Over the Garden Wall

by Katie Krentz and Patrick McHale
Cartoon Network Studios

This great guest squee is from Fairywine!

Fairywine is a longtime SBTB devotee and lover of fantasy, romance, historical fiction, poetry and/or any permutations of those genres. Always ready for a cup of tea (black, with sugar and cream). Engage in discussions of European history at your own risk, because she will talk your ear off and possibly cry a bit about Elisabeth of Austria in the bargain.

…

“Somewhere lost in the clouded annals of history lies a place that few have seen—a mysterious place called the Unknown, where long forgotten stories are revealed to those who travel through the wood.”

-The Narrator, Over The Garden Wall

All the seasons have their charms, but there’s something special to autumn, isn’t there? Spring, summer, winter–to see them is to know what they are about, and that straightforwardness certainly isn’t a bad thing. But the fall is its own creature, balancing a strange duality of coziness and tension. What other season could contain within it the homey, gentle cheer of soft knits and pumpkin spice everything, set against a holiday that rejoices in the scary and the impending awareness that winter is coming and you’d better be ready for it or suffer the consequences? Even when you’re in a locale where the temperature hit 90 degrees last weekend (save me), the instinct to bundle up still remains surprisingly hard to shake.

Most of all, autumn has a mystery to it. Anything could happen, no matter how strange, and there would be a place for it this time of year…and no series captures the spirit of the season more perfectly than Over The Garden Wall. It’s the essence of fall distilled into animated form, and a truly fantastic show that’s a great watch any day. But Over The Garden Wall shines most brilliantly when enjoyed in the autumn-a creative work worthy of the strangest and most otherworldly of seasons.

The premise is so simple a single sentence can sum it up. Two brothers, Wirt (the elder, panged by Adolescence) and Greg (the younger, a bottomless well of cheer), are lost in strange woods within a place called “The Unknown” and trying to return home. From this creator Patrick McHale unfolds a tale in which everything is vastly more complicated and enigmatic than it first appears to be, including Wirt and Greg themselves.

For me personally, Over The Garden Wall functions like Patrick McHale took a good, long rummage through my brain, scooped out everything I adore, and set it all in a fantastically animated medium like jewels in a gorgeous necklace. I’d find it unnerving if I wasn’t so happy to get a series that feels like it was tailored to my exact tastes. History! Folklore! Mystery! Fantasy! It’s the kind of spoiling that drives a lady to really abuse her exclamation point key with enthusiasm.

Over The Garden Wall takes every element it handles and just executes it so, so well. It’s an achievement that’s all the more impressive considering it isn’t just doing this within a run of only ten episodes, but those episodes are only eleven minutes long apiece. Yet that’s enough for McHale to tell the story without feeling like he’s rushed or cut anything out. I was left wanting more of this strange, unfathomable world even as I acknowledged the perfect completeness of the experience, one that only an animated medium could have realized so perfectly. It’s an astonishing balancing act, pulled off with a finesse and care that makes it seem effortless.

The three fundamentals of fiction writing-plot, dialogue, and characters-are of course top-notch here. Over The Garden Wall is officially categorized as a “mystery-comedy”, a duality fitting for an autumnal show that could feel disjointed but works perfectly. The particular genius with which McHale unfolds the mysteries of the series is that he hides absolutely nothing. The clues of the Unknown are right there from the very beginning, but it’s up to the viewer to piece together context, symbolism, and other hints to figure out what’s going on as the plot progresses. As I got more of an inkling for what was happening, I found myself staring eagle-eyed at every frame, looking for the next bit of the puzzle.

Even then it’s easy to miss a ton. Over The Garden Wall has a very high rewatch value in this regard. My first rewatch after I finished the series was a really unique experience, giving every scene a whole new layer of meaning and tension. I remember actually gasping at one of the moments within the first few seconds of episode one, because now I knew what was happening and I was so stunned Patrick McHale just went there right from the start.

And yet Over The Garden Wall is still a comedy, and one that has humor of every stripe, from lighthearted puns, to snark, to black comedy that I’m amazed snuck by the censors on Cartoon Network. I know I found the need to occasionally pause my watching because I was laughing too hard at a great line or visual gag and didn’t want to miss a single second of the episode. Over The Garden Wall knows the importance of having humor and seriousness in equal measure, and it never detracts from the considerable depth the show has nor feels like the tone is mismatched.

But of course even the best plot and dialogue can’t succeed if they don’t feature characters we aren’t invested in. Over The Garden Wall is as excellent in this regard as it is with literally every other thing it does. Wirt, Greg, and their guide Beatrice (the most caustic little bluebird ever) are some of the most complex and layered characters I’ve seen in ages.

Wirt is like looking into a mirror for me at that age. Introverted, intellectual, awkward around people, and way too into poetry, Wirt’s not a bad kid but he has his share of maturing to do, as well as growing out of his natural tendency towards mopiness and becoming a better older brother. Greg is all that’s sunshine and goodness, but he can be naive and thoughtless to a degree that’s dangerous in the Unknown (but again, he is only five or so). The ways in which Wirt, Greg, their relationship, and their experiences in the Unknown evolve gives Over The Garden Wall the emotional depth it posses.

And you’d have to go a long time to find someone as simultaneously adorable and acidic as Beatrice, but she has her reasons for being like that, and seeing how she grows after meeting the brothers is truly fascinating. We dig deep into these three over the course of the show, and the amount of development they each get is generous and organic despite the short run time of the episodes. These are realized people (species notwithstanding), and I felt so much for them in their good moments and their bad ones. I cared about them, and thought about their fates long after finishing Over The Garden Wall.

The trio of Wirt, Greg, and Beatrice is undoubtedly the heart of Over The Garden Wall, but every character is memorable and rounded regardless of importance. I guarantee you’ll remember The Beast long after you’ve finished this show (your nightmares certainly will), or find yourself thinking about the Woodsman. But there were also characters that have maybe two or three lines of dialogue who still made an impact, that I believed had their own stories outside of the one told in Over The Garden Wall. That isn’t just good character writing, it’s good world building-yet another thing this series has in abundance.

Speaking of, the world of the Unknown is an excellent one, mysterious and endlessly fascinating. I don’t want to go into much detail because just experiencing it all for the first time is one of the great joys of your first watch of Over The Garden Wall. But I can say history lovers, especially those familiar with Americana ranging from the 1600s to roughly the 1900s, are going to be especially delighted here. It’s a smart show, one that references everything from late medieval literature, to the phases of the moon, to board games from the Gilded Age. (Most importantly, it’s a show that also trusts in the intelligence of its viewers and their ability to put two and two together.)

Again, there are many more stories the viewer can sense lurking beneath the surface of the current one, and more besides that we don’t see but know must be out there. Good world building feels like it exists vastly outside the borders of the narrative, and the Unknown definitely falls into that category. Keeping the show on such a short run ensured the quality never dropped, but there was definitely material for far more than ten episodes here. (And happily for those wanting more, the comics expand on the world beyond the main animated series).

Yet to Over The Garden Wall’s credit, it’s not afraid to embrace ambiguity either. Remember how viewers absolutely lost their minds over whether the top ever fell over in Inception? That response I think scared a lot of creators into making sure any mysterious elements in their fiction would always have an explanation, and that’s really to our detriment. Over The Garden Wall doesn’t leave viewers hanging as far as its main mysteries go, but it also takes the tack there are some questions too vast for definite answers. It’s a brave choice, and one that really adds to the atmosphere of the show as well as the experience of watching it.

