Check This Bookout

It’s time for our long awaited review of Iron Gold by Pierce Brown 🪐 After falling hard for the original trilogy, we were ready for another high-stakes journey through space, but some things left us disappointed. In this episode, we talk through what about this book’s character arcs and plot worked, what didn't, and whether it lives up to the books that came before it. (P.S. this book contains spoilers for Red Rising, Golden Son, Morning Star, and Iron Gold.)

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💌 October Book Club: Grim Tidings by B.K. Borison

📖 Books Mentioned: 

• Iron Gold - Pierce Brown
• Dark Age - Pierce Brown
• Light Bringer - Pierce Brown
• Red Rising - Pierce Brown
• Golden Son - Pierce Brown
• Morning Star - Pierce Brown
• Queen of Shadows  - Sarah J. Maas
• Tower of Dawn  - Sarah J. Maas
• Grim Tidings - B.K. Borison
• Empire of the Vampire - Jay Kristoff
• A Court of Silver Flames - Sarah J. Maas
• Good Spirits - B. K. Borison

Introducing your next favorite progressive epic fantasy: Bastion by Phil Tucker! 📖 With only 7,500 ratings on Goodreads, this book is criminally underhyped. In Part 1, we're discussing the writing, world building, characters of both books 1 and 2 -- Bastion and The Rascor Plains -- of the Immortal Great Soul series. As always, we're getting deep in detail to break down what makes this series a must-read!

(P.S. this episode contains spoilers!)

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💌 September Book Club: Iron Gold - Pierce Brown

📖 Books Mentioned: Bastion - Phil Tucker

The Rascor Plains - Phil Tucker

Throne Hunters - Phil Tucker

Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson

The Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan

The Everlasting - Alix E. Harrow

🔗 Bastion Photos Source: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/682901669/bastion-deluxe-hardcover-edition

We love a good fantasy standalone & The Everlasting is near the top of the list 🌳🗡️ This book delivers beloved historical fantasy settings with fairytale whimsy, but manages to write a devastatingly beautiful love story. In this book review, we gasp, laugh, & cry at how awe-inspiring this book is. Tune in to discover it for yourself! (P.S. This episode contains spoilers!)

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💌 September Book Club: Iron Gold by Pierce Brown

📖 Books Mentioned:

The Everlasting - Alix E. Harrow

Divine Rivals - Rebecca Ross

Iron Gold - Pierce Brown

🌳 The Everlasting Synopsis:

Sir Una Everlasting was Dominion’s greatest hero: the orphaned girl who became a knight, who died for queen and country. Her legend lives on in songs and stories, in children’s books and recruiting posters―but her life as it truly happened has been forgotten.

Centuries later, Owen Mallory―failed soldier, struggling scholar―falls in love with the tale of Una Everlasting. Her story takes him to war, to the archives―and then into the past itself. Una and Owen are tangled together in time, bound to retell the same story over and over again, no matter what it costs.

But that story always ends the same way. If they want to rewrite Una’s legend―if they want to tell a different story--they’ll have to rewrite history itself.

Believe it or not, we're reviewing Light Wielder, the sequel to Metal Slinger by Rachel Schneider. After Metal Slinger's controversial cliffhanger, we admit we were curious whether Light Wielder redeems the series... (Spoiler: it does not.) We're talking unresolved plot holes, a FMC who completely loses her personality, & one of the worst-written battle scenes we've ever encountered. If you loved this book, we lovingly disagree with you; if you hated it, welcome aboard.

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💌 August Book Club: The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

📖 Books Mentioned:

Metal Slinger - Rachel Schneider

Light Wielder - Rachel Schneider

Our Perfect Storm - Carley Fortune

Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros

Timestamps:

00:00:30 – recap: book one ratings & controversy

00:02:16 – spoiler-free synopsis of light wielder

00:04:09 – ratings reveal

00:05:02 – general thoughts & first impressions

00:07:01 – the breadcrumb plot problem

00:09:56 – goodreads ratings comparison

00:10:26 – writing style & dual pov breakdown

00:11:32 – unanswered questions from book one

00:12:23 – jovi's character regression

00:29:06 – worldbuilding confusion

00:30:26 – fanfiction tangent

00:32:12 – what this book should have been (villain jovi)

00:34:02 – did ai write this book?

