Cliterature the Podcast
Books. Babes. Bold opinions. A queer lit podcast.
Cliterature the Podcast
Who Doesn't Love a Messy Bitch?
Delilah Green Doesn't Care... or does she? Join Haley and Dee on this romp through Bright Falls, Oregon for an almost wedding, childhood enemies to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, one bed trope, hell of a good time. They talk about dive bars, big city vs small town hook up culture, body insecurities, healing your inner child, and steamy WLW spice in their debut episode all about Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake. Because who doesn't love a messy bitch?
Queer lit, no chill. Some crumbs of academia, mostly chaos. If queer lit is your love language, we're fluent. Heads up, babes, we're not here to tease. We spill everything. Listener discretion is strongly encouraged, but honestly, you knew that. Welcome to Clitterature the Podcast. All right, guys, it's our first episode. We're talking about Delilah Green Doesn't Care, which is Ashley Herring Blake's first adult novel that she wrote in 2022. It was published in 2022. It's part of the Bright Falls series. There are three books in that series, and they're all fantastic. So if you haven't picked up the other two after you've read Delilah Green, go ahead and do that. Keep going. Keep going. Yeah, so good. It's about Delilah Green, and she gets booked to be her stepsister's wedding photographer, estranged stepsister. Very estranged. Yeah. And so she's going home to her hometown. And it's all about all of the hijinks that happen when she gets there. The other point of view, because it's alternating point of view is Claire, who is our bisexual bookstore owner. We stand a bisexual. We stand a bisexual, especially if they are a bookstore owner, because we love books. She's fantastic. She's a mom. And it's all about their interaction. And you know, like shenanigans, shenanigans. Who doesn't love a shenanigan? Everybody loves a shenanigan. Also should mention Claire is her stepsister's best friend. Oops. Oops.
SPEAKER_01:It's a lot of fun. So it's like a, it's not a, it's not an enemies to lover. It's more of like a friend of my enemies to lover. Right. Because Astrid and Delilah do not jihaw. No, absolutely not.
UNKNOWN:No.
SPEAKER_01:Also shout out to Kristen D. Mercurio, who narrated the audio book version of the entire Bright Falls series. She could read a phone book and I'd probably buy that. So.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, she has a fantastic voice. And I love that I have listened and read all three of them. books because I will listen during the day and read at night when you know my wife and kid are going to sleep. Anyway I read on my Kindle at night but when I listen she has such distinct character voices for every single character and it carries over throughout the entire series.
SPEAKER_01:Very very on point the entire time. Oh yeah. Keeps it the same and I listened to it not long after it was released and I honestly had to like stop it in traffic because I almost rear-ended someone because I got a Spicy scene. Yeah. Spicy scenes are great. Just a little disclaimer. If you're going to listen to it in the car, be forewarned. So listen or read. We love Ashley Herring Blake. Yes. We actually got to attend a book signing for her new book, Dream on Ramona Riley, not too long ago, which is where we snagged the title for this episode. Who doesn't love a messy bitch? Who
SPEAKER_00:doesn't love a messy bitch? Everybody loves a messy
SPEAKER_01:bitch. Everybody does because she was talking about Delilah and Delilah is... as you'll find out
SPEAKER_00:a little bit messy a little bit messy we're all a little messy but i really enjoyed the way that she talked about her characters and the way that she writes her characters because she was talking about how she cannot write a character until she figures out their trauma like we all have trauma and most of the decisions that we make every day are based in whatever has hurt us and so she was like what hurt you you know like who hurt you and then once she figures that out now i'm gonna write a book about it right like who who hurt you but like once she figures out their trauma and like where their decision making is like I don't know like where it stems from then it's really easy to write that character and I feel like that's really relevant
SPEAKER_01:and not just write that character but a very well-rounded fleshed out believable like you could know this person
SPEAKER_00:absolutely yeah because we do make decisions based on some like things that have hurt us in the past or like that's how we learn so I was like oh I'm not gonna do that again or you know like you get in a cycle and it's like you can't get out but I
SPEAKER_01:think the books that I like the most are the characters that I end up wanting to be friends with before the end of the book and I really wanted to be in this friend group yeah by the end of it
SPEAKER_00:and now like now we know that there's only three books it's tied up you know it's done I still want to know what's going on yeah I still think about like where you know where Delilah and Claire where's Iris where's Astrid you know you get snippets because you get the next two books Astrid yeah speaking of Astrid yeah we in the very beginning we get to see Delilah you know waking up in this like random apartment because she's getting a phone call from her sister who she spells A-S-S dash T-R-I-T who
SPEAKER_01:she also describes as like an American Cate Blanchett except more stick up your ass and less queen of bisexuals which
SPEAKER_00:I mean
SPEAKER_01:yeah it
SPEAKER_00:tracks yeah it tracked definitely tracks and I love Cate Blanchett so I mean that kind of goes to show why I do think that I love Astrid a little bit more than the others I love Iris but Astrid might be Astrid's your girl she's my girl she's your girl she is my girl I can't help it you know sometimes you just yeah yeah I guess we'll have to talk about that when we talk about Astrid's book but yeah but yeah so we see her in this freaking you know dark apartment her phone's going off she doesn't want to answer it because it's her estranged stepsister and she only ever you know argues with her or whatever she
SPEAKER_01:avoids her she's also waking up in a bed with someone she She is struggling to remember their name. Yes. Lena, Lilith,
SPEAKER_00:Lena. Any L name.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. She calls her every single L name except. Spoiler alert. It's Lorelai, but she never gets there.
