Episode 79: Bedtime Stories — The Wrath And The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

What’s a dealbreaker for you? What’s something that, no matter how many luxurious nights and sumptuous meals, would continue to nag at the corners of your mind? Write it down. This week, Morgan and Isabeau get in touch with their teen angst for this YA retelling of One Thousand and One Nights, The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh. For this rendition, the Caliph of Khorasan has taken to marrying virgins, and killing them off the morning after consummation. Enter our heroine, Shahrzad, who volunteers to marry the Caliph and spare the fate of a friend bound for a grisly end. Bent on revenge, Shahrzad ensnares the Caliph with spellbinding tales that keep her alive night after night, as her passion for blood turns into an unexpected adoration. Now go back to your dealbreaker. Was it murder? Was it practicing blood magic? Was it books that kind of, maybe, somewhat, remind us of our month-long foray into sheik romance? For those that wrote down something innocuous like “snoring” or something vain like “they can’t have weird eyebrows”, this should be a wild ride.

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