It would be criminal not to give the music of Over The Garden Wall its richly earned due. Here is yet another example of how Patrick McHale took the fact he was telling his story through a visual and auditory medium and used this to not just make something enjoyable but actually enhance the final product. The soundtrack he and the Petrojvic Blasting Company collaborated on is not just atmospheric and memorable. It also manages to do justice to several wildly distinctive musical eras.

But their compositions are much more than just really good music, but another vital well of clues that delve into the mysteries of the Unknown. Especially the songs with lyrics, which are so captivating it’s very easy to miss McHale literally spelling out exactly what’s going on. (More than once I went back during my rewatch, set up closed captions during the song numbers, and went “They straight up said it! How did I miss that? How?!?”)

From all the pictures thus far, you might be thinking that the animation for Over The Garden Wall is at least good, and you’d be right. I’d say it’s nothing less than stunning. Patrick McHale worked on The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack and Adventure Time, so it goes without saying that he knows his stuff. But Over The Garden Wall has a sophistication and timelessness to its character designs, animation and backgrounds that I think will age it much more gracefully than a lot of its contemporaries.

A lot of this is due to how strongly influenced the series is by 1930s animation, especially Fleischer Studios and early Disney cartoons like their Silly Symphonies series. McHale emulated elements which have stood the test of time, and left out what wouldn’t work. The overall color palette for the series is gorgeous too, with muted yet rich tones of reds, oranges, browns, blues and greys that seemed to have been pulled straight from Victorian Halloween cards.

And finally, the voice cast is freaking awesome and honestly makes the show worth watching for who they managed to get here alone. Wirt is voiced by Elijah Wood! And if that isn’t enough, there’s Christopher Lloyd, John Cleese, and Tim Freaking Curry, along with tons of other fabulous talented folks. Tim Freaking Curry! Do I really need to hook you after that?

Over The Garden Wall is a show everyone should see, but especially now that we’re in the heart of the fall season. It’s beautiful, smart, engaging, deep, fun, scary and mysterious in turns. I’d say anyone past the age of eight will get a lot of enjoyment out of it (there’s no gore or serious violence, but the scarier aspects I think would be too intense for a younger child). Curl up on the couch with a cup of tea and a blanket, dim the lights, and take your own journey into the Unknown. When you come out, not quite the same as you were before…what could be more befitting of autumn than that?

“How the gentle wind beckons through the leaves
As autumn colors fall
Dancing in a swirl
Of golden memories
The loveliest lies of all…”

You can find Over the Garden Wall streaming on Hulu or for purchase on Amazon.

This month’s Kickass Women is brought to you by Hilda Matheson, a woman who essentially invented talk radio. Hilda was a charismatic British woman who is best known for her work with the then-brand new British Broadcasting Company (BBC). As the Director of Talks, she developed the BBC’s first news section and increased radio’s style and prestige.

Matheson was born in 1888. Like many women, Matheson’s employment prospects rose with the start of WWI. She worked for MI5 and then as Lady Nancy Astor’s political secretary.

Meanwhile radio was becoming the entertainment medium that would grow to dominate the entertainment world until the rise of television. The BBC was founded in 1922 and relied on women for clerical work as well as production.

According to BBC News Magazine:

In 1926, John Reith, the BBC’s managing director, issued a statement declaring that women should be “on the same footing as men”, with the same chances for promotion. Women were on the same salary scales as men, and there was no Marriage Bar, at least not until 1932. Even then, the BBC made allowances for exceptional women to remain on the staff list.

John Reith, the managing director, convinced Matheson to come to work for the BBC in 1926 and they commenced to fight for the next seven years (he was conservative and she was liberal). Initially the BBC didn’t produce its own news. Matheson established the first news program, and also raised the status of radio by convincing well-known intellectuals to talk on the air. She also experimented with the style of broadcasts and established a more casual and personal format as opposed to lectures. From The Guardian:

She, like her colleagues, was making up broadcasting as she went along. What was a “programme”? The models for BBC broadcasts were the public lecture, the political speech, the theatre and the variety hall. One of Matheson’s many achievements was to realize that the microphone demanded an entirely different manner from the podium. “It was useless to address the microphone as if it were a public meeting, or even to read it essays or leading articles,” she wrote. “The person sitting at the other end expected the speaker to address him personally, simply, almost familiarly.” She rehearsed, coaxed and harried speakers until they found a mode of speech that worked.

Matheson created and supported programming that helped British women, who got the vote in 1928, become familiar with the political issues of the day. She pushed for programming that left listener both enlightened and entertained. Matheson left the BBC when Reith refused to allow Harold Nicholson to discuss Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Ulysses on a BBC program.

Matheson was a lesbian. She had a two-year relationship with the writer Vita Sackville-West during the same time that Sackville-West was also in a relationship with Virginia Woolf (not surprisingly, Woolf couldn’t stand Matheson). Matheson was in a relationship with Dorothy Violet Wellesley for eight years. The couple lived and travelled together for many years until Matheson’s death. Trivia alert – Wellesley had previously been in an intense relationship with Sackville-West and left her husband and children for her. So Matheson and Wellesley shared an ex-girlfriend.

After leaving the BBC, Matheson wrote On Broadcasting and was awarded the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her work in coordinating The African Survey. During WWII, she worked in radio and in publishing to counter German propaganda with positive stories and images about Britain. Matheson died of Graves Disease in 1940.

Sources for more information:

“What Can the Origins of the BBC Tell Us About Its Future,” by Charlotte Higgins for The Guardian

“Viewpoint: the Pioneering Women of the BBC’s Early Years,” by Kate Murphy for BBC News Magazine

“Queer Women History Forgot: Hilda Matheson,” by Corinne Werder for Go Magazine

WE’RE BACK Y’ALL.

We begin in somewhere in North America, 2000 BC. prehistoric people build a circle with flat slabs of stone. They dance around it as Claire voiceovers about the human fascination with circles and their symbolic properties: the rotation of the planets, a simple wedding band…the circle is life or death. The picture cuts to a view of a street seen through a noose.

We are in North Carolina, and it’s 1767. Jamie walks through a town and bribes his way into a gaol, where prisoners are waiting to be hanged. One of them is his homeboy, Gavin Hayes. Jamie has a plan to get Gavin away from being hanged, and Gavin is like, my dude, I made some very bad choices that got me here, and I won’t let you all die for me.

He asks Jamie for some alcohol, and also asks that the last face Gavin sees to be “that of a friend, smiling at me.”

One of the other prisoners asks Jamie for a sip of rum, and Jamie promises Gavin that, yes, he’ll be there for him.

On the street, Jamie tells Fergus and one of his other men, Lesley, that they’re to do nothing. That’s the way Hayes wants it. Claire stands with Jamie, Fergus, and Marsali and voiceovers that they’d been there for four months, and Jamie tried every means he could to save Hayes, but it didn’t work. Gavin is the first to be taken to the gallows, and Jamie makes sure he’s front and center, so Gavin can see him. Jamie smiles, but it’s painful and forced. There’s the drop, and Lesley completely loses it, and he charges at the guards. in the commotion, the other prisoners make a break for it, and one makes it away.