SPEAKER_00:Never gets there. You know, but I, it just, I loved it. It sets us up to know that Delilah is detached emotionally. She loves anonymous hookups. You know, the hookup culture is huge, but also she's living in New York city. And so it makes me think about like hookup culture and like anonymous sex in New York City would be so different than it would be where we live because we live in like small town well not small town but like small town Alabama relative to New York it's like a tiny yeah you know pipsqueak and we can't have like I feel like the webs we be
SPEAKER_01:a weaving
SPEAKER_00:no I mean like either your friends know them or they dated them or they slept with them or you know you work with them or you run into them at Trader Joe's you have the same dentist yeah you I mean, it's so small. There's no way. I mean, maybe there is. And if there is, and you're from our town. Congratulations. Yeah. Congratulations. Like hit us up with some
SPEAKER_01:comments.
SPEAKER_00:Because I don't know how you're doing it, but like, I like, it just blows my mind. And I mean, I love it. I love it for New York. And that's one of the reasons that I love New York city, not hookup culture, but just the, like being able to be anonymous. Yeah. And nobody knows who you are and nobody cares what you're doing. Like nobody cares, but like, you'll never
SPEAKER_01:see these people again.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. If we're running around like, trying to have anonymous sex where we are like we're gonna be added to prayer lists like preachers are gonna be preaching about us you know listen
SPEAKER_01:at least this is better than where i grew up where you had to double check they weren't your cousin okay oh
SPEAKER_00:my
SPEAKER_01:god you're welcome okay yeah it's better than that It's better than that. So yeah, we've established the hookup situation to begin with. She does end up going to Bright Falls or back to Bright Falls to do this wedding.
SPEAKER_00:Not because she wants to, but because she needs to get that money. You know what I mean? Girl gotta make that paper, boo-boo. We respect it. She's gotta make rent. And you know, I guess like a small piece of her is like, I should probably be there for Astrid's wedding. But she will never admit that though. Yeah. And Astrid did use her dead dad as like a bargaining chip because she was like, I mean, mom said that dad would really want you to be there and so Delilah
SPEAKER_01:that was something that surprised me but also didn't was the fact that they both shared similar trauma in that they had both lost a parent yeah and instead of bonding over that yeah it almost pushed them apart they were very different and teenagers
SPEAKER_00:different and young and like coping in different ways just it's rough it's rough
SPEAKER_01:yeah so she gets back to Bright Falls she goes to the local tavern the only tavern the only tavern Stella's Stella That sounds like a hootin' good time. It
SPEAKER_00:does. We have a
SPEAKER_01:Stella's in town,
SPEAKER_00:but
SPEAKER_01:our
SPEAKER_00:Stella's is a lot different than this
SPEAKER_01:Stella's. Much different. No sawdust on the floor. No, I picture it like a honky tonk. That's what
SPEAKER_00:I picture a Stella's as. Yeah, absolutely. Because they, I mean, it says that it smells like stale beer and like cheap perfume. Yeah. Which honestly sounds like a vibe. There's someone with a lot of
SPEAKER_01:blue eyeshadow line dancing in a corner.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. I guarantee you. I mean, I would be down for that. I want to visit that place. Oh, absolutely. It doesn't exist, but I'm sure it exists somewhere. If they have a karaoke night,
SPEAKER_01:I'm there. Oh, we're there for sure. 100%. Yeah. Nothing gets me there like karaoke with 90s country songs. What's your go-to karaoke song? It's not 90s country. It's actually Yeah by Usher. Of course it is. After that, it's any 90s country song.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. Because, I mean, as it should be, especially in a place like that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Right. Of course. I don't think they would know what to do if I broke out the Usher at Stella's.
SPEAKER_00:No.
SPEAKER_01:You'd get a lot of weird looks. The funniest thing at Stella's, though, is that Claire gets dared to go hit on someone in the bar
SPEAKER_00:because it's been a while and her bff iris who i love is pushy iris the instigator oh my god she's so boisterous and funny and like mouthy which i identify with i mean honestly yeah but her being like we've got to get you laid so standing up and announcing it yeah the bar absolutely claire needs to get laid who who's a taker we need to take her for and i mean obviously claire is a smoke show um yeah you know but she knows everybody she's like well she's a kindergarten teacher at the high, you know, and like, she's a cousin. When the kindergarten teacher is
SPEAKER_01:giving you eyes though. I mean, I mean, she sounded pretty cute, but in walks Delilah green. Oh man. In her tight jeans. But Claire doesn't know it's Delilah. She doesn't because it's been five years. Delilah has grown up. It may have been longer. They didn't specify, but I feel like it could have been longer since Claire had seen her.
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_01:It's
SPEAKER_00:been five years since Delilah has been in town. Yeah. So we don't know if Claire saw her five years ago, but still she's like tatted
SPEAKER_01:up. High school artsy Delilah. is nowhere to be seen right and tatted up smoke show Delilah walks into Stella's yeah and Claire
SPEAKER_00:she's like that one
SPEAKER_01:that
SPEAKER_00:one that one that one's it I'm gonna go hit on her and Iris is like heck yeah I saw her too go for it girl go
SPEAKER_01:for it and Delilah knows who she is yeah Delilah knows who
SPEAKER_00:Claire
SPEAKER_01:is and plays a little game with her that was quite entertaining
SPEAKER_00:it was super cute I really enjoyed it
SPEAKER_01:I really part of me kind of wish to see where that had gone but just like you'll see throughout the rest of the book here comes
SPEAKER_00:Astrid Astrid Extra just interjects at the worst moments ever. But... Yeah. So they have their cute little meet cute and they're flirty flirty. And then Astrid butts in and Claire's like, oh my God, it's Delilah. I've been hitting on Delilah this whole time. And Delilah's just smiling because she knew it the whole time and like love seeing her Claire, you know, squirm. But yeah, so they know who everybody is and they're Delilah's
SPEAKER_01:covers blown.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Delilah's covers blown. And she's like, okay, yeah, I'm the photographer. She gives, you know, as her a really hard time about you know showing up for all the events but this is where Claire you know she's already gotten a little a little bit a little taste of it yeah butterflies in her stomach so also though
SPEAKER_01:we have to give Claire props she gave as good as she got in that little situation yeah girl can flirt
SPEAKER_00:she can flirt like looking through her eyelashes you know she
SPEAKER_01:also flirted while basically threatening to help Delilah join a cult which if you can flirt with a cult more power to you I mean if anybody starts talking about a cult
SPEAKER_00:I'm immediately going to be drawn in. And they're going to brand a unicorn on my ass. Yes. Sign me up. Let's go. Whatever you want. Yeah, I'm down. I'm so down.
