Book Boyfriend March Madness | Plated Prisoner Fan Cast Results & Romantasy Bracket

Get ready for a bookish twist on March Madness in this episode of FanCastic! Hosts Loretta and Emyli bring the ultimate reader showdown to the mic with brackets! (Hold the basketball)

In this March Madness–inspired episode, we reveal the Plated Prisoner fan cast results, debate our ultimate Book Boyfriend Bracket, and discuss which fictional men deserve a spot in the championship round. Expect passionate arguments, surprising wins, and maybe a few controversial eliminations along the way.

We also dive into pop culture with a discussion about Timothée Chalamet’s controversial interview comments about ballet and opera, and why the internet had a lot to say about it. 

Whether you're rooting for your favorite morally gray king or defending your top book boyfriend, this episode is packed with hot takes and fandom fun.

In this episode:

• Plated Prisoner fan cast results
• Book Boyfriend March Madness bracket
• Discussion of Timothée Chalamet’s controversial ballet and opera interview comments
• Romantasy Trope March Madness bracket
• Best Adaptation March Madness Bracket
• ACOTAR fan theories
• Listener-worthy hot takes

🎧 Tune in and see which fictional heartthrob takes the crown!

🎙 Subscribe to FanCastic for weekly episodes about fantasy books, fandom culture, and dream book-to-screen adaptations. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:11

I have no filter. Hey! Keep that in. What a way to start. We always like have a good sound bite to start. Right? Just jump on in. Hey everybody. Welcome to another episode of Fancastic, the fan casting podcast where we fancast all your favorite fantasy, romantic, and fiction. I'm your host, Loretta.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

And I'm your other host, Emily.

SPEAKER_05 0:35

And we're so excited to have you here for a very special episode that Emily's kind of gonna be like driving the ship today because uh it's another baby nose baby nose ball.

SPEAKER_02 0:45

Baby nose ball.

SPEAKER_05 0:46

Baby nose, except there's no ball.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

There's no ball, and I actually don't know anything about basketball except that there are brackets.

SPEAKER_05 0:54

Yes. Uh which is the theme of the episode is brackets.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Brackets. Do I know anything about March Madness? Brackets.

SPEAKER_05 1:02

Um here we are. It's the basketball. So this is our March Madness episode, guys, because the basketballs are happening, and so is the March. And so we are gonna have a fun little gamey episode of brackets and play some shit. But first, we have some stuff we need to talk about and scream about that has been happening in the world. First of all, hi, new listeners and subscribers. You have doubled in the last week, which is crazy for us. Turns out you guys like our commentary on Avatar and the big fandoms. Shocking.

unknown 1:41

Shocking.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

I was like shocking, really. If we talk about books that are popular, we will become popular. It's crazy marketing, really.

SPEAKER_05 1:50

The men like us when we talk about Star Wars and said we were correct and then explained my whole point back to me.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

Mansplained the point back to us about why we were right. Bitch, I know why I'm right. I said it.

SPEAKER_05 2:05

You just proved our whole point. Did you hear the last part of the clip where Emily said a man flinched next to her?

SPEAKER_02 2:11

How about you?

unknown 2:14

Literally.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

Don't mansplain my point back to me, but thank you so much for engaging with our content.

SPEAKER_05 2:18

Thank you. Yeah. Uh, we have had a lot of content engagement. We've done some really fun new things that we've talked about doing, and we finally did it with Guild and Glint. And we put in the fan castic, Fan Casting Friday popular vote. And we had people vote on who they want to see as from our casting choices. So you and I are not fighting about it. They chose and whoa. It is now up on our Instagram. Mm-hmm. They've chos Yara Shahiti as Arn. You won. I won! They chose like it was kind of it was like neck and neck with like both of us. So they chose Yara Shahiti as Arn, Alex Skarsgard as Midas. Good choice. To which sidebar? Now that I have finished Gleam, um, I'm more happy with that choice. That choice makes sense after yes and a big ol' reveal.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

Like when it happens in three ranges.

SPEAKER_05 3:23

I was at work when that happened. And I went, what? What the fuck? Yeah. And people at work were like, Are you okay? And I was like, I'm sorry, I'm listening to an audiobook. And there was a big surprise.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

I did not see that coming. I was like, wow. Also, when Slade tells her to use her ribbons and he says she's lost that privilege, I think that I could have like actually barehanded killed a man. Like, I have never reacted so viscerally to something in my entire life.

SPEAKER_05 3:50

I think for Gleam, we just have to do a Gleam. I have literally so much happens in Gleam. I have three pages of notes while I was reading this book because I had so so much has happened and I've had so many visceral reactions to the things because so much happened. So much good, so much bad, really bad. And I was like, holy fuck.

SPEAKER_02 4:13

Like here we go. I feel like Raymond Kennedy was like, I'm sorry, did you say book one was boring? There you go.

SPEAKER_05 4:21

Be careful what you wish for. You thought my book was boring that started with an orgy? How dare you?

SPEAKER_02 4:27

How dare you? I'll show you an orgy. I will murder an entire castle full of people. I'll show you an orgy.

SPEAKER_03 4:33

I'll show you an orgy. What a threat. I'll take you up on it. Can I post this anywhere? That's a great clip. Who knows? Am I gonna get flagged? Whatever.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

We can keep it. Give it a whirl and see what happens.

SPEAKER_05 4:44

Give it a whirl. Speaking of Raven Kennedy, she has interacted with us on the threads.

SPEAKER_02 4:50

And we're so honored.

SPEAKER_05 4:51

We're so honored.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

She didn't apologize though, notably. She didn't. We asked her for an apology and she did not. So she just was like, I love this. And it was like Ken. Still waiting.

SPEAKER_05 5:04

Wait, does it mean she loves our misery?

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Yeah, I think she loves our pain.

SPEAKER_05 5:10

That feels right.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

Check it out, actually, based on her books. That feels right, actually.

SPEAKER_05 5:19

In August. In the time that no one's going to be able to read it.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Raven, I'm so sorry, but I will be rereading all five Aquatar books in preparation. And I already did the audible math, and I know exactly what day I need to start book one in order to finish it based on my average audible book listening time. And it does unfortunately overlap with your book release, but I will be more than happy to read it later. October 28th.

SPEAKER_05 5:44

Maybe it's like a cute little holiday read.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

I don't think so. The last thing I heard about it was that it's that seems like something she'd write. It's a Christmas special. Yeah. The last thing I heard about it was that it's a Pied Piper retelling. Yeah. Which famously ends with the death of many children. So a light Christmas read. Dude, she's ruthless. I'm so into it. Ruthless. I love it so much. But also with the way that like Hermidas retelling went, who it probably, I don't know that it'll have anything to do with the Pied Piper.

SPEAKER_05 6:15

So she's like the Ryan Murphy of books. She takes a lot of liberties with the original stories. And I mean that in in a mostly okay way, Raven. Like, you're great. Ryan Murphy has some problems. Yes, yes, yes. Yeah. Um, anyways, wait, hold on. Rewind. And then the rest of our cast was oh forgot how we got here. I literally don't know how we got here.

SPEAKER_02 6:40

It was like, and then and then we're really happy that we killed Alexander Skardsgaard.

SPEAKER_05 6:45

Yes, oh yes, right. Because that feels right. Okay. And then we have Grace Van Patten as Rissa. Great. Which is good. Megan West as Proli. And then we they did there was Queen Melina is double is tied. Oh so both tied. So I did put that on our post, guys. So if you haven't looked at our results post, please go and put in the comments who you still think our Queen Melina should be because that wasn't decided. And then uh Alexa Demi as missed.

SPEAKER_04 7:17

Fantastic.

SPEAKER_05 7:19

Noah Wiley as Digby.

unknown 7:23

Why?

SPEAKER_02 7:24

But then he can't be what's his face.

SPEAKER_05 7:26

I feel like I know. And I was like, I didn't expect that. I really thought Jason Isaac says it was gonna be a no-brainer.

SPEAKER_02 7:34

And then after like Noah Wiley.

SPEAKER_05 7:36

They just love he's like hot right now. So they were like, oh, we love him. He's he looks like a digby. It's probably people who haven't read it yet.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

What is the healer's name?

SPEAKER_05 7:45

Ho Ho Hojat. Ho Jack. There we go. There it is. I was like Horvath. Oh no. Nope. It ain't.

unknown 7:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 7:54

This is just water. I'm just drinking water. Who else did we have? Sale, your sale won. That should have. Colton wasn't a serious choice, guys. I literally put, I know. But two people did vote for him.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Last time I looked at the poll, I think the wild card slade was winning. The one that we threw that I threw in at the end, and I was like, this isn't real, don't vote for this.