00:46:42 – the crown & queen backstory

00:48:29 – jovi's dad & the kidnapping plot hole4

00:49:41 – mates losing their rarity (fourth wing comparison)

00:50:29 – messer, aurora & hate-reading the next series

01:16:15 – highlights & favorite quotes

01:18:21 – final verdict: worst book ever?

Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune might just be the book of the summer! 🌊 This book takes you on a tropical vacation in Tofino, a town off Canada's west coast, where heartbreak is healed & friendships are mended. Expect pining, emotional depth, complex characters, and a setting to die for in this contemporary romance. This book took us by storm & we know y'all will love it too!

P.S. This episode contains spoilers!

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💌 July Book Club: Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune

📖 Books Mentioned:

• Our Perfect Storm - Carley Fortune
• This Summer Will Be Different - Carley Fortune
• One Golden Summer - Carley Fortune
• People We Meet On Vacation - Emily Henry
• The Unhoneymooners - Christina Lauren
• The Night We Met - Abby Jimenez
• Wild Reverence - Rebecca Ross
• The Everlasting - Alix E. Harrow

Timestamps:

00:00:00 – cold open

00:01:23 – spoiler free synopsis

00:02:28 – our rating reveal

00:04:17 – initial thoughts & feelings

00:06:04 – the writing style

00:09:39 – favorite quotes

00:16:43 – he wedding day hook

00:21:41 – the honeymoon trip

00:26:10 – day one: wallow

00:32:47 – book boyfriend material

00:37:19 – day three: movement

00:39:51 – moms & whales

00:43:59 – one-bed!

00:51:12 – the forest kiss

00:54:38 – the third act breakup

00:59:11 – frankie's fear of losing herself

01:02:34 – the ending

01:11:46 – next month's book club

01:12:38 – outro

In honor of the World Cup, we're ranking fantasy and romance tropes as red cards or goals, covering everything from accidental pregnancies and surprise betrayals to sprayed edges, bonus chapters, and the infamous "she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding." Expect strong opinions, plenty of laughs, and callouts to books like Red Rising, This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me, and One Golden Summer. A fun, fast-paced episode for anyone who loves debating the tropes that make (or break) a fantasy or romance read! (P.S. this episode contains a spoiler for A Court of Silver Flames. A warning text will be displayed on the screen at 05:30)

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💌 July Book Club: Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune

📖 Books Mentioned:

• Throne of Glass — Sarah J. Maas
• The Hunger Games — Suzanne Collins
• Unearthly — Cynthia Hand
• The Selection — Kiera Cass
• A Court of Thorns and Roses — Sarah J. Maas
• Zodiac Academy — Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti
• Daggermouth — H.M. Wolfe
• Red Rising — Pierce Brown
• Vows & Fates — Helen Scheuerer
• The Prison Healer — Lynette Noni
• Bastion — Phil Tucker
• This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me — Ilona Andrews
• Metal Slinger — Rachel Schneider
• These Hollow Vows — Lexi Ryan
• Our Perfect Storm — Carley Fortune
• Nora Goes Off Script — Annabel Monaghan
• Tempt Me series — K.A. Tucker
• Tourist Season — Brynne Weaver
• The Secret Life of Briar Rose — Cindy Pham
• Great Big Beautiful Life — Emily Henry
• Out on a Limb — Hannah Bonam-Young
• From Blood and Ash — Jennifer L. Armentrout
• The Love Hypothesis — Ali Hazelwood
• One Golden Summer — Carley Fortune
• Obsidian — Jennifer L. Armentrout

Listen up fantasy readers! This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews is a portal fantasy where a die-hard fan wakes up inside the unfinished, cliffhanger-ending series she's read a hundred times, & has to survive a cutthroat medieval world. We break down our ratings, debate whether the slow first half almost cost this book a DNF & dig into the writing style, the political great houses, the found-family arc, and that delicious slow-burn romance.

P.S. this episode contains spoilers!

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💌 July Book Club: Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune

📖 Books Mentioned:

• This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me (Maggie the Undying) - Ilona Andrews
• Magic Bites (Kate Daniels series) - Ilona Andrews
• Bastion (The Immortal Great Souls) - Phil Tucker
• Kingdom of the Wicked — Kerri Maniscalco
• Throne of Glass - Sarah J. Maas
• The Wheel of Time — Robert Jordan
• Outlander — Diana Gabaldon
• A Song of Ice and Fire / Game of Thrones — George R.R. Martin

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me Synopsis:

"When Maggie wakes up cold, filthy, and naked in a gutter, it doesn't take her long to recognize Kair Toren, a city she knows intimately from the pages of the famously unfinished dark fantasy series she's been obsessively reading and re-reading while waiting years for the final novel.