We have new credits, and a new version of the song! It has an Appalachian folk sound to it now.

The title is America the Beautiful, and the title card is a bald eagle catching a fish.

In a tavern, our heroes take stock. There’s a ship leaving for Scotland in three weeks, and they plan to go visit Jamie’s aunt Jocasta at her plantation called River Run before they go. Fergus has been to see a minister about burying poor Gavin, and the minister won’t bury a felon in his graveyard without a bribe. Ian suggests they bury him in the woods, but no, Gavin was scared of ghosts, and Jamie says they’ll bury him in the churchyard themselves that night.

Marsali is tired, and before Fergus can take her up to their room, Lesley begins singing a proper lament for Gavin in Gaelic. The rest of the patrons listen, and join in on the chorus. It’s a nice moment.

That night, they all sneak to the graveyard. Claire voiceovers that they need to sell a gemstone to pay for the passage, and there was a fancy society (such as there is) dinner where they might find a buyer. (There’s also a hilarious bit of business where Claire worries about the minister maybe noticing that there’s a newly dug grave he didn’t authorize, and Jamie’s like, lazy fuck probably won’t dig him up for nothing, so we’ll be fine.)

Jamie and Ian dig, then Ian has a flashback to his assault at the hands of Geillis Duncan. Jamie recognizes trauma when he sees it, and tells Ian that talking about it helps. Ian tells Jamie that Geillis had asked him if he was a virgin, and when Ian told her no, she made him lie down on the bed and do “Unspeakable things.” Ian cries and Jamie hugs him. Ian asks if Jamie ever laid with someone who he didn’t want to, and when Jamie says yes, Ian says so you know what it’s like to not want to but still feel pleasure at it? Jamie nods, and says that yeah, a cock doesn’t have a conscious, but you have. “It’s not your fault lad, you did what you must, and you survived.” Ian feels better.

Jamie calls for Lesley to bring Gavin’s body to his resting place, and in the middle of Lesley muttering about how this is all very shitty, the body in the back of the wagon sits up! (Lesley lets loose a BUNCH of Gaelic swearing and it’s amazing.) “IT CAME FROM HELL!” No, just the gallows. It’s the prisoner that successfully escaped. His name is Stephen Bonnet. He’s been involved in a wee bit of piracy and the like, but swears he didn’t kill anyone who didn’t deserve it.

Bonnet asks if he could get some help sneaking past the soldiers that are out looking for him? “I’m begging you, sir. In the name of Gavin Hayes. He said you’d never turn your back on a friend.” Jamie reluctantly agrees, and he and Claire agree to sneak Bonnet back to his ship.

After Gavin is buried, the Frasers drive along a road, and are stopped by a group of soldiers, who ask what they have in the wagon. “A side of venison, a sack of oats…. And a body.” They’re obviously taking it home for burial. The sergeant has the body stabbed, to make sure it’s dead, and Bonnet doesn’t move. After they get away from the soldiers, Claire bandages Bonnet’s leg – it was only a scratch. Bonnet makes small talk about Claire’s two rings and the fact that there’s something about circles that fascinate him.

Claire tells him that the hangman’s noose is a circle, and maybe he should avoid it. He admits that what he’s really afraid of is drowning. He’s had a recurring nightmare that he’s held fast and the sea rises above his head, and he can never wake up until the water is over is head. He asks if Claire has ever felt the sea pulling at her, and she says yes, she did nearly drown in a hurricane that one time.

Bonnet is off on his way, and asks if Jamie was expecting some sort of reward for all this trouble. Jamie, like an idiot, says no, they did it for Gavin’s sake. Bonnet, fantastic, I’ll trouble you no further then. “I’d advise you to be wary. Travelers in these woods are often beset upon by thieves and outlaws.” FORESHADOWING MUCH? Claire wishes Bonnet good luck, but he says he makes his own luck.

Jamie thinks they’ll seem really suspicious if they pass the soldiers again so soon, so they should camp for the night. Plus that means they can bang loudly. In their underwear by the fire, Claire worries that life is fleeting, and Jamie’s like, my girl, death barely means anything for us. You left and I was dead for you, and you were dead for me, and yet here we are. “Nothing is lost, only changed.” “That’s the first law of thermodynamics.” “No, that’s faith.”

Claire climbs on top of him, and I get distracted by the really excellent quality of linen that her shift is made out of. You can show the costumer some sex, I guess, but she’s still gonna be distracted by fabric.

In the morning, Claire gives Jamie the rundown on the future of America. It’ll go all the way west to the Pacific Ocean, the American dream, fifty states, etc. “Is that the same as our dream?” “A chance to live in a place where the only limitation are a person’s own abilities and the will to succeed.”

Well…That’s…mmmmmm.

Jamie asks what happens to the Native people, and Claire admits that they get a shit deal. Driven from their lands, killed, reservations, genocide: “A dream for some can be a nightmare for others.”

Back in Wilmington, Claire is wearing a lovely gown with… I can’t tell if it’s embroidered or printed, but it’s gorgeous. Jamie has had the ruby set in a necklace, and says that he’s been told the governor will be at dinner, along with a baron of some kind. Hopefully one of them will really want to buy the ruby.

At the dinner, the governor and some other stuffy, annoying men are complaining about the costs of running a colony and how annoying it is that the Cherokee are voicing some objection to the incursion of settlements. Claire is working really hard at controlling her face, but she’s not very good at it, especially when the baron implies that she’s too stupid to understand all this taxation talk. Claire: “I think excessive taxation brings out the savage in all of us. Especially taxes that hinge disproportionately on the poor.” Everyone laughs delightedly at her witty wordplay but no one gives a shit about her actual statement.

Fucking rich people.

One of the ladies implies that Claire is out of fashion, and Claire’s like, bitch, please. The Baron ogles the ruby, while another man asks if Jamie is the nephew of Jocasta Cameron. The governor is familiar with the plantation, and Jamie says they’ll be visiting Jocasta before heading home, and governor is like, well, Mr Fraser, I have a proposition for you.

In the governor’s study, the governor says that North Carolina is looking for industrious immigrants to come and settle, and he could give Jamie a land grant, and Jamie could sponsor other immigrants. Jamie: Yeah, but getting a land grant costs money. The governor: There is the law, and there is what is done. The payment could be waived with the issuance of an oath of loyalty. Jamie: I swore that oath already, I get what you’re saying.

Back at their lodgings, Jamie is pleased with the price for the ruby – 100 pounds- and they have enough money to go back to Scotland the take up printing again. Claire looks worried, and they discuss the offer the governor made. Jamie knows why the governor made the offer: he’s had trouble with “Regulators.” Claire and the audience goes, the what now? They are men that have settled in the wilderness, and they don’t like the governor’s tax collector and they think he’s pulling illegal shit. “Called meetings, drawn up petitions, stirred up a spirit of resistance.” (Huh, weird. I don’t know what that’s like at all.)

Anyway, the governor wants people loyal to him that’ll stand against the regulators. Claire’s like, huh, that’s pretty damn smart. But there is going to be a war in 8 years, and if you accept his offer, he’ll expect you to fight on the side of the crown, which is the wrong side of history, AGAIN. We’ll be branded as loyalists and lose everything. It will suck.

Jamie: this is Brianna’s country, right? Jamie doesn’t want to fight in a war again, but he’d like to do what he can to make this a good place for her, eventually. “If my presence now can be felt by her later, well, that would be something.”

