WEBVTT

00:00:11.300 --> 00:00:13.519
Welcome to your safe space. The podcast, your

00:00:13.519 --> 00:00:15.160
partner, friends, parents, whoever thinks it's

00:00:15.160 --> 00:00:17.219
dirty. Don't have time to read books? Want to

00:00:17.219 --> 00:00:18.859
understand all the jokes and the TikToks? We

00:00:18.859 --> 00:00:21.300
got you fam. We're the spice traders and we deal

00:00:21.300 --> 00:00:23.839
in spicy books. I'm Katie and I need it to make

00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:27.710
sense. I'm Liz and I'm hypercritical. Before

00:00:27.710 --> 00:00:29.510
we get to today's episode, we want to encourage

00:00:29.510 --> 00:00:31.250
you to check out our Patreon, where we publish

00:00:31.250 --> 00:00:33.490
extra episodes every other week, as well as ad

00:00:33.490 --> 00:00:35.170
-free versions of our regular feed episodes.

00:00:35.729 --> 00:00:37.549
Also, any series we read past the first book,

00:00:37.689 --> 00:00:39.670
all that coverage is Patreon only, so think series

00:00:39.670 --> 00:00:42.850
like Akatar, Fourthwing, Guild. Anyway, we really

00:00:42.850 --> 00:00:44.649
appreciate the support and encouragement to continue

00:00:44.649 --> 00:00:46.450
doing something we love and sharing it with you.

00:00:46.910 --> 00:00:49.369
Thanks in advance for checking that out. As always,

00:00:49.429 --> 00:00:51.590
we start this episode with three things. First

00:00:51.590 --> 00:00:53.869
is a generic trigger warning. You can find specific

00:00:53.869 --> 00:00:55.549
triggers for this book in our show notes, so

00:00:55.549 --> 00:00:57.850
please check those out. We also use foul language

00:00:57.850 --> 00:01:00.049
and talk a lot about sex. If you have sensitivity

00:01:00.049 --> 00:01:02.090
to either of those things, our podcast probably

00:01:02.090 --> 00:01:05.049
isn't for you. Second, our episodes talk about

00:01:05.049 --> 00:01:06.689
books, the whole book, nothing but the book,

00:01:06.790 --> 00:01:08.450
so help me goddess. If you don't want something

00:01:08.450 --> 00:01:10.590
spoiled, don't listen to this episode. And finally,

00:01:10.810 --> 00:01:12.469
we acknowledge that a good book can hit you at

00:01:12.469 --> 00:01:14.849
the wrong time. Our views discussed in our episodes

00:01:14.849 --> 00:01:16.730
are our opinion, and we don't want to diminish

00:01:16.730 --> 00:01:18.609
the work or the talents of the authors in our

00:01:18.609 --> 00:01:33.469
community. That said, we have some notes. Girl,

00:01:33.469 --> 00:01:35.489
what are we talking about today? Today we're

00:01:35.489 --> 00:01:37.590
talking about Glitch by Brianna Michaels. This

00:01:37.590 --> 00:01:40.269
was published in 2022, and it is a standalone

00:01:40.269 --> 00:01:43.189
with a wider universe of books called the Next

00:01:43.189 --> 00:01:45.469
Level series. I looked and there's actually six

00:01:45.469 --> 00:01:48.810
books in this series. The second one follows

00:01:48.810 --> 00:01:52.590
Trey, our main character's best friend. But then

00:01:52.590 --> 00:01:56.010
the other four, at least for my skimming, don't

00:01:56.010 --> 00:01:57.769
follow any character that were named in this

00:01:57.769 --> 00:01:59.689
book. So I don't know if they kind of like gradually

00:01:59.689 --> 00:02:02.230
bleed into each other or if they're just like,

00:02:02.280 --> 00:02:04.659
all set in the same universe. I don't even know

00:02:04.659 --> 00:02:06.159
what universe that would be, because this is

00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:12.159
just middle America. Fine. Anyway, it's a standalone.

00:02:12.259 --> 00:02:15.139
You don't have to read the rest. The character

00:02:15.139 --> 00:02:16.979
the next book is based on is barely a character

00:02:16.979 --> 00:02:18.960
in this book. So if you just want lots of smut,

00:02:19.259 --> 00:02:22.919
check out the next level series. This book is

00:02:22.919 --> 00:02:27.000
245 pages long, and that's a shorty. And boy,

00:02:27.099 --> 00:02:30.330
did it feel like a shorty. Yep. Honestly, Perfect

00:02:30.330 --> 00:02:32.590
Palate Cleanser after A Court of Silver Flame,

00:02:32.830 --> 00:02:38.050
so I'm not mad about it. The cover is honestly

00:02:38.050 --> 00:02:40.270
exactly what you'd expect. It's a real dude.

00:02:40.469 --> 00:02:42.949
He's looking down to the top of his head. He's

00:02:42.949 --> 00:02:46.990
got ripped abs and this open shirt, and you can

00:02:46.990 --> 00:02:52.669
see his low -slung jeans. It's classic modern

00:02:52.669 --> 00:02:56.090
romance cover, smut cover. The only thing kind

00:02:56.090 --> 00:02:58.580
of different is that it's like, purple neon lighting

00:02:58.580 --> 00:03:01.360
and the name and like green glitchy letters to

00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:03.680
give you sort of that techie vibe, but like honestly,

00:03:03.819 --> 00:03:06.960
the tech doesn't matter. It's just a backdrop

00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:10.939
to this book. And I'm laughing because it's just,

00:03:13.060 --> 00:03:15.379
it's just, it's exactly what it sounds like.

00:03:16.060 --> 00:03:19.460
It does what it says on the cover. Like there's

00:03:19.460 --> 00:03:21.360
like a little like a thing at the top that says

00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:23.439
the only thing dirtier than her mind is his mouth.

00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:25.979
And that's kind of the vibe for the whole book.

00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:31.560
That's the vibe. There is like discreet colors,

00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:34.060
discreet covers that are the same color scheme.

00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:35.900
It just says the name in the middle and that's

00:03:35.900 --> 00:03:39.659
it. There also appears to be a special edition.

00:03:40.280 --> 00:03:45.479
I'm just seeing on the Google results. It might

00:03:45.479 --> 00:03:49.300
be a fan image, but they're kitty cat ears like

00:03:49.300 --> 00:03:52.900
I'm wearing now. And the spine says, hey kitty,

00:03:53.599 --> 00:04:00.370
instead of glitch. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, that's

00:04:00.370 --> 00:04:02.129
literally it. It's exactly what you think you're

00:04:02.129 --> 00:04:05.129
signing up for. So let's get into it. Katie,

00:04:05.229 --> 00:04:13.009
why don't you kick us off? Yeah. I'm just with

00:04:13.009 --> 00:04:14.569
the reason that we're laughing so much is because

00:04:14.569 --> 00:04:18.290
we just did like our debrief where we just. pointed

00:04:18.290 --> 00:04:19.709
out all of the plot holes that you could find

00:04:19.709 --> 00:04:22.389
at Madison. But while fully admitting that we

00:04:22.389 --> 00:04:24.569
had a great time, this is just a sex montage

00:04:24.569 --> 00:04:28.089
book with some mild plot. And so like. It's great.

00:04:28.670 --> 00:04:30.810
It's great. Yeah. We'll probably just append

00:04:30.810 --> 00:04:34.189
the debrief to this episode or we'll post it

00:04:34.189 --> 00:04:36.449
on our Patreon or something. But we'll go ahead

00:04:36.449 --> 00:04:43.769
and jump in. So this is on KU? Yes, I checked.

00:04:43.990 --> 00:04:46.850
It is on KU. Okay, great, I've started reading

00:04:46.850 --> 00:04:50.810
this so long ago, I forgot. Which is great, for

00:04:50.810 --> 00:04:53.970
those of you who celebrate. KU, awesome, it's

00:04:53.970 --> 00:04:57.610
told from two point of views, so Aura, who's

00:04:57.610 --> 00:04:59.509
our female main character, and Glitch, who's

00:04:59.509 --> 00:05:02.699
our male main character, and we're... basically

00:05:02.699 --> 00:05:05.000
inside both of their heads constantly. It does

00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:06.839
get a little bit confusing at points because

00:05:06.839 --> 00:05:09.459
we don't get like an aura or like a glitch or

00:05:09.459 --> 00:05:11.319
maybe we do, but it's still a little bit confusing

00:05:11.319 --> 00:05:14.639
like who's talking when you kind of switch between

00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:17.240
them so frequently. Yeah, it is a little confusing

00:05:17.240 --> 00:05:20.639
and they don't have super distinct voices, especially

00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:22.279
at the end when it gets a little scooby -doo.

00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:27.279
Also, I was hard skimming the back half of this

00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:30.620
book. So yeah, yeah, that might be my fault,

00:05:30.620 --> 00:05:39.279
but yeah, it's hard. So we open with Glitch and

00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:40.899
we learned at some point that his name is Sean.

00:05:40.980 --> 00:05:42.300
It doesn't matter, I'm gonna call him Glitch.

00:05:42.319 --> 00:05:45.560
He's our male main character. The title of the

00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:47.600
book is named after him. So we open with Glitch

00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:51.699
and he's mid -recording. Like in a fun way, because

00:05:51.699 --> 00:05:54.540
we don't know yet that he is narrating. It just

00:05:54.540 --> 00:05:56.740
feels like he's mid -scene with somebody. But

00:05:56.740 --> 00:05:59.600
what he's actually doing, he says that he's narrating

00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:03.259
smutty audio books in a soundproofed walk -in

00:06:03.259 --> 00:06:05.920
closet. But really what I think he's doing is

00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:08.540
just recording scenes for people to listen to,

00:06:08.540 --> 00:06:10.319
because he doesn't say that he's reading off

00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:13.120
of like, he says he's reading off of a script,

00:06:13.139 --> 00:06:14.839
but it's not like he's reading a book, right?

00:06:14.839 --> 00:06:17.300
No, and he says that he wrote them, at least

00:06:17.300 --> 00:06:20.930
some of them. Like, he wrote it. Right, so this

00:06:20.930 --> 00:06:23.430
one in particular, he's doing for himself about

00:06:23.430 --> 00:06:26.449
this woman that he's lusting after, Ara, our

00:06:26.449 --> 00:06:29.389
female main character, and he's doing it for

00:06:29.389 --> 00:06:31.970
himself to fap to later, and then also it'll

00:06:31.970 --> 00:06:36.250
come back and he'll play it for her. But what

00:06:36.250 --> 00:06:40.250
a weird hobby. Well, and there's a place for

00:06:40.250 --> 00:06:42.550
literatica, that's the whole thing. I'm sure

00:06:42.550 --> 00:06:47.180
audio has an area for it. I just think calling

00:06:47.180 --> 00:06:52.720
them audiobooks is... Stretch. Stretch. Also,

00:06:53.139 --> 00:06:54.920
we'll get into it later. Spoilers doesn't matter.

00:06:55.019 --> 00:06:58.360
He has props, and the props are straight up sex

00:06:58.360 --> 00:07:01.339
toys. So I've listened to some really smutty

00:07:01.339 --> 00:07:03.879
audiobooks. None of them have sound effects,

00:07:04.120 --> 00:07:10.560
so I don't know what he's recording. He like...

00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:13.220
We'll get to it when we get to it, but he demonstrates

00:07:13.220 --> 00:07:15.939
making the sound of something popping out of

00:07:15.939 --> 00:07:18.459
his mouth, and I'm like, I ain't never listened

00:07:18.459 --> 00:07:21.399
to an audio book like that. No, he also, I think

00:07:21.399 --> 00:07:24.019
in this scene, he stands up and zips out of his

00:07:24.019 --> 00:07:26.519
pants so that the mic catches the zipper and

00:07:26.519 --> 00:07:31.300
his pants coming down and his fapping. I ain't

00:07:31.300 --> 00:07:32.939
never listened to an audio book like that either.