SPEAKER_05 8:16

And the wildcard slate won.

unknown 8:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:20

Ian Summelhalder. Summelhalder won! And I think he is, I think he really could do it. He's not old. He's not too old. I think he's. Especially if we have Alexander Scarga Skarsgard as Midas, that fits. Yeah. Does it really be like that? Like I feel like that. Yeah, I feel like that works.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

How old is Yara Shahidi? Is this problematic? No, she's old enough.

SPEAKER_05 8:40

No, she's old enough. I think she's like 27. Okay, great. She's fine.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

And now that we know who Midas really is, she has to be significantly older than her.

SPEAKER_05 8:51

Yes. Like you're like, oh my God, you fucking creep. Like, can you do you remember the first episode of when we first started talking about guild? And I was like, had just started reading, and I was like, Emily, I'm not sure. And I think I kind of like Midas. Like he doesn't seem that bad. And they just stopped talking. And you were like, please don't. Please stop. It was like so we're now doing that, guys. We're doing we're doing the fun fan cast Fridays, and then we have you vote in our stories, and then we'll post our results. Coming up uh this Friday will be from our last episode, which was the Shepherd King Duology, which uh was a a longer episode, but that's because we had a million characters to cast.

SPEAKER_02 9:34

Just a lot of people in that book.

SPEAKER_05 9:35

There's a lot of people in that book, and and it was two books. So we like we did pretty good for two whole books. Anyways, so yeah, I guess we they kind of covered what we're reading, sort of then. I'm on I'm reading glow and I'm reading glow. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

That shouldn't be confusing at all.

SPEAKER_05 9:51

Glow, as in the Plated Prisoner, book four, and Glow of the Everflame, book two of the Kindred Curse saga. So far, no crossover. So I'm feeling fine. But I I do have a notebook now, so I can write shit down. How about you?

SPEAKER_02 10:07

I am reading Heat of the Everflame, which is the third Kindred's Curse. It's very, it's a little meandering at this present moment, but my overall take is I am obsessed, and people who say that they don't like DMR are wrong. And I will I will elaborate on that next week because we don't have the time this week because I too have a notebook of all of my thoughts about why people who don't like DMR wrong. So if you are ready to fight about that, bring your own notebook and let's do it.

SPEAKER_05 10:34

Yeah. Mm-hmm. And I won't fight you on that because I agree with you. And our episode next week will be a Spark of the Ember Flame recap and fan casting altogether because it's only a 348-page book. Crazy. Boy, do we have things to say to all the haters? Mm-hmm. All the haters. Kiss our asses. Get ready. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 10:58

Should we uh oh I have thoughts.

SPEAKER_05 11:06

Um I I liter I literally want to be like, go off, dude. Like, this is your forte. Let's Emily Emily has the stage to talk about Timothy. I hate ballet chalomet.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

Okay. So before I dive into this, credentials. Credentials. I have credentials. Like go beyond a microphone on the internet. Um, and that is that I have spent the last 15 years of my professional career working in non-profit performing arts marketing. So when we talk about begging people to like the performing arts, that would be me. I would be doing the begging of getting people to like the performing arts. It's me. I'm the beggar. I am the beggar uh in this specific scenario. Um if you don't know what happened, Loretta, the editor, will put a thingy in here. Can you do a sure will. Can you try to thingy? Okay, good.

SPEAKER_05 12:07

Clip. Here's Timothy. I hate ball ballet chalomet. We're flipping him off. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

Great. So two like main takes have come out out of this, which is all of the performing arts centers, including the one that I currently work for, using this as a way to promote ballet and opera, which is amazing. I've been showing all of the audiences loving ballet and loving opera. Special shout out to I think the Seattle ballet. Seattle something. I'm so sorry. Who gave like 10% off to their next ballet by using code Timothy? Like the day that that clip came out, which is fucking unreal. Like the amount of work it takes to like get a promo code approved and put together is like a lot, depending on where you work. And that was just great. So a special shout out to them. Um also a special shout out to my social media team at work, who I sent them an example and said, Can we do this? And they said, bitch, we already did. And I said, Great. Ahead of you. Fantastic. I am the millennial manager whose FYP is like eight hours behind my Gen Z social media team. It's fine. I love them. So that's one take, which is like, fuck you, Timothy. The arts are amazing. You don't know what you're talking about. The other take is the like LA Times vanity variety fairs and like film and TV influencers I've seen a lot taking, which is the like, well, he's not wrong though. Like he just said the quiet part out loud. And my take is gonna land somewhere in the middle, which might surprise you, which is like, I know he's not wrong. We know he's not wrong. We like comparing film and TVs or like film and TV success to opera and ballet is not a conversation we need to be having because that is a very obvious, like disparate thing. Also, I will acknowledge that his quote was taken out of a whole interview, and he did say some other things and was comparing them a little bit more than like what people said. But what I'm gonna focus on is A, the tone in which he says the words opera and ballet, which to me, I don't really care about anything else that he says in any of the other contexts because the derision in his voice I mean, it was layered with disdain.

SPEAKER_05 14:04

And I was like, I don't know if this is about your mommy issues or what the fuck.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Because his mom is a ballerina. Like he Yes.

SPEAKER_02 14:13

Like that could be it. Like we could end the take there and just like the tone is really despicable with which you talk about these like yeah, really prestigious art forms. Yeah, that's that's all the adjectives I have right now. But um, we could end it there. But I do want to just acknowledge that like he is not wrong. The art, like you do have to beg people to care about the performing arts. That's why I'm employed. Uh, and it is dying. But the thing is, is that the arts are always dying. The NEA is always being cut, arts are always struggling. There are a lot of things happening all the time. Pandemic re-entry is still affecting ticket sales. People like to say gas prices are affecting ticket sales. I don't actually think they are because I don't know about you, but I don't plan my nights out based on gas prices. Anyway, the administration, the war, like there's all there's always a thing. But the performing arts have are the world's second oldest profession. They have been around since the dawn of time. Like, we know what the first is. Shout out sex workers. We love you. Yeah, we love you. Um, theater has been around forever. Like oral storytelling and oral tradition has been around since human beings have existed. Yeah. And I might challenge the people who say, like, well, it's struggling and it's like it's hard to get into it. Perhaps the struggle is the point. Like, perhaps working hard to create art and put beauty and like challenging ideas and things that are designed to create empathy and a shared human experience. Maybe it's supposed to be hard. Like, maybe like art isn't easy and art shouldn't be easy. Art sh art takes work and it's difficult. And that is the point. Trying really hard not to like segue this into AI, but like AI should not, but probably could make a movie. AI cannot make an opera or a ballet or a piece of theater because it doesn't have the human soul and this like the sense of connection and the sense of struggle. And like, I'm not saying you have to h live a terrible life and struggle and like work really hard to be an artist. A lot of people do art because it's fun, and it is, but like working at it and working hard at it and continuing to like put everything you have into this profession because you truly believe that it makes life worth living to witness art and to participate in art is worth it. And art is always dying and the the profession is always struggling, and that is not great. Like I would love to solve that issue, but like that's never gonna stop it. Like the institution is not going away simply because it's hard. If that was the case, it would have already. Right. And that's my take on that, which is yeah, I don't even know how to summarize it.

SPEAKER_05 16:58

That's all I got. I feel like I I agree with you, and like I I got so hung up on just the fact that this is a the second time he has said this. He said it again in 2019 and that video is resurfacing or interview is resurfacing too. And then he said it obviously during this press tour, and I think there's like two separate issues. Everything that you've just talked about, where it's like yeah, he's not really wrong. And I say this so uh uh hesitantly. Thank you, Timothy, I guess, for uh proving that point. Yeah. And why it's so important for people to keep going. That wasn't his intention, and if he s fucking spins it, fuck your PR team, if you hear me. Yeah. Like, don't do that.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

I watched the whole interview. You can't spin it. He meant what he said. Like he well there's additional context. I will give you that. Watch the whole interview. The clip is taken out of a full sentence, but it does not change the meaning of what he was saying.

SPEAKER_05 18:02

No, he was he was putting it down, he was pushing it to the wayside, and that's where everyone has a problem because Broadway still exists, touring companies still exist, all those things still exist, and they are dying. Like and we need to keep working. And the fact that performance and Broadway came back at all is a fucking miracle. And it's come back in a capacity where Broadway houses are still full. Yes, they are doing stunt casting, but we like it. Like, shout out Whitney Levitt and Mark Ballas.