Ian has been adopted by a dog. Wolf. Thing. Ian won him while dicing, “Lucky roll of the dice, so I called him Rollo.” He also won money! Jamie grumbles that Ian shouldn’t be gambling, and Ian’s like, my man, you do all the damn time. Claire tells them both that they won’t need to make money by gambling for a while, they’ve got lots of money.

At the table with Fergus, Marsali, Ian, and Lesley, Claire and Jamie tell them that they’ve decided to stay, and Ian is like THIS IS THE BEST NEWS EVER. I LIKE IT HERE. Jamie intends to send him back, and Ian does not like that idea at all.

Jamie: What would your mother say?
Ian: Who cares? She’ll be saying it in SCOTLAND.
Jamie: You’re to be educated and shit. Don’t waste your life.
Ian: God, really? WHY.

Jamie and Claire are going to figure out where they’ll settle when they visit River Run, but they’ve got money for everyone else to go back to Scotland. Lesley wants to stay with Jamie- Jamie will need a right hand man. Marsali and Fergus will also stay: she’s knocked up and being on a ship for two months would be awful. Everyone is delighted… once Marsali says that SHE’S delighted. But no one is more delighted that Jamie. He gets a grandkid! They will stay in Wilmington for the time being.

Lesley and Ian will journey with Jamie and Claire to River Run, a journey which they take on a slow-ass barge up the river. Claire asks what Jocasta is like, and Jamie says “She’s a Mackenzie.” Nuff said. She’s married three Cameron men, and outlived them all. She and her last husband fled Scotland after the Rising and settled in North Carolina with their plantation and sawmill.

Claire notes that the man at the tiller is an older Black man, and assumes that he’s a slave. The captain of the barge says that no, he’s a free man and gets a fair wage. He had been a slave, but after he saved the captain’s life, they petitioned the court for his freedom and gave him a job. I guess that’s… something. Certainly better than nothing.

Later, Claire is taking a turn at the tiller, and Jamie sends Ian up to take her place. Jamie has a present for Claire: a small trunk full of medical instruments, including a microscope. He found it in town. “Perhaps one day I’ll deck you in laces and jewels. I haven’t been able to give you much, ever, save this wee ring and my mother’s pearls.” Claire tells him that she gave the pearls to Brianna, and Jamie notes that they married 24 years ago. “I hope I haven’t given you cause to regret it.” “Not for a single day.”

It’s night, and the music is suddenly a bluesy piano. Rollo wakes up, and barks to alert everyone – Stephen Bonnet has boarded the boat with his pirates. As Ray Charles’ version of “America the Beautiful” plays, the rest of the sound fades out, and the pirates beat the shit out of Jamie and Ian, and get the rest of the jewels. A man holds Claire at gunpoint, and demands her rings. Lesley tries to help her, and gets his throat cut. Bonnet demands Claire’s rings, and she pulls them off her fingers, and tries to swallow them. He gets the silver one from Jamie, but she still has the gold. (I think.)

Bonnet and his men leave, with Claire trembling in the corner. Jamie staggers back towards her, but damn, things are already a mess.

RHG:

I’ll be honest, Drums in Autumn isn’t my favorite book in the series, and…we’ve met one of my favorite characters! He isn’t quite how I pictured him. He’s more blond here and less gray.

I am, of course, speaking about Rollo. What a good boy.

There’s a bunch of things I want to hold off on saying, because spoilers. But I am very interested in how RDM visualizes the rest of this season. The behind the scenes vignette talked about how they continued to film in Scotland, which is neat! There’s just some fairly simple changes to make in costumes and set and boom, there it is.

Elyse: 

RHG, you promised me that Gellis Friggin Duncan was really gone, but apparently we’re going to get Bathory-esque PTSD flashbacks this season.

I do think the fact that we have two male rape survivors talking openly about their trauma was really powerful.

Also RHG messaged me about this episode and Claire’s shift in the “fist” sex scene. She meant “first” of course, but my tired brain went “there’s fisting in this? I feel like that’s a stretch for Gabaldon.”

Spoiler: there’s no fisting.

I did find the fight scene with America the Beautiful playing over it to be kind of disconcerting. It’s a lot of violence and seems campy with the song playing over the top. It was a jarring end.

NOTE: Elyse has not read the books. Many people watching have not read the books. If you want to talk about a spoiler in the comments, please use the spoiler tag (remove the spaces before and after the brackets:

[ spoiler spoilerwarning=”Click for spoilers!” ]
Here’s a spoiler! Whoa! Shocking stuff!
[ /spoiler ]

Thank you!

La Casa de las Flores

by Manolo Caro
Netflix

If you’re looking for something new to watch on Netflix, check out this guest squee from Laura!

Lara is a teacher, feminist, knitter and proud co-parent to the greatest three-legged black cat in the southern hemisphere.

…

Note:  To set the scene, play Baccara’s “Yes, Sir, I Can Boogie” while you read this review.

Oh, Bitches of the Bitchery, do I have a treat for you. Do you like drama? Do you demand a happy(ish) ending? Do you long for drag queens? Do you like a twisty pretzel of a plot? Would you like your characters to be so well-dressed it hurts to look upon their sartorial magnificence?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above, I humbly present for your consideration… La Casa de las Flores. My reckless and rash Netflix habit has brought this show into my life and I am so much the richer for it.

The setting is a wealthy suburb in Mexico. The lawns are green, the staff are loyal (yes, there are staff) and the money flows down these golden streets in (almost) never-ending rivers. Into this lavish setting, we place Ernesto and Virginia de la Mora. Together, they run a flower shop called “La Casa de las Flores”. Along with their three children, they are the perfect family.

Perfect family!

This façade holds for all of the first 10 seconds of the first episode. Then, Roberta, a former employee of La Casa de las Flores and Ernesto’s mistress of the last 20 years, kills herself in the flower shop during Ernesto’s birthday party. I! Know! We are now the grand total of 1 minute into the first episode.

The de la Mora children are a wonder. First, Paulina, mother to Bruno, and stealer of my heart. She is a loyal, steadfast ally – more so to her dad than her mom, which her mother does NOT take well. Paulina has an interesting relationship with her ex-husband, Jose Maria / Maria Jose. (To give you an idea of how fantastic Paulina is, one of the drag queens is named after her – but more on that later!)

Paulina rolling her eyes

There is a middle daughter, Elena. She has been living in New York and has returned home with her African-American fiancé. Nobody knows that he is her fiancé, but she’ll get the courage together to tell her family eventually. Her story line – blessedly – does get a bit more exciting that just a secret fiancé.

Meet Elena

The only son, Julian, is feckless and clueless but you can’t help but forgive him. He is in a relationship with Lucía (a blonde socialite – they have sex EVERYWHERE – most notably on a public squash court). However, the real love of his life is Diego, the financial adviser to the de la Mora family. Diego and Julian have been in a relationship for 5 years. Julian’s parents have no idea he is gay. Again, we’re not even 10 minutes into the first episode.

In Julian-adjacent news, this man is involved in an interesting subplot… NOT what you might be thinking.

Sexy sauna man

There are also Roberta’s children: Claudio and Micaela…one of whom is Ernesto’s child. Roberta and Ernesto (along with the loyal Paulina) have been running the other La Casa de las Flores – a drag queen revue bar.