SPEAKER_01:I do think that it's funny later on when they get kind of farther into the wedding activities. Yeah. And we meet Claire's daughter, Ruby. Yeah. Claire talks about how she often thought about Delilah while Ruby was growing up. Yeah. Because Ruby's artsy and a little bit different and kind of likes to be in her head. Yeah. reminded Claire a lot of a young Delilah. Right. And I think that that was really, really sweet for one thing, but also kind of showed that I think out of the three, out of Iris, Astrid, and Claire, Claire was probably the one that was most observant of what was going
SPEAKER_00:on when they were kids. And empathetic, like actually cared. I know it talks about Iris making jokes and calling her what, like the ghoul of Wisteria House. Right. Because she was just quiet and like always around the corner or like watching them play or like hang out yeah because you know kids are kids and they're gonna make fun of things that are different but it does talk about how claire would like ask her if she was okay or like you know offer her a cookie like whatever
SPEAKER_01:to include her in whatever
SPEAKER_00:yeah just like more empathetic about her being left out which you know tracks when she has a daughter that is a little bit different yeah that she would see that in her
SPEAKER_01:and i think i mean i kind of felt a little bit of the same you know growing up yeah being artsy being a Yeah, for sure. to draw her a tattoo
SPEAKER_00:yeah and teaching her how to yeah teaching her how to take photos because I feel like there was there was a definite moment that it talks about after she has been trying to teach Ruby how to take photos and Ruby is asking her to go on a camping trip they share a hug it says that the girl like hugs her and you can just as you're reading like see Delilah freeze because she's not used to that kind of intimacy with anyone so the fact that Ruby's just so grateful that she's been spending this time with her and giving her that attention is so sweet and then it says something like decades of anxiety leaves Delilah's body and she
SPEAKER_01:healed she healed her own yeah it's like trauma yeah that interaction and I also think that for me at least part of what I strive to be as an adult and as a queer out adult yeah is to be the person that I needed when I was a kid when I was growing up when I was figuring out my sexuality and just figuring out the world as a teenager which is yeah a trip and I really strive to be the adult that I wanted in my life for all the kids that are in my own life yeah so to see that written on a page was really inspiring
SPEAKER_00:yeah I mean if you could hug yourself as a small as a child if you could go back as an adult and be like I understand everything that you're going through and I'm just gonna wrap you up and let you feel safe and tell you it's gonna be okay yeah I mean I feel like everybody would pay money to do that. Well, I am. It's called therapy. It's called therapy. Yeah, I am. I am paying money to hug my small child self. To hug my inner child. Yeah, to hug my inner child for sure. Oh, my God. I mean, we just didn't like growing up. I don't I don't think we have to talk about how old we are on this podcast. But growing up, we didn't have as much representation in media. Oh, for sure. As we do now. I feel like there are so many more books, so many more like movies, TV shows that you can go and watch if you want to see yourself represented in movies. And I remember
SPEAKER_01:walking into the bookstore because I spent a lot of time in bookstores. Yeah. And I remember walking in every time I'd walk into a bookstore, I would try to find something queer. Yeah. Anything. Yeah. I could get my hands on.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Most of the time it was in a self-help section somewhere. Yeah. It wasn't great.
SPEAKER_00:It was like how parents talk to their queer children or something like that. But there wasn't real
SPEAKER_01:fiction. Yeah. On the shelves. Absolutely. At a bookstore. And I remember the first time, it was a couple of years ago, I walked into like a Barnes and Noble. Yeah. And there was a whole section of queer books. Yeah. Like queer fiction. Yeah. Everything.