00:07:35.399 --> 00:07:39.959
And look, to each their own, I just. That's weird.

00:07:40.779 --> 00:07:42.060
Anyway. I just don't think you can call it a

00:07:42.060 --> 00:07:44.480
book. That's all I'm saying. I just don't think

00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:51.079
you can call it a book. Yeah. So let's talk about

00:07:51.079 --> 00:07:55.920
Aura. He calls Aura Kitty. And that's because

00:07:55.920 --> 00:07:59.500
she has the Kitty headphone things, much like

00:07:59.500 --> 00:08:03.550
the ones that Liz is wearing right now. He doesn't

00:08:03.550 --> 00:08:06.170
know Ara in real life. It's just a she's just

00:08:06.170 --> 00:08:09.149
a woman that he games with online and Has been

00:08:09.149 --> 00:08:11.170
quietly in love with for a little over a year

00:08:11.170 --> 00:08:14.810
now the only way they communicate is in like

00:08:14.810 --> 00:08:16.310
when they're playing video games like she'll

00:08:16.310 --> 00:08:19.410
be in voice chat or They've got a private discord

00:08:19.410 --> 00:08:22.870
channel open that he describes as quote too cautious

00:08:22.870 --> 00:08:25.990
too generic and safe Which is kind of his whole

00:08:25.990 --> 00:08:29.560
deal at the start of this book. But he very intentionally

00:08:29.560 --> 00:08:32.360
does not talk in voice chat because he doesn't

00:08:32.360 --> 00:08:36.320
want to like affect her with his voice, his words.

00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:40.000
God, because apparently his voice is just so

00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:42.820
deep and so sexy and he was bullied for it and

00:08:42.820 --> 00:08:44.919
I'm just pitching like Barry Manilow this whole

00:08:44.919 --> 00:08:53.610
time. So. Yeah. He doesn't want to get her panties

00:08:53.610 --> 00:08:56.309
wet or something. Anyway, so we get his backstory,

00:08:56.509 --> 00:08:59.250
just real quick. Parents were dead when he was

00:08:59.250 --> 00:09:01.929
15 from a car accident. He was raised by his

00:09:01.929 --> 00:09:05.129
older sister, Erin. And like Liz said, bullied

00:09:05.129 --> 00:09:08.129
so badly for his deep voice that classmates called

00:09:08.129 --> 00:09:10.509
him Deep Throat. And so he just stopped speaking

00:09:10.509 --> 00:09:13.309
entirely, which is just, I hate children that

00:09:13.309 --> 00:09:15.889
are mean. Yeah, I hate children that are mean

00:09:15.889 --> 00:09:18.909
too. And that's, I mean, I get why he doesn't

00:09:18.909 --> 00:09:21.759
talk because it would be rough to have a... that

00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:24.600
nickname in middle and high school. Uh -huh,

00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:28.539
yeah. We also learn why he's called Glitch, and

00:09:28.539 --> 00:09:32.419
that comes from his sister, so whenever Glitch

00:09:32.419 --> 00:09:35.100
was younger, his brain would short circuit under

00:09:35.100 --> 00:09:37.480
pressure, and he would just glitch out, and that's

00:09:37.480 --> 00:09:39.279
how Aaron described it, and the name just stuck.

00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:43.679
We learn that now that he's an adult human, he

00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:47.460
runs a computer shop, and he's helping his sister

00:09:47.460 --> 00:09:51.600
raise... essentially his nephew, nine -year -old

00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:56.299
Beatle. Got some crazy nicknames in this book.

00:09:57.100 --> 00:09:58.879
Got some crazy nicknames. I'm not going to knock

00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:01.159
a nickname. I mean, my daughter's nickname is

00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:03.980
Pickle, so like, I get it. No, I like the nicknames.

00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:06.059
I was just like, everyone's got a fucking nickname

00:10:06.059 --> 00:10:07.580
in this book, except for Erin, his sister. Fuck

00:10:07.580 --> 00:10:10.559
her, I guess. Well, she's the one that hands

00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:12.759
out most nicknames. That's true. That's true.

00:10:15.070 --> 00:10:18.110
So then we switch to our as point of view and

00:10:18.110 --> 00:10:20.809
she turns out has also been fantasizing about

00:10:20.809 --> 00:10:26.590
glyphs glyphs glitch for months Despite the fact

00:10:26.590 --> 00:10:30.149
that he she's never even heard him speak She's

00:10:30.149 --> 00:10:32.649
saying like a word because he basically like

00:10:32.649 --> 00:10:34.470
refuses to speak when they're gaming because

00:10:34.470 --> 00:10:36.990
he's self -conscious or something I don't know.

00:10:36.990 --> 00:10:39.370
I okay. I thought I said this in the debrief

00:10:39.370 --> 00:10:42.200
a little bit I thought this was gonna come back

00:10:42.200 --> 00:10:44.159
around. He wasn't speaking because he was afraid

00:10:44.159 --> 00:10:46.759
of being recognized for his voice and what he

00:10:46.759 --> 00:10:50.559
does as a side hustle. No, it's really just like

00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:52.080
he doesn't wanna get her panties in a twist when

00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:55.100
they're playing for some reason. Right, he thinks

00:10:55.100 --> 00:10:58.720
his voice is gonna be so, so distracting. Which

00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:02.820
maybe it is, I don't know. I don't know. So turns

00:11:02.820 --> 00:11:05.879
out Aura's just dumped her boyfriend Jason who

00:11:05.879 --> 00:11:09.019
turns out to be a toxic piece of shit who basically

00:11:09.019 --> 00:11:12.460
wrecked her gaming rig and so She's like trying

00:11:12.460 --> 00:11:14.879
to play with her homies glitch and their friends

00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:17.159
and like is trying to switch between different

00:11:17.159 --> 00:11:21.539
computers that she has So they go through this

00:11:21.539 --> 00:11:24.419
this game situation Glitch actually does end

00:11:24.419 --> 00:11:26.960
up talking and that's the first time that Aura

00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:30.720
hears his voice They all sign off. And afterward,

00:11:31.179 --> 00:11:33.679
Trey, their mutual friend, how are they mutual

00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:35.600
friends? We don't really know. We know that Glitch

00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:37.820
went to college with Trey, but we have no idea

00:11:37.820 --> 00:11:41.480
how Aura knows Trey. Anyway, Trey, the meddler,

00:11:41.580 --> 00:11:44.320
the matchmaker, hands over Glitch's number to

00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:48.120
Aura without asking Glitch because Glitch has

00:11:48.120 --> 00:11:50.940
a computer store. And wouldn't you know it, Aura

00:11:50.940 --> 00:11:54.120
lives in the same fucking town as Glitch. But

00:11:54.120 --> 00:11:56.059
not in the same town as Trey. It's a plot hole.

00:11:56.100 --> 00:11:59.330
It doesn't make sense to me. It's fine. That's

00:11:59.330 --> 00:12:01.389
fine. Why does Trey know? It doesn't matter.

00:12:01.470 --> 00:12:03.509
We talked at length about this in our debrief.

00:12:03.889 --> 00:12:05.870
It's weird that Trey lives across the country

00:12:05.870 --> 00:12:07.990
from Glitch and Aura, but Aura and Glitch are

00:12:07.990 --> 00:12:10.029
both in the same town, but we don't know how

00:12:10.029 --> 00:12:12.690
Trey knows Aura. It would have just been an easy

00:12:12.690 --> 00:12:14.950
one -line fixer if Trey moved away and Glitch

00:12:14.950 --> 00:12:16.889
and Aura still lived in the town that they all

00:12:16.889 --> 00:12:19.889
went to college with. Yeah. Just give me that

00:12:19.889 --> 00:12:22.470
one -liner, because it bugged me. Or give me

00:12:22.470 --> 00:12:25.799
a one -liner that like... Trey met Aura playing

00:12:25.799 --> 00:12:27.899
a game online and they also have never met in

00:12:27.899 --> 00:12:30.600
person. Right, exactly, something like that.

00:12:30.600 --> 00:12:37.539
That would be fine too. So Aura texts Glitch

00:12:37.539 --> 00:12:42.759
and Glitch is so flustered and also mad at Trey

00:12:42.759 --> 00:12:46.820
that he texts Aura something meant for Trey,

00:12:47.259 --> 00:12:52.720
but it's also like a very... kind of hot, aggressive

00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:54.700
thing to say to a friend, because he says, quote,

00:12:54.820 --> 00:12:56.740
I'm going to wrap my hands around your throat

00:12:56.740 --> 00:12:59.460
and squeeze until you see God. Which is pretty

00:12:59.460 --> 00:13:02.340
sexy, even as a threat. I was like, oh, Glitch

00:13:02.340 --> 00:13:05.840
and Trey. Oh. Tell me about that college life.

00:13:06.500 --> 00:13:10.659
Right. Tell me about that. Aura takes this in

00:13:10.659 --> 00:13:13.179
stride. Her response, she says, quote, sounds

00:13:13.179 --> 00:13:17.009
fun. Does this service cost extra? Cool. Yeah.

00:13:17.389 --> 00:13:19.350
And I got to say, like, their banter back and

00:13:19.350 --> 00:13:21.570
forth through this entire book is great. It is

00:13:21.570 --> 00:13:23.470
great. They do have really good chemistry. I

00:13:23.470 --> 00:13:24.889
really don't have a lot of complaints about this

00:13:24.889 --> 00:13:26.509
book. It's exactly what it presents itself to

00:13:26.509 --> 00:13:27.950
be. There's just some things that don't make

00:13:27.950 --> 00:13:31.169
any sense. No, and it's not pretending that,

00:13:31.169 --> 00:13:33.690
like, those things don't exist either. It's just

00:13:33.690 --> 00:13:39.009
a funny, fluffy, smutty, bite -sized little snack.

00:13:39.610 --> 00:13:44.200
Little schnackum. A little amuse -bouche. Anyway,

00:13:45.019 --> 00:13:51.519
so Aura finally does amuse -bouche these nuts.

00:13:51.580 --> 00:13:57.779
Amuse -bouche these nuts. You get it. Yeah, you're

00:13:57.779 --> 00:14:04.720
here. So Aura takes a little bit of time to bring

00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:07.429
in her computer, but eventually she does. We

00:14:07.429 --> 00:14:09.289
learn that glitch spends the entire week pretending

00:14:09.289 --> 00:14:11.570
that he isn't watching the door But he is which

00:14:11.570 --> 00:14:13.870
is very endearing and when she finally does show

00:14:13.870 --> 00:14:17.590
up he drops like he's like trying to fix something

00:14:17.590 --> 00:14:19.830
And he needs a fucking screw and he's been taking

00:14:19.830 --> 00:14:21.730
hours to find the three finds through she shows

00:14:21.730 --> 00:14:29.350
up and he loses it again immediately So she shows

00:14:29.350 --> 00:14:31.970
up and we we learned that she has like really

00:14:31.970 --> 00:14:34.990
hot pink hair with like purple and I think white

00:14:34.990 --> 00:14:38.429
highlights in it Which sounds so rad. Yeah, it

00:14:38.429 --> 00:14:42.690
does. She sounds super cool. Yeah. But she's

00:14:42.690 --> 00:14:45.110
got her computer. He takes a look, and he knows

00:14:45.110 --> 00:14:47.350
immediately that this is a lost cause. But he's

00:14:47.350 --> 00:14:50.110
like, he tells her, I'll take a look at it, and

00:14:50.110 --> 00:14:52.769
then I'll bring it by later that night, right?