A peek inside the other La Casa de las Flores

There is also an astounding, glorious cast of supporting characters, including: La Chiquis! Dr Salomón Cohen! Chuy! Carmelita!

Most of this detail is revealed in the first 30 minute episode. There are SO. MANY. MORE. twists and turns to this plot. It is not a case of the remaining 12 episodes simply untying this initial knot of circumstances. Oh no. So many more things go wrong and right and weird for the de la Mora family. This show had me gasping and begging for more. There is no news yet on whether there will be a second season, but surely IF THERE IS ANY JUSTICE IN THE WORLD there will be a second season.

A note on subtitles. The show is filmed in Spanish. I am very grateful that I watched it in the original Spanish with English subtitles. For research purposes, I re-watched the first episode dubbed into English. It is was a horror, if only because the glory and wonder of Paulina’s expression is totally lost in English.

The storyline itself is progressive and positive and D!R!A!M!A!T!I!C! and wonderful! The soundtrack has fostered in me a deep love for Spanish-language music, especially that which is played in drag queen revue bars or sung by Virginia de la Mora in her massive Mercedes Benz while crying. There is an official Spotify playlist of all the songs in the show.

Living in southern Africa, my knowledge and experience of telenovellas is minimal. For me, La Casa de las Flores, is what I would like telenovelas to be: drama-filled, plenty of romance, progressive values, a family holding together, and drag queens. At the end of season 1, some of the plotlines are tied up in neat bows, while others are left dangling into an unknown future. I did find this lack of resolution frustrating, but only because I cared so deeply for the characters and wanted them to be happy. The season finale combines: HFN, HEA, and HU (happiness unknown). Side note: Please let there be a season 2!

In terms of plot points that might hurt or trigger viewers, the most likely trigger can be found in the first minute of the pilot: Roberta’s suicide. The tongue-in-cheek, satirical feel of the show puts a completely different spin on what in the real world is a tremendously painful event. The characters always feel like characters – they are a story book creation, quite separate from real life. Yet, the magic of the show is that the characters are so finely wrought that you feel connected to them, while they remain story book figures.

The transcript for Podcast 324. Cathartic Video Games and Problematic Shipping: Amanda and Sarah Catch Up on Listener Email has been posted!

This podcast transcript was handcrafted with meticulous skill by Garlic Knitter. Many thanks.

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It’s Monday and time for some Cover Snark! What d’ya say?

From Michelle: I think you can see bush stubble. There is a lot going on in the space above the waistband and below the abs.

Sarah: I did a terrible thing.

Sarah: It is a mess. Needs landscaping.

Elyse: Are those scars? Veins? Subcutaneous worms?

Sarah: Veins. I hope.

The other part is, as Michelle said, bush stubble.

Amanda: A 5 o’ cock shadow, if you will.

Sarah: BADUM BUM, well played.

Amanda: Also, it looks like he’s actively pushing his pants down.

Sarah: Might be a bit more than a shadow. A ground cover, maybe. Mulch?

Amanda: The soil has been tilled a little bit.

Sarah: Yeah. Not quite high enough for a weed whacker though.

CarrieS: I’m no fashion guru but I’m pretty sure those pants don’t fit.

From Kristi: Here’s a potential contender for Cover Snark! It grabs one’s…attention.

RHG: How complicated can they possibly be?

Amanda: Smooth like a baby’s bottom down there.

Sarah: I really thought that said, “Complicated Pants.”

RHG: Does he wax or do you think he maybe does laser hair treatments?

Elyse: Is he checking to make sure his penis is still there? Is it peen-nesia?

CarrieS: A one-person romance.

From Laurie: I saw this cover browsing Goodreads and thought it was ripe for Cover Snark. Enjoy!

Sarah: All I see is bum and horns.

Amanda: Does he have pants?

RHG: Is the orb her butt?

Sarah: There are 8 more?!

CarrieS: If y’all in the jungle or forest semi-nude, y’all gonna have some very not erotic bug bites.

From Chelsea: I love your Cover Snark series, and the book cover for One Baby Daddy by Meghan Quinn certainly made me snarky; what did he do to his shirt? If you can’t put a shirt on without doing that to it, I certainly don’t want you involved with children!

Sarah: Complicated pants, complicated shirt…

RHG: What the hell, did he fight a bear and his shirt lost?

Amanda: His abs looks like a scrunched up paper bag. Which I’m sad to say since I’m sure he worked real hard on them.

Elyse: Congrats on having your hood up BUT NO BACK TO YOUR SHIRT YOU DOOFUS.

Amanda: Maybe he got confused while putting it on and just shredded it in frustration.

I really, really love a contemporary romance that features an emotionally fluent hero and real conflict that’s handled with respect and intelligence. Sleepover by Serena Bell hit both these nails on the head, making it one of the best, most emotionally satisfying contemporary romances I’ve read this year. It’s also got some crazy-hot sex scenes which is a nice bonus.

Sawyer Paulson and his son Jonah move into a Seattle suburb two years after the death of Sawyer’s wife and Jonah’s mom, Lucy. Sawyer plans to rehab the house then rent it out. Jonah is immediately thrilled to discover that he has a neighbor his age, Madden. Sawyer is less thrilled to discover that Madden’s mom, Elle Dunning, is a woman he had a one-night-stand with a few months back. Awkward, right?

Elle is recently divorced. She always suspected her husband was still in love with his high school sweetheart, and he spent their relationship gas-lighting her that she was crazy and insecure. Until he divorced her to marry that high school sweetheart. Seriously. Fuck that guy.

So both parties here are dealing with a lot of pain. Elle feels like her marriage was a lie and that she was horribly used by her ex. Sawyer is still grieving for the wife he loved very much.

But also these two had crazy hot sex and both really want to have it again.

Because Madden and Jonah become best friends and spend their time running between both houses, Sawyer and Elle get to spend a lot of time together too, which makes the hot sex question more pressing. Neither one is ready for a relationship, but can they be friends with benefits?

First of all, the conflict in this book is pretty substantial. You’ve got a lot of pain on both sides. When Elle realizes she’s falling in love with Sawyer, she’s terrified. She never wants to be in a relationship where she’s the second-run option to another woman. Even IF Sawyer is ready to move on, he’ll always love Lucy and she knows she’s not ready to handle that yet.

Sawyer is similarly afraid. He reflects:

Lucy was the only woman I’d ever loved, and I’m pretty sure she’s the only woman I’ll ever love.

For one thing, I’m not the kind of guy who falls in love. I guess maybe you could say I’m a misanthrope. Or maybe just a loner. Whatever. At any rate, there aren’t very many people in the world I genuinely like spending time with. Brooks and Chase, in small doses. And Jonah–but I figure that’s because in that respect he’s kind of a mini-me–a loner too.

And for awhile there, there was Lucy.

Lucy was the one woman I ever knew who didn’t seem to think there was something wrong with me, who wasn’t always trying to offer me a penny for my thoughts or get me to talk more. And the funny thing was, that made me more talkative. It was like during the time I was with Lucy, there was a light on inside me. And when she died–

Well, it went out.

And I don’t know if want it lit again. Because the snuffing out was pretty much the most awful, painful thing you can imagine. Watching Lucy fade away, from who she was to, well, nothing…

Yeah. Not going there.

