Yr girls are fresh from the cliffs and ready to slay some fey. This week, Morgan and Isabeau are back at the Ball with another selection from The Monster Ball Year 2; Assassin’s Match by Everly Frost. Our heroine Tanzanina (yikes) is a born-witch whose power and love have been stripped from her by an evil curse. But when her only hope of lifting the curse, a special spellbook, is stolen, our heroine must put herself in danger for a night of thrills and passion at the Monster Ball. Are magic-at birth-narratives ultimately trojan horses for eugenics? Is Paradise Lost just Bible fan fiction? How do we cope when our love is not reciprocated? All that, plus musings on birth order, gargoyles, and the perfect hot buttered rum. Happy spooky season y’all.
With an out from Gateshead on the horizon, the anxiety is palpable. This week, Jane squares off with purity wonk Mr. Brocklehurst, tells her aunt where to shove it, and finds a new candor in Bessie.
While the Ball rages on, yr girls have to refuel on angst and mood before another heavy bout of haunting. This week, Morgan and Isabeau journey to the edge of the Cornish cliffs in Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt, a nom de plume of Eleanor Hibbert. Our heroine Martha Leigh is past her seasons. In lieu of a husband, she becomes a governess to the daughter of gaunt widower and lesser of two heroes, Connan TreMellyn. But as Martha gets closer to her aloof employer, questions surrounding his wife’s death disrupt their nascent arousal. In a mansion of lavish decor and furnishings, something lies rotten. What remains in the absence of a loved one? How should we remember roads not taken? What’s it like to trust and be trusted by a horse? Saddle up and stay shook y’all.
Whew! That was a close call y’all. This week, Jane recuperates from a frightful stay in the Red Room, learns of poverty’s harsh realities, and is once again dreaming of escape.
Special surprise drop - but for real this time! Yr girls Morgan and Isabeau joined our friends Erin and Clayton over at Learning The Tropes to talk romance, sexiest parts, and life on and off the mic. Check out Learning The Tropes wherever you get your podcasts - rate, review, and spread the love.
IG: @learningthetropes
Twitter: @learningtropes
To keep this spooky train rolling, we’re chugging on up to Auld Reekie for the supernatural event of the season. This week, Morgan and Isabeau crash a party with a selection from The Monster Ball Year 2, an anthology of works imagining that self same soiree, titled “Turning The Tides” by Wendy Higgins. In this telling, a malevolent beast known as the Magpie is throwing the Ball, and this once who’s who of the otherworldly has taken a sinister turn. Our heroine is Ada, a selkie (for brevity: shapeshifting seal people of yore), who in order to return to the sea, must retrieve her pelt from among the patchwork monstrosity adorning the Magpie. But with a little help from a dryad and a conniving necromancer, Ada just might get her wish. What makes for a memorable party? Is good sex just attentive sex? How young is too young for necromancy? Dust off your best frocks y’all - it’s game time.