SPEAKER_02 18:46

People want to see celebrities. I fuck off pretentious theater people who say that the that stunt casting has no place. I sometimes just want to look at hot people on stage.

SPEAKER_05 18:55

And I and and and everyone's like, well, what about the, you know, working for it and the starving artists? And it's like, yeah, and there's people in the cast who have done that and we love that. But maybe it's okay for somebody to do a seven-week run who has this many followers and is an Oscar winner because the jobs of everybody else. Yeah. It is the same, yeah, exactly. You get it, like, right? Like it is saving the jobs of other people. It is saving an industry. And what are producers' jobs? To make money. Like that is what they are there for. They don't care about what's in the interest, best interest of people. They want to make money to keep this art form alive. And so it like you said, it's it has always been like that. Now, the other part is Timothy Chalamet is a dick. He is a privileged child who grew up in the arts, who got to go to the fame high school in New York City, and he lived in an artist loft like commune or like artist apartments because his grandmother, his sister, and his mother all worked in ballet. That is the only reason that little shit has any career or any talent, is it was passed down to him from the opportunities he was given from his mother working in that career. So the fact that he said anything about it, fuck off, Timothy. Go get some therapy, work out whatever issues you have. That's so disgusting. I hate that part.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 20:27

But again, it really like hurts my heart a little bit to hear somebody talk so dismissively. I do just want to clarify one thing when I say that this struggle is the point. I don't necessarily mean I'm glamorizing the starving artists. Right. Like the tr yes. What I truly believe is that art, like public art and nonprofits and theater, should be subsidized like the post office. Like this is a public good. The NEA should be the most well-funded program in the government. Like, this is that is what I actually believe. And I don't actually like we're not there yet. So I'm focusing in the like world that we currently live in. Yes.

SPEAKER_05 20:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

This is an investment. It is not a loss. This is why we fundraise.

SPEAKER_05 21:04

And we got to go see Jessica Vosk at your job. They brought Jessica Vosk from across the country to sing Christmas songs at us as if she was Judy Garland. And it was incredible. I loved it. And it was, it was so bare bones of like, here's my musicians, here's a stool, I'm gonna sing to you. I was like, I love this. Thank you so much. I'm feel re-energized for the holidays. But I've been texting you all week, being like, do we need to take money out of my savings and go to New York City? Because I'm fucking I have the Broadway itch like so bad right now.

SPEAKER_02 21:40

I think we gotta go.

SPEAKER_05 21:42

Anyways, back to Timothy. The other thing about him is he's just changed in general.

SPEAKER_02 21:48

I think this is a soft launch of like a right wing twist. I think he's gonna go the way of the Sydney Sweeney.

SPEAKER_05 21:56

I think so too. And I I am concerned that there are More people in Hollywood of our generation age-ish that are. And we're gonna start finding out who those people are. And that fucking it's good. Tell us the truth.

SPEAKER_02 22:12

So we're telling me you guys are gonna stop supporting you.

SPEAKER_05 22:15

Yeah, so we can know not to support you. But this bitch is out here think singing Willy Wonka chocolate factory horseshit movie and then being like, Oprah's bad. Well, maybe you should have taken a fucking lesson to make that movie better.

SPEAKER_02 22:27

Because that movie would have sucked less. Yes, it was horrible. But it was a horrible movie.

SPEAKER_05 22:32

I went and saw that. When I saw that movie, I leaned over to Sean and I went, is this a musical?

SPEAKER_02 22:36

Also, stop fucking marketing movie musicals as not movie musicals. There was like a swath of them when that came out when they were like not saying the word musicals because they didn't think people would go. And I was like, sure, but now they'll go and they'll be pissed. Yeah. I didn't know it was a musical.

SPEAKER_05 22:53

I was like, what the fuck am I watching? I thought this was like a a retelling or like a prequel. Okay. It was a horribly marketed movie. Um I I think him being with uh Jenner, technically.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

Kylie. Kylie.

SPEAKER_05 23:10

Yeah. Yeah. Uh a Kardashian Jenner. Worries me too. I I think it's it's changed him. He's do you just like remember when he was it was like call me by call me by your name? Uh and he was just like bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, showing up in hit he wore like glitter, he wore like a glitter harness or something. And he was just so fucking happy to be there.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:41

You're in a movie about ping pong, bro.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

Yeah. Did you see the clip of Bradley Whitford on the red carpet who was asked if he had seen that clip of Timothy Chalamet? Uh-uh. And he says something like, I have the utmost respect for ballet and opera. I can't do either. Like, I never understand what's happening, but I always know what I'm feeling. And then he's about to walk away and he goes, Not a big fan of ping pong, though.

SPEAKER_05 24:02

Oh my god, Bradley Whitford. We should cast him in something. I love Bradley Whitford. Him and Hadmain's Tale is still like one of my favorite roles he ever did. He was so good. Ooh, so good. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Okay. Should we get to brackets?

SPEAKER_05 24:18

Brackets. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:20

Bracket time.

SPEAKER_05 24:21

Bracket time. Let's go.

SPEAKER_02 24:23

You haven't noticed yet that I'm wearing green sparkly eyeshadow for March Madness.

SPEAKER_05 24:27

I really like it.

SPEAKER_02 24:28

Very on theme.

SPEAKER_05 24:29

Yeah, very I I'm also wearing green. I didn't plan that.

SPEAKER_02 24:33

My shirt is green. My eyes are green. Well, my eyeshadow is green.

SPEAKER_05 24:37

My hair is red, my lips are red. Look at uh so how do we do this? So we pick Yes.

SPEAKER_02 24:45

I think we throw top like top left, bottom left, top right, bottom right, and then Oh, okay. So we have to We have to decide between slow burn and enemies to lovers is first.

SPEAKER_05 24:58

Okay, okay. So we're doing tropes. Amazing. Okay. Slow burn and enemies to lovers.

SPEAKER_02 25:04

I have a very strong opinion, which is slow burn is my winner, 100%. Because A, it's hot. And B, enemies to lovers is usually, at least in the books that I have read, somebody lying to somebody. Like Zaydan and Violet being enemies to lovers. She hates him and he's lying to her the whole time. Like, that's not enemies to lovers.

SPEAKER_05 25:24

Yeah. That's that's problematic, is what that is. I would also have to say slow burn. I feel like what's happening in the Kindred Curse saga right now is slow burn.

SPEAKER_02 25:36

I will say it is the slowest of slow burns.

SPEAKER_05 25:39

I like it. I really like how slow it is. It's keeping me very engaged, and I think that that is how that should be done. It's really hot.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 25:50

The next one. Forced proximity, faded mates. Faded mates.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

I'm so over faded mates.

SPEAKER_05 25:58

I'm over it, but for okay.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

I don't like forced proximity either, except for like uh, oh my god, there's only one bed. Like that the one bed trope. Like we have to stay here because it's winning. No, the innkeeper only has one bed.

SPEAKER_05 26:14

The innkeeper always like leans on the counter is like, oh well, I only got room seven in the attic.

SPEAKER_02 26:22

Um so that I'm fine with my the reason I'm overfaded mates is because I don't want you to be together because you have to. Like I want you to choose I want you to choose me.

SPEAKER_05 26:35

Yeah, and you can only pick me, but like you can like see choose me. Love me. I know. I'm okay. I'm yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:45

I'm that is what she says. I think I don't know. Faded oh.

SPEAKER_02 26:52

Faded mates can win. I know I just yelled, but I actually don't feel that strongly about it, but I am kind of over faded mates. Like I would much rather see two people choosing actively against all odds to be together, not just be like, I guess we're mates now.

SPEAKER_05 27:07

Yeah, that's true. The forced proximity makes me think more of like the rom-coms in general, of like, is fake dating on here? It's not. Thank God. I hate fake dating. That's stupid. What are you gonna you're gonna build a foundation on falsities? Kiss my ass. Um, I don't know. We can do forced proximity. Yeah, let's do forks forced proximity because you are right. Faded Mates is in literally everything. It's hardly a trope anymore. It's literally just a plot line at the moment. Yes, yeah, and it is very like as soon as they're like, and our eyes locked. And it's like, oh fuck. All right.

SPEAKER_02 27:50

Yeah, it's getting that I didn't know what it was.