SPEAKER_00:Anything you could want now, you know,
SPEAKER_01:you can find it. And I just, like my heart exploded. Yeah. Because I was like, we've come so far and I'm so happy that kids growing up nowadays have more access to seeing themselves represented
SPEAKER_00:absolutely I mean when when I was I was in college when I came out I was a late bloomer I think I was 20 21 no I was definitely 21 when I came out and started dating slow down grandma I know right I feel like that's a late bloomer I like looking back I was obviously queer AF like younger but there was I was raised in a small Alabama town like there was nobody that looked like that that weren't absolutely ostracized yeah but you know you grow up you go to college and you're like fucking i'm gonna do what i want you know i feel like this is what i need to do so i'm gonna do it and i remember making my male straight roommate watch all of the l word with me because that's all that there was like i had no there was nothing else and i was like i don't know how to hit on a woman that's not all there was i don't i
SPEAKER_01:mean that's all i thought that there was there was fan fiction you just hadn't found it yet that's so true because that's where while you were making him watch Reading every bit of sapphic fan fiction, I could get my hands
SPEAKER_00:up. I feel like the fact that you went to an all-girls college just leans into your queerness. Like, I feel like that's just like another step on the ladder to where you are now. Yeah, I
SPEAKER_01:didn't think that through all the way when I was like, I want to go to this all-girls college and be a good little... So good. A good little southern girl. A religious college. Religious college, yeah. Oh my god, yeah. Woo! mistakes were made but were they oh but were they yeah but the hours i spent in my dorm room reading buffy fan fiction willow and tara specifically that's so sweet uh i mean just hundreds of hours i probably would have had a higher gpa if it wasn't for fan fiction i should have wrote my dissertation on fan
SPEAKER_00:fiction you should have
SPEAKER_01:or
SPEAKER_00:my capstone there's still time there's still time go back the world needs that
SPEAKER_01:right for sure so yeah we digress but they yeah it was sweet watch watching them and watching Delilah kind of heal part of herself yeah and I think it was really sweet hearing Claire's point of view of observing this yeah and having all this worry about her daughter growing up and fitting in and trying to be a mom for a daughter she didn't 100% identify with or understand and now there is an adult in her life who can do that and I think the relief that she felt
SPEAKER_00:absolutely around
SPEAKER_01:that and shout out to Josh Ruby's dad and Claire's ex he handled all of that like a champ he is a screw up but the most lovable one
SPEAKER_00:yeah and i mean like they were super i think they were in high school they were in high school and claire got pregnant and they just got married because that's what you do you know you know they were doing their best but they were
SPEAKER_01:as you know where they are in this book they're in a really good spot and he is super supportive
SPEAKER_00:and all you can do is keep trying and i feel like all he did was just continue to keep trying like you get overwhelmed you run away whether it's physically or mentally he literally He literally ran away multiple times, but he kept coming back and he kept trying and he's a really good dad. And I feel like he does need the benefit of the doubt because he was a sweetheart. On the polar opposite side of that,
SPEAKER_01:we have Spencer.
SPEAKER_00:Oh,
SPEAKER_01:God.
SPEAKER_00:Spencer.
SPEAKER_01:Astrid's fiance, who the only one who could probably top Astrid and her mother, Isabel, who we haven't gotten to yet, is Spencer. Or as my favorite character, Iris, refers to him, Shit Boots. Shit Boots. boot
SPEAKER_00:yeah really any shit shit any article of
SPEAKER_01:clothing shit shoe
SPEAKER_00:yeah no I love that
SPEAKER_01:shit boot yeah
SPEAKER_00:shit boot really takes the cake
SPEAKER_01:and
SPEAKER_00:at one point
SPEAKER_01:they kind of band together Claire and Iris and Delilah to break up this engagement because they they see clearly that Spencer is not a good guy for
SPEAKER_00:Astrid well I mean let's talk about Astrid for a minute Astrid it says that she's uptight which is true but if you know her mother then you understand why she's uptight she comes by that one yeah honest she's like you know we talked about the fact that her dad passed away and she had to kind of fill a void when it came to her mom because all of her attention went to astrid and that woman has a lot of attention she is a very detail oriented but she was very much a character that you could see immediately was much more interested in appearances and not so interested in reality reality or like emotions or like how you're feeling about it if everybody thought that you were okay then you were okay
SPEAKER_01:burner which is not okay um appearances have to look perfection
SPEAKER_00:yeah perfection doesn't exist and this was a
SPEAKER_01:dream marriage to isabel
SPEAKER_00:right it was all everything on paper was absolutely perfect he was a dentist right or like a doctor i think he was a dentist it doesn't matter how memorable he was yeah he just sucked in general but he was a dentist he had a really great career everybody in town liked him he was good looking he wore like designer clothing he drove a nice car like
SPEAKER_01:sneaker sneakers on a camping trip
SPEAKER_00:which is ridiculous but yeah this guy really really sucked and the friends obviously saw that hated that but didn't know how to tell astrid because how do you tell
SPEAKER_01:your best friend that hey this guy that you say you're in love with and are marrying and gonna spend the rest of your life with we hate him a shit boot
SPEAKER_00:yeah we hate him he's a shit boot we don't want anything to do with him i don't know and they know how important it is to astrid to make her mother proud of her and nothing is making her prouder than this marriage this guy yeah that's such a hard place to be in but we get to see astrid's character arc throughout the book because she finally she slowly gets yeah she gets there she understands and she they don't even it's not even the friends that make her come around she sees it on her own and makes that decision on her own and then confronts her mom about it yeah which is a huge turning point in the book for not only astrid but also delilah
SPEAKER_01:absolutely because their stories are very much intertwined as far as dealing with isabel yeah and the fallout of being in such close proximity to her right your entire life yeah so as much attention as Isabel puts on Astrid right she put no attention yeah on to Delilah right except to treat Delilah like she gets in the way
SPEAKER_00:yeah like that I you know stepdaughter like the she's the iconic stepmother in Cinderella you know
SPEAKER_01:for sure picture poster child of evil stepmothers I do think and not to take up for Isabel because she is garbage most of the But I do think that it would be tough to have this reminder of this husband that you lost. And it's just not the first husband that she's lost. No, this was the second husband. Yeah. But now you have this reminder and it's a teenager that you don't understand. Again, you know, she was, you know, kind of artsy and out there and the exact opposite. The epitome of black sheep. For sure.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And so. And Duggar hills in on that too. Like she wouldn't wear the dresses. She wouldn't go to the cocktail parties. She wouldn't go, you know, and then there's Astrid who's like this perfect child. that's going to do anything that she can to make her mom proud and Delilah's like no thanks I'll be at home yeah
SPEAKER_01:cool peace
SPEAKER_00:out
SPEAKER_01:yeah y'all have fun with that yeah but yeah I think you know it would have been tough for Isabel but she definitely made some choices that were not not great when it came to the mothering side of things and did not take the calling off of this marriage well at
SPEAKER_00:all no I do like Ashley Herring Blake if you're listening I do think that there is room for a revisit for the mom okay like let can we get her
SPEAKER_01:redemption art
SPEAKER_00:yeah like or like get her laid or like something that
SPEAKER_01:helped a lot I didn't think of that
SPEAKER_00:yeah I feel like she's uptight because she is uptight you know what I mean like come on like she needs a little bit of something and we only get the negative side of her and like you said you were talking to all of us about how you write your characters you know what her trauma is and so I know you know can we get like a novella that's just The Isabella novella. Yeah. Isabelle Parker Green. We need to know. We
SPEAKER_01:need to
SPEAKER_00:know. We need to know about it. Okay. I feel like, I feel like it would make, it would tie up a lot of loose ends in my mind.
