Content Highlights:

• Character Name debate
• Horse breed terminology
• Realities of Gang Life in Romance Novels

Ever found yourself bickering over how to pronounce the name Aeron, or debating whether an Arabian mare is a suitable gift for a rookie rider? That’s just a snippet of the rich banter we shared in our latest episode, where we dissect the layers of Rosa Lee's "Dead Soldiers vs Taylor's Duet."

Jenn's Rating: 5 Skulls, 5 Peppers, 3 Stas

Mistie's Rating: 5 Skulls, 5 Peppers, 2 Stars

NEW DARKNESS SCALE UPDATED JULY 2, 2024 - 4 Skulls

Other Books Mentioned: Bonds that Tie Series

Other Mentions: Arcane Society Book Box Subscription

I wish with every fiber of my being that it could be like this always just us against the world. But wishes are like stars pretty to look at, yet unreachable, unattainable. And there are so many stars in our night sky that it sparkles. And today we are reading Dead Soldiers the Dead Soldiers vs Taylor's Duet by Rosa Lee. Okay, first off, I think the first thing we should do is go over the names of the character. Could you already laughed at how I pronounced one name?

I didn't just laugh about like passed out because I was wheezing so hard from laughing so hard.

So we can agree that Knox is Knox, yes, okay, and Lark is Lark.

Yes.

Okay, so I was saying Aeron. I was saying A-E, absolutely not. No, that is such a horrible name for a main villain.

I mean I don't disagree, but Aeron just sounds like a bad rapper.

Aeron like.

Aeron.

Aeron, aeron.

Aeron. It still sounds like a bad rapper to me, Like from the 2000s.

Okay, and then his he's gonna sing about smackin' that. His all on the-. Yes, love that song.

That's.

Akon, right? Yeah, I think so. This is why we're friends, Jenn. It is Okay, and then. So how do you pronounce his brother's name, Jude? I was pretty sure I was saying Judd.

Which would be two D's instead of an E, because it was Jude. Yeah, it was the sister, and then Jude was the brother.

I don't remember what I was calling him.

Probably just Jay. Yeah, knowing you, I'm pretty sure.

yeah, Because it was part of it was maybe I was seeing Jude, but I was just I wasn't saying it in my head, maybe.

I was like not.

And then Tarl, that's how you were pronouncing it yeah, Tarl, or I think.

I like kind of bounce and in in my head, I think-.

I think I did Tarl . I think I did more Tarl too.

Yeah.

Okay, and then Rook Okay, so Rook, rook, rook, rook, rook. They're gonna be like are they talkin' about this? They're not the same bug. The characters' names don't add up.

Because isn't that what the chess piece is called? It's a rook, right Rook. Or is it a rook? Because I think that's what he was named after.

I think it depends on who you ask, like tomato, tomato and caramel and caramel and pecon and pecan soda and pop. It might be a regional thing Maybe. Okay, I'm going to let you start, because you already have a pet peeve of the book.

That's because I'm a crazy horrors girl. You can't Okay. Here's the thing I was so excited about having horses play a part in this series. Even if it was a minor part, I was real excited. So then I got even more excited because the Taylor dad is over in the Middle East and he's looking at Arabians and Arabians are one of my favorite horse breeds. It's like the first breed I ever owned. I love Arabians.

And then they said Arabian thoroughbreds. I'm like what the fuck is an Arabian thoroughbred? That's not a real thing. You can have racing Arabians and thoroughbreds are like the racing horse for the US graded. They race all over the world. But, like most people, if you watch a horse race in the United States, you're watching thoroughbreds. If it's not a thoroughbred, you're watching quarter horses. You're not watching Arabians race in the US. But I was willing to give them like suspend belief if they had like racing Arabians. They owned the track and they decided to race Arabians on the US. It's their track. Who cares? Right, cool? And so Arabian thoroughbreds are not a thing.

And it really irritated me that she couldn't pick one, because at one point she said like Arabians and then another point she was like Arabian thoroughbreds. I'm like this is no. Also, the fact that Erin Aeron gifted her a mare Arabian is a bunch of BS. The girl doesn't know how to ride. Arabians are bitchy most of the time and if your first person listens to this podcast, please don't come at me. If you're a mare person I am not and two Arabians are flighty. High anxiety, like high intensity, like that's not a beginner horse and I am done with my rant now.

I just want to let the audience know that we have a special guest with us today.

Sully the kitty cat.