SPEAKER_05 27:53

It was fun. It was fun when we all started reading Sarah J Mass. And now let's find something new. Yeah, agreed. Okay, now between Slow Burn and Forks Proximity, I think we're gonna go with Slow Burn.

SPEAKER_02 28:06

Slow burn for sure. That was kind of when I was like, I don't really care.

SPEAKER_05 28:08

Yeah, it's gonna win anyways. This is how I feel like I would uh if we were playing real March Madness, I also would be like, who cares?

SPEAKER_02 28:17

Who cares? That's why I play fantasy football every year, and yet I still win. Okay, found family. These two really don't go together, but found family versus elemental magic. I'm gonna go found family.

SPEAKER_05 28:30

I'm a found family.

SPEAKER_02 28:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 28:32

I'm a found family, create that inner circle, sucker. I love that stuff. I love the found family in fourth wing. Like, I love all those characters, Imogen, Rihannan, like all of them. I don't I found family is what keeps me reading books. That's why I loved uh fucking Shepherd King. Mm-hmm. Like, well, that's a little band of miss. I mean, uh technically most of them were actually family.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

There's a really cute found family that you're about to meet in uh Everflame, but I was like, they actually are all family. So she's right about to walk in. Okay, great.

SPEAKER_05 29:10

That's right when I stopped and I was like, oh, she's going to walk in.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:14

Let's go. Okay.

unknown 29:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 29:16

What else? Fairy tale ref retellings or different worlds. And different worlds was when I was Googling tropes, um, was specifically like two people. It was like a Romeo Juliet situation. Like, not just like the hero's journey. I've been thrust into a different world, but like resand and Ferah Mortal Kombat. Two sides of the tracks. Yeah. Yeah. A Romeo Juliet situation. I have been really into like I'm also gonna throw mythology into fairy tale, like fairy tale mythology retellings. I'm gonna vote re- I'm voting retellings. I think they're fun.

SPEAKER_05 29:47

I'm gonna I'm voting different worlds. Let's duke it out. Okay. I'm I'm they took my hair back.

SPEAKER_02 29:56

Let's go. Do I need us to let's fight?

SPEAKER_05 30:00

I you really are voting. I'm really putting my hair in a scrunchie. I know I'm not. I mean, stop coming through the screen. Okay, what a cute messy bun. Okay, I'm here's why. For me, and then you may then you should defend yours.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 30:19

Okay, I'm gonna say different worlds because I do like fairy tale retellings. However, I find when I'm reading a fairy tale retelling, my brain is going, this feels like this. This feels like this, this should be this. Wait, that didn't happen like this. Because I am somebody who really likes Greek mythology, fairy tales, uh, history, like any like fictionalized, like some history retellings, right, where they you take a bunch of liberties. Then I find myself like not really vibrating and like getting it. I find myself doing the whole like, but what about this? And hey. And so they don't feel enjoyable for me. So I would not choose them as my favorite trope. I would have to choose different worlds because I don't know what to expect, and I'm always learning in the moment of where these two people are coming from and how the hell they gonna make this shit work.

SPEAKER_02 31:16

That's true. I do like that. I will say that I sometimes find different worlds to be predictable, of like, oh, the Romeo and Juliet are getting together. Shocking. I like I like fairy tale retellings because I they keep me on my toes waiting to see like how they're gonna shake it up. I think I just also really love Plated Prisoner. Um, and that is a mythology retelling. Yes. I also might be the only person in the world who didn't read Avatar One and immediately go, Well, this is Beauty and the Beast. Like it didn't occur to me.

SPEAKER_05 31:52

Okay. This is literally why I was like the fairy tale related retellings I can't do. Because when I started reading Avatar, I was going, Am I fucked in the head, or is this not just Beauty and the Beast?

SPEAKER_02 32:04

No, she like talks about that openly, but like I didn't know that. And I was like so in my own little world about it that it didn't occur to me that it was Beauty and the Beast. Um, and now that I know that, I think it's real like I think it's interesting. Like, I guess you could argue that it's lazy to like not come up with your own story, but I think it's a really interesting, like, creative thought process to be like, how can I take this thing? And especially if you can get me to not see it coming. Like a couple of the twists in Plated Prisoner that deviate from the mythology. I'm like, that's actually really a really cool way to do a twist because I didn't did not occur to me that that was what happened.

SPEAKER_05 32:42

Let's go with fairy tale retellings, because I think you're really, you're very right on the different worlds. It is always going to end up with them coming together and finding common ground. That's the point of it. And you're right, it does get to the point where it's like, all right. Like as soon as that happens, we're like, and she was poor and he was magic. You know, he she's human, he magic.

SPEAKER_02 33:06

And you're like, he's all the hottest man she's ever seen, but he was like rich and the crown, like, yeah. Gee, I wonder what's gonna happen. Right. Which also like I can't say I don't love that, but like sometimes I want a little unpredictability.

SPEAKER_05 33:20

Yes, and Cinderella is both. So Beauty and the Beast is also kind of both. Like they're also from different worlds. That's true. Yeah. Um, I feel like these are like this is that was a good one. That's a really good one.

SPEAKER_02 33:33

Good conversation. Okay, found family versus furry tale.

SPEAKER_05 33:36

I I gotta go with found family. Yeah. There's something about that one, then every time it changes, then you just you really because then you find yourself being like, I want that kind of group of friends. Fuck.

SPEAKER_02 33:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:50

Okay. Uh I'm a s I'm I'm a slow burn. It's gotta be slow burn. It's gotta be slow burn. Percent. It's gotta be slow burn. Why do we even pick up these books?

SPEAKER_02 34:02

We're just we're we're just girls. We're literally just girls. Slow burn is the best thing. That's just gonna be the champion. Yep. Amazing.

SPEAKER_05 34:14

Love.

SPEAKER_02 34:14

Okay, that's our final bracket, guys. Let's go. Bracket two. This one's the big one. This is the only one where I had to add more squares because it couldn't stop. Are you ready? Brace yourself.

SPEAKER_05 34:26

I'm so ready. Here we go.

SPEAKER_02 34:28

It's book boyfriend time. Holyballs. Let's fucking go.

SPEAKER_05 34:32

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

SPEAKER_02 34:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 34:34

All right. Uh oh.

SPEAKER_02 34:37

Dice Shadow Daddies.

SPEAKER_05 34:40

My god. Okay, they're categorized. So we've got shadow daddies. We've got princes.

SPEAKER_02 34:45

Princes. Dorian and Luther. Okay. Kings. Kings. Just Slade and Rowan. Rowan becomes a king. I'm taking some liberties. Okay. Do we have my emo boys? Brune Tannan and Asriel. Hell yeah. Side characters, Renelm from The Shepherd King, and Carrion Swift from Quicksilver. Okay. My Himbos, uh Caffian and Hunt Accalar. Yep. What did I write? Oh, Gingers. Lucian and Therion, because I wanted to include Therian and he has no other redeeming qualities.

SPEAKER_00 35:18

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 35:19

And then I unfaithful servants.

SPEAKER_05 35:23

Unfaithful servants. Two people who served the royalty and then went, oh shit.

SPEAKER_02 35:30

Just kidding.

SPEAKER_05 35:31

Just kidding. I have other plans.

SPEAKER_02 35:33

Yeah. Okay. Where do you want to start?

SPEAKER_05 35:36

Happen to have long dark hair.

SPEAKER_02 35:37

I don't think we have to start at the top if we don't want to. Do you have a strong opinion and you want to like knock somebody out?

SPEAKER_05 35:43

Yeah. I want to knock Karrion out.

SPEAKER_02 35:45

Fair enough. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 35:46

I love Renelm, so like Renelm, because I gotta, I just I don't want Quicksilver on here.

SPEAKER_02 35:54

It really hurt me to put it there, but I didn't know any other side characters that like we know about their sex life.

SPEAKER_05 36:00

Yeah, we don't. Well, we kind of know about uh Riddick's sex sex life from Fourth Wing, but like like barely, but barely. Like he is just he is just bringing to light that he's a bisexual king and we haven't learned enough.

SPEAKER_02 36:14

So we love a bisexual king. You know who else is a bisexual king? Oliver Stark's character in 911, Evan Buckley. Oh my god. We love him.

SPEAKER_05 36:23

Oliver Stark, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 36:25

Can I bring every episode of Fantastic back to Also you talked about Ryan Murphy and I didn't even bring it up then? I had two chances.

SPEAKER_05 36:36

Okay, so you have to work into every episode Oliver Stark and Guild.

