Our latest chat, Her Soul To Take by Harley LaRoux, dives headfirst into the story's fear-laced eroticism and the role of supportive friendships amidst the chaos.

Content Highlights:

• Leon on the demon
• Who to trust?
• Foreshadowing of a future episode

Jenn's Rating: Darkness 4, Spicy 4, Overall 3

Mistie's Rating: Darkness 4, Spicy 3, Overall 2

NEW DARKNESS SCALE UPDATED JULY 2, 2024 - 2.5 Skulls

Other Books mention - Sinners Duet, plus all previous recorded BOTS episodes

I floated there, eyes closed, shattered and warm, protected in his arms. I could forget all the danger outside these walls and let darkness be my shelter. Here I could let wickedness be my sanctuary, perversion my therapy, and a monster be my lover. And today Jenn and I are talking about her soul to take by Harley….

The Row.

The Row. I was going to say the Rocks, but yeah, l-l-a-r-o-u-x, yeah, yeah, the Row. So….

Yeah, yeah, yeah, are we ready to rate her Totally Like under a minute we're done. So I think that I. So I didn't read the blurb to this book going in, so I had no idea what to expect, so I was mildly surprised. I think it did take me a minute to get into it. I did not like her. She is the. She falls into the category of too stupid to live. She's constantly. It's also one of those things where I think we've talked about this previously.

I don't know if an episode is just in discussions where you have a main character, and even though so in this case it's the female main character, and then you have the main male character. She doesn't believe or listen to the main male character, but she gets an anonymous letter or something from somebody and all of a sudden, oh well, they have to be right, they have to be true, I'm going to believe them over this person over here who's trying to keep me alive, even though they're a demon. And I don't like them, I hate that. I absolutely. What gives you? What makes you think that? A complete stranger? Why would you trust them over somebody who you're literally having sex with and is trying to save your life? Like I don't get it. Anyways, that was one thing I didn't like. So we're jumping into what I didn't like. I did not like that she was.

I liked the idea of the cult and like the history of the god under the mountain or whatever. I wish we would have got more of that. I felt like that aspect was really clever and there could have just been so much more woven into the story. Like we didn't need another scene of him dominating her with fear. Like yes, I know it's a romance, obviously people are going to hate. Like we don't need that much sex. Like we get it. The sex is hot. They get off on fear. Like that's fine. Like why Jenn and I were prepping for this I don't know if I missed it or I wasn't, it wasn't clear but I didn't understand why now was the time to start sacrificing the three souls to the, the god under the mountain or in the mine shaft or whatever Now, even though I had been like a hundred plus years since the miners were saved. So I just felt like there were some plot holes in there that could have made the story better. But I really liked Leon the demon. Yeah, he was.

He was yeah, and he was just like he's like damn it. I fell in love with this idiot.

Yeah, pretty much, pretty much. That's exactly what it was and I was like, yes, you understand that you were fucked because you fell in love with an idiot. Okay. Who doesn't want to listen to you? Who doesn't believe anything, even though she knows it all to be true?

Yeah.

But yeah, it was Not. Yeah, I just there were so many avenues that it could have just went. And then the cult people using other demons and monsters to like track her and yeah. I just think that there was a lot of potential and it fell short because they went for the sex instead of the story, which is fine. Apparently, everybody loves that.

But I feel like when you're creating this world or this mythology, or like magic or like whatever, because it carries on in the other books like if I remember correctly, the other two books are almost happening at the same time, so you're getting three different versions of how, until the third book, till the third book, where it comes to the end of defeating the God, is my understanding on how it works.

Oh, okay.

Because the God doesn't get defeated in the end of book one.

Right, yeah.

You know there's only one person who apparently can defeat it. But you have these other two storylines that are helping to make it weak and I think that's a phenomenal way and probably really hard to do if you think about it. But the first book is just. I wish it would have been better on that front.

Yeah. Yeah, I got nothing else. Was there anything that you liked about other than like Leon, cause he was super hot.

I liked her kink. I haven't really read a lot of fear kink where they get off on being afraid. So that was kind of interesting and to see how that dynamic played out.

But again, she was when she finally tells her friend about all the crazy things that's happening, especially with the other two people in school, the kids of the guy who runs the town, like her friend like, instantly believes her. Like there's no, oh, you're lying, or whatever. Like a friend should I hate when they're like, oh, you're best friend. And then you know, if I told you Demo was trying to sell my soul, I expect you, Jenn, to believe me Like I might be crazy, but I expect you to be on my side and not be like, no, that's not.

You're like well, I've been with my friends. It would be you and you probably like it, so do you really need my help? Or you just like you want to tell me the kinky stories behind this?

Exactly supportive.

Like does you have a forked tongue? Because now I need to know.

Right, and is it just as tongue? Does he have a tail? Does he have a mind of its own? All the good things, yes. So I think that's about it. I just it was. I think it was lacking in the world building and like another thing, like if her dad and mom were from that down and they knew what was going to be happening. Why the fuck did they let their daughter come back or not warn her, like they were aware of the cult and like everything? That's why they left, or at least that's what was my assumption.