00:14:52.909 --> 00:14:55.309
We'll figure it out. We learned that the reason

00:14:55.309 --> 00:14:57.029
that this is a lost cause is because it caught

00:14:57.029 --> 00:14:58.509
fire. And the reason that it caught fire was

00:14:58.509 --> 00:15:02.309
because Aura's ex -boyfriend, Jason, kicked it.

00:15:02.490 --> 00:15:08.230
Cool. Rude. What an asshole. The first time that

00:15:08.230 --> 00:15:10.789
they meet each other is really odd. I would not

00:15:10.789 --> 00:15:13.330
want to be anybody else in this store because

00:15:13.330 --> 00:15:16.929
they're just so clearly infatuated right off

00:15:16.929 --> 00:15:21.269
the bat. Yeah, immediately. She's checking out

00:15:21.269 --> 00:15:24.250
his junk. He's checking out her junk. And they're

00:15:24.250 --> 00:15:27.049
doing that weird thing where they'll be asked

00:15:27.049 --> 00:15:29.889
a question and then they won't answer for an

00:15:29.889 --> 00:15:31.350
awkward amount of time and then be like, oh,

00:15:31.429 --> 00:15:32.950
you asked me a question. OK, great. I should

00:15:32.950 --> 00:15:37.240
answer that. Which is yeah to behold. It's it's

00:15:37.240 --> 00:15:39.759
annoying to be old I kind of annoying for me

00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:43.039
too, but also for everyone else in there right

00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:47.559
So he refuses payment for fixing or not fixing

00:15:47.559 --> 00:15:50.659
her computer and instead asks for dinner She

00:15:50.659 --> 00:15:52.820
says great and he's like great. I'll be over

00:15:52.820 --> 00:15:55.860
in a minute. She's like what tonight, okay? This

00:15:55.860 --> 00:15:58.500
is how excited both of them are to finally be

00:15:58.500 --> 00:16:01.500
meeting in person So he goes over to her house.

00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:04.019
She realizes pretty quickly that she has zero

00:16:04.019 --> 00:16:06.200
amounts of food in her house. She has ramen and

00:16:06.200 --> 00:16:09.000
a jar of pickles. And so Glitch takes her to

00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:10.980
the grocery store on their first date and buys

00:16:10.980 --> 00:16:13.639
her not just dinner, but a week's worth of food.

00:16:14.419 --> 00:16:16.360
Aura initially is genuinely upset about it. She

00:16:16.360 --> 00:16:18.399
says, quote, I can pay for my own fucking food,

00:16:18.580 --> 00:16:21.240
Glitch, and then lands on, quote, oh, you're

00:16:21.240 --> 00:16:23.500
trying to take care of me, which is like, okay,

00:16:23.860 --> 00:16:27.120
she's never encountered that before and finds

00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:31.700
that she likes it. Yeah. This is a trope that

00:16:31.700 --> 00:16:34.419
annoyed me at first. And OK, the whole money

00:16:34.419 --> 00:16:36.259
of this book doesn't make any fucking sense.

00:16:36.399 --> 00:16:40.639
But it was kind of cute. Yeah. Yeah, I think

00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:43.059
at this point we have learned that Ara is an

00:16:43.059 --> 00:16:48.139
artist. She does art to live. We get a little

00:16:48.139 --> 00:16:49.820
bit more information about how she's actually

00:16:49.820 --> 00:16:51.899
living. But that is her job. She has a studio.

00:16:51.919 --> 00:16:56.200
She does art. And that's it. And that's it. So

00:16:56.200 --> 00:16:58.440
money is actually a little bit tight for her.

00:16:59.259 --> 00:17:04.420
Yeah. Speaking of the money of it all. Anyway,

00:17:04.920 --> 00:17:08.299
so they get back to the hotel, the hotel. Whoa.

00:17:10.279 --> 00:17:14.980
That escalated quickly. It does. So they take

00:17:14.980 --> 00:17:17.559
the groceries back to Aura's and it all comes

00:17:17.559 --> 00:17:20.140
out in their conversation what happened to her

00:17:20.140 --> 00:17:22.619
computer, specifically that Jason was jealous

00:17:22.619 --> 00:17:27.059
of Glitch specifically because Jason caught Aura

00:17:27.059 --> 00:17:30.529
saying Glitch's name once while she came. I have

00:17:30.529 --> 00:17:34.170
27 questions about this, because I'm going to

00:17:34.170 --> 00:17:36.450
jump ahead. These are retro. Questions of retrospect.

00:17:37.029 --> 00:17:41.109
We find out way later that Aura and Jason never

00:17:41.109 --> 00:17:42.769
slept together. She didn't have sex with any

00:17:42.769 --> 00:17:46.190
of her boyfriends. Jason also was anti -masturbation.

00:17:46.630 --> 00:17:50.289
So when would he have seen slash heard her say

00:17:50.289 --> 00:17:54.410
anything when she came? Yeah. I have to imagine

00:17:54.410 --> 00:17:58.369
that he came to her studio while she was coming.

00:18:00.349 --> 00:18:02.670
unexpectedly showed up. Yeah, that's what I had

00:18:02.670 --> 00:18:06.450
to imagine too. But also, if I say glitch, you're

00:18:06.450 --> 00:18:08.430
gonna assume it's a dude's name? I mean, I guess

00:18:08.430 --> 00:18:13.789
she's mentioned who she games with, but. Yeah.

00:18:14.569 --> 00:18:18.329
Also, also, also, Jason's a stalker. We'll get

00:18:18.329 --> 00:18:20.470
into that. He really desperately wants her back.

00:18:20.930 --> 00:18:24.890
I don't know why. If my partner never wanted

00:18:24.890 --> 00:18:26.650
to have sex with me, we literally never had sex,

00:18:26.970 --> 00:18:28.630
they also didn't seem to like me that much, and

00:18:28.630 --> 00:18:30.349
they're saying another girl's name when they

00:18:30.349 --> 00:18:35.049
get off alone, I don't want you. Right. You clearly

00:18:35.049 --> 00:18:39.670
don't want me. Like, let's just call it there.

00:18:40.250 --> 00:18:43.269
Cut our losses. That can just be it. It's fine.

00:18:44.190 --> 00:18:47.309
It's really not a big deal. Right. Like, and

00:18:47.309 --> 00:18:49.150
like, I think that gets into, like, the patriarchy

00:18:49.150 --> 00:18:52.460
of it all. Like, you just can't, like... that

00:18:52.460 --> 00:18:54.000
a girl doesn't want him, that kind of thing.

00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:59.920
But yeah, it was weird, right? It's also just

00:18:59.920 --> 00:19:02.680
weird that, I don't know, she fantasizes about

00:19:02.680 --> 00:19:04.680
somebody that, she didn't hear their voice until

00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:07.359
recently, right? It would make more sense if

00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:09.940
she was fantasizing about this guy that's nice

00:19:09.940 --> 00:19:12.339
to her online, and then also pairing it with

00:19:12.339 --> 00:19:15.660
this romance author voiceover voice, and then

00:19:15.660 --> 00:19:17.220
those two people turn out to be the same. That

00:19:17.220 --> 00:19:20.890
would be cool. That would be cool. But that's

00:19:20.890 --> 00:19:22.990
not what's happening here. So she drops that,

00:19:23.009 --> 00:19:26.049
and she's expecting Glitch to like, beat it,

00:19:26.130 --> 00:19:30.890
right? Like, oh, wow, look at the time. But he

00:19:30.890 --> 00:19:32.869
doesn't. He's like, that's incredibly hot. I

00:19:32.869 --> 00:19:36.450
would like to see that in person. Let's go. So

00:19:36.450 --> 00:19:40.470
they proceed to do that. And that's basically

00:19:40.470 --> 00:19:42.769
the book, the end. That's basically the book.

00:19:42.990 --> 00:19:50.869
Ba da da da da. They're so overdone. They just,

00:19:51.569 --> 00:19:54.750
they go, they do it on basically every surface

00:19:54.750 --> 00:19:58.170
of her apartment. But to start, they start in

00:19:58.170 --> 00:20:00.150
their bedroom, and he's like, I want you to take

00:20:00.150 --> 00:20:01.990
your dress off. And I'm like, whoa, that went

00:20:01.990 --> 00:20:05.130
from zero to 100 really fucking quick. It is

00:20:05.130 --> 00:20:08.250
zero to 100. Even before this, they're planning

00:20:08.250 --> 00:20:10.529
dinner. Before you go shopping, and she's like,

00:20:10.569 --> 00:20:11.910
what do you want to eat? And he straight up says,

00:20:11.950 --> 00:20:16.549
you. And I'm like, you met 37 minutes ago. Right,

00:20:16.670 --> 00:20:21.529
well. He tells us, he spends the first several

00:20:21.529 --> 00:20:25.269
chapters of us seeing his inside of his brain

00:20:25.269 --> 00:20:28.009
hole that he's telling us how insecure he is

00:20:28.009 --> 00:20:31.630
and how he's nervous around most people. And

00:20:31.630 --> 00:20:35.150
then as soon as she gives the hintest hint of

00:20:35.150 --> 00:20:39.890
being a willing sub space participant, he's like,

00:20:39.890 --> 00:20:41.809
oh, I'm confident as fuck now. I'm like, wait

00:20:41.809 --> 00:20:44.519
a minute. I know, also the other thing that kind

00:20:44.519 --> 00:20:46.500
of bothered me is like they've never met in person

00:20:46.500 --> 00:20:49.200
until right now, but they, like, we don't really

00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:53.339
know how he pictured her, but we see from Aura's

00:20:53.339 --> 00:20:55.059
perspective how she pictured him. It's exactly

00:20:55.059 --> 00:21:00.400
what he fucking looks like. I'm like, okay. Okay,

00:21:00.779 --> 00:21:03.519
yeah, okay, nobody gets that lucky to be like

00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:06.559
biffles with a gamer boy on the internet and

00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:09.680
then meet that gamer boy in person and he's built

00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:12.200
like a fucking truck. Like that doesn't happen,

00:21:12.220 --> 00:21:14.799
sorry. Also he's fucking like six, seven or something

00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:18.200
and I'm like, you don't need to be that tall

00:21:18.200 --> 00:21:20.920
to be attractive. No, you don't need to be a

00:21:20.920 --> 00:21:22.559
giant to be that attractive. And look, I wanna

00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:26.220
clarify, I love the non -built gamer boys. Look,

00:21:26.359 --> 00:21:30.059
that is my type, 100%. I'm just saying. She keeps

00:21:30.059 --> 00:21:32.160
calling him a unicorn demon, and I would agree.

00:21:32.859 --> 00:21:35.799
He's a unicorn demon. Yes, that has to be because

00:21:35.799 --> 00:21:38.339
I wanted him to kind of be like the quintessential

00:21:38.339 --> 00:21:40.839
gamer boy, but no, he's jacked. He's covered

00:21:40.839 --> 00:21:45.119
in tattoos, and I'm like, OK. He's a mafia king

00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:48.960
in the wrong book. Right, and in the wrong profession.

00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:51.660
Last I checked, I don't see very many computer

00:21:51.660 --> 00:21:55.140
science majors beefing out in the gym like that.

00:21:55.539 --> 00:22:00.880
No! I'm sorry if that's a gross. I would say

00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:05.180
like, yeah, misconception. But I kind of wanted

00:22:05.180 --> 00:22:06.680
him to just be like this nerdy little guy who

00:22:06.680 --> 00:22:10.579
could still be a Dom. Right. I like Doms like

00:22:10.579 --> 00:22:13.460
Malfoy, right? Like, I get it. Yeah. Exactly.

00:22:14.440 --> 00:22:16.400
I'm just saying, it was a little bit weird. And

00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:18.880
look, minor feedback. I'm having a great time.