SPEAKER_01:I do. I wasn't surprised with the way that everything went down with Astrid and her mom and Delilah and calling the wedding off. No. It didn't shock me that Astrid lashed out at Delilah. Right. Because she was feeling pretty shitty about her situation. Yeah. And that's how she literally stumbles in and finds Claire and Delilah together. together making out in her childhood bedroom yeah uh which is a little awkward reading her journal
SPEAKER_00:reading yeah reading astrid's journals but that gave her insight that she didn't know and we needed that growth moment or they never would have been able to full circle come back together and like be sweet sisters
SPEAKER_01:those journals were delilah's awakening into astrid's point of view right of this entire childhood and then growing up together and how it really shows how two people in the exact same situation can have two completely different experiences very opposite experience right and really misunderstand each other and how communication could have hopefully fixed or probably
SPEAKER_00:right because Delilah was like she never includes me she doesn't want me around she hates me her friend was like
SPEAKER_01:I just asked her to come watch TV with
SPEAKER_00:me and she says no she keeps shutting me out shutting and you know like you can only ask someone so many times before you get tired of being rejected yeah and you just move on and you just move on and then maybe it does look like you're leaving them out but you've been told no so many times you know and I they were both dealing with losing their parents in different ways yeah and you know no fault on either side but I feel like their childhood could have been so much easier if they'd just been able to talk about it
SPEAKER_01:yeah I think they both were very lonely and in very sad and stressful situations
SPEAKER_00:yeah very isolated
SPEAKER_01:and could have leaned on each other but kind of did the opposite but at least as adults they came around and it had to happen while Astrid walked in on her maybe out with her best friend. You know. Wait, we got to back up.
SPEAKER_00:We do. Can we talk about like we have to talk about Claire. We have to talk about the spice. Like we have to. Girl. Girl. Girl. So good.
SPEAKER_01:Right. Well, I can't. We can't start talking about the spice without talking about Claire's vibrator. Oh, yeah. So at one point during the wedding that got called off festivities, they take a girl's trip to a spa as like, I guess their bachelorette. party. Right. And this was actually one of my favorite tropes of the entire book. So Astrid forgets to book Delilah a room. Right. Accidentally. Yeah. Air quotes. Yeah. I mean,
SPEAKER_00:I don't think she was spiteful. I don't think she was being spiteful. She legitimately didn't think that Delilah was going to show up.
SPEAKER_01:Which given Delilah's track record. Fair.
SPEAKER_00:Fair.
SPEAKER_01:So Claire valiantly offers her room. She's like, I volunteer as tribute. Oh, so fast. Oh
SPEAKER_00:my God. It's your weekend, Astrid. You cannot share a room with Delilah this weekend. I will fall on the sword.
SPEAKER_01:Delilah can sleep in my room with one bed. With
SPEAKER_00:one bed. I
SPEAKER_01:think throughout literature, one bed trope is my favorite. Yeah. And I was thinking a lot about it specifically in reference to queer and sapphic books and this one in general. And I was like, why is that my favorite out of everything? Why do I love a one bed trope so much? And I think it's because it makes me feel slightly nostalgic for the gay panic you feel as a child yeah having a sleepover at your best friend's house or a sleepover in general like I can vividly remember sleeping over at a friend's house and us sharing her bed yeah and it's completely childlike platonic innocent yeah tonic but not knowing why I was laying there on the verge of an anxiety attack not sleeping one bit
SPEAKER_00:oh my god her arm touched my arm
SPEAKER_01:she is over there snoring yeah like a freight train and i'm just like hyper aware of every movement every breath of cricket outside like everything yeah and not knowing why really until later on and i think that that's kind of why because in in this situation they have that same tension that same anxiety but they know why
SPEAKER_00:they know
SPEAKER_01:why for sure eventually start giving into it which
SPEAKER_00:is fantastic because delilah's so like cheeky about everything like oh do we wear underwear under our robes to go to our massage like knowing that Claire's outside like oh my god is she taking off her underarm is she gonna be naked under that robe and the thing
SPEAKER_01:that Claire failed to remember when volunteering so quickly to share a room with Delilah was her little friend that she packed
SPEAKER_00:her little friend her little friend that she packed so yeah Delilah her hair was crazy and she was like oh no I didn't bring a hair tie and Claire was like go get one out of my bag and about the time Delilah opens the suitcase
SPEAKER_01:Claire remembers that she packed her California Dreaming Malibu Minx hot hot pink vibrator.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, it sounds like a Barbie car. That's exactly what I thought. Like it sounds, but also like I'm intrigued. Do they really exist? I don't know. Let's find
SPEAKER_01:out. Anything with the word minks in the title. Sure. Okay. Delilah finds it. My whole thing
SPEAKER_00:though. Let's I, who she picks it up. Like if you find, you have a problem with, I have an issue with the fact that Delilah grabs it and just assumes like, like okay thank assume that everything is clean and washed which is great but like even so i would
SPEAKER_01:hope it would be if you're throwing it in there with like
SPEAKER_00:who knows
SPEAKER_01:your
SPEAKER_00:pajamas she said it was a last minute thought she could have just grabbed it out of the before she threw it in the dishwasher i don't know i'm not saying that it's gross i'm just saying it is a choice it's a choice
SPEAKER_01:vibrator up