Anyway, the odds that there’s someone else out there who could do that to me–light me up like that again?

Not playing that lottery.

It makes sense that both Elle and Sawyer are really afraid of being hurt. The trauma they both experienced is the sort of thing that stays with a person their entire lives. But they’re also cognizant of their boys’ emotional state, and how both of them are healing too. Both Jonah and Madden have been struggling, understandably, to grieve in their own ways, and the fact that Elle and Sawyer put that before their potential relationship or even sexytimes, meant so much to me as a reader.

I also think this may be one of the first books I’ve read where the hero has a really good cry (while talking to his brother). I’ve seen a lot of grovel, but not a lot of “I need to sob some of this pain out” which seems really healthy especially when he’s navigating grief.

All of this may make you think this book is a downer. It’s not. It’s got some sad parts, but mostly it’s incredibly hopeful and very, very sexy. Both Sawyer and Elle are sex-positive people who enjoy a healthy sex life. No one’s genitals went on hiatus due to divorce and the death of a spouse, and that’s treated as a totally okay thing that’s handled responsibly and maturely. There’s a lot of really hot, dirty-talking in this book if that’s your catnip.

I was concerned that the conflict would be too much for Elle and Sawyer to surmount because it is A LOT but I was satisfied by the end of this book. I bought the resolution and the romance.

If you’re looking for a contemporary with a solid conflict, a lot of Feels, a hero who knows how to have a cry, and some super hot sexytimes, then Sleepover is for you.

Long ago, the cover for Gabriella turned up in Cover Snark. Everyone was hoping that the book was about a cat, and I Googled and discovered that the book is actually about a Regency woman who wants to be a veterinarian (which was a profession back then – I checked). Undaunted by the Photoshop, I read the book and it’s pretty good, although it falls apart near the end.

Brie (short for Gabriella) and her family live in the country, where her father worked as a veterinarian. He dies while trying to rescue a lamb that was trapped on a ledge. What happened to the lamb? I dunno. Anyway, Brie’s mother decides that they will have to sell the practice, and she ships Brie off to London so that Brie can finally have a Season even though Brie wants to stay home and try to keep the practice going. Brie will be sponsored by her sister, Angela, who lives in London and is a social climber married to a rich, boring husband.

On the way to London, Brie stops at an inn where she sees an obviously abused horse. She stomps into the inn and chews out the owner, who turns out to be the Duke of Ravenham. He did not abuse the horse. He just rescued it moments ago. However, this big misunderstanding is allowed to hang over most of the book. There are people who enjoy the big misunderstanding trope but I am not one of them, so I found this to be incredibly irritating.

Note: Yes there is an abused horse in this book, and also someone kicks a kitten. HOWEVER these animals subsequently are rescued and pampered. They are fine.

Everyone finally gets to London, where Ravenham loses a wager and has to pay it off by promising to bring Brie out into society. It turns out to be very easy. All he has to do is teach her to dance and get the envious Angela to stop dressing her in ugly colors. Also, he has to explain to Brie that Sir Frederick, a guy who has been flirting with her, is a lying sack of shit.

Eventually Brie figures out that Ravenham isn’t an animal abuser and she falls in love with him, and Ravenham falls in love with Brie, and also Brie rescues an injured kitten and, later, saves Ravenham’s favorite dog from dying in puppy-birth. Up until this point, I found the book to be pleasant, though not earth-shattering. However, the puppy thing broke me, and things rapidly went downhill from that point on.

Everyone has a different threshold for how far their belief will stretch. Mine would have stretched as far as Ravenham admiring Brie for her skill with salves or stitches. However, the idea of a Regency gentleman, even a very enlightened one, considering a woman as marriage material after watching her help a dog give birth and then hearing her frankly conversing with his sister about childbirth in his presence – I don’t buy it. He might be enlightened enough to hire her as his veterinarian but I don’t believe he’d be enlightened enough to marry a woman who is willing to admit that she knows where a dog’s vagina is, let alone a woman who is willing to stick her hand into a dog’s vagina to turn a puppy, let alonea woman who will discuss such matters with his very sheltered sister.

From this point on, the plot, which was previously quite slow-moving, kicks into overdrive. Ravenham gets jealous because he thinks that Brie might have slept with Sir Frederick, which is ridiculous, and then he challenges Sir Frederick to a duel because he thinks Sir Frederick is lying, and then Angela kicks Gabriella out so Angela’s reputation won’t be ruined, and Ravenham gallops off to find Brie and bring her back to his sister’s ball, and I don’t understand why any of this is happening. Ravenham knows Sir Frederick is a lying sack of shit so why suddenly believe him? And then why suddenly not believe him? It’s exhausting.

Then there’s the ball and Brie and Ravenham get engaged and everyone is happy. I have questions. What happened to the kitten, last seen being patched up on Brie’s dressing room table? Is Brie’s room currently infested with fleas? Is she still going to be a vet? What happened to the whole issue of the family practice? Why are we happy that Angela is pregnant, given that Angela is a horrible person? Why is Brie happy to have her mother’s approval given that she only has it because she’s learned how to dress up and she’s marrying someone rich and presumably not taking over her father’s practice after all?

Until the ending, I rather enjoyed this book. Brie is a lovely character, if a little too perfect. Her only flaw is that she’s a terrible judge of people and without this flaw there would be no plot. Most of the plot consists of beautiful people in beautiful clothes going to beautiful places. In the right mood, I find that sort of plot to be like a nice cup of tea – maybe not something that rocks my world like a good hot cocoa would, but comforting and restorative.

Alas, things went so off the rails towards the end that I threw up my hands in despair. Literally. I was holding my phone in one hand (I read on my phone a lot) and waving my other hand about wildly as though trying to flag down a rescue ship. No ship arrived and I’m left to give this book a C- and slink off to bed, still wondering about the kitten.

This HaBO is from Sharon, who is looking for this age difference romance:

I’m excited to finally have a book that needs locating. It’s one of the first serial romances I’ve ever read, so probably a 1990’s Harlequin or Silhouette romance.

The hero is an older man and the heroine is a friend of the man’s daughter. She chases him until he finally gives in, calling him “Sailor” as a nickname. After his daughter gets into a car accident, the hero declares at the hospital that he’s glad he won’t be going through fatherhood again. The heroine takes this to mean that they have no future together and emotionally pulls away. Before she can officially end things, he proposes to her in her parents barn.

I know barn weddings are in right now. But barn proposals?

This HaBO is from Amanda (not me!), who is looking for this romance:

I’ve been searching for this book that I read everywhere. Please help me.

I believe the characters work for a security type firm. The heroine disguises herself as a man. If I remember correctly, the hero Is larger sized and not super attractive. He feels very awkward around her because he finds himself attracted to her, but thinks she is a man which makes him uncomfortable. He either gives her a ride home or picks her up for work one time, so he learns where she lives.

She lives in a rundown apartment with very few possessions. Ready to run if needed. I think basically her computer and a backpack. She is in hiding from the government and is a computer genius. She developed something at a very young age that has the government looking for her.

When some other guys from the group go on a secret mission and run into trouble, she hacks satellites to help save them. This gives away her location and then is kidnapped by a Colonel that has been after her. Of course the groups decides to save her.

I believe she likes to knit and made the hero a hat or gloves too.

This could be romantic suspense or just a contemporary with some dangerous elements.