SPEAKER_02 36:42

I'm on it. And I get to take a drink every time. But today is actually just water because I have to go to the office tomorrow.

SPEAKER_05 36:48

We'll do like a drink bingo.

SPEAKER_02 36:51

Yep. We'll come up with something, listeners. Yeah, it'll be fun. I'll knock somebody out, which is unfortunate because I do actually like this character, but my pairings just made this impossible for him, which we're gonna knock out Rowan because Slade is sorry.

SPEAKER_05 37:07

Sorry, gotta go, Rowan. Uh I would also like to knock out Ferion.

SPEAKER_02 37:12

Yeah, he's a douchebag.

SPEAKER_05 37:13

He cannot make a good choice to save his life. And literally, his life is almost gone because of the channel.

SPEAKER_02 37:18

Slade is literally on the line and he's still fucking up left and right.

SPEAKER_05 37:22

Gotta go. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 37:23

I'm I'm gonna make a bold, bold choice.

SPEAKER_05 37:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 37:27

Actually, it's not bold to me. It's just bold to everybody else because every time I say I love this character, but I don't love the other one, everybody's like, but they're the same character, and they're not. I'm knocking out Cassian. I'm so sorry. Hunt the winner.

SPEAKER_05 37:40

What? Hold on, hold the phone. Wait a second.

SPEAKER_02 37:44

We do a fun way to do it where we do it like picking teams and knocking out I get one and you get one, and we get to go like pick whoever we want. Amazing. This is a really fun way to do this, actually. Let's keep going. Yeah. Hold on. Oh, but Cassian. Wait, yeah. No, it is. Is it my turn? Wait, you knocked out Carrion.

SPEAKER_05 38:03

I knocked, I knocked out Carrion to get it. I knocked out Roman.

SPEAKER_02 38:06

You knocked out Tharian and I knocked out. So it is my turn. Okay, great. Yep.

SPEAKER_05 38:10

Yep. Oh Cassian, baby. I'm sorry. To all the Cassian cosplayers. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 38:16

I okay. Option of put your hands on the headboard. What is Cassian bringing to the table?

SPEAKER_04 38:24

Cake. Oh wait, that's the house. Just kidding.

SPEAKER_02 38:28

It's the house. The house is her best friend. I will concede that the put your hands on the headboard scene exists and is new and is wonderful.

SPEAKER_05 38:39

Well, now that we now that we know Bryaxis is a girl, Cassian's afraid of a girl.

SPEAKER_02 38:45

He is a very scary girl, girl, but literally just a girl. Sidebar, I think it's Coltain.

SPEAKER_05 38:50

It's 100% Caltain.

SPEAKER_02 38:52

I almost put that on the um Avatar Theories trope.

SPEAKER_05 38:56

Um I really think that one's true.

SPEAKER_02 38:59

It's Caltain.

SPEAKER_05 39:00

I'm pretty pumped about it. Um, okay, fine. Okay, so yes, Hunt over. To be fair, I do think that Hunt is, respectfully Cassian, a lot more emotionally developed.

SPEAKER_02 39:11

100%.

SPEAKER_05 39:13

And has seen some shit and still manages to find love within his heart. And Cassian has also seen some shit, but no Cassian has just bulldozed through life.

SPEAKER_02 39:27

Yeah. So I almost didn't like was trying to think of a different word beside himbo because I feel like himbo really only refers to Cassian and doesn't refer to Hunt because Hunt is not Himboy.

SPEAKER_05 39:38

No, but Hunt has like the you know sweatpants and backwards blase and baseball cat, yeah. Yeah, he he's like a himbo when he's not on duty as the Umbra Mortis.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

Umbre mortis.

SPEAKER_05 39:49

Yes. Okay. Wait, so it's my turn?

SPEAKER_02 39:52

Your turn.

SPEAKER_05 39:53

Oh god. Okay. Uh uh. I'm sorry, guys. I I'm knocking out Lorcan and I'm picking Raven. What? Raven is nothing. What does Raven do? Until I know what Lorcan did, I refuse to choose him.

SPEAKER_02 40:13

Well, you know what Lorcan did? Lorcan ripped up his shirt so that a lead could have period products on the road. Lorcan performed in a circus, shirtless, for the good of the war realm. What the fuck does Raven do? Raven does nothing.

SPEAKER_03 40:28

I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 40:31

Wow. Okay. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_05 40:35

Okay, your turn. Okay, my turn. Please don't please don't make me pay.

SPEAKER_02 40:40

Okay, I feel like we have to get through all of the outside first.

SPEAKER_05 40:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 40:45

I can't bring myself to make either of these choices, so I gotta I gotta do this.

SPEAKER_05 40:51

Yes, correct. Listen.

SPEAKER_02 40:53

Zaiden is a child.

SPEAKER_05 40:54

Like Zaid, I'm not uh after after the last book, I'm really fucking pissed at him.

SPEAKER_02 41:01

I'm really mad at him. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 41:03

I don't really feel good about what uh where that's going. Sorry, Rebecca, respectfully. Like I'm I'm not happy about it. No.

SPEAKER_02 41:12

To be fair. Listening to her talking about how she outlines her books. She was like, I came up with the title. I'm like, do you have more than that?

SPEAKER_03 41:21

But also, also, Rhizand, who we have just chosen, just popped into the scene and all of a sudden he was the man now. Now that we know that.

SPEAKER_02 41:29

They both clearly follow the same writing guidelines.

SPEAKER_05 41:32

They just go on a whim. A whim. And we like that.

SPEAKER_02 41:38

Yeah, I'm into it.

SPEAKER_05 41:39

For them. It causes us stress, but we like it.

SPEAKER_02 41:42

We like it. I wonder why I can capitalize Rune Dannin. Hold on.

SPEAKER_05 41:46

Well, you better capitalize it because I'm I'm picking him.

SPEAKER_02 41:50

Amazing.

SPEAKER_05 41:51

I just think we don't I just I can't um Azrael can't be my book boyfriend because he's unwell right now.

SPEAKER_02 42:01

He is. I also think we don't know enough about him as a boyfriend. Like as boyfriend material. Right. Whereas like Room Dann in the world. We know. We know.

SPEAKER_05 42:12

And we know he got game.

SPEAKER_02 42:13

He got game.

SPEAKER_05 42:14

And he's got a game.

SPEAKER_02 42:15

He also might have a fawn fetish. We don't need to talk about that. But he's got game.

SPEAKER_05 42:19

I'm I'm forgetting that part of the book.

SPEAKER_02 42:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 42:22

I won't. He won't acknowledge.

SPEAKER_02 42:24

Mind projection sex.

unknown 42:26

Yeah, he did.

SPEAKER_05 42:27

And like that's good. Like that with the color of your mind. Yeah, it's like sexting, but better. Moving on. Anyways.

SPEAKER_02 42:37

I don't like this choice. Um, because Dorian is my favorite character male character from Thorn of Glass. I'm obsessed with Dorian. But also the slow burn that's happening with Ruth Luther and Diem. Dude. But do I just like the slow burn or do I like the character? Sorry.

SPEAKER_05 42:54

This is your choice, right?

SPEAKER_02 42:55

Yeah, it is. But you can advise. Do you want to advise? I can phone a friend. Regis? We'd like to phone a friend.

SPEAKER_03 43:03

We're dating ourselves.

SPEAKER_05 43:04

We like the Regis millionaires, not yeah, not Jimmy Kimmel. I would advise Luther because I feel like I haven't read and this is like me kicking my feet and like giggling as I'm reading Kindred Curse.

SPEAKER_02 43:21

That's true. I do giggle a lot with Luther.

SPEAKER_05 43:23

I giggle. He makes me laugh because he's so he's so fucking straight up. Like he is like Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:32

And it just keeps going.

SPEAKER_05 43:33

And like And you can tell he's like slowly unraveling because of her. And it's very funny to watch.

SPEAKER_02 43:40

Very funny to watch. And it keeps getting better and better. And like where they're at where I'm in in the book is um by the way, it's still slow burning. Um the ever flame for nothing now. And I'm just like, great. I do like, yeah, okay, this is good.

SPEAKER_05 43:59

I do. Really like him. Uh, there's there's he isn't like another character I've read. Like Reese is is not really sarcastic. Hunt and Cassian, like they have their like funny moments. Rowan is not very funny. He's like, Yeah, has a lot of trauma, rightly so.

SPEAKER_02 44:18

Thank you so much for the lotion. My skin was really dry. Is Loki one of the funniest lines in thrown a glass?