SPEAKER_00:yeah i'm not gonna go through another woman's purse i'm not gonna read anybody's text messages i'm not gonna i'm not gonna pick up another woman's histories vibrator that I especially if they're not even like my close friend she did say she had the same one so that's true I mean good for her and like the fact in that
SPEAKER_01:moment I could have died of just embarrassment for Claire so I understand if that had happened to me in real life that would be my last moment I would have just perished on the spot never to have breathed again I
SPEAKER_00:don't think I would have been embarrassed that I had one in there I would have just been like why are you touching it you know can you please set that down and back away can you please not like okay funny that's a testament to how different we are yeah like haha yeah I have a vibrator in there but don't don't pick it up yeah like I mean maybe that was like a wink to the fact that they were about to get a little bit closer yeah that was she wasn't afraid to pick up her vibrator because she was already thinking about getting a little closer to you know that area whatever but still I but still don't don't pick up my vibrator if you ever if you ever find it
SPEAKER_01:so vibe incident, be damned. They do get it on. Not then.
SPEAKER_00:No, they don't. Astrid's got to
SPEAKER_01:get one more interruption.
SPEAKER_00:Well, Jesus Christ. Yeah. I mean, they do have like a really hot makeout session. Really hot. And it gets really close. Like as she's touching the top of her like panty line, Astrid knocks on the door and is like, oh, Delilah, we found you a bedroom. And Delilah's like, thanks. Thanks so much. Yeah. So whatever. You did
SPEAKER_01:really like how Delilah was so positive about claire and her insecurities
SPEAKER_00:i did so yeah well when they finally when they actually finally sleep together there's a whole moment of embarrassment and like insecurity with claire when she finally takes all of her clothes off that she is like thinking about covering her stomach or like she even apologizes for how big her boobs are and i'm like never say you're sorry like never apologize for that ever number one but that's exactly how delilah reacted too she was like huh you're they're perfect
SPEAKER_01:but you shouldn't never apologize for your body
SPEAKER_00:never never and like the insecurity of she's like I've had you know I've had a kid and my body is not the same as it used to be and I have stretch marks and you know she had that moment but in that moment Delilah made her feel so sexy and was like no like moves her hands don't cover your body let me look at you because you're absolutely glorious like the epitome of woman I love it so much every single bit of it which I mean I understand insecurity after having a baby because I have a kid so I I understand that feeling of being like, wow, my body is not the same as it used to be. And I'm having to accept that and like celebrate it versus like wishing that I had what I used to have. Well,
SPEAKER_01:I think in general, most people, women especially, have, you know, insecurities about their body from as long as they can remember. But it doesn't get any better as you get older and your body changes.
SPEAKER_00:Of course not, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And then you have, you know, add having a child on top of that with extra changes. And so I think it was very, I don't know, empowering for me to read
SPEAKER_02:yeah
SPEAKER_01:that scene where Delilah was so positive and yeah just as an observer reading a book it wasn't even anything happening in real life but yeah it was empowering and kind of you know uplifting for me to read that and be like yeah my body's okay
SPEAKER_00:yeah the way it is absolutely like
SPEAKER_01:don't hide it yeah and so I would love to see more of that more positivity
SPEAKER_00:yeah around it was even like it was really short too like but but the fact that it was so small and it made such an impact on me it just goes to show that it was very
SPEAKER_01:nonchalant
SPEAKER_00:yeah and it was just like
SPEAKER_01:the words on the page but it really was one of the like stronger messages that i took out of
SPEAKER_00:this yeah and it was an inner thought in claire's mind like she didn't even say anything about her stomach she did mention like oh my boobs are too big or like you know whatever but when she it was just her point of view that chapter and she was covering her stomach because she was worried like you know because it even talked about her having on like cotton underwear and like the the fact that she was like getting into bed with somebody after so long and like you know just thinking about all the idiosyncrasies that go along with like sharing yourself with somebody and the vulnerability that comes along with like
SPEAKER_01:when it has been
SPEAKER_00:wow it's been a minute but also it's a new person and then you've got Delilah Green who's like freaking a goddess and like tatted up and like fit and like she's got on smoke and she's like what it was like lavender lacy underwear or something and then she was like
SPEAKER_02:of course she does
SPEAKER_00:of course of course she does of course they are because she's laying there in her like white cotton undies because she has done laundry you know yeah exactly but I love that because it just makes them more real yeah it was such a real moment that i really enjoyed being you know a fly on the wall for
SPEAKER_01:yeah i was very like happy that
SPEAKER_00:that also despite that that scene was like an entire chapter thank you thank you ashley herring blake it was marvelous chapter 19 if anybody's looking but god like that payoff we didn't get it when we were at the spa but we we had to wait we did we
SPEAKER_01:had to work there were lots of like ups and downs it was a roller coaster to get there
SPEAKER_00:but 10 out of 10 would do it again payoff was there 100 so good good. So, so good. Was not sad
SPEAKER_01:about that. No, it was wonderful. So we go through all the spice. We go through the marriage breaking up. Yeah. Tell the truth, honestly. Okay. At the end, at the show, the art show, Delilah's big art show. Yeah. Did you think it was going