00:22:18.940 --> 00:22:21.339
It's just funny to me. And that's what we're

00:22:21.339 --> 00:22:23.279
calling it out. Like, it didn't hurt the book,

00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:27.019
my enjoyment at all. It's just one of those things

00:22:27.019 --> 00:22:30.299
that I was like, what? What? Wait, what? Are

00:22:30.299 --> 00:22:34.940
you insecure or are you not? Anyway... Homeboy

00:22:34.940 --> 00:22:38.500
really knows how to show a lady a good time because

00:22:38.500 --> 00:22:42.160
he's checking in on her, notices that her knees

00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:44.539
are scraped because she's a fucking klutz, asks

00:22:44.539 --> 00:22:48.299
about her hard limits before touching her, clocking

00:22:48.299 --> 00:22:54.220
every single flicker or whiff of insecurity and

00:22:54.220 --> 00:22:56.059
checking in and being like, you're so beautiful,

00:22:56.160 --> 00:22:57.960
you should know that, you're a goddess, blah,

00:22:58.140 --> 00:23:00.740
blah, blah, which is great. He's the perfect

00:23:00.740 --> 00:23:05.259
man. He's got the dom thing down. He's perfect.

00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:12.119
Yep. Crucially, she asks him to keep calling

00:23:12.119 --> 00:23:14.279
her Kitty, not knowing that that's already the

00:23:14.279 --> 00:23:17.420
name that's on his entire roster of recordings

00:23:17.420 --> 00:23:23.180
with her fantasies on it. So they have this montage.

00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:27.559
Montage is great. There's a lot of... Oral there's

00:23:27.559 --> 00:23:30.380
like specifically on her. There's a lot of there's

00:23:30.380 --> 00:23:33.980
no penetrative sex actually in this scene No,

00:23:33.980 --> 00:23:36.799
they just she he goes down on her and then they

00:23:36.799 --> 00:23:39.799
just kind of canoodle For a long time. Yeah,

00:23:39.799 --> 00:23:42.160
he uses like her toys on her and stuff But he

00:23:42.160 --> 00:23:43.839
makes you want to be like we will not have sex

00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:45.960
tonight. I need her to come back tomorrow. I'm

00:23:45.960 --> 00:23:49.900
like, okay Okay. Yeah But it's great. I mean,

00:23:49.900 --> 00:23:53.349
it's a great scene. It's a great scene And they

00:23:53.349 --> 00:23:55.849
fall asleep, and then he doesn't leave. And then

00:23:55.849 --> 00:23:57.150
at two in the morning, they're both hungry, and

00:23:57.150 --> 00:23:59.289
they both wake up. And he's out of her bed, and

00:23:59.289 --> 00:24:01.130
she's like, oh, immediately deflated, and then

00:24:01.130 --> 00:24:04.430
goes into her kitchen, and he's got Chinese food.

00:24:04.430 --> 00:24:05.849
And she's like, oh, you didn't leave. He's like,

00:24:05.869 --> 00:24:08.490
of course I didn't leave. I'm here for the rest

00:24:08.490 --> 00:24:12.509
of the week, obviously. Obviously. I live here

00:24:12.509 --> 00:24:18.829
now. Right. So during the scene as they're eating,

00:24:20.209 --> 00:24:22.470
She confesses, quote, I'm just so mad at myself

00:24:22.470 --> 00:24:24.990
for not asking for your number sooner. And they

00:24:24.990 --> 00:24:27.450
do this quite a lot where they're just like literally

00:24:27.450 --> 00:24:30.329
in tears about not having done this sooner. And

00:24:30.329 --> 00:24:32.230
I'm like, I could have done without that particular

00:24:32.230 --> 00:24:34.430
thing. That I could have done without? And the

00:24:34.430 --> 00:24:36.829
immediate love? I was like, you don't know each

00:24:36.829 --> 00:24:40.269
other at all. Oh my god. OK, so we're getting

00:24:40.269 --> 00:24:42.430
right that. So we're getting right that. We're

00:24:42.430 --> 00:24:44.369
getting right there. We're getting right that.

00:24:44.750 --> 00:24:48.140
So the next day. No, I mean barely the next day.

00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:50.640
It's four in the fucking morning. It's like a

00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:55.259
dream growing all over the place. Yes, they don't

00:24:55.259 --> 00:25:02.000
sleep No making really poor decisions. But he's

00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:03.480
like, I would love to see your studio. She's

00:25:03.480 --> 00:25:05.400
like, let's go right now. And so they go at four

00:25:05.400 --> 00:25:07.119
in the morning to her studio, which isn't on

00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:09.740
the top floor of a warehouse with no security,

00:25:10.279 --> 00:25:12.980
which visibly stresses Glitch out, fine. Like

00:25:12.980 --> 00:25:14.960
immediately at 100, like everybody's trying to

00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:17.799
like kill your new girl or whatever, okay. That's

00:25:17.799 --> 00:25:20.240
why he feels like it's from a mafia book. He's

00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:22.380
like scanning for security. He's like planning

00:25:22.380 --> 00:25:24.940
on what security he's gonna put in. And I'm just

00:25:24.940 --> 00:25:29.319
like, who are you? This is a regular person.

00:25:30.480 --> 00:25:33.799
What do you think is gonna happen? We didn't

00:25:33.799 --> 00:25:35.640
say this before, but he owns a computer store,

00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:37.839
yes, for computers, but it's also just a gaming

00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:41.359
store. Kids come and play D &D there. He's not

00:25:41.359 --> 00:25:44.599
a hacker. He's not a security guy. He's just

00:25:44.599 --> 00:25:48.019
a dude who owns a computer shop with anime characters

00:25:48.019 --> 00:25:50.700
painted on the walls. It's a card shop. It's

00:25:50.700 --> 00:25:54.799
a card shop. No, I love a card shop. You're not

00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:57.940
hacking into the FBI over here. No, you can't

00:25:57.940 --> 00:26:00.339
tell me he's scanning for security immediately.

00:26:01.180 --> 00:26:04.859
Right. So they're in the studio. She lets him

00:26:04.859 --> 00:26:07.420
look through everything despite everything not

00:26:07.420 --> 00:26:09.240
being quite good enough in her own estimation.

00:26:09.720 --> 00:26:13.559
This is where we learned that her muse, it was

00:26:13.559 --> 00:26:15.920
a little bit weird and jarring how they referred

00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:18.819
to the muse. It was like a person in the room.

00:26:19.059 --> 00:26:22.339
Yeah. Anyway, her muse hasn't been around, right?

00:26:22.339 --> 00:26:25.619
So she's kind of been an artist block ever since

00:26:25.619 --> 00:26:28.299
she, I guess, was with Jason and then through

00:26:28.299 --> 00:26:32.660
the breakup. Glitch finds a nude self -portrait

00:26:32.660 --> 00:26:34.920
of her and asks for it, and she's like, well,

00:26:34.980 --> 00:26:36.519
I have to finish it. And he's like, no, I want

00:26:36.519 --> 00:26:39.519
it right now. And she's like, OK. I did like.

00:26:39.960 --> 00:26:42.900
I will say, not a lot of this looks realistic,

00:26:43.099 --> 00:26:45.579
but her inner monologue on her insecurities is

00:26:45.579 --> 00:26:47.720
super realistic here. Because she's talking about

00:26:47.720 --> 00:26:49.299
this self -portrait and how she's trying to paint

00:26:49.299 --> 00:26:51.640
them to love her body more. And she's like, I

00:26:51.640 --> 00:26:53.759
was thinner when I did that. Does he notice that

00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:56.200
I'm heavier now? Does he notice XYZ? And it was

00:26:56.200 --> 00:26:59.619
just super relatable. Yeah, no, I totally get

00:26:59.619 --> 00:27:02.480
that. And we don't get a whole lot of description

00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:05.240
about what Aura's body type is. And honestly,

00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:09.359
I don't mind that. I just like. She is whatever

00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:12.640
it is in your mind, and her inner monologue about

00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:15.500
just having that self -conscious body image,

00:27:15.960 --> 00:27:18.140
I also found really relatable, especially because

00:27:18.140 --> 00:27:20.960
I put them both in their early 20s. They're mini

00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:27.960
baby adults. Exactly. So then, Aura asks to paint

00:27:27.960 --> 00:27:30.680
him, makes him pose naked, and then only sketches

00:27:30.680 --> 00:27:32.579
his face, which I thought was really funny, and

00:27:32.579 --> 00:27:36.779
so did he. Such a power move. I know. But on

00:27:36.779 --> 00:27:39.339
the heels of that, he says, quote, God, I fucking

00:27:39.339 --> 00:27:47.200
love you. And means it. And she even hears it

00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:49.480
and is like, oh, I'm sure he doesn't mean it,

00:27:49.500 --> 00:27:52.859
but I like it. It's like, you don't know each

00:27:52.859 --> 00:27:56.410
other? Hasn't even been 24 hours. And like. I

00:27:56.410 --> 00:27:58.009
think that was my biggest complaint in this book

00:27:58.009 --> 00:27:59.750
is, yes, they've been playing games for like

00:27:59.750 --> 00:28:02.650
a year. But specifically and multiple times,

00:28:02.690 --> 00:28:04.990
it says that in their side Discord chat, it's

00:28:04.990 --> 00:28:07.910
surface level. It's like, how was your day? Fine.

00:28:08.190 --> 00:28:11.349
And that's it. There's no bonding that has happened

00:28:11.349 --> 00:28:15.730
for them to be in love. I know. They know negative

00:28:15.730 --> 00:28:18.250
amounts. They didn't even know that each other's

00:28:18.250 --> 00:28:20.130
parents were dead. No, they didn't even know

00:28:20.130 --> 00:28:21.910
what their jobs were. She didn't know he owned

00:28:21.910 --> 00:28:24.369
a computer store. He didn't know she was an artist.

00:28:24.529 --> 00:28:28.049
Like, they don't know anything. I think you're

00:28:28.049 --> 00:28:29.950
succeeded, an idiot. Like, that's what's happening.

00:28:30.250 --> 00:28:34.549
I was like, and you're in love. OK. Right. So

00:28:34.549 --> 00:28:36.930
OK. Speaking of being in love, they'd go back

00:28:36.930 --> 00:28:39.230
to his place, and he shows her the closet recording

00:28:39.230 --> 00:28:41.490
studio and plays her the track that he was recording

00:28:41.490 --> 00:28:44.089
at the beginning of the book. She asks who wrote

00:28:44.089 --> 00:28:47.329
it, and he says he did. And then he adds, quote,

00:28:47.369 --> 00:28:50.579
they're about you. And like, There are dozens

00:28:50.579 --> 00:28:55.160
of files, months of them, and she's just really

00:28:55.160 --> 00:28:58.660
turned on. In this moment, I had to willfully

00:28:58.660 --> 00:29:01.460
suspend my disbelief, because it would be a little

00:29:01.460 --> 00:29:06.319
bit much for me. It would be very strange for

00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:08.940
me, too, to be either of them. It would be a

00:29:08.940 --> 00:29:11.059
lot for me to see that you had months of recordings

00:29:11.059 --> 00:29:15.259
about your sexual fantasies about me. And if

00:29:15.259 --> 00:29:19.960
I were Glitch, I would be mortified to play my

00:29:19.960 --> 00:29:22.619
sexy audio recordings for my partner and expect

00:29:22.619 --> 00:29:29.259
him to act it out as he listened. No, no thank

00:29:29.259 --> 00:29:33.539
you. Unless the groundwork had already been laid

00:29:33.539 --> 00:29:36.640
that he was voicing the romance novels that she's

00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:39.539
obsessed with. Yes, that would have made so much

00:29:39.539 --> 00:29:41.960
more sense to me. And then he'd be like, well,

00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:44.539
I have your very own version just for you. Like,

00:29:44.579 --> 00:29:46.700
that would be hot. That would be really hot.