Look at her, she's so cute. She's like super excited to be here she is. I mean, she was really into your little rant Like you couldn't see her, but I could see her and she's like yeah, mama, you tell them.

Yeah.

Okay.

I love this little kitten.

Well, we had caught up last night and you were like oh yeah, I haven't heard any updates from you since like two weeks ago about the book. Well, that's because I stopped reading it.

And I just finished.

Did you really? That's why you hadn't got any updates from me on this book. It's not that it was bad. It was like I literally predicted like the whole fucking ending of the book and I was just like, oh book one right. Yeah, but what book to the shit came out of fucking nowhere. It was ridiculous and stupid. What was the?

point there. We'll get there Because book one, so bring it back to book one.

Okay, sorry, I don't have any what did you like about book one.

Wow, that bad.

No, it's not that I didn't like it and it's not that I liked it. There was just nothing I like Jude.

Jude is fantastic.

He's my favorite. I like Lark. I like that. She's really strong. To a point she's also fucking really stupid. I just don't understand why she believed her dad and why she didn't trust the boys more or the guys more, like Aaron said, like I know this is going to be, so I giggled over Okay.

Audience. When Misty talks, it's going to be Aaron. Can I comment on Aaron, because that's also easier to say.

Let's just say A Okay, a that works I like it and I told you like at one point, like I wasn't even halfway through and I was like, oh my gosh, she's going to betray them.

Like you could already tell, and I think that that the author let us know that it was going to happen. It made everything after that redundant because even if what she felt was true was still Good, but I guess they need to conceived, I guess I deserve being known, have a child? Maybe Wanna say something I put my hand through, okay Good, maybe podrace how do you know about me to be able to sort cat attack sort of the thing, or it was still. I'm trying to think of a better word than false, but I don't know, I just I didn't like that. I did not like that at all, because then I didn't want to read it no more, cause I'm like, well, she's going to betray them, and then they're going to have to save her, and then there's going to be a little war and then whatever.

Yeah. So, Okay, so I'll play devil's advocate, because I too saw it coming and I too was annoyed that she didn't just have a conversation with the guys, but she's also had a decade of very intense trauma at the hands of her dad, and if he's threatening to kill the only person who's actually ever mattered up until these four men walk into a room, like I could see her not seeing another way out except for the path that she was already on. But I agree, like she should have just talked to the guys.

I feel like, honestly, I feel like it would have made a better book if she had had a conversation with the guys and said okay, here was my original plan. And here's where I'm at now. How can we take down the dead soldiers together and keep my brother safe?

Yes, that would have been way better. And I can't, we can't. I say we can't. I don't think that we can let the trauma be an excuse, because if that was the case, she wouldn't have been willingly going into their bed, Right? So she has to trust them on some level already, because for somebody like you said, who's been abused for 10 years, that trust does not come easily, nor willingly, because she's never had it before. And the fact that she does we can't. I don't think that that can be used as a as a good enough reason as to why she didn't tell them.

That's fair. I'll give it to you, because I didn't like any of that either, like I wish she had had the conversation with them. And but here's another thing that pissed me off.

If Tarle knew that she was going to betray them, why the fuck didn't he say anything? I didn't like that either.

No, actually I loved that and because Tarle had the idea. But he also wanted to show her that, regardless of what decisions she had made, he was willing to trust her and go there with her, and she had never had that before. So it was like a whole eye-opening thing for her. I don't think, I don't know. I I really liked that detail.

I'm not saying that your logic. Of course Jenn always has to be logical in his conversations. I don't disagree with your logic, but do you think if he knew that she was going to be raped that he would still go through with it?

Mmm, probably not.

Yeah, probably not. And the beatings that everybody gets because of it, I don't know.

It didn't bother me that they got beat. They beat her shit off Like I mean, obviously I don't. I didn't want them to get like beat up, but with as bad as Knox hurt her, I was basically okay with it. One of the things that irritated me in book well really throughout the duology is you have all of this like insane trauma from all of them and they're all like up. It's a part of our world, it's fine. Like no one needs to talk it out, no one needs to be, you know, super angry for longer than like a couple of days. And the only time you see any type of I don't know if you can even call it like a work through of emotions is when Lark locks herself in the room for like 96 hours or whatever it was. And even then I'm just like she comes out and she's like all right, it's fine that you killed my mom, it's I get it. What?

I honestly was not very invested in this so I might not have picked up on all those nuances. I agree with you that they just kind of like roll with it and like go with the flow. And it's only in like book two where she's like having like severe nightmares. I say severe very lightly, that it's a thing.