SPEAKER_00:to be Claire standing there? No, absolutely not. I had like, no. Nobody did. Nobody did. I had it completely figured out in my mind. I was like, okay, they break up. She's going to show up at the art show. Tell her that she loves her. See the picture. See the photo that she took. And
SPEAKER_01:Delilah self-portrait yeah like I even like pictured the dress she was gonna wear
SPEAKER_00:yeah glasses and her hair's up so cute yeah no I had no I did not put my money on Astrid showing up
SPEAKER_01:no Astrid showing up at the art show not on my bingo card not at all one bit but it worked so well it did because I didn't realize until that point that I needed their resolution as bad as I needed Claire and Delilah to
SPEAKER_00:get right because if you think about it if Astrid and Delilah weren't able to work out their differences then she would never be able to be with astrid's best friend claire like there would always be claire
SPEAKER_01:sweet claire would always have a problem
SPEAKER_00:yeah she'd be stuck in the middle there'd always be a stumbling block
SPEAKER_01:but i think also it shows astrid's growth at this point to where she realizes that they were both guilty
SPEAKER_00:yeah
SPEAKER_01:and both is at fault in their separation and non you know relationship to this point and this is her olive branch yeah and delilah takes it
SPEAKER_00:yeah i mean she even mentions i've invited you home for Christmas I've invited you home for all these holidays but I've never ever come to visit you in New York yeah this is the first time that I've come to visit
SPEAKER_01:and that was huge I think that was huge yeah I loved them talking about the time that they spent together Delilah describes the time that they spend together in New York and that they talked really for the first time and so yeah again where are they now I would love to know where their friendship yeah and how close they are grew after this but that was the step that we needed to get Delilah and Claire and the big reunion
SPEAKER_00:yeah it was so good it was so good it was so much better than her showing up at an art show like that would not have been I love it
SPEAKER_01:like her showing up at the art show would have been like this big grand gesture right and I think the way that Delilah did it where she's just sitting in the bookstore yeah with these photos that she has taken of all of these people that Claire loves right and taking them through her eye of also growing to love these people at the same time it was a big moment but it felt so like soft soft and intimate yeah very intimate you know not this huge grand gesture that i thought was going to happen because delilah is and
SPEAKER_00:also claire like claire even talks when they have this whole reunion claire she's still thinking about what would be best for delilah the entire time she's like my life is here ruby is here josh just built a house like i'm here in bright falls and this is a small town and you in your photography are and like your career and like I know you don't want to be here and so Delilah is just like smiling and shaking her head because she has no idea she's like Claire you know like I'm
SPEAKER_01:coming here
SPEAKER_00:for you I'm coming here for you I am choosing you don't you see that I'm choosing you oh my god just like the best can I read can I read what she says because it was so okay it was so good okay so they're in the bookstore they're in the leather seats she's just shown her all of the photos Claire's already choked up and Delilah says this is what I want Delilah said my whole life this is what I've wanted a best friend someone who gets me who accepts me someone who fights like hell to get me to see that they love me someone who lets me love them back someone who's so goddamn beautiful she makes my toes curl someone who calls me on my bullshit someone who makes me laugh someone who makes me look at her like this and looks at me the same way someone who who's my home
SPEAKER_01:it's just so good like it's just
SPEAKER_00:oh my god I mean I might have teared up yeah I Probably.
SPEAKER_01:I might have. Yeah. I needed that. I want, like, that's. That's also not what I would have expected from Delilah. It makes perfect sense when you read it. But the Delilah throughout this book has been gregarious and a troublemaker. And for her to just be like, you're my home. And I'm going to lay everything down and figure out my life to fit into yours. Right. Not you fitting into my life.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Like, I want you, whatever that looks like. And like, just, oh, I mean, oh. It's just so good. So good. And also, does Delilah Green care? I feel like this definitely shows us. Like, we're set up from the beginning to be like, Delilah Green doesn't care. She has anonymous sex. She doesn't know. She's going to hook up. She's going to, like, tip over the champagne glasses. Well, she even,
SPEAKER_01:like, halfway made a bet with Astrid that she would sleep with Claire.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, as a joke. As a joke. In the, like, really soon into the book. But
SPEAKER_01:immediately, almost after that, she catches those feelings.
SPEAKER_00:Fast. Because who, I mean, because who wouldn't? Claire is marvelous. She's fantastic. She's fantastic. So yeah, I loved the, I loved, I loved their reunion.
SPEAKER_01:I think the growth for all the characters.
SPEAKER_00:That was something that really stuck out for me too.
SPEAKER_01:The progression of Iris and Delilah's friendship with Iris being, when they were kids, the most vocal about talking and making fun of Delilah. Giving her that
SPEAKER_00:terrible nickname. And then
SPEAKER_01:halfway through the book, she's slapping her on the butt.
SPEAKER_00:With a water bottle and like leaning her head on her shoulder around the campfire That was so sweet too.
SPEAKER_01:Their friendship was one of my favorite kind of side quests.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, me too. For sure. God, we love Iris. We do love Iris. Read Iris's book and Astrid's book. They're all so good.