Her only tools for navigating this gritty world of rival warlords, magic, and mayhem? Her encyclopedic knowledge of the plot, the setting, and the characters' ambitions and fates. But while she quickly discovers she cannot be killed (though many will try!), the same cannot be said for the living, breathing characters she's coming to love—a motley band that includes a former lady’s maid, a deadly assassin, various outrageous magical creatures, and a dangerously appealing soldier. Soon, instead of trying to get home, she finds herself enmeshed in the schemes—and attentions—of dueling princes, dukes, and villains, all while trying to save them and the kingdom of Rellas from the way she knows their stories will end: in a cataclysmic war."

⏱️ Timestamps:

00:00 – intro

00:01:38 – rating reveal

00:05:08 – spoiler-free plot overview (outlander meets game of thrones)

00:04:50 – spoiler warning begins

00:08:14 – writing style and the info-dump debate

00:18:45 – world-building, maps, and geography confusion

00:27:12 – how dark this book actually gets

00:28:47 – plot and character breakdown

00:39:44 – reynald/ramond tension and found family

00:41:20 – the serial killer subplot

00:47:51 – the butcher and rising stakes

00:49:08 – the adoption scene (fav moment)

01:02:53 – the final climax

01:03:57 – silveren theory

01:07:42 – final ratings reconsidered

01:08:52 – romantasy or epic fantasy

01:12:33 – wrap-up

#bookclub #bookreview #bookpodcast #fantasybooks

It's time for our mid-year reading check-in! 📖 In this episode, we highlight some books we've read so far, from DNFs to 5-star favorites. Along the way, we cover fantasy, romance, & romantasy releases, debate which books live up to the hype, & talk through what actually makes a book worth finishing versus worth putting down for good.

We also recap of our first book signing experience! We met Cindy Pham & Ali Hazelwood to celebrate the release of The Secret Life of Briar Rose at BookPeople in Austin, TX. Tune in to hear all about it!

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💌 June Book Club: This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me — Ilona Andrews

📖 Books Mentioned:

Road of Bones — Demi Winters

Rites of the Starling — Devney Perry

The Mistake — Elle Kennedy

The Ascended — Bree Greenwich

And Now, Back To You — B.K. Borison

North Country — K.A. Tucker

People Pleasing — Hannah Bonam-Young

Tempt Me — K.A. Tucker

Flawless — Elsie Silver

Bastion — Phil Tucker

The City of Brass — S.A. Chakraborty

Yumi and The Nightmare Painter — Brandon Sanderson

Wind and Truth — Brandon Sanderson

Project Hail Mary — Andy Weir

All Rhodes Lead Here — Mariana Zapata

Funny Story — Emily Henry

The Raven Scholar — Antonia Hodgson

The Secret Life of Briar Rose — Cindy Pham

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me — Ilona Andrews

One of us gave it 4 stars. One of us would have given it zero if that were allowed. And one of us was just trying to survive the chaos in between...Welcome back to Check This Bookout, the podcast where two sisters (and their honorary third sister Jamie) review fantasy, romance, and romantasy books.

This episode is our full spoiler review of Metal Slinger by Rachel Schneider, our May book club pick. We talk about everything: the villain twist ending that genuinely made Hannah gasp out loud, the fated mates bond between Brynn/Jovi and Acker, why the unreliable narrator in first-person POV created more frustration than payoff, the world of Alaha and why the giant squids deserved more page time, and the one scene ;) that everyone agreed was well done. Plus: our theories on book two, whether Frederick is Jovi's new love interest, the Off Campus TV adaptation, and a very important conversation about birthday party themes.

Metal Slinger is a debut romantasy that got traditionally published after going viral, and this episode is our honest, messy, loving and sometimes brutal take on whether it lived up to the hype.