But like, even then, like everyone, just like like okay, you killed my mom, it's cool. Okay, you beat the shit out of me, it's fine Like. Oh, you betrayed us, it's fine Like.

And there was no consequences to the actions Nine. Okay, so I disagree with that. There were consequences, not like consequences outside of their circle, but within them. There were, so like when she refused to talk and they had to be here. That was very traumatic for them, for guys who don't really show emotion or have emotion in the way that it was after. So there were side effects Maybe we should say side effects. There were side effects of that. But it was her own team fault. She should have just told them, like you said, if they would have the conversation, that wouldn't have had to have happened.

The killing of the mom Again.

The mom and the sister. Well, the killing of the mom and the sister, that is just something that happens in gang life. People, innocent people. But that's exactly my point. Like you don't get over that stuff, I mean, but with their mentality and the way that they grew up, like it makes sense, like you can't have emotion, you can't really let that interfere with the coldness. I guess, I don't know, it didn't bother me, I was fine, I was actually okay with that, because if they would have went on and on about, you know, bitching and whining about it, I would have been even more pissed off about this book. I don't, you're fucking gang bangers. Like I don't want to hear you bitching and crying like little bitches, okay, like no, that is not the. If I want that, I'll go read a contemporary.

Oh my God, maybe, maybe, okay. So note to self, Jenn, if you're reading a gang book, we are not expecting therapy, it's just. Everyone's just going to be okay with whoever you kill, whoever you beat up and move on with their lives.

I mean, in a sense, all of the kicky sex that they do could be therapeutic. That's how they get their rage and everything out.

Oh, I absolutely think it was therapeutic for a liar.

So but yes, gang bangers are not emotional pussies, Just saying.

Good to know.

Yes, and if they are, I'm not reading that shit. Okay, so book two was a waste of time. It was a waste of time. No point in book two at all. There was no reason.

The only thing that I loved that came out of book two was Lark and Adam's relationship. Oh, I was going to be like I knew you were going to say that.

They took me there. Oh, they're dead.

Okay, yeah, yeah, that's literally the only thing that I liked that came out of book two. Otherwise, it was a complete waste of time, like there was literally no reason at all for that book to happen. Yeah, like no reason.

And the epilogue or the ending could have been the ending of book one, after they killed oh, 100%, the ex-soldiers. And all that Because I liked the Christmas party and getting to meet the other characters. Because, let me tell you something, she better be writing a book about the fallen, because and it better be fucking better than this shit.

I was wondering if there was already a book. It almost sounded like there was already a book on the fallen.

I couldn't tell she has the High School Penetrantry series which we have on our reading list today.

Yeah, that's like found or captured or something.

Yeah, but I don't know if that's about them.

I got you. Yeah, I was interested in, I did like that last scene, but, like you said, it could have been book one and Mm-hmm, that's it.

We don't need another book that whole thing of Tarle getting revenge or whatever was just a face, a space filler. It was unnecessary and made no sense. It was a waste of space.

Yeah, I completely, and there was nothing else in the book substantial enough to warrant another book, especially because the book, like the first book, was less than 300 pages, right, so like you could have had.

Yeah, it was 278 pages. One book like 400 pages.

I was going to say like 350.

Oh yeah.

You know, like you could have had the whole kitten caboodle in one book for sure. Oh, and so Tarle goes to the stables and you have from I think it was Larx's point of view he's having like this intense discussion with the stable hand, or you know, whatever his role is there. But you have there's no context later on Like who that person is any like, because, I'm sorry, if the Taylor men knew that somebody was working at their stable that was involved in Tarle's past or involved in kidnapping Tarle and Lark, that man would have been like quartered.

I don't like your pun.

What was the pun?

Oh, was it meant to be a pun?

No.

Oh, you said quartered. You know quarter horses, getting the horses to drag you here apart.

I'm like. I'm like there's no way she's thinking like quarter horses and then sure, now you come out. All right, look at you go.

That's it. That's my great news for the day.

Did you know that quarter horses got their name because they're faster than a thoroughbred in the first quarter mile? Oh, I did not. There's your fun horse back to the day.

Yes, I can't wait for that to come up on trivia. I don't know.

So, yeah, okay, is there anything? I mean, if I think we can both agree that if we loved anything out of the books, it was Jude.

Yeah.

He's fantastic.

Absolutely.

But other than that, nothing. So like, did you like any of the guys other than Jude?

I liked all of them, but he was my favorite. Yeah, yeah, he was my favorite.