SPEAKER_05 44:23

True.

SPEAKER_03 44:24

That is true. That is true.

SPEAKER_02 44:27

Whereas like Raven has a bunch of or Luther has a bunch of them.

SPEAKER_05 44:30

Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:31

And I think I feel like Dorian did like fight off a Balk possession to flirt with Manon, which is pretty great. But just like I made this bracket, so I could have put them farther apart.

unknown 44:43

Really?

SPEAKER_05 44:44

You did this to yourself. I did this to me. No, I think I think where we're at, like I'm in I'm I'm into Luther because he's got uh both an interest and attractiveness and a fucking backbone. And and I like that. That's that's like a sit down, shut up, princess, I love you. And it's like, oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 45:04

And then he says, good girl, after she does it. What? Uh-huh. Slay spoilers. I can't wait. I can't wait. Like, not even like a I mean, obviously it's flirty, but it's before they're even like actively flirting with each other. And he says it a couple of times, and every kind of like, whoo!

SPEAKER_05 45:22

We're gonna we're gonna like fully dive in again next week, but as we're since we're on the topic, I don't believe, and this this adds to why Luther, I think, might even beat out wrist hand at this point.

SPEAKER_02 45:35

I think he's gotta, I think we can just move him.

SPEAKER_05 45:37

I think we're gonna move him, which is crazy. But I think because in in book one, where he has got his fucking mouth next to her ear and his throat on her knife, and he said, if you're gonna do it, at least let me have what I want before I die. And he is like, motherfucker, kill me, but kiss me first.

SPEAKER_02 46:02

And I was like, I'll just do this. Um, I think that's fair.

SPEAKER_05 46:06

So sorry, Reese and I set the book down and I went, oh my god. Like, I'm not even listening to it. That's just reading it. And I was like, Oh, I don't know, man. Luther, Luther's really doing it for me. Maybe it's because I'm reading it right now and I forgot the game that Reese has. But there's also a lot of things about Reese that I was like, hey man, that's a that's not okay. Yeah. You have flaws too. Luther, I find none so far.

SPEAKER_02 46:36

Okay. Is this your first choice or is it was that mine? Who's next?

SPEAKER_05 46:42

I feel like we can call that mine because I did suggest that Reese and might be kicked out. So it's your turn.

SPEAKER_02 46:50

I need to stop this bullshit right in its cracks. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 46:54

Get out of here, Raven. You shouldn't have been moved up.

SPEAKER_02 46:58

One fucking sex scene in that whole book here. It's not even POV. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 47:01

I know, and it's not that good. You're right. You were right. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 47:04

It's done. Okay. You can have two if you want after that, because I really need. We'll just end that.

SPEAKER_05 47:10

Let's we go. Oh. Uh-oh. I I won't do it to you. I will not, I will not do that to you.

SPEAKER_02 47:19

You can if you must.

SPEAKER_05 47:21

You don't know him very well yet. Emily, what have you done here? You jumped in. You just jumped in to move Lucian so I couldn't have Raven. And now you have sandwiched yourself to either me choosing between Slade and Rune Dannon. I'm so sorry. Slade would not be my choice.

SPEAKER_02 47:41

You don't know him well enough.

SPEAKER_05 47:43

I'm not there yet, so I'm not well enough to know him. But what I do know is that where the fuck was he the last couple chapters of Gleam when she's drugged out of her mind? That's how I feel right now at this point. Okay. But I'll get there. So I will choose Hunt over Renel.

SPEAKER_02 48:06

I would not do that to you for a second.

SPEAKER_03 48:09

I will not do that to you. You would be like, goodbye, end of call. And I quit.

SPEAKER_02 48:15

I quit. There we go.

SPEAKER_03 48:17

I won't do that to you. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 48:19

All right. You're up next. I'm sorry to Rune. I am sorry to dismant. I do love Rune, but Slade is end game.

unknown 48:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 48:27

Oh my god. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 48:29

Wow, Lucian made it way farther than I thought I was going to.

SPEAKER_05 48:32

He did. Yeah. He can't. I don't think he can be there anymore. It's your turn. I think it's gotta be Hunt.

SPEAKER_02 48:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 48:41

But we need to we need to really duke it out between Luther and Slade.

unknown 48:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 48:48

Because this is so hard because I am much farther than you in both of these series.

SPEAKER_05 48:52

Well do you really want to do this to yourself? Do you want to pull it up against Book Boy Boyfriend one against Book Boyfriend Two?

SPEAKER_02 48:59

You know what? You just pick and I just won't look at the screen and you just tell me which one to do.

SPEAKER_05 49:04

We also don't know enough about Luther either. I feel I I know oh this is really emotional. Let me think who's more evenly matched. I think Luther and Hunt are more evenly matched than Slade. Yes. I think I think I I think Slade is kind of in a league of his own.

SPEAKER_02 49:33

That's correct.

SPEAKER_05 49:34

I think he's in a league of his own because he is all the things and he is kind of the champion now. I'm going the other direction.

SPEAKER_00 49:43

I know my mom playing field.

SPEAKER_03 49:50

This episode has gotten so good. I'm so proud of us. This is real fun. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 49:56

Great. I will let you choose the champion. That's what you wanted.

SPEAKER_05 50:00

Yes, you can choose the champion. I am good with either of these men. I like them both.

SPEAKER_02 50:06

Whose idea was this?

SPEAKER_03 50:08

Yours. You did this to you.

SPEAKER_02 50:14

I'm gonna piss off a lot of people on book talk right now. Um I'm just gonna type. Can I just type?

SPEAKER_03 50:21

Yes, it's suspenseful.

SPEAKER_02 50:23

Here we go.

SPEAKER_03 50:24

Oh my god. Oh my god, wait. Oh my god, wait.

SPEAKER_01 50:30

He has to have that's why he's gotta.

SPEAKER_05 50:33

I would have to agree at this point because I know his arc.

SPEAKER_02 50:36

Yeah, I love his arc, I love his commitment. I love him. I also he breaks the faded mate truck for me because like they find out that they're fake fated mates and they're still like who cares? We are together.

SPEAKER_05 50:50

Like we are in love. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, I I will never get over the shower scene. I the shower scene breaks my heart. Breaks my heart. And I was like, Good. I love him. I just love him as a character. Uh he has Hunt has layers, and you want a boyfriend to have layers, right? Yeah, who's gonna he's gonna surprise ya. I would say that Slade also has layers, but And I would say that Luther also has layers and would surprise ya. Slade is the ultimate surprise. Like, oh hello. Not for me because I looked up fan art, but okay, that was a hard one.

SPEAKER_02 51:29

This was really hard.

SPEAKER_05 51:31

That was hard. People are gonna yell at us. And if you do, sorry, get in our comments, like and subscribe.

SPEAKER_00 51:37

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 51:39

It's fine if you want to yell at us, just follow us. Okay. Adaptations. Okay. Yeah. I jumped in to help with this one. Yes. And it was really hard to come up with. I was trying to do things that like we either both have seen or like have talked about, and they're sort of evenly matched. So I have like a rom com against a rom com. We've got a period piece against a period piece.

SPEAKER_02 52:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 52:03

I'm gonna I'm gonna let you start.

SPEAKER_02 52:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 52:06

I'll let you start.

SPEAKER_02 52:08

I'm gonna shock everybody in the room.

SPEAKER_05 52:10

Holy holy shit.

SPEAKER_02 52:11

No, are you kidding me?

SPEAKER_05 52:14

I was like, what? Yeah. Heated rivalry.

SPEAKER_02 52:18

If I put people we met on vacation over heated rivalry.

SPEAKER_05 52:21

Literally, literally. Okay. Okay. That means I I can't fire you. I can't. First of all, I need you. Second of all, I pay you nothing. This is your podcast, too. Um I'm gonna choose Worthering Heights over Frankenstein.

SPEAKER_02 52:35

Okay, that's fair. You didn't like the body the body horror.

SPEAKER_05 52:38

There's like um, I really could only watch like 92% of Frankenstein. There was a very large chunk that I could not watch. Um, and I think that that could have been toned down a whee bit so people could enjoy it. Worthering Heights I really liked visually.

SPEAKER_02 52:54

I haven't seen this, but this is Sydney Sweeney, right?

SPEAKER_05 52:58

Yeah, and I kind of put that on purpose because Ballad of Song, Birds and Snake was better. To go, I have words to say. They fucked up a bunch of shit from that book. And I loved that book. I am a Suzanne Collins fan. I forgot how much I love the Hunger Games series and was like, I'm gonna read Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. And I did, and I was like, God damn, this is so good. And then I watched the movie and I went, What have you done?