00:29:46.740 --> 00:29:53.480
But it's just kind of random. So just throw away.

00:29:53.539 --> 00:29:56.059
We learn his real name is Sean. Cool. R is like,

00:29:56.079 --> 00:29:58.519
that's my favorite boy name ever. I'm like, girl.

00:29:58.940 --> 00:30:01.279
I don't think I have a favorite boy name. So

00:30:01.279 --> 00:30:03.859
like, that's wild. Especially like, I like my

00:30:03.859 --> 00:30:05.200
partner's name. It's probably my favorite boy

00:30:05.200 --> 00:30:06.960
name. But only because of him. I didn't like,

00:30:07.140 --> 00:30:12.059
I wish I had a partner named Liam. Girl, I feel

00:30:12.059 --> 00:30:13.900
the same way. I hadn't thought about it very

00:30:13.900 --> 00:30:17.119
much. Ever. There's things I don't like, but

00:30:17.119 --> 00:30:22.579
that's it. Yeah. So we do get another scene,

00:30:22.660 --> 00:30:26.440
but briefly before that, we have this moment

00:30:26.440 --> 00:30:29.799
where Aura starts to spiral. She describes it

00:30:29.799 --> 00:30:32.119
as her ex's voices flooding in, Jason's especially

00:30:32.119 --> 00:30:33.819
calling her stupid and disgusting for touching

00:30:33.819 --> 00:30:36.660
herself so often and blah, blah, blah. She voices

00:30:36.660 --> 00:30:41.500
this aloud in Glitch. Goes completely still and

00:30:41.500 --> 00:30:44.220
asks quote which sorry ass piece of shit. Do

00:30:44.220 --> 00:30:48.740
you want me to kill first? And she's like excuse

00:30:48.740 --> 00:30:51.539
me what and he's like I want names addresses

00:30:51.539 --> 00:31:08.509
places of business in the wrong genre, like,

00:31:08.750 --> 00:31:11.390
that's the only, okay, cause say that line, that's

00:31:11.390 --> 00:31:13.230
fine, like, I get that, I've said that to you,

00:31:13.650 --> 00:31:15.549
like, who do you need me to kill? But then he's

00:31:15.549 --> 00:31:18.690
like, names, addresses, places of business, and

00:31:18.690 --> 00:31:21.829
I'm like, but who are you? What are you gonna

00:31:21.829 --> 00:31:25.750
do, have you ever killed a man? No! Don't write

00:31:25.750 --> 00:31:29.190
checks to your ass, can't cash, like, what are

00:31:29.190 --> 00:31:34.039
you doing? Exactly, I was just like, okay. Okay.

00:31:34.420 --> 00:31:39.619
Seanathan, calm down. Timothy, do you even own

00:31:39.619 --> 00:31:49.029
a gun? No, he doesn't. Seanathan. Anyway. They

00:31:49.029 --> 00:31:51.849
get into a scene after this. He's like, you're

00:31:51.849 --> 00:31:55.109
not, you know, a monster or like dirty for touching

00:31:55.109 --> 00:31:57.509
yourself or whatever. And then he starts like

00:31:57.509 --> 00:32:00.430
showing like all of his sex toys that he uses

00:32:00.430 --> 00:32:07.269
for props, which we also talked about. Just weird.

00:32:08.569 --> 00:32:12.750
Like Liz just rolled her whole face at me because

00:32:12.750 --> 00:32:19.769
it's weird. It's weird. It's so. He has, for

00:32:19.769 --> 00:32:22.650
example, he has like a bedazzled butt plug to

00:32:22.650 --> 00:32:28.130
use as a prop for audio work. Make it make sense.

00:32:29.730 --> 00:32:34.450
Like, you're doing your own, is it called folio

00:32:34.450 --> 00:32:36.650
work? It's not folio, folly, your own folly work

00:32:36.650 --> 00:32:42.480
or something? Yeah! I guess. Yeah, I don't know

00:32:42.480 --> 00:32:44.500
man. It's like what you were saying in our debrief

00:32:44.500 --> 00:32:46.359
like I or maybe it was earlier in this episode

00:32:46.359 --> 00:32:48.460
I don't fucking remember, but like it's just

00:32:48.460 --> 00:32:50.680
I think it's generous to call when he's doing

00:32:50.680 --> 00:32:53.500
audio books I mean like it's cool if you're doing

00:32:53.500 --> 00:32:58.299
like Literally audio erotica cool. That's dope.

00:32:58.299 --> 00:33:03.359
Call it that Call it that right? So they have

00:33:03.359 --> 00:33:06.559
a great time There's a lot of bit of anal in

00:33:06.559 --> 00:33:09.299
this and we also learn fun fact that glitch can

00:33:09.299 --> 00:33:13.099
come five times at a time, in a row. Yeah, which

00:33:13.099 --> 00:33:17.079
we usually only see that. And honestly, I only

00:33:17.079 --> 00:33:20.460
buy it in supernatural romances. Also, my other

00:33:20.460 --> 00:33:23.599
point in this is, I don't know how Aura's not

00:33:23.599 --> 00:33:32.640
dead. Like, she has 37 orgasms. Girl, same. And

00:33:32.640 --> 00:33:36.859
like, good for you. That's amazing. I would be

00:33:36.859 --> 00:33:42.769
so overstimulated. I would be too. Like, don't

00:33:42.769 --> 00:33:46.470
fucking touch me. I need, like, I just need some

00:33:46.470 --> 00:33:49.369
time to recover. But no, he can also just come

00:33:49.369 --> 00:33:53.990
five times. And not a button. Yeah. But there

00:33:53.990 --> 00:33:56.670
is some, like, fun edging in here, because she

00:33:56.670 --> 00:33:58.470
comes, like, too fast for him. I did, like, the

00:33:58.470 --> 00:34:02.650
too fast thing. That was fun. Definitely. Definitely

00:34:02.650 --> 00:34:05.029
some fun things. It was a great scene. I'm just,

00:34:05.029 --> 00:34:07.009
like, look, one -handed reading club for sure,

00:34:07.109 --> 00:34:11.199
but I just. Oh, yeah. There was a lot. And afterwards,

00:34:11.320 --> 00:34:13.940
there's some aftercare that happens, right? Bath,

00:34:14.119 --> 00:34:16.860
food, blah, blah. Her realizing that she went

00:34:16.860 --> 00:34:21.460
into subspace, blah, blah, blah. Him being familiar

00:34:21.460 --> 00:34:23.380
with the drop and anticipating it and things

00:34:23.380 --> 00:34:27.840
like that. So that was nice. They don't sleep

00:34:27.840 --> 00:34:30.719
again. Maybe they nap for a little bit. I don't

00:34:30.719 --> 00:34:32.199
know. But they wake up again and they're hungry.

00:34:32.260 --> 00:34:37.639
So they eat. They talk about trauma. So we learned

00:34:37.639 --> 00:34:40.239
that Aura's mother was an art teacher who died

00:34:40.239 --> 00:34:44.179
of a heart attack mid fifth period. Jesus. Quote,

00:34:44.360 --> 00:34:47.699
covered in pottery clay up to her elbows. Woof.

00:34:48.159 --> 00:34:52.079
I do like that Aura makes this kind of throwaway

00:34:52.079 --> 00:34:53.340
comment where she's like, I don't think there's

00:34:53.340 --> 00:34:55.599
a better way for her to go. And I was like, OK.

00:34:58.159 --> 00:35:01.179
Maybe later in life would have been nice. Yeah.

00:35:02.539 --> 00:35:07.079
But I'm glad your mom literally died doing what

00:35:07.079 --> 00:35:10.579
made her happy. I can't imagine the amount of

00:35:10.579 --> 00:35:12.340
trauma that inflicted on her entire fucking class.

00:35:12.340 --> 00:35:17.090
The classroom of fifth graders? I know. but we'll

00:35:17.090 --> 00:35:19.250
put that up to the side a little bit. We learn

00:35:19.250 --> 00:35:21.030
that her father's been out of the picture because

00:35:21.030 --> 00:35:23.829
he remarried and has a whole new family, didn't

00:35:23.829 --> 00:35:25.789
even come to the funeral, blah blah blah. She

00:35:25.789 --> 00:35:28.829
also reveals that her studio that she loves so

00:35:28.829 --> 00:35:31.590
much is not long for this world. She's got four

00:35:31.590 --> 00:35:33.630
months to clear out because the warehouse was

00:35:33.630 --> 00:35:38.070
sold. We also also learn that she hasn't slept

00:35:38.070 --> 00:35:40.409
with the last three boyfriends, Jason included,

00:35:40.949 --> 00:35:46.329
because quote, it didn't feel right. Which, She

00:35:46.329 --> 00:35:48.929
has some shame about it, but I just, I don't

00:35:48.929 --> 00:35:55.969
understand like... Why? Why are you dating? Like,

00:35:55.969 --> 00:35:56.949
if you don't want to sleep with these people,

00:35:56.949 --> 00:35:59.110
why are you dating? Well, because it kind of

00:35:59.110 --> 00:36:01.909
like... Okay, what we learn about Aura, which

00:36:01.909 --> 00:36:03.309
we've already learned, is she's like fucking

00:36:03.309 --> 00:36:05.590
ravenous. Like, she gets off multiple times a

00:36:05.590 --> 00:36:08.550
day, wherever the fuck she wants. So the whole,

00:36:08.710 --> 00:36:10.130
it didn't feel right, then why are you dating

00:36:10.130 --> 00:36:13.500
them? That's my thing. If it doesn't feel right,

00:36:13.699 --> 00:36:17.400
then I get, so she kind of just explains that

00:36:17.400 --> 00:36:20.320
with Jason because he would do the nagging thing

00:36:20.320 --> 00:36:22.599
and then they would break up and then he would

00:36:22.599 --> 00:36:24.579
wear her down until she took him back again.

00:36:24.699 --> 00:36:27.480
That is abusive behavior. That's fine. But the

00:36:27.480 --> 00:36:30.239
other two guys, were they doing the same thing?

00:36:30.599 --> 00:36:32.500
I know, that's what I didn't get. I kind of wish

00:36:32.500 --> 00:36:36.000
it was just I didn't sleep with Jason or we were

00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:37.559
together for three years and we didn't sleep

00:36:37.559 --> 00:36:40.530
together the last year and a half. But at all,

00:36:40.730 --> 00:36:42.610
ever. Again, it goes back to how old are you?

00:36:42.670 --> 00:36:44.050
Not that you have to have sex with your partner.

00:36:44.269 --> 00:36:45.789
Plenty of people are asexual and don't have sex.

00:36:45.949 --> 00:36:48.190
It's fine. But that's not who she is. That's

00:36:48.190 --> 00:36:51.750
not who these partners were. Yeah. So what are

00:36:51.750 --> 00:36:57.289
you doing? Yeah, I wish I knew. We don't get

00:36:57.289 --> 00:36:59.369
a whole lot of information on that, which fine,

00:36:59.389 --> 00:37:00.789
that's not what we're here for. But it was just

00:37:00.789 --> 00:37:03.170
a weird thing to say. I was like, OK. Yeah, cool.

00:37:04.050 --> 00:37:09.880
Which makes it extra, I guess, impactful, I'll

00:37:09.880 --> 00:37:11.460
say, I was gonna say poignant, I'm like poignant

00:37:11.460 --> 00:37:14.920
has no place in this description. Impactful that

00:37:14.920 --> 00:37:17.219
she just hopped right into bed with Glitch, like

00:37:17.219 --> 00:37:19.940
met him 30 seconds later, like DTF, you know?