Were her parents alive. Still, they were still alive, yeah, okay, yeah, I think, now that you mentioned that I remember kind of having that saying, because, y'all, it's been Probably close to two years since I've read this book At least well over a year and I remember having a similar thought of like, okay, if you moved away, why would you allow her to go back, especially if, you know, or maybe they just left because they got bad vibes, so it or it's not clear.

It's not clear. So the head haunt of the town, when he kidnaps Ray, whenever he does, he mentioned, you know, your dad didn't have the stomach for it, or he wasn't strong enough for this, and that's why he. It was hinted that that's why they left, because they didn't want to be a part of it. Now again, it could be open to interpretation, but it's not clear. So that was my assumption of what was happening. So again, so not only is she too stupid to live on her own, her parents are also aware of this and they just don't care.

Yeah, so she lived in like a Little house outside of town surrounded by woods, right.

That was her family's cabin. They kept it, even though they moved.

Okay, all right, it's all. It's all coming back to me Mm-hmm, I got ya. Yeah, I. When when I read this, I don't remember getting, I don't remember Getting into the story much. I remember it being like not really enjoying it and I basically just like skim through the spicy scenes, because the spicy scenes were very good.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I put it down and I almost didn't pick it back up again, but then I was like I Was like I'm not gonna be, this is not gonna be on the DNF because of me. It took me. So I still did it and, like I want to say like a day or two.

Yeah but it wasn't like a set down and devour, it was like I started it and then I set it down. And Then I looked at it and I'm like and I looked at it some more and I was like you know what, let me, let me think of, let me, let me look at this tomorrow and then see if I still want to read it. I'm pretty sure I put it off for the longest possible and then I was just like you know what? I just want to fucking finish this book so I can move on to the next thing, because I'm not finishing the series.

Yeah.

And then I read it.

The thing that I remember really liking was the fight with the God that Ray had and then them and then being Ray and Leon getting revenge on Whoever, like she was attacked, right, mm-hmm, yeah, like getting revenge on on them and like burning the house down and All of that. And then Juniper and I can't remember her person's name getting her revenge.

So Juniper is with. Okay. So, if I remember correctly, in this book the demons, how they show their mark on another demon or possession, is like jewelry and piercings. So the guy, the Leon's demon, boyfriend or fuck buddy or whatever, is the one that ends up with Juniper, because Juniper did the summoning spell. And then the other couple is the head, a honcho, of the Colts. He has a bastard child or a half child, a child that's not of his wife, of somebody another woman. She's a powerful witch or seer, and so she's the one who ultimately so it's her. She's the one who took the grimoire and freed Leon, so to speak, and she summoned a demon that his name begins with a C, I'm pretty sure. Now I would like to read her book.

Yeah.

I will. What the heck is his name? Now I'm on a mission. Her name was Callum. I was trying to say Callus, callum and Everly. I would like to read their book. There's is the last one, because he was fucking crazy and I loved it when he came up against Leon. He is the psychopath or sociopath that makes all of our hearts flutter. I might read it and then read I say very loosely, as I'm probably skipping a lot because of book one is anything to indicate, book two and three are going to have a lot of sexings and I just don't care about it. They take up a majority of the book. I feel like.

Yeah, yeah, there is such a thing as too much sex like in the ritual that's going to be my baseline forever.

We're never. We're never getting away from that. I was on one of the Facebook groups the other day or I don't know when, and somebody had posted all the books that they wanted to read and they put emojis to rate them and on the ritual, I had a thumbs down, like right over the cover. It was funny, it was funny.

I don't understand how unless legitimately, they just are reading for the spice and they don't care if that spice isn't changed up.

That's quite possible. It was very repetitious. I think the only thing in this book that changed was the location. You know, sometimes he might tire up, sometimes he doesn't, but it was just based on the fear, right, and so there was nothing I did like. Though, as we're talking about it, I do remember at one point he becomes like drained and like goes to her and like passes out on the couch. Oh, that's right. And then, of course, she takes advantage and tries to bind him.

And it was crap, because she got it from the internet and he had the cat like scrape away the salt and gets pissed, and I'm like, yeah, I would get pissed too Like you. Just like took advantage of him. He came to you and like this is what you did.

Yeah, I was. I remember being pretty pissed with her about that, but then, like I feel like you can picture his face half over half this book, like like doing the face. Like my God, this woman. Why do I love her? I do, but I don't understand the reasoning. Yes, Absolutely.

You know what I think the book probably would have been better from his perspective.

Like the whole because when we get his perspective it bounces back in for it.

Does it? I don't remember.

Mm, hmm, yeah.

Oh, it does, You're right. It does, it does. I think I enjoyed it only more from his perspective than I did hers.

Yeah, which would make sense because you know you're dealing with someone. It's just not very bright.

I'm finding that we really do. Sorry, tstl, too stupid to live.

Oh, okay, that should be a sticker like hashtag TS2L, like what's that mean?

Coming soon in the bones of the story store.