It would be him, and then the other three yeah, I'd agree with that. I loved Jude. I thought I was going to like A more than I did. I thought it was going to be like a Knox from Bonded Bond's series situation. Oh, don't even get those mixed up. Absolutely not. But it wasn't even close.

Wipe that from your brain.

I was so excited about it, though.

That never even came. No, I don't think nothing will ever come as close to how great the Bonded series is.

I don't know what anybody says. It was fantastic.

Side note, the rest of my collection from Arkane Society should be delivered today and I will have all six of those pretty beautiful books on my shelf.

Yay, you'll have to see me in pictures.

Yes, I'm super excited. Okay, I've.

All right, are you?

ready to rate yeah, the overall, no, the darkness Five. I mean five.

Yeah, this was, I think. Aside from Butcher and Blackbird, I feel like this has been our darkest read so far, and even Butcher and Blackbird Didn't feel dark, Didn't feel dark. So this, like I actually haven't picked up any, it took me a little bit. I've read some fluffy stuff because, like this really bothered me, Like I was fine, but I needed like a break.

Yeah, I agree, I think this has been one of our darkest reads of the season. Yeah, for sure, because I'm just thinking about all the other ones. Yeah, absolutely yeah, okay. So five for the darkness, mm-hmm For the spice no-transcript, I would say five.

Yeah, five, it was green. Go on it had all the elements, like detail, kinky.

Taboo, which was really hot.

Okay, can we just okay, I have, I have officially decided I like I do not have a blood kink. Like I really struggled. Actually reading the few parts that had that like very detailed, I was like this is just all I could think of were like diseases.

I kept on thinking, and an infection.

I'm like there's nothing sexy about this.

I didn't care Like I was, just like whatever, just skip that part.

That's essentially what I did, but everything else, like when they had her on the St Andrews Cross in the first book, holy cow.

Yeah.

Yeah, and when the Aaron came back after like having, like not letting the other guys get her off all day, that was so fucking hot.

And then the overall rating.

I know you are probably going to rate it lower than I am. I'm going to give it a three. I actually devoured the duology Granted. I was on a plane so I didn't have anything better to do but I did really enjoy the first book. I was disappointed that she didn't have the conversation with the guys, but I did enjoy the first book. I did enjoy the relationship development with all of them, so I'm going to give it a three. Like it's not something I'd ever read again, but like if you want a dark, spicy romance, I would recommend this, but maybe skip book two. Like there's no reason for you, like you don't need to read book two, unless you just want to have, like all the good lovey-dovey feelings about Lark finally getting a dad she deserves, because that just made me so happy.

I would. I'm stuck between a two and a three. Oh really, yeah, I'm thinking I'm going to give it a two.

I'm shocked. You're contemplating a three Well you and your unreasonable logic. Okay.

Yeah, I think I'm going to go with a two Like unreasonable logic is an oxymoron. Well, that explains me to a T then. Okay, that's fair, that fits me perfectly. I'm going to think I'm going to go with a two. Oh, I'm going to give it a two. It was okay, like nothing stands out, like there's nothing special, but I don't think I can go with a three, because this would not be the first thing that I would recommend to somebody.

Well, that's fair yeah.

That I have so many other things that I would recommend first, yeah, before this.

Well and for context for the audience. Like you've read a lot more dark romance than I have. So, like my, my Rolodex, so to speak, of dark romance is significantly less than yours.

Shut up. I love that so much I'm pretty sure I have a Rolodex in my storage unit. That's like the best thing ever.

Yeah.

Oh, that brings me joy. Okay, I don't. Yeah, I got nothing else, but we did have two quotes, so Jenn is going to end us on the second quote that we liked out of the duology.

Yep. Until this point, our pretty bird may have been alone, but now she has demons on her side, ready to go to war, and eventually, all who have wronged her, for she is ours and no one will ever touch her again. Okay, readers, and 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. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Bones of the Story as much as we did. If you did, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review.

Your feedback means the world to us and to stay updated on all things dark romance, follow us on social media and don't forget to subscribe and leave a review.

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We'd also love to hear from you, Share your thoughts, ideas or even your own dark romance stories with us. Drop us a line at Bonesofthestoryatgmailcom.

Remember our next tantalizing episode is just around the corner, so keep your hearts open and your senses sharp.

Until then, embrace the darkness and let the stories continue to stir your deepest desires.

This is Mistie and Jenn signing off from Bones of the Story.

Transcribed by https://podium.page