00:37:20.440 --> 00:37:22.800
Yeah, well the other, okay, another thing that

00:37:22.800 --> 00:37:24.559
kind of bothered me in this book is girl gets

00:37:24.559 --> 00:37:28.539
wet like the drop of a hat, like she. Just constantly

00:37:28.539 --> 00:37:30.539
a slip and slide. Just constantly a slip and

00:37:30.539 --> 00:37:32.239
slide, like he said he, in the beginning of the

00:37:32.239 --> 00:37:35.389
book, they're video gaming. And he laughs for

00:37:35.389 --> 00:37:37.829
like 2 .5 seconds, and she immediately is a puddle.

00:37:37.869 --> 00:37:47.349
And I'm like, OK. Girl, what? Yeah. Look. It's

00:37:47.349 --> 00:37:50.869
an addiction. It's fine, but like. It's fine,

00:37:50.889 --> 00:37:52.210
and I'm glad you have a supportive partner, but

00:37:52.210 --> 00:37:57.079
let's just name it, OK? Yeah. So they go on to

00:37:57.079 --> 00:38:00.139
have kind of a quasi -normal day. She goes to

00:38:00.139 --> 00:38:03.139
her studio, he goes to work, and then he comes

00:38:03.139 --> 00:38:04.980
back, and then they canoodle a little bit in

00:38:04.980 --> 00:38:08.460
the studio, and they have sex in the paint? Yeah,

00:38:08.579 --> 00:38:11.920
it's very Feyre and Reese, but normal. Uh -huh.

00:38:12.119 --> 00:38:14.880
But normal, but also I guess I'm just not that

00:38:14.880 --> 00:38:18.329
person. I would know. not enjoy that. By normal,

00:38:18.349 --> 00:38:20.429
I mean like they're humans that have regular

00:38:20.429 --> 00:38:25.030
lives. Like they're not supernatural beings.

00:38:27.489 --> 00:38:29.889
I should have clarified. I also don't think I

00:38:29.889 --> 00:38:31.949
would enjoy that, because it sounds like a great

00:38:31.949 --> 00:38:35.349
way to get to UTI, honestly. Honestly, yeah.

00:38:35.449 --> 00:38:36.769
Well, and then you've got to clean it all up.

00:38:37.289 --> 00:38:40.590
Look, I'm not trying to be a killjoy, and I promise

00:38:40.590 --> 00:38:43.170
you I'm not a prude. I just don't like that,

00:38:43.590 --> 00:38:47.090
for me personally. Yeah, me who I am right now.

00:38:47.670 --> 00:38:52.150
Right. But it doesn't matter. That evening, they

00:38:52.150 --> 00:38:54.690
go over to Aaron's house. And Aaron is, if you'll

00:38:54.690 --> 00:38:57.690
remember, Glitch's sister, specifically so that

00:38:57.690 --> 00:39:00.730
Aura can meet Aaron and Beetle because Glitch

00:39:00.730 --> 00:39:02.349
is like, I'm going to marry this woman tomorrow.

00:39:02.769 --> 00:39:05.110
Like, literally, he says that. He says that.

00:39:05.130 --> 00:39:08.849
And they're like, cool, let's go. Cool. So they're

00:39:08.849 --> 00:39:11.750
having tacos. And it's, you know, the warm, fuzzy

00:39:11.750 --> 00:39:15.250
family meeting thing. And at some point, Like

00:39:15.250 --> 00:39:17.030
ours doing so well getting along with beetle

00:39:17.030 --> 00:39:19.389
and Aaron that Aaron leans over to glitch and

00:39:19.389 --> 00:39:22.349
whispers quote marry her and like, okay Look,

00:39:22.449 --> 00:39:24.710
everybody is saying the same thing. I get it.

00:39:24.710 --> 00:39:27.710
They met 48 hours ago This is literally their

00:39:27.710 --> 00:39:30.110
second night together and they don't know each

00:39:30.110 --> 00:39:35.070
other No at all actually Evidence by the fact

00:39:35.070 --> 00:39:36.789
that Aaron has to fill in some of the gaps about

00:39:36.789 --> 00:39:39.289
glitch that he would never tell Aura by himself

00:39:39.289 --> 00:39:42.030
Namely that he went to MIT on a full scholarship

00:39:42.030 --> 00:39:44.369
and then turned down every job offer to come

00:39:44.369 --> 00:39:47.889
home and like be with her and like Beatle so

00:39:47.889 --> 00:39:50.429
he built the shop and like that was specifically

00:39:50.429 --> 00:39:53.150
an after -school sanctuary with tutors for kids

00:39:53.150 --> 00:39:56.599
who need it like She says, Erin says that Glitch

00:39:56.599 --> 00:39:59.380
stayed because he feels indebted to her because

00:39:59.380 --> 00:40:02.260
she raised him after their parents died and she

00:40:02.260 --> 00:40:03.579
wishes that he wouldn't, that he would just go

00:40:03.579 --> 00:40:05.360
live his life. Which that's really sweet and

00:40:05.360 --> 00:40:08.480
cute and I love it. Why is he also a millionaire?

00:40:13.699 --> 00:40:16.920
I don't know. I don't know. Cause like you're

00:40:16.920 --> 00:40:19.019
not making millionaire dollars off of a card

00:40:19.019 --> 00:40:22.980
shop. I'm sorry. And tutoring kids. That's why

00:40:22.980 --> 00:40:27.949
I... I would love if Jermaine to the, I'm gonna

00:40:27.949 --> 00:40:29.710
fucking kill everybody who ever hurt you thing,

00:40:29.949 --> 00:40:33.630
I know a guy, I do some work for an international

00:40:33.630 --> 00:40:35.750
crime syndicate sometimes, don't worry about

00:40:35.750 --> 00:40:37.449
it. Don't ask questions, but I'm also a really

00:40:37.449 --> 00:40:41.969
good hacker. Right, okay cool, bet, that makes

00:40:41.969 --> 00:40:44.349
a lot of sense. I would buy that, one liner sold,

00:40:44.590 --> 00:40:46.190
I probably would still have 27 other questions,

00:40:46.570 --> 00:40:50.320
but it just, you said it really nicely. Money

00:40:50.320 --> 00:40:52.099
comes up too often in this book for them not

00:40:52.099 --> 00:40:54.920
to explain why he has so much money. Right. Well,

00:40:54.960 --> 00:40:56.559
OK, the other thing is that we didn't even talk

00:40:56.559 --> 00:40:58.519
about that first time that we see Erin. She just

00:40:58.519 --> 00:41:01.940
lost her job. Yeah. Also, she says, like, I was

00:41:01.940 --> 00:41:04.579
let go, not I was laid off. So like, girl got

00:41:04.579 --> 00:41:09.920
fired. And he doesn't offer to pay for her. Well,

00:41:10.099 --> 00:41:13.320
he does offer. He's like, in that moment, he's

00:41:13.320 --> 00:41:14.920
like, if you need anything, I got some money

00:41:14.920 --> 00:41:17.000
stashed away. I have some money stashed away

00:41:17.000 --> 00:41:18.639
is different from I'm a millionaire and money

00:41:18.639 --> 00:41:21.159
is no object. Because he acts like money is no

00:41:21.159 --> 00:41:29.780
object. Right. Okay, cool. Anyway. So during

00:41:29.780 --> 00:41:34.980
this scene, Aura gets an email that she won this

00:41:34.980 --> 00:41:37.619
commission to do a mural for a bunch of elementary

00:41:37.619 --> 00:41:41.380
schools that she applied for. And she's ecstatic,

00:41:41.519 --> 00:41:44.880
right? Not only has her muse been evading her,

00:41:44.920 --> 00:41:46.929
but she's also been kind of like. She hasn't

00:41:46.929 --> 00:41:48.969
gotten a commission. She hasn't really done an

00:41:48.969 --> 00:41:50.989
art show. So she's kind of like wondering where

00:41:50.989 --> 00:41:52.969
her next paycheck is going to come from. And

00:41:52.969 --> 00:41:56.690
this is it. So it's kind of a big deal. But she's

00:41:56.690 --> 00:41:58.150
a little bit in her head about it. And so Glitch

00:41:58.150 --> 00:42:00.530
pulls the car over to talk her through it. And

00:42:00.530 --> 00:42:03.679
then... In the middle of this kind of happy anxiety,

00:42:03.980 --> 00:42:07.199
another text comes through, and it's Jason, and

00:42:07.199 --> 00:42:09.539
he has sent her clips of Aura masturbating in

00:42:09.539 --> 00:42:12.119
her own bedroom, recorded without her knowledge,

00:42:12.199 --> 00:42:13.659
and he tells her, quote, if you don't come back

00:42:13.659 --> 00:42:15.539
to me, I'll make sure everyone knows what a disgusting

00:42:15.539 --> 00:42:19.360
slut you are. Which is just like... You're just

00:42:19.360 --> 00:42:23.480
masturbating. Everybody does it. I know. I, like,

00:42:24.119 --> 00:42:26.280
the whole revenge porn of it didn't really hit

00:42:26.280 --> 00:42:30.769
home for me because Aura... doesn't seem to have

00:42:30.769 --> 00:42:34.429
any family. She doesn't have any friends. She's

00:42:34.429 --> 00:42:38.750
an artist. So it's not gonna hurt your career.

00:42:38.869 --> 00:42:41.809
It's not gonna ruin any relationships. Yeah,

00:42:41.929 --> 00:42:43.090
it would suck. You're not running for office.

00:42:43.809 --> 00:42:45.769
Right, exactly. It would be embarrassing, but

00:42:45.769 --> 00:42:48.670
it's not like she's a teacher. She's not a politician.

00:42:50.969 --> 00:42:54.409
And again, you're just masturbating. The whole

00:42:54.409 --> 00:42:59.650
revenge porn of it all was wild. Also, we haven't

00:42:59.650 --> 00:43:02.010
really talked about Jason, but there's an undercurrent

00:43:02.010 --> 00:43:04.309
in this book where he's basically stalking her.

00:43:04.730 --> 00:43:06.909
He'll show up at her favorite coffee shop begging

00:43:06.909 --> 00:43:09.130
for her back. He'll call her. She's blocked him.

00:43:09.150 --> 00:43:13.929
He'll call her from other people's numbers. He's

00:43:13.929 --> 00:43:18.550
showing up at her house. So now this thing feels.

00:43:18.869 --> 00:43:21.389
Well, so the thing is, especially the calling

00:43:21.389 --> 00:43:23.969
and the heavy breathing thing really felt to

00:43:23.969 --> 00:43:29.599
me like Jason is more dangerous than. a loser,

00:43:29.820 --> 00:43:32.079
like he just, he really turns into kind of like

00:43:32.079 --> 00:43:35.659
a nothing burger loser. Yeah, he is a nothing

00:43:35.659 --> 00:43:38.360
burger loser. And I just, I wish that they had

00:43:38.360 --> 00:43:40.480
leaned into it a little bit more of like, hey,

00:43:40.739 --> 00:43:42.579
calling somebody and like essentially breathing

00:43:42.579 --> 00:43:45.179
hard because you're like in a rage or because

00:43:45.179 --> 00:43:47.780
you're masturbating is like what the Golden State

00:43:47.780 --> 00:43:50.739
Killer did, right? Like that is, that is big,

00:43:50.760 --> 00:43:54.039
big, big, big bad news, like no good. Yeah, and

00:43:54.039 --> 00:43:55.579
like just showing up everywhere and following

00:43:55.579 --> 00:43:58.349
you, like I. I do wish they had leaned more into

00:43:58.349 --> 00:44:02.250
him actually being a threat. Yeah. But he turns

00:44:02.250 --> 00:44:04.110
into an nothing burger. So let's get into kind

00:44:04.110 --> 00:44:08.530
of what happens with him. So Glitch hacks the

00:44:08.530 --> 00:44:11.449
laptop that Jason had quote gifted to Aura after

00:44:11.449 --> 00:44:15.030
he broke her computer by kicking it. And he finds

00:44:15.030 --> 00:44:18.170
a program on it that records when the screen

00:44:18.170 --> 00:44:20.409
is off. So like uses the camera to record when

00:44:20.409 --> 00:44:22.590
the screen is off. And it has tracking on it

00:44:22.590 --> 00:44:28.849
as well. Gross, I hate that. Yeah, put the little

00:44:28.849 --> 00:44:30.769
thing blocking your camera, close your laptop.