SPEAKER_02 53:24

Wow. Okay, I'll have to reread it.

SPEAKER_05 53:26

They there was a lot that they cut and a lot that they had that was written already in the script that did not need to be changed or shortened or anything. And a lot of those things happened, um, and I'm sad that they were missing. I hope they do not do the same thing for Sunrise on the Reaping because that book made me openly weep.

SPEAKER_02 53:49

Yes. Love that. Um your turn. No, it's your turn. I just did ballad.

SPEAKER_05 53:56

Oh, okay.

unknown 53:57

Wait.

SPEAKER_05 53:57

Oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah, right. Because we hate Sydney Sweeney. Okay. Um I'm picking the summer I turned pretty over Bridgerton.

SPEAKER_02 54:07

Whoa!

SPEAKER_05 54:09

Season four specifically.

SPEAKER_02 54:11

Wild.

SPEAKER_05 54:11

Oh Bridgerton season four specifically. Okay. Yes. Yes. And I I did that specifically because that's the last one that was just here. And um, I don't know if how much of Bridgerton's have you watched?

SPEAKER_02 54:25

All of season three, the beginning of season one, a little bit of season two, and none of season four.

SPEAKER_05 54:31

Okay. I'm really angry at season two. Or I mean season four. I love season two, actually. Queen Charlotte is the best, first of all. Goodbye. It's the best. Uh Bridgerton season four changed the timeline from when he sees this person at the ball who is a masked person and he wants to find her. It's very obvious who the fuck it is. And so you had to have like a visual impairment to not know who this person was out in the real world. Uh, it's only two months have passed. And he's like, I don't know you. In the book, it has been years. Uh-huh. And he has been with other women and he has like moved on, and he has like almost courted people, and like it's this whole journey of discovery that has happened. I don't know why I did this. Journey of discovery that has happened. And they cut all of that out, and it completely changed how to watch the show. And I was like, first of all, this is just ever after. Yes, Cinderella, but definitely ever after. Second of all, like down to the silver shoes. Like, fuck off. Whoa, okay. Second of all, the timeline of stuff, you ruined everything. And then they're trying to mash other books together of Francesca's storyline and some of Eloise's storyline, and they're trying to fit it all in to do the TV adaptation thingy. And it's like, don't do that. That's not how this was supposed to work. And I think it was not a good season. And I'm so shocked because a lot of people are posting their reactions of like end of season four. And they're like, wow. And I was like, where? Is the wow in the room with us?

SPEAKER_02 56:12

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 56:12

Yeah. Like I was like, uh, no, it was so boring. My friend Lindsay texted me and was like, I just finished finished Bridgetron's season four. And I was like, ooh, yeah. And she was like, This is so bad. And I was like, correct. Now, is it better than season three with Colin and uh Penelope? Yes, I do think so.

SPEAKER_02 56:32

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 56:33

I do think it's just was better executed. I think their season was also not executed well. Um, I found I feel like they uh Penelope did not get the spotlight in the be in the right way, in the best way. It was all about like she's chunky. And I was like, that's not it.

SPEAKER_02 56:55

Which is also like outrageous because you can't tell me that she is not the pinnacle of female beauty of that time period.

SPEAKER_05 57:01

She is exactly the body type that anyone would go for because they don't want to be with someone skinny because then they're fucking poor.

SPEAKER_02 57:08

Right. Like skinny equaled you couldn't afford to eat.

SPEAKER_05 57:11

Right. They want full-figured, like her titties her titties are up to her tin. Who would not want a motorboat that? Like, you know what I mean? Like uh that that's why I hated that season. Anyways, big long Bridgerton tangent.

SPEAKER_02 57:25

Okay. So the summer turned pretty is your choice.

SPEAKER_05 57:28

Yes, because I um liked those books, and uh I was so excited to watch every episode when The Summer Turn I Turned Pretty came out. I was very excited about it.

SPEAKER_02 57:38

I love that. Yeah. Um I fear I must be predictable yet again. I have not seen The Summer I Turned Pretty, so I feel bad voting on this.

SPEAKER_05 57:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 57:49

So I just I feel like I have to do this because I have no other option. I agree. I mean, I agree. I just feel like I'm being predictable because it's not the second time I've just moved heated rivalry because obviously.

SPEAKER_05 58:02

I agree. And see, I'm going to do the ballad of songbirds and snakes. And we know that Ilya and Shane and Kip and Scott are the clear wieners here. I think I said wieners. Yes, all of it. Um, I I tried to say clear winners, but I definitely said clear wieners, which is so funny because he did rivalry.

SPEAKER_01 58:32

Accurate.

SPEAKER_05 58:34

It's an accurate slip. Um, that was easy. I that was really easy.

SPEAKER_02 58:38

I honestly feel like we could have skipped the whole bracket and just move. Okay, next up, our last bracket and our timely of the brackets.

SPEAKER_05 58:47

Let's fucking go.

SPEAKER_02 58:49

These are Avatar theories.

unknown 58:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 58:52

Uh specific when I was Googling Avatar fan theories. Um, I was not including anything about like, I think it's gonna be from Elaine's point of view. I don't care. This is not about the structure of the book, these are plot point-based fan theories.

SPEAKER_05 59:08

I'm just read one that I have never heard.

SPEAKER_02 59:10

Is it the second one? Because that was new to me too.

SPEAKER_05 59:13

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 59:14

Yeah. Okay, go for it. Uh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 59:18

Let's start with that one.

SPEAKER_02 59:19

Yeah. Um, apparently that's a theory that people think that Moore and Eris are twins, like fraternal twins. I can find the Reddit thread where I found that really quickly.

SPEAKER_05 59:32

How would that even happen? They're supposed to be, and then he's gonna, and then he leaves her in the hold on.

SPEAKER_02 59:40

Moore is a trader, um, is my personal favorite fan theory. Same. So I'm pretty quick to move that one. That can be my first choice.

SPEAKER_05 59:49

Yeah, but I would like to know what the original Reddit post said about this because I think that's fucking mental. It's blow that's like blowing my mind.

SPEAKER_02 59:58

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 59:59

And I don't like it.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:01

Shocking amount of people in the comments agreeing. Um, so I'm gonna find it. I would I do also want to flag one other one that was new to me, which is that Elaine was pregnant when she went into the cauldron.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:12

I didn't even see that.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:14

Unclear, like the theory was expanded to say that it's unclear how much time passes in the cauldron. So you're positing that part of the reason why she's so fucking depressed is that she like lived a life with douchebag mortal boyfriend, had a baby, and like then was like sucked out of that world.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:35

Oh, okay. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:39

And it's a I like that one. Yeah, I like that one based on like what we think is gonna happen or what we think is the most interesting. Cause like obviously Elaine will like going to the Supreme Court feels pretty obvious, but like her having been pregnant is more interesting to me.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:53

And it yeah, her going to the Supreme Court does feel obvious. I don't know how that's going to work, and maybe that's going to be coming up.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:00

I actually read a theory about that that I didn't because it's too long to type, which is that's not her with Tam Tam, right?

SPEAKER_05 1:01:05

Ew.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:05

No. The theory is that Tamlin will die somehow and the Spring Court will pass to Lucian, and then that Lucian and Elaine are mates.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:13

Oh, I would like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:14

I would like I'd be happy with that.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:16

That would be that would be heartwarming, and I would love that.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:19

Oh, I like that one. Okay. Then I want to pick that.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:23

Okay. We'll rule the spring court.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:26

Okay, great.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:26

I'm shocked by the Elaine was pregnant one before the cauldron. I think it feels like really dark to touch it, but it makes a lot of sense. A lot of sense. And like she really loved that Human.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:43

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:43

She still do, even though he had dickhead.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:47

That would be so sun. I don't know if Sarah would do that though, but she might because she did do a whole book now that we know about uh someone dealing with their mental health issues and did write an entire storyline about her really horrible pregnancy uh and birth story.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:06

So maybe Okay, your turn. Um, okay, I'm gonna go over here to Reese and I don't like this because A, I just want I want the people of Stern Glass to be able to live their lives in peace. And I want them, I want their stories to be done. Um also I don't think it's very reasonable because she Sarah J. Mass openly talks about how Reese is her favorite. And I really don't think she's gonna retcon the entire series by making him an evil Valk person.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:34