Amanda here with our next gift guide installment!

Recently, I’ve started an enamel pin collection, and I absolutely love it. Pins are a great way to show off your hobbies, fandoms, and any other things that are integral to making you the awesome you that you are.

If you have any other gift ideas or want to tells us all about your personal Etsy Shop Of Wonderment, please email Sarah! We love finding off-the-beaten path gift ideas for our friends and loved ones (and sometimes ourselves).

NB: most of the links in the Holiday Gift Guide posts are affiliate-coded, which means a portion of the purchase price is sent back to us as a commission, at no extra cost to you. If you do some of your shopping through our links, you help keep the site running! Plus, there are links over in the left sidebar in the “Welcome” section should you need them. Thank you much!

Below is my full collection of pins! I’m happy to divulge the origin of any you may think are pretty (if I can remember, of course).

My “pretty” board for extremely detailed pins.

My “rando” board for just random pins.

My “word” board for word-based pins.

My pink and purple pin board!

There are lots of amazing enamel pins designs on Kickstarter, if you prefer something more one of a kind. I’m also a patron of two enamel pin Patreon campaigns from two of my favorite artists: Blushsprout and Sugarbones. Both have shops, so you don’t have to be a Patreon subscriber to check out their work. The only catch is that the Patreon campaigns are a surprise and non-subscribers may not get a chance to buy the pin at a later date.

Here are links to the Sugarbones shop and the Blushsprout shop.

Want a more direct way of cultivating a pin collection? Etsy has you covered!

Icey Designs: Coffee & Books Enamel Pin, $9.85

This shop’s pins are mainly bookish designs, from book quotes to an adorable little bookshop storefront. Also, if you’re more of a tea-drinking book lover, they have a pin for that!

Literary Emporium: Taming of the Shrew Enamel Pin, $10.02

Shakespeare and snarkiness combine! Literary Emporium at Esty has an entire collection of pins dedicated to Shakespeare heroines. Plus, there are pins to celebrate some general bookish love, to commemorate your love of Gothic literature, or tap into the painful reality of dystopian-set novels.

Oh Jessica Jessica: Ferret in Turtleneck Sweater Enamel Pin, $9.71

I love cute pins and I don’t know if it gets any cuter than a ferret in a sweater, though the shop does have ferrets in hoodies if this doesn’t do it for you. The shop does have pins of other animals. Want a happy chameleon? They got it! Want a bunny riding a skateboard while wearing a snapback? Check!

Hari Draws: Set of Wooden Pins, $33.41

Though all of my personal pins are enamel, there is something about these wooden pins that I find to be so magical and whimsical. Seriously, these are some of the most detailed pins I’ve seen. While the whole set can be purchased, the pins are available individually for $8.02 a piece.

Milly Pins: Angelica Enamel Pin, $9.00

Have a friend who loves pop culture and nostalgia? Milly Pins is a perfect choice. There are pins for some throwback 90s shows (shoutout to Clarissa Explains It All), and pins for fans of The Office, Bob’s Burgers, and horror movies.

The Found Retail: Ruth Bader Ginsberg Enamel Pin, $11.00

If you’re feeling a little political right now, that’s okay. And it’s even more okay proclaim your progressiveness and feminist ideals with enamel pins! The Found Retail has “The Future is Female” pins, pink pussyhat “Resist” pins, a “Stay Woke” Maxine Waters pin, and if you’re just frustrated, they have a pin for that. It says, “Fuck Off.”

Bored Inc: Space Kitty Glitter Enamel Pin, $10.00

As someone who just had their very own space cat tattooed on her body, I love this pin. It’s so freaking darling and I always appreciate a glittery element on a pin. It just adds a little something extra. Bored Inc. also has some pins with unicorns, unicorns eating donuts, cats riding unicorns…you get the idea.

For displaying pins, I did a little DIY by using various sized embroidery hoops and remnant fabric from a local craft store. Friends of mine alternately use cork boards and shadowboxes they’ve constructed to display their collections.

If you’re not into the DIY-ing, here are a couple options for showing off those spoils!

The Shabby Stitchery: Pin Banner, $9.99

Simple, but gets the job done and has plenty of space! This banner also comes in black for $1 more at The Shabby Stitchery.

Fill A Space: Cork Board Pin Display, $8.02

I prefer circular displays as it breaks up the square and rectangular frames that I have on my walls. The benefit of this one is that the color on the bottom half of the circle is customizable!

Are you addicted to pins yet? Have I converted you? 

We’ll be back next week with more gift ideas from the SBTB team! As always, let us know what you’d like to see or what’s top on your holiday wishlist!

Happy Wednesday! I have a healing tattoo of my cat in space and supposedly Boston is getting its first snow this week. I’m not ready and sincerely hope that doesn’t happen. If you’re in the Midwest, I know you already have snow and I’m deeply sorry.

…

The so-bad-it’s-good movie, Jupiter Ascending, is being remade as a ballet! You have my attention. And if you missed it, check out RHG and Carrie’s joint review of the movie. It earned a coveted F+.

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Smart Podcast, Trashy Books made this awesome list of literary podcasts to listen to over at The Washington Post. Guess who else we’re listed with? LeVar-freaking-Burton!

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Do you love romance novels and are in the New England area? Because I’m happy to announce that I’m running a romance book club next year at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, MA! I’m so excited and we’d love to have you.

I don’t want to make the executive decision on what everyone should read, so we’re currently taking reading suggestions via a Google Form. I’ll randomly select three and then put it up for a poll in the Facebook group. I’m all about that democratic process!

…

Elizabeth Hoy’s brand new historical romance series begins at the end of the year! If you’re curious, Frolic.Media has an excerpt of Not the Duke’s Darling.

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I don’t play League of Legends, but I do listen to Korean pop music. Which means I’m addicted to this music video they created for four of their most popular female characters.

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Don’t forget to share what super cool things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!

I’m honestly surprised we haven’t done a Rec Leage for this yet. We tend to get this request a lot via our Instagram Rec It Wednesday stories, and it’s often the topic of a lot of comments through our Books on Sale and Whatcha Reading posts.

Well, now we have a Rec League for it!

Ideally, we’re looking for heroines who don’t want children or historical romances that don’t end with a baby epilogue. Those two seem like the most difficult to come by, but we’ll also take whatever you want to throw at us.

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) is always an obvious recommendation, but we want more!

Can you help us? Give us your recommendations! 

The Lady’s Guide To Petticoats and Piracy is so much fun. It’s a sequel to The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue but it works on its own. The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue was an adventure story as well as a romance. The Lady’s Guide To Petticoats and Piracy keeps the adventure but is not a romance, although romance is discussed.

Set in the mid-1700s, it features Felicity Montague, who wants to be a doctor but is working for a baker instead while she applies aggressively, repeatedly, and unsuccessfully to medical schools. The book opens with the glorious line:

I have just taken an overly large bite of iced bun when Callum slices his finger off.

This is an exaggeration. Callum (the baker) only sliced part of his finger off. In short order, Felicity repairs the finger, dodges Callum’s woozy marriage proposal, and heads off to London to join her brother, Monty, and Monty’s boyfriend, Percy. Applying to medical school in London proves no more successful than applying in Edinburgh. However, Felicity does hear that her idol, Dr. Platt, is about to marry Felicity’s estranged childhood friend, Johanna, in Germany. If Felicity can make it to Germany in time to crash the wedding, she might be able to convince Dr. Platt to take her on one of his expeditions.