00:44:31.829 --> 00:44:37.869
Yeah. That's kind of the thing. I'm not going

00:44:37.869 --> 00:44:41.349
to diminish how gross that is by saying this.

00:44:42.130 --> 00:44:45.610
I just also don't leave my computer up. I don't

00:44:45.610 --> 00:44:50.449
either. The only time I leave it up is when I'm

00:44:50.449 --> 00:44:52.590
converting our garage band, because I'm scared

00:44:52.590 --> 00:44:57.619
to close it. Close it when it's done. Also, just,

00:44:57.719 --> 00:45:00.639
and I'm not diminishing this either, but a little

00:45:00.639 --> 00:45:02.679
bit, part of it doesn't make sense because Aria

00:45:02.679 --> 00:45:04.539
says repeatedly that she hates this laptop. She

00:45:04.539 --> 00:45:06.639
likes her desktop. She never uses this laptop

00:45:06.639 --> 00:45:10.320
unless she has to. So it's just sitting open

00:45:10.320 --> 00:45:13.920
on your desk facing your bed all the time? Right.

00:45:14.179 --> 00:45:16.000
And I'm not blaming her. I'm not victim blaming.

00:45:16.119 --> 00:45:18.079
It's just weird because she doesn't use it. She

00:45:18.079 --> 00:45:21.900
has to find it when she has to use it. Right.

00:45:22.159 --> 00:45:26.289
Yeah, no, I'm totally with you on that. She just

00:45:26.289 --> 00:45:27.690
interacts with computers differently, and maybe

00:45:27.690 --> 00:45:29.710
it's because she's an artiste. That's true. Maybe

00:45:29.710 --> 00:45:32.289
she does leave them up. I mean, I think I probably

00:45:32.289 --> 00:45:34.570
know people who leave theirs open all the time.

00:45:35.190 --> 00:45:39.489
I just don't. I just don't. But anyway, because

00:45:39.489 --> 00:45:42.809
of that tracking software, Jason knows that Ara

00:45:42.809 --> 00:45:46.110
is at Glitch's house, and so he shows up and

00:45:46.110 --> 00:45:49.969
gets into an altercation with Glitch. He throws

00:45:49.969 --> 00:45:52.650
a punch, and Glitch deliberately eats that punch

00:45:52.650 --> 00:45:55.280
before... Basically dropping Jason with one hit

00:45:55.280 --> 00:45:58.320
because Jason is like a big nothing burger like

00:45:58.320 --> 00:46:02.579
wimpy dude. Yeah But crucially glitch doesn't

00:46:02.579 --> 00:46:05.199
like immediately go to bury Jason in the backyard

00:46:05.199 --> 00:46:07.579
He just calmly calls the police and reports an

00:46:07.579 --> 00:46:09.460
assault and then has surveillance footage to

00:46:09.460 --> 00:46:11.440
back it up which is why he ate that first bunch

00:46:11.440 --> 00:46:14.000
which honestly I loved this because we got all

00:46:14.000 --> 00:46:17.500
the talk about but a murder people but I Like

00:46:17.500 --> 00:46:21.280
seeing a normal sane response to this And it

00:46:21.280 --> 00:46:22.920
was also kind of brilliant. Like, I'm gonna let

00:46:22.920 --> 00:46:26.219
him hit me. I know I'm recording him. My punch

00:46:26.219 --> 00:46:28.519
back is clearly in self -defense, and now we

00:46:28.519 --> 00:46:30.539
can press charges. And I was like... Exactly.

00:46:31.860 --> 00:46:33.820
But it doesn't line up with who Glitch has been

00:46:33.820 --> 00:46:36.360
for the rest of the book, so like, I don't know.

00:46:37.900 --> 00:46:40.980
I'm clearly a law -abiding citizen now. But okay,

00:46:41.139 --> 00:46:44.300
the other thing, speaking of like, not really

00:46:44.300 --> 00:46:47.280
baking a whole lot of sense, is like... Glitch

00:46:47.280 --> 00:46:51.739
reveals that when he was inside one of Jason's

00:46:51.739 --> 00:46:54.420
machine or maybe he hacked it, whatever, somewhere

00:46:54.420 --> 00:46:58.219
he found child sex abuse material, and so he

00:46:58.219 --> 00:47:04.000
reports Jason to the cyber tip line. So not only

00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:06.679
is Jason a jealous piece of shit ex -boyfriend,

00:47:06.699 --> 00:47:09.840
he's also a pedophile? I know, I didn't need

00:47:09.840 --> 00:47:12.019
that, and I was hard skimming at this point,

00:47:12.039 --> 00:47:15.500
but there's this weird hacking sequence. I don't

00:47:15.500 --> 00:47:18.280
really know why Glitch had to hack into anything

00:47:18.280 --> 00:47:22.079
of Jason's. The only amount of hacking he had

00:47:22.079 --> 00:47:24.420
to do was to understand how RR was being recorded.

00:47:24.579 --> 00:47:27.079
So I don't know how he gets into Jason's computer

00:47:27.079 --> 00:47:30.400
or why. And a little part of me, this is not

00:47:30.400 --> 00:47:34.940
in the book, but did Glitch plant the child pornography

00:47:34.940 --> 00:47:38.920
on his computer? Yeah, exactly. Because it's

00:47:38.920 --> 00:47:42.900
weird. It's weird. It's like. You already have

00:47:42.900 --> 00:47:45.539
him in jail for assault. Maybe he just wanted

00:47:45.539 --> 00:47:48.820
him to go away permanently or be on a list that

00:47:48.820 --> 00:47:50.420
he could track for the rest of his life. I don't

00:47:50.420 --> 00:47:54.719
know. It was just a weird kind of left turn that

00:47:54.719 --> 00:47:56.840
I didn't think we needed to make. We didn't need

00:47:56.840 --> 00:47:58.800
the child pornography of it all. I was just like,

00:47:58.980 --> 00:48:01.199
okay. And he even says it's on his work computer

00:48:01.199 --> 00:48:03.719
and his home computer. And I'm like, how do you

00:48:03.719 --> 00:48:06.420
know? How do you know it's on his work computer?

00:48:06.840 --> 00:48:10.780
It felt a lot like, was it? Haunting Adeline

00:48:10.780 --> 00:48:14.219
where it just went off into this like child porn

00:48:14.219 --> 00:48:19.739
like sex ring. Yeah, I think uh, I Don't remember

00:48:19.739 --> 00:48:20.860
what book that was I might have been haunting

00:48:20.860 --> 00:48:22.840
Adeline, but yeah, just this hard left turn that

00:48:22.840 --> 00:48:25.800
I'm like, why are we here? Yeah, he was like

00:48:25.800 --> 00:48:28.460
a vigilante and he was like bodily physically

00:48:28.460 --> 00:48:30.719
guys to these places himself I'm like, who are

00:48:30.719 --> 00:48:34.760
you and like why I didn't like stakes to be higher

00:48:34.760 --> 00:48:40.550
Yeah So anyway, that happens. Jason turns into

00:48:40.550 --> 00:48:46.869
a big old nothing burger. And Aura and Glitch

00:48:46.869 --> 00:48:49.289
consummate their relationship again, but he doesn't

00:48:49.289 --> 00:48:52.090
take her home to do that. He takes her to the

00:48:52.090 --> 00:48:55.210
studio, undresses her, drags her paints to the

00:48:55.210 --> 00:48:59.050
middle of the room, and sits in a corner for

00:48:59.050 --> 00:49:03.070
24 hours in total silence while she works. And

00:49:03.070 --> 00:49:05.349
she's just like pounding Skittles and like no

00:49:05.349 --> 00:49:08.730
one is eating. Right, and I'm like, okay, you

00:49:08.730 --> 00:49:13.190
guys haven't slept for two days now three Yeah,

00:49:13.190 --> 00:49:15.389
you're not making the best decisions right now.

00:49:15.429 --> 00:49:20.030
No, it's it's crazy But she ends up painting

00:49:20.030 --> 00:49:22.710
glitch and his face is fracturing into pixels

00:49:22.710 --> 00:49:24.889
there's computer code like pouring down over

00:49:24.889 --> 00:49:27.710
his head like honey and there are words like

00:49:27.710 --> 00:49:32.789
hidden in it and like His pupils are tiny but

00:49:32.789 --> 00:49:35.130
ours in one and there's a kitty and the other

00:49:35.130 --> 00:49:40.159
and like Glitch loves it, I love that for him.

00:49:40.420 --> 00:49:42.239
And he's so moved that he asks her to move in

00:49:42.239 --> 00:49:44.219
with him and she says yes. Which is so weird.

00:49:45.559 --> 00:49:50.639
On the moving in thing, she says like, okay,

00:49:50.739 --> 00:49:52.719
but we have to split the bills. And he's like,

00:49:52.780 --> 00:49:54.500
sure, fine, we'll talk about it later. And his

00:49:54.500 --> 00:49:56.659
internal monologue is like, she's not paying

00:49:56.659 --> 00:50:06.079
for a damn thing. And I'm like, why? Why? Sure,

00:50:06.079 --> 00:50:08.059
that's kind, but like, are you her sugar daddy

00:50:08.059 --> 00:50:12.699
now? Like, what is happening here? Yeah. It was

00:50:12.699 --> 00:50:15.239
also like, he's so moved by the portrait. You

00:50:15.239 --> 00:50:17.019
were gonna ask her that anyway, dude, like, don't

00:50:17.019 --> 00:50:22.059
lie. Exactly. So that's where the main book ends,

00:50:22.079 --> 00:50:24.059
and then we just get an epilogue, which is a

00:50:24.059 --> 00:50:27.340
year on. We learn that Aura moved into his place

00:50:27.340 --> 00:50:30.239
that night. Three months later he bought a house

00:50:30.239 --> 00:50:32.340
with a studio out back so she would never have

00:50:32.340 --> 00:50:34.619
to worry about like her shit in other places

00:50:34.619 --> 00:50:36.500
and other people like controlling her creative

00:50:36.500 --> 00:50:39.840
future and whatever. The mural that she painted

00:50:39.840 --> 00:50:42.199
turns out to be at Beatles school and it made

00:50:42.199 --> 00:50:45.840
the local paper and then since that kind of publicity

00:50:45.840 --> 00:50:47.599
the commissions haven't stopped so she's making

00:50:47.599 --> 00:50:52.960
good money now. Which is great. So Carson who

00:50:52.960 --> 00:50:55.599
we didn't mention at all but is one of their

00:50:55.599 --> 00:51:02.059
gaming circle He turns out to be the one that's

00:51:02.059 --> 00:51:04.760
getting her portfolio in front of people, and

00:51:04.760 --> 00:51:07.380
now she has a gallery space, which is great.

00:51:09.079 --> 00:51:11.119
I just don't know why that had to come around

00:51:11.119 --> 00:51:14.860
again. Just to show that she's successful now,

00:51:14.900 --> 00:51:17.119
I don't know, and the Carson thing was so weird,

00:51:17.159 --> 00:51:20.579
because he's a non -entity. Glitch hates him,

00:51:20.719 --> 00:51:22.159
Aria doesn't like him, but it turns out he's

00:51:22.159 --> 00:51:25.539
actually a good guy, and he was just like. Egging

00:51:25.539 --> 00:51:27.519
them on just to get them together? I don't know.