Like I just I feel like she her husband Josh would have to do something very horrible for Reese to all of a sudden be horrible because he's very obviously her husband. Yeah. Like that's who she it is modeled after, especially according to her.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:49

Her mother-in-law her mother-in-law, which I was like.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:52

But I do like this because I do like they talk about how much Reese looks like Rune, and they talk like how they're all very similar. So I do think that is valid, and obviously there's gonna be more Crescent City Actar crossover.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:04

So Reese's sister is Ruin's mom.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:07

Mom. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:08

I really like that. So that would make Ruin Reese's nephew.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:16

I like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:18

I like it. It makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:20

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:21

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:22

No. Okay, wait. We're not there yet. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:26

Bryce over. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:27

Bryce is heir to the Dusk Court. Mama Archeron is you need to spend more time on Reddit. I yeah, I am not, I have not gone down. That one's new to me.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:44

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:45

Oh. Cochrane witch. Okay. Is it Cochrane or they say Kroken and I am no idea if I spelled it. Krokken.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:56

They say on the audiobook, they say Kroken.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:59

Okay. I said Cochrane, which sounds like Cochrane. Sorry, guys. I just I really like Bryce is heir to the dusk court. I like it. I'm not sure if it makes sense, but I like it.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:10

They describe her as like dusky a lot. Like they use the word dusk to describe like her nipples are dusky, but also like her skin flushes like a dusk color.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:20

Like they Well, and she's got like this burgundy, beautiful sunset colored hair.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:25

Yeah. And the way like her magic responds in the dusk court makes it pretty obvious. Yeah. To me anyway, but we'll see. We'll see. I like that. Okay. Okay, my turn.

unknown 1:04:38

Your turn. Ow.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:39

Um these are all four. Like. Well, we have four books. So maybe they just all win and we get all of them one in each book. I feel like some of them are interconnected. Like if Rune's Reese's sister is Rune's mom, then that kind of like goes with this one. That's gonna go with the Bryce thing, because Bryce is going to Because Bryce and Rune are siblings.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:59

Are siblings, and so is there a pool of starlight, Sarah? Um where do you get this from? From you. Yeah. You. You did this to us. Where do you get it from, Sarah? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:16

I just I have said this so many times that I feel like I have to do this. Like I just to me that there is nothing more like going to happen than that more is a traitor.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:27

Yeah. Okay, I'm gonna go with Elaine will rule the Spring Court. Okay. Amazing. Just again, because of the extended explanation. Yeah. Typically I would be like, Bryce, bring her in. But um I really want Elaine can't grow a carrot to save her family. Uh Archeron to choose Lucian.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:49

That's actually part of the theory, is that like a proof behind it is that the reason she's show so prone to growing flowers is like her connection to the spring court.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:57

Well, like people don't eat carrots.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:00

I don't know, man. I didn't write subreddit. I don't know, man. That's not me.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:07

Yeah, okay. Well, I think we know what the champion is.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:11

Do you want to say it?

SPEAKER_05 1:06:12

More is a traitor. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:14

More is a traitor.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:15

That's how that is that's gotta happen. There is too many things about her that I am What does it mean that her power is truth? What is truth? That's how much time we got left.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:29

Like, does she make people like tell the truth? Does she see the truth? Does she like get a level up when people tell the truth?

SPEAKER_05 1:06:38

Like what what is she truth in the sense that ever there is always two sides to everybody? You are always good and you are always evil. Is she truth? Like yeah, the her that thinking about who she really is breaks my brain, and I enjoy that.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:56

Yeah, absolutely. I'm looking up the uh on my actual laptop, which is where I found that theory before. So I'm thinking it will come up this time. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:09

Hmm.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:10

Theory. Aeris and Moore are twins. Oh my god. First of all, the theory came about because I noticed that they have some similarities, not identical, just little things. For example, they both have been described as wearing red. Boring. Uh, her dress is his cape. One random funny thought as a joke, but now I wonder is Cassian's obsession with Moore and how he thinks she's beautiful. But then in Accord of Silver Flames, Cassian says Eris is truly uh Faye, and that means he's absolutely out of this world, beautiful. So I thought that they looked similar and he's attracted to both. Okay. Um, anyway, then I began to wonder if Eris and Moore have a twin bond, and that's why the day in the woods, he was able to read it in her eyes, why he knew why Moore did what she did to get out of her betrothal, why Aeris says he knows a thing or two about De Māti. What is a Daimati again? A mind reader, right? Like mind readers. Mind readers, yeah. Um, oh yeah, when uh Cassian and Azrael save her, and they're like, not a shadow, an Illyrian warrior. That's right. Moore does ask if it was Aeris that was hurt. Um, I also think there seemed to be a theme with twins in the series, the Hibern twins, how Lucian cringed at the thought of them sharing a room, Gwen and her twin who died, and how it affected her. Um, at the end of A Court of Silver Flames, Cassian questions again why Ares left Moore in the woods that day, and Eris again doesn't answer him. But I feel like Eris is sneaky and responds in code all throughout the book. So when Aeris asks why they all care so much, Cassian says, because she's my sister and I love her. Uh, to which Aeris replies, I didn't know Illyrians were in a habit of fucking their sisters. Um, and it could be Eris' way of saying I wouldn't have touched my sister.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:51

I think that last one's a big stretch. Yeah. This doesn't add up to me.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:56

It's not adding up. Uh it was just really interesting.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:59

This feels like exactly what Sarah's talking to us about, being like you guys. Yeah, not that deep. Because sh Eris I am firmly of the mind that she has did something to scare them away to leave her in the woods and framed it to look like she was the victim respectfully, not in like a you know, believe all victims, guys. But I think there was there's some fuckery afoot, and we're gonna find out.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:30

Somebody wrote, honestly, this is the best theory I've heard so far. I love this. Like, what if the lady of the autumn court first gave birth to twins, a girl and a boy, Moore and Eris, but sent the girl away to protect her because the autumn king is an asshole, or the high lord of the autumn court is an asshole and then faked the little girl's death. Or maybe the lady of autumn is Moore's mom and Moore was smuggled into the Hewn City because Moore was from a premarital or extramarital affair, and the lady of the hued hewn favor pretends she's her own as a favor. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:00

Okay, that wouldn't explain twins though. Then the extramarital affair would they could be like step siblings.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:07

Evolves into people thinking that more is evil, which is correct.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:09

Yeah, more is more's gotta be.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:11

I'm glad that we passed on that because that's I don't like that.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:14

That don't make no sense. Oh my god, look at all of our brackets. I'm really proud of us.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:18

So good.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:19

This has nothing to do with basketball.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:22

Why would it? I love that for us. We have our favorite trope, Slowburn. Hunt is our book boyfriend. I'm so glad. Uh our top adaptation, obviously, heated rivalry. And our top fan theory is that more is a trader.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:36

So what this says about us is we like tension. We like men in sweats and and baseball caps backwards. We love the gaze.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:49

We love yearning.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:51

We love yearning.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:52

He'll rival heated rivalry is the slowest of all of the slow burns. Did you see that girl who compared the timelines to the timelines of all seven Harry Potter books? And she would be like, she was like, Voldemort would be dead and we wouldn't even be at the cottage. It takes like nine years. I love that. I love that. That was some very funny person on the TikToks.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:16

It says a lot about us, though. This says a lot. And more, never trust a pretty bitch. There we go. She gotta have some character. If she's flawless, there's a problem.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:27

She's a problem.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:28

Okay, do we have anything else to do?

SPEAKER_02 1:11:29

No, that's it. We did it. We nailed it. That's it. Look at us go.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:33

We did it. Okay, guys. Well, thanks for joining us for our March Madness bracket uh frenzy. It was very fun. Um, thank you, Emily, for putting all those things together. We'll see people next week for the spark of the everflame. We'll see people next week for the spark of our I'll take it from here.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:52

We'll see people next week for our spark of the ever flame recap and casting. Yes. There we go. Meet Luther, who we've been talking about this whole episode.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:03

I love him. We hope you voted on our Shepherd King fan cast Friday. That would just happen this past Friday. And if you didn't, you missed out, and you gotta watch our socials on Fridays, and uh our results will be up this week. So keep an eye on those. Head over to our YouTube, subscribe, leave us a comment, look at our shorts, not our like wearing shorts. Look at my shorts, check out our Daisy Dukes, like, subscribe, listen to us. We love you guys.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:33

All the things.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:34

We'll see you next time to all you she's, the he's the they's the gays, the shadow daddies, and the phase. Goodbye.