🤍 All CTB Links: ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/checkthisbookout💌 May Book Club: This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews

📖 Books Mentioned:

• ​Metal Slinger by Rachel Schneider
• ​Light Wielder by Rachel Schneider
• ​Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry
• ​The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen
• ​Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas
• ​Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
• ​Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
• ​Zodiac Academy by Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti
• ​Quicksilver by Callie Hart
• ​Off Campus series by Elle Kennedy
• ​Beach Read by Emily Henry

Metal Slinger Synopsis:

"Even though she's not one of them, Brynn has spent her life among the Alaha, training to be a guard and waiting for the chance to attend the annual market hosted by the Kenta–the very same people who exiled her adopted community to a life at sea. Going to the market is a rite of passage eagerly anticipated by all young guards, but Brynn does not anticipate breaking a century-long peace treaty while there. Nor does she plan for the intense encounter with an enemy soldier that now threatens to unwind the fragile coexistence between their people–and everything Brynn once believed about herself to be true.

Brynn's loyalty to the Alaha is tested when the truth of her identity is brought to light by this soldier who's taken an oath to bring her back to where she belongs. Narrowly escaping death on the violent high seas, Brynn's connection to the Alaha is further tested when she learns about the world of magic she's been denied. She was once certain of her fate and where she belonged, but the dark, knowing eyes of this stranger have her questioning everything, including her heart."

Timestamps:

0:00 - cold open

1:40 - ratings reveal

3:10 - spoiler-free plot synopsis (and the bon jovi discovery)

6:30 - spoiler territory: that ending

8:00 - the unreliable narrator problem

14:40 - world building: the good, the half-baked, and the giant squids

18:00 - the fated mates romance breakdown

22:00 - "bring back simping, bring back yearning"

23:50 - the smut scene

25:30 - the messer situation and the mystery bird

31:00 - goodreads review #1: the one that said everything

45:00 - goodreads review #2: the potential this book wasted

51:00 - theories for book two- light wielder

58:00 - the magic system and unanswered questions

1:07:00 - reading the book two preview chapter live

1:13:00 - final ratings (they changed)

1:17:00 - off campus tv adaptation + birthday party theme chaos

1:23:00 - outro and closing

We have a bone to pick with the romantasy genre. The misuse of tropes, the imbalance of romance & fantasy plot lines, the questionable quality… The list goes on. In this episode, we breakdown what makes a romantasy book/series successful within its genre. Specifically, we’ll list out books we’ve read that do romantasy a disservice & books that redeem why we should all still give romantasy a chance. (P.S. this episode is spoiler-free!)

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💌 May Book Club: Metal Slinger - Rachel Schneider

📖 Books Mentioned: 

• Metal Slinger - Rachel Schneider 
• A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Maas
• Throne of Glass - Sarah J. Maas
• Shield of Sparrows - Devney Perry
• A Court of Silver Flames - Sarah J. Maas
• Fourth Wing - Rebecca Yarros
• From Blood and Ash - Jennifer L. Armentrout
• Heartless Hunter - Kristen Ciccarelli
• Anathema - Keri Lake
• Obsidian - Jennifer L. Armentrout
• Shatter Me - Tahereh Mafi
• Zodiac Academy - Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti
• Never Keep - Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti
• The Knight and The Moth - Rachel Gillig
• One Dark Window - Rachel Gillig
• The Ascended - Bree Grenwich and Parker Lennox
• On Wings of Blood - Briar Boleyn
• Blood and Steel - Helen Scheuerer 
• This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me - Ilona Andrews
• Magic Bites - Ilona Andrews

Timestamps:00:00 Cold Open & Intro00:26 The Romantasy Epidemic04:20 Defining Romantasy (And Why It's Kind of a Marketing Gimmick)07:25 Tangent: Does "Romance" Require a HEA?10:09 The Cons: What's Going Wrong With Romantasy Right Now13:29 The Slow Burn Rule16:03 More Cons: Imbalanced Fantasy vs. Romance Plots22:34 The Pros: Why We Still Love This Genre27:10 Tangent: Stop Adapting These Books for TV28:25 Good Examples: Heartless Hunter & Anathema31:56 Throwback Good Examples: Obsidian & Shatter Me35:21 POV Count & Why It Matters for Romantasy38:51 Bad Examples: The Night and the Moth43:14 Bad Examples: The Ascended (Madeline Loses It)46:01 Bad Examples: On Wings of Blood50:00 Bad Examples: The Legends of Thezmar53:56 Romantasy's Last Chance: Metal Slinger & Final Thoughts56:49 Is Romance Better When Written By Men?57:50 Outro & Book Club Reminder