Everything goes perfectly and Felicity and Johanna reunite with past conflicts blissfully forgotten, and Felicity has perfect social skills, charms Dr. Platt, and becomes a surgeon. The end.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA NO.

The ensuing plot includes but is not limited to a Muslim pirate who is a woman, misogyny, map theft, strategic embroidery, more pirates, a slobbery dog, and a voyage to Algiers. There’s a lot of adventure and intersectional feminism. The characters are layered, and I liked how different kinds of femininity were explored, with Johanna telling the judgmental Felicity:

You refused to let me-or anyone!-like books and silks. Outdoors and cosmetics. You stopped taking me seriously when I stopped being the kind of woman you thought I had to be to be considered intelligent and strong. All those things you think make men take women less seriously – I don’t think it’s men; it’s you. You’re not better than any other woman because you like philosophy better than parties and don’t give a fig about the company of gentlemen, or because you wear boots instead of heels and don’t set your hair in curls…I like dressing this way. I like curling my hair and twirling in skirts with ruffles…and that doesn’t mean I’m not still smart and capable and strong.

I also appreciated the fact that Felicity’s sexual orientation (she is an aromantic asexual) is presented in positive terms. Johanna is not judged for wanting an eventual romance with a man, nor is Sim (the pirate) judged for being attracted to Felicity. The previous book, A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, was a romance between Monty and Percy. However, Felicity’s dream is considered as valid as the more romantic dreams of her brother and her friends:

“I think I want a house of my own,” I start, the words a discovery as they leave my mouth. “Something small, so I don’t have too much housework, but enough room for a proper library. I want a lot of books. And I wouldn’t mind a good old dog to walk with me. And a bakery to go to every morning where they know my name.”

“And you don’t want anyone with you?” Sim asks, raising her head. “No family?”

“I want friends,” I say. “Good friends, that make up a different kind of family.”

While Felicity is the narrator and central character, Johanna and Sim are also well developed. They avoid being stuck in sidekick roles and instead play equal roles with Felicity in accomplishing their own ends. I would love for Sim to get her own book since her future is most likely to be action-packed.

Above all, this book is fun. It made me happy. It entertained me. It encouraged me. These are no small feats. I was constantly being delighted and surprised by how these three resourceful women solve the many problems with which they are presented, and I loved their rivalries and friendships.

A postscript for history lovers:

The author’s note talks about real life women who pursed careers as naturalists (like Johanna), as pirates (Sim), and as doctors (Felicity) during the 1700s. This section is fantastic.

A postscript for dog lovers:

There is a dog. The dog is fine. He is a slobbery Alpine mastiff. Here is a picture of an Alpine mastiff:

They are considered to be extinct in their pure form but are the ancestors of St. Bernards and modern Mastiffs. They were huge, up to 39 inches tall. I am 58 inches tall. If I had an Alpine Mastiff I would look even more like a hobbit than I do now. That would be awesome. Dear Santa, I have been good, please send me this doggie, thanks ever so.

Of all the things I could talk to Courtney Milan about, I think the best topic would be…figure skating. Specifically, Yuri!!! On Ice. Yuri!!! on Ice is an anime that contains multitudes, and it has been making Courtney happy for awhile now. So I asked her to tell me all about Yuri!!! on Ice.

We discuss what she loves about the show, and how the narrative structure of Yuri!!! has illuminated for her elements of storytelling that frustrate her as a romance writer.

Please note: we do talk a bit about depression and sexual harassment at 20:35.

And then, there’s a Big Spoiler to the series in a part where we’re discussing narrative structure. Don’t worry – you’ll hear me break in and warn you, and say how far to skip ahead.

We talk about storytelling structures, methods of revealing multiple plots, and other anime recommendations for curious viewers.

One of my favorite things is asking people who take epic deep dives into the things they love to tell me all about it. I hope you enjoy it as well.

Read the transcript →

Here are the books we discuss in this podcast:

You can find Courtney Milan at her website, CourtneyMilan.com.

In this episode, we mentioned:

• Where to watch Yuri!!! On Ice:
  • Crunchy Roll – with subtitles
  • Funimantion – dubbed into English
• The storytelling method Courtney mentions is called Kishōtenketsu
• The fanfic Courtney recommends at the end is called Blackbird

If you like the podcast, you can subscribe to our feed, or find us at iTunes. You can also find us on Stitcher, too. We also have a cool page for the podcast on iTunes.

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What did you think of today's episode? Got ideas? Suggestions? You can talk to us on the blog entries for the podcast or talk to us on Facebook if that's where you hang out online. You can email us at sbjpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave us a message at our Google voice number: 201-371-3272. Please don't forget to give us a name and where you're calling from so we can work your message into an upcoming podcast.

Thanks for listening!

This Episode's Music

Our music is provided by Sassy Outwater. Thanks, Sassy!

This is my favorite holiday album from Deviations Project, and it’s called…Adeste Fiddles.

This is probably my favorite track. This is Three Ships. You can find this album at Amazon.

Podcast Sponsor

This week’s podcast and transcript are brought to you by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward’s Hate Notes, available now from Montlake Romance.

From New York Times bestselling authors Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward comes an unexpected love story of secondhand hearts and second chances…

It starts with a mysterious blue note sewn into a wedding dress.

When Charlotte Darling takes her unworn bridal gown to a vintage clothing store to sell, she discovers a note stitched into the lining of a different dress. The note, hand-written on blue paper simply reads “Thank you for making all of my dreams come true.” The name embossed on the blue stationery: Reed Eastwood. Charlotte finds the note endearing, and fantasizes about the man who wrote it.

Then, thanks to a strange twist of fate, Reed Eastwood becomes Charlotte’s new boss; Charlotte is more determined than ever to uncovering the story behind that tiny blue love letter.

But that story is nothing compared to the one that starts to unfold between Charlotte and Reed. It’s getting hotter, sweeter, and more surprising than either of them could have imagined.

From something blue to something new.

USA Today’s Happy Ever After called HATE NOTES “a must read… an engaging, funny, and seriously sexy romance.”  HATE NOTES is available now from Montlake Romance.

Transcript Sponsor

This week’s podcast and transcript are brought to you by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward’s Hate Notes, available now from Montlake Romance.

From New York Times bestselling authors Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward comes an unexpected love story of secondhand hearts and second chances…

It starts with a mysterious blue note sewn into a wedding dress.

When Charlotte Darling takes her unworn bridal gown to a vintage clothing store to sell, she discovers a note stitched into the lining of a different dress. The note, hand-written on blue paper simply reads “Thank you for making all of my dreams come true.” The name embossed on the blue stationery: Reed Eastwood. Charlotte finds the note endearing, and fantasizes about the man who wrote it.

Then, thanks to a strange twist of fate, Reed Eastwood becomes Charlotte’s new boss; Charlotte is more determined than ever to uncovering the story behind that tiny blue love letter.

But that story is nothing compared to the one that starts to unfold between Charlotte and Reed. It’s getting hotter, sweeter, and more surprising than either of them could have imagined.

From something blue to something new.

USA Today’s Happy Ever After called HATE NOTES “a must read… an engaging, funny, and seriously sexy romance.”  HATE NOTES is available now from Montlake Romance.

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