00:51:27.579 --> 00:51:29.760
I didn't need that part of the epilogue. I don't

00:51:29.760 --> 00:51:34.159
care. I don't care. Jason's in prison for a long,

00:51:34.219 --> 00:51:37.300
long time. She's making donations to the grief

00:51:37.300 --> 00:51:39.159
center that helped Erin and Glitch after their

00:51:39.159 --> 00:51:41.380
parents died. She's teaching free after school

00:51:41.380 --> 00:51:45.000
classes at the computer cave. And they're engaged

00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:57.210
to getting married in a month. Cool. OK. So that's

00:51:57.210 --> 00:52:02.010
where the book ends. I mean, listen, I got mad

00:52:02.010 --> 00:52:06.789
about it. We're being, we had a great time. We

00:52:06.789 --> 00:52:11.610
are being a little bit critical. We're being

00:52:11.610 --> 00:52:19.130
super critical because that's who we are. I had

00:52:19.130 --> 00:52:21.829
a great time. I had a great time that I didn't

00:52:21.829 --> 00:52:23.650
need, which we could talk about in our readings,

00:52:23.829 --> 00:52:31.190
I suppose. So girl, how do we rate that smut?

00:52:31.670 --> 00:52:33.909
We gave that smut a five. I mean, this book is

00:52:33.909 --> 00:52:36.889
basically straight smut, but there's a lot of

00:52:36.889 --> 00:52:38.449
it. It's a smut montage. It is a smut montage.

00:52:38.590 --> 00:52:41.429
This is like 150 pages of smut in a 250 page

00:52:41.429 --> 00:52:44.860
book. Hell yeah. It's great, it's one handed

00:52:44.860 --> 00:52:47.159
reading club. We get a lot of diversity, you

00:52:47.159 --> 00:52:50.780
get a lot of toys. You get the Dom play, you

00:52:50.780 --> 00:52:52.800
get a lot of the praise kink. They also try out

00:52:52.800 --> 00:53:00.360
some of the degradation play. It really hits

00:53:00.360 --> 00:53:02.659
all the things. For just a regular heterosexual

00:53:02.659 --> 00:53:07.019
couple, you get all of the things. And the semantics

00:53:07.019 --> 00:53:08.760
work, at least as far as I could tell. I wasn't

00:53:08.760 --> 00:53:11.650
reading that closely. The only semantica that

00:53:11.650 --> 00:53:13.570
doesn't work is that he can come five times in

00:53:13.570 --> 00:53:16.769
an hour, but I don't care. I don't care. I don't

00:53:16.769 --> 00:53:22.070
care. It's great. You get the dumb sub stuff.

00:53:23.170 --> 00:53:24.789
You get butt play. You get a whole bunch of oral

00:53:24.789 --> 00:53:26.570
for both of them. It's just great. I have no

00:53:26.570 --> 00:53:29.409
notes. Yeah, not a lot of notes. And I think

00:53:29.409 --> 00:53:31.650
you said it best when you were like, for a heterosexual

00:53:31.650 --> 00:53:34.829
couple, you get all of the flavors, right? So

00:53:34.829 --> 00:53:36.289
there's really something in here for everybody.

00:53:36.949 --> 00:53:39.719
Yeah. without going too far, right? Like it's

00:53:39.719 --> 00:53:41.940
not hunting out a line with like, I'm gonna fuck

00:53:41.940 --> 00:53:45.460
you with a gun, like. Jesus. It's accessible.

00:53:46.699 --> 00:53:51.880
Non -vanilla sex. Exactly. Get all the consent.

00:53:52.920 --> 00:53:56.579
So that leads us into writing style. We gave

00:53:56.579 --> 00:53:59.800
it a three. I think the reason that I did that

00:53:59.800 --> 00:54:01.940
the most for me personally was just because it

00:54:01.940 --> 00:54:04.179
was really fucking confusing sometimes, like

00:54:04.179 --> 00:54:08.280
who was talking. And I just didn't really need

00:54:08.280 --> 00:54:11.000
that. Yeah, that's the biggest thing for me as

00:54:11.000 --> 00:54:13.500
well. It just get a little confusing who was

00:54:13.500 --> 00:54:17.199
talking. But everything else was fine. I didn't

00:54:17.199 --> 00:54:20.159
clock major typos or anything. I wasn't reading

00:54:20.159 --> 00:54:21.639
that closely, if I'm going to be really honest.

00:54:21.820 --> 00:54:24.960
But the formatting was fine. It was pleasing

00:54:24.960 --> 00:54:27.159
to read on Kindle. All of that was fine. It was

00:54:27.159 --> 00:54:31.480
just the keeping track of who was speaking was

00:54:31.480 --> 00:54:33.380
a little bit tough. Yeah, especially when we

00:54:33.380 --> 00:54:35.929
get a little Scooby Doo. A little Scooby -Doo.

00:54:36.809 --> 00:54:38.690
So that brings us into the quality of the storytelling.

00:54:38.929 --> 00:54:41.869
How did we rate that? We also gave that a three,

00:54:41.889 --> 00:54:43.369
and it's probably pretty clear in our coverage

00:54:43.369 --> 00:54:46.170
why. Listen, we're here for the smut, not the

00:54:46.170 --> 00:54:48.630
plot. But there are some plot holes that did

00:54:48.630 --> 00:54:52.369
kind of take me out of the jantasy. The character

00:54:52.369 --> 00:54:54.329
of Glitch doesn't really make a lot of sense

00:54:54.329 --> 00:54:57.309
to me. I get that Brandon Michaels wanted to

00:54:57.309 --> 00:55:01.710
write this kind of nerdy, techie boy, but really

00:55:01.710 --> 00:55:05.190
just wrote a mafia. and put him in a different

00:55:05.190 --> 00:55:07.130
job, and I know it's like four times, but that's

00:55:07.130 --> 00:55:11.909
really how it reads. There's not a lot of dimension,

00:55:12.050 --> 00:55:14.309
and there's some things we called out, like,

00:55:14.389 --> 00:55:19.150
they're zero to love. And that's real fucking

00:55:19.150 --> 00:55:22.329
quick. And like, that's fine, it's not my thing,

00:55:22.489 --> 00:55:24.750
it's not my favorite thing. I think there's a

00:55:24.750 --> 00:55:26.190
lot of ways you could have done that and had

00:55:26.190 --> 00:55:28.349
it make more sense, which we called out, like.

00:55:28.699 --> 00:55:30.320
if she'd actually been listening to him, if they

00:55:30.320 --> 00:55:32.559
had had some deeper conversations over Discord,

00:55:32.880 --> 00:55:37.420
if they had any relationship at all before they

00:55:37.420 --> 00:55:39.300
finally meet. And then just things get dropped.

00:55:40.039 --> 00:55:43.500
They never play computer games again. She never

00:55:43.500 --> 00:55:47.699
gets a new computer. The Jason. child porn scandal,

00:55:47.699 --> 00:55:50.139
I just didn't make any fuckin' sense, but that's

00:55:50.139 --> 00:55:53.800
fine. I think he planted it on his computer,

00:55:53.860 --> 00:55:55.380
and I think that's a much more interesting story,

00:55:55.420 --> 00:55:58.800
but we'll never know. We'll never know. Yeah,

00:55:59.239 --> 00:56:01.719
look, small potatoes, I guess, but yeah. I mean,

00:56:01.960 --> 00:56:04.360
money comes up way too often for it to be such

00:56:04.360 --> 00:56:08.860
a non -issue. Yeah, there's just, it really,

00:56:08.920 --> 00:56:10.199
I know I keep saying this, but it really feels

00:56:10.199 --> 00:56:11.940
like she wrote a different story, and then just

00:56:11.940 --> 00:56:14.940
changed the background information. And so it

00:56:14.940 --> 00:56:17.099
kind of creates this weird disconnect for me

00:56:17.099 --> 00:56:20.199
that wasn't my favorite thing. Right. And then

00:56:20.199 --> 00:56:21.719
also, how the fuck do you both know Trey, but

00:56:21.719 --> 00:56:23.099
you don't live in the same town as Trey, but

00:56:23.099 --> 00:56:24.460
you both live in the same town as each other,

00:56:24.460 --> 00:56:26.019
but you don't know each other? What is happening

00:56:26.019 --> 00:56:28.239
here? And who the fuck is Carson, and why does

00:56:28.239 --> 00:56:29.900
he care enough to help you? Because no one knows

00:56:29.900 --> 00:56:31.800
Carson, right? He's just in their gaming group,

00:56:31.900 --> 00:56:34.860
maybe? Right. And then why are all of your parents

00:56:34.860 --> 00:56:37.960
dead? You're not that old. Why are all of their

00:56:37.960 --> 00:56:41.539
parents dead? Is this a Disney movie? Did I miss

00:56:41.539 --> 00:56:45.650
something? against a 250 page book, Aura has

00:56:45.650 --> 00:56:48.030
no one. She has no friends, she has no roommates,

00:56:48.190 --> 00:56:50.369
she has no parents, she has no siblings, it's

00:56:50.369 --> 00:56:53.670
weird. It's a little bit weird. I mean, no family

00:56:53.670 --> 00:56:55.570
that interacts with her. Self admittedly, she

00:56:55.570 --> 00:56:57.090
has a father that she doesn't interact with,

00:56:57.110 --> 00:56:58.630
and he's got a bunch of kids, so she's got half

00:56:58.630 --> 00:57:00.190
siblings running around out there, but she's

00:57:00.190 --> 00:57:05.590
very isolated. She's super isolated. And to be

00:57:05.590 --> 00:57:09.820
totally fair. We interact with these people for

00:57:09.820 --> 00:57:12.000
72 hours. Like, I get it. Exactly. There's not

00:57:12.000 --> 00:57:14.059
a lot of time to learn. But that brings back

00:57:14.059 --> 00:57:16.780
to my first point, why are we in love? Right.

00:57:16.840 --> 00:57:18.760
Why are we in love? Well, because they've been

00:57:18.760 --> 00:57:21.199
saying, hey, how are you? Good. How are you for

00:57:21.199 --> 00:57:24.340
the last year? That's not. That does not love

00:57:24.340 --> 00:57:31.500
me. I'm sorry. Anyway, do we recommend this?

00:57:31.500 --> 00:57:34.510
Yeah. Yeah, I had a great time. It's a great

00:57:34.510 --> 00:57:36.190
time. It's a super good palette cleanser. It's

00:57:36.190 --> 00:57:37.989
really fun. It's a super quick read. I read it

00:57:37.989 --> 00:57:42.750
in, like, a day. Yeah. No notes. No, except for

00:57:42.750 --> 00:57:49.269
all the notes we just gave. Anyway, we did it.

00:57:49.349 --> 00:57:51.329
Those are our thoughts on Glitch by Brianna Michaels.

00:57:51.530 --> 00:57:53.230
Thank you, as always, for joining us on this

00:57:53.230 --> 00:57:54.650
journey. Let us know what you thought on the

00:57:54.650 --> 00:57:56.210
socials. You can find us on TikTok, YouTube,

00:57:56.269 --> 00:57:59.199
and Goodreads. It's Trace. I can't say that.

00:57:59.300 --> 00:58:01.659
Every time I've said something different. You're

00:58:01.659 --> 00:58:06.559
trying so hard. Spice Traders Pod. And if you

00:58:06.559 --> 00:58:08.340
like our podcast and want more, consider becoming

00:58:08.340 --> 00:58:11.380
a patron where we release Patreon exclusive episodes

00:58:11.380 --> 00:58:13.179
in our off weeks. And if you really, really like

00:58:13.179 --> 00:58:15.480
us, drop us a review wherever you listen. Until

00:58:15.480 --> 00:58:17.760
next time, we'll see you. Bye. Bye.