SPEAKER_01:I also, I don't identify a lot with Iris as far as personality and all that goes. But you do get a very small snippet of Iris outside of the friend group being kind of like a stationary person. Yeah, she makes planners. Yeah, she makes planners. And one of my favorite quotes concerning Iris, was iris got that gleam in her eyes the same kind she got whenever she was working on a planner design or bought a brand new set of tombow markers and girl saying you know i love a stationary situation i have a whole cup of tombow markers on my desk at home right
SPEAKER_00:now you do i
SPEAKER_01:mean a planner i'm already planning my planner for next year and it's just june
SPEAKER_00:everybody's over here using like you know i want to go to google calendar and you're like still whipping out your binder
SPEAKER_01:yeah i've got yeah it's analog all day yeah i just want to sit in stella's and have a beer yeah whiskey yeah and talk planners and tombo markers with iris while claire and delilah slow dance in the corner oh my god and astrid's out there hitting on everything that'll stand still long enough because girl is free of spencer
SPEAKER_00:free of spencer yeah get rid of that guy yeah for sure that's
SPEAKER_01:that in my head that's where they are now
SPEAKER_00:absolutely i mean and you get you get to see more of claire and delilah in astrid's story and in iris's story because like they are bffs yeah which that overlap is absolutely scrumptious like i love it when characters from one book show up in another book but they're not really part of the storyline yeah it's fantastic and she ashley herring blake does that so well masterful masterfully but yeah like i just i this book was so good and it felt good and it made me happy and it made me laugh out loud and it you know like i like we do think about what the characters are doing i do feel like i was friends with them and i do want to know what's going on with their
SPEAKER_01:life i want This book for me is the book that when people ask me for any sort of sapphic romance recommendation, this is one of the top ones. I'm like, if you haven't read this, start here. Yeah. There are so many good ones out there and we're going
SPEAKER_00:to
SPEAKER_01:cover all of them that we can. But this is kind of like, this is where you dip your toes in. I feel like it has a little bit of everything. It does. It's funny. It's serious. It's got growth. It's got trauma. It's got, it ticks all the boxes for me and the spice. It's there. So good. So ratings overall, what do you give it star rating?
SPEAKER_00:I... will give it a 4.5 I want I want to give every book a 5 I'm like Oprah when it comes to star ratings you are I'm a little more I'm like you get one and you get one I know but but for real for real for real we're talking about 4.5 it was so good I'll read it again I know I will so 4 is
SPEAKER_01:low key obsessed and I would consider us both high key obsessed with this book high key obsessed for sure so yeah 4.5 on the star rating 100% I'm with you spice rating
SPEAKER_00:I'm gonna give it a 4.5 too and I think that that I'm not being generous. I thought that the spice was phenomenal and obviously written from a perspective of someone who understands spice when it comes to queer women. You know, like obviously this person has either done a lot of research or has been in these scenarios. Or has done a lot
SPEAKER_01:of research.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. Yeah. And I love that because if I read something and I'm like, wow, that's just not,
SPEAKER_01:that's not. Nothing will make me set a book down faster than if the spice is not believable. Right. And so, yeah, I give this one a four on the spice rating. Okay. It's very spicy. Yeah. Not safe for work at all. Uh, don't be reading over my shoulder when I'm on the treadmill at the gym. FYI, we go to the same gym. Um, but
SPEAKER_00:I'll probably read the same thing. Some funny
SPEAKER_01:stuff up on that treadmill. Uh, just throwing that out there, but I give it a four. Uh, the spice was definitely there. It was very good. Yeah. It was very spicy for me. It, you know, could have gone just a little harder or maybe there could have been just a little bit more. Okay. To get it to that, you know, next level but I do believe it was fantastic
SPEAKER_00:yeah I don't know if I've read a five star spice book yet nope nope I have we're gonna get there I have and I'm not gonna talk about it because we're gonna read it just drop the big
SPEAKER_01:teaser oh I think another
SPEAKER_00:one you're talking about we're gonna read it and it's age gap there's a hint but yeah but yeah I have I take that back Delilah Green is not that but it's really close but it's really and also the authors are friends so shout out shout out
SPEAKER_01:there we'll get there yeah we'll get there stay tuned for that.
SPEAKER_00:Stay tuned.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my God. We made it. First episode. Yeah. First one down.
SPEAKER_00:So many
SPEAKER_01:more to go. That was a journey. You guys don't even know. If only we had like behind the scenes footage of everything
SPEAKER_00:that went into this. Maybe one day.
SPEAKER_01:That's definitely a Patreon tier that you're going to have to pay for. Hashtag Patreon is coming soon.
SPEAKER_00:Patreon is coming
SPEAKER_01:soon. Thanks everybody seriously for listening and for coming on this journey with us and supporting us. Especially a huge shout out to all of our friends, our family, our Y our wives for putting up so patient
SPEAKER_00:we're actively sitting in my wife's office using a lot of her music equipment equipment
SPEAKER_01:to do this yeah so yes thanks everybody uh if you're listening right now you don't know how much your support means to us and make sure you come back september 1st episode 2 this is how you lose the time war oh it's gonna hit you right in the feels i mean dagger to the heart it's like poetry and it's unlike any book i've ever read so you're gonna have to come back to learn more about that but in the meantime go hit us us up on socials at literature pod on instagram yep uh same thing on tiktok yep and literature pod.com is
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SPEAKER_01:have a website
SPEAKER_00:we have a website we're legit guys
SPEAKER_01:dude those photos yeah go on there
SPEAKER_00:oh yeah
SPEAKER_01:thanks to amy for taking our photos amy oh so sweet so yeah hit us up also like we said patreon dropping soon lots of special things there yeah you can be a part of yeah so thanks so much and we'll see you next time we'll see you next time
UNKNOWN:Thank you.