Merch, yeah, yeah, I will say I I'm finding that you and I much prefer women who are like intellectual, like we do not enjoy gamsels in distress, and I feel like so far I'm trying to think before I put my foot in my mouth. If we're going off of like dark romance and I'm not counting bonds in this I don't feel like any of the women we've read about have been all that bright, except for the woman from the center's duet and I cannot remember her name right now and I'm talking about like the books that we've read for the podcast.

Yeah, I put her on Blackbird.

Oh my gosh, that's a given.

Okay, okay, okay, just like bonds is a given Sorry, so center's duet.

Center's duet. Perfect strangers, sunshine in the stalker, Even like the dead tailors or the dead soldiers and tailors. Yeah, I feel like they're like the women are just they either go along with things too quickly or they don't stand up for themselves, or they fall into the same trap. They've been like groomed to be. We're in the center's duet. She stands up to him even though she's pretty sure he's a serial killer.

Yeah.

Like after he leaves her for dead, and she's like fuck it. You want to be a jerk? Fine, I'll go sleep with this MF her, and you can watch me do it on camera. And then to stand up to him the way she did in the warehouse, and not necessarily like stand up to him, but like challenge him, yeah.

And then, of course, if we're talking about this season, the bridge kingdom. Hmm, laura, I wouldn't consider Laura damsel, I would consider her very intellectual. Who's Laura From bridge kingdom?

Laura, oh yeah, Laura.

Laura.

Oh yeah, she's freaking smart as a whip.

I got nothing else for this, though, like. I feel like it had potential. If I'm bored and like I really want to get to Everly's, I might finish it, and by finish it I mean like skip all the sex scene Well, maybe not like the first one or two, you know, like those are always really good, yeah. And then hopefully, you know, the potential of the storyline gets better as you get towards the end.

Yeah, I would hope so, yeah.

So and I was really surprised because we, you know, in the dark romance episode we talked about like our triggers are and like cults are kind of like a thing yeah, this cult was stupid, it didn't trigger anything at all.

Well, but we really don't see any cult. There's not a ton of cult activity. That you that, you see, I mean honestly like the ritual had more cult activity than this did Agreed, agreed, okay. So darkness, I would say a three or four. I mean, and a human you've got. Oh, what are you thinking? I was thinking like four.

Like even though it's not the main characters Leon was still attached to the cult and did help to a point. Like he wasn't allowed to kill the sacrifices because that would have tainted the sacrifice, but like they literally killed two people and sacrificed them to a demon. Um, I would say a three or a four.

I would be okay with a four, because you're talking about like human and demon relationship. She ends up giving him her soul, mostly so she like. One of the reasons is so she can get her revenge.

And because she thought he was dead and it was her way of like honoring him.

Yeah, and then they do like all of the revenge killing on the page in the last couple of chapters. So yeah, I would say a four.

Yeah, I'll agree with Fuck. I said agree again. I consent to a four.

I can see your four.

I'm agreeable. Is agreeable the same thing as agreed?

Yes, yes, it is.

Okay. So listener, for those listening, I made him a comment on our live for the season one wrap up, or cocktails with cocktails, something, and I was like you know, like the number one thing we do is like oh yeah, I agree. We say agree a lot, and so now it's a running joke of who cannot say agree and I'm losing, okay and then. So overall, I would probably say it to I was gonna say a three.

I'm thinking because three is like it's okay, I enjoyed it, you should check it out to is and there was nothing really great about it and I don't know if I would recommend it. I don't know, hold on, let me look at the rating again. I make sure I got it right. Two is and not bad, but it wasn't appetizing. And three is it's good, I enjoyed it. You should totally check it out.

Yeah, I'm saying it to, so I don't know, if you want your smut and you like Leon is hot, the smut is great. So I would say, if you're into that, then three, if you're not, then yeah two. Like, if you want more plot, less smut, it's a two. If you want more smut, less plot, it's a three.

That's a great way of what I'm trying to not say. The eight word that's a great way to summon Summer. Yeah, that's gonna be really good.

Where would we? What peppers are we giving it?

Oh we totally, I totally skipped spicy. Normally do darkness, spice and then overall shoot. It's really repetitive. I'm gonna say a two or a three. I mean there's a lot of sex obviously.

He has a tail that he uses Fine.

I mean he does a lot of shit to her. But I didn't skimmed it because I was bored of all the sex.

So funny, so I'm going for.

Okay, I'm gonna go with a three, like I. Literally nothing stands out to me in any of the like. I know they had sex. I can't tell you Like. There's no detail that stands out to me at all, except for didn't she give him head in the cemetery or something. That was kind of hot.

I think he like pins her after that. He like pins her down in the cemetery like in the dirt.

Yeah, I'm gonna go with the three. So, darkness, I'm gonna. What do we say for darkness? Four, four, spicy, I'm gonna say it. Three, you're four, and overall I'm gonna say two and you're gonna say three.

Yeah.

Yeah, okay.

All right, all right, so we're gonna go to this episode of the podcast. If you've read this story, where does the darkness rate with you?

Thank you for joining us on the journey into the shadows of love, where dark romance stories come to light.

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Until then, embrace the darkness and let the stories continue to stir your deepest desires and Jen signing off from bones of the story.

Transcribed by https://podium.page