who disappear and we just never reference it
again or like that letter that didn't make it
to Braddock and it doesn't come back to you.
I also feel like the motivations like for Dean's
mom don't make a whole lot of sense in the context
of the world we're led to be in. Yep. This book
is great for what we're here for, but. if we're
looking at like a well -formed plot. And I know
she says, like, this is not an intricate plot.
And I'm not looking for that. I'm not knocking
that. There's just some things that just don't
make a lot of sense. And she, yeah, Jamie Amplegate
Hunter gives us that warning from the get -go.
So I'm not trying to punish her for what she
promised because she delivered what she promised.
Just some of those dangling ends are a little
annoying. Yeah. So like if you can't, if you
can't like hang with that kind of stuff or if
it's really going to annoy you, like it might
be like something to consider. But I mean, for
us, obviously didn't. perturb us. It was the
same in the first book and obviously that thing
is continued because we know what we're here
for but it obviously doesn't bother us enough
to not recommend this book because do we recommend
it? We do and I would still like to read more
in this series honestly. I would too. I mean
look it's so hard to find like that perfect like
intersection of like a world that is enough believable
characters that are like not fucking annoying
and enough smut to like make it like that nice
Quick package that you want and it's quick and
a one shot bill. Yeah, it's a one -shot girl
Girl, I don't need an 800 page book and five
of them No, like there's a time and place for
that, but it's as said in the disclaimer. It's
a perfect palate cleanser Yeah, perfect palate
cleanser. That's a great way to put it So we
did it guys, those are our thoughts on Tragically
Yours by Jamie Applegate -Hunter. Thank you as
always for joining us on this journey. Let us
know what you thought on the socials. You can
find us on TikTok, YouTube, and Goodreads as
SpiceTreatersPod. And if you like our podcast
and want more, consider becoming a patron. We
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really like us, drop us a review wherever you
listen. Until next time, we'll see ya. Bye. Bye.
you