The Cosy Cup Book Club
Welcome to 'The Cosy Cup Book Club,' the podcast where two bibliophiles dive into the pages of trending and classic books, sparing you the need to dissect them yourself.
We're here for all you book lovers who find joy in reading but sometimes feel like you're talking to your bookshelf more than actual people. Fear not! We've got your back. Each episode, we'll be sipping on literary-inspired cosy drinks while unraveling the mysteries, quirks, and downright drama within the pages of our chosen books.
From timeless classics to the latest bestsellers, we're on a mission to make literature as intoxicating as the drinks we make. So, whether you're an avid reader or just looking for an excuse to blend your love for books and booze, grab a seat at 'The Cosy Cup Book Club.' Because why just read when you can read and sip in style? Let the bookish revelry begin!
The Cosy Cup Book Club
Episode One: Tea, Tangents, and Addie LaRue (in That Order)
In our very first episode, we chat about The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue — and a lot of other things we probably weren’t supposed to. There’s strong tea, strong opinions, and absolutely no sense of structure.
Spoilers for Addie LaRue ahead — so if you haven’t read it, you’ve been warned.
Grab a blanket, your favourite snacks, and get comfy.
Welcome to The Cosy Cup Book Club — your new favourite place for unhinged bookish chaos.
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welcome to the cozy cup book club grab a blanket, lower your expectations and let's talk books and well done for getting through that one.
Speaker 1:Rosie, welcome everybody to episode one. How exciting we're here. Yeah, we've left it quite a long time, started a podcast, set up, all of our social medias didn't release anything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we couldn't afford it.
Speaker 1:And, to celebrate, rosie's, brought us Prosecco. It's Prosecco time, so let's pop some. We need some bubbles, we need it. So our cozy cup of the week is going to be Prosecco.
Speaker 2:Not that cozy.
Speaker 1:It's not cozy, is it? But it's fun, so let's get into it. Welcome to the book club, everyone. Hopefully you're all cozied up with your nice cozy drink and ready to discuss this with us telepathically or just listen to us talk about it and then, you know, leave us some comments on our tiktok or our instagram, which we don't seem to be. We use tiktok, we just we're not great at instagram.
Speaker 1:That's the new week resolution for next week yeah, but yeah, leave us some comments on what you think of this book if you've read it, and then, obviously, at the end of today's episode, we will tell you what our next episode's read is, and you can join in with that one too, we should say that this week's book was the invisible life of adi larue.
Speaker 2:Yes, by v schwab.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's how you pronounce yeah, so obviously we were reading that book. That was our homework. Have you been reading anything else alongside this one?
Speaker 2:I have.
Speaker 1:But you cannot remember the name of it. It's just oh.
Speaker 2:I know, sorry, yes, I have. I have actually been reading fan fiction.
Speaker 1:For anybody that cannot see this podcast, which obviously you cannot. That was a massive eye roll you just heard from me, because at the moment I don't think I've spoken to Rosie when she hasn't been reading fan fiction of some kind. It's your fault, it is my fault. I made you read Manacled. That is a conversation for another day.
Speaker 2:Yes, and then I read an amazing one, which is probably another conversation for another day. But apart from that, I'm currently listening to a book called the Young Mungo, which is a bit of a different one for me. Based in Glasgow and a young boy, difficult family, he's 15 and something bad happens to him and, yeah, he's just sort of growing up and dealing with this tough lifestyle that he's forced into.
Speaker 1:So it's a really fun one Would you recommend. Are you enjoying it? So far, though, yeah.
Speaker 2:I am enjoying it. It's definitely one of the hard-hitting ones, but, um, yeah, so I think after after that, I'm gonna need a bit of a light-hearted one. Um, so, yeah, that's probably the one I have been reading. Um, well, that's the one I'm listening to at the moment. Another one I've just read is I occasionally listen to. It's like a bit of a midsummer murders type book series. It's called uh ladycastle.
Speaker 1:A Quiet Life in the Country.
Speaker 2:I've just finished it oh, I've just finished the. I can't remember what number.
Speaker 1:It was the one about suffragettes ah, so I've read the first one, which is A Quiet. Life in the Country.
Speaker 2:I love Lady.
Speaker 1:Hardcastle. It's so good, it's very nice. It's kind of a light hearted Miss Marple.
Speaker 2:Yeah I called it a cross between downton abbey and smitten murders.
Speaker 1:Yeah, love it it's. I really enjoyed it. A quiet life in the country was a good one yeah, it was a good one.
Speaker 2:So I have, I've sort of read, I read it whenever. So often I've been reading that over the last couple of years.
Speaker 1:I think I read it because you recommended it to me ages ago and it was on my tbr for a while. Yeah, and I needed a light-hearted read after finishing manacled.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and and went for that one. It's proper, light-hearted quick cozy.
Speaker 1:Nothing's gory, it's no, it's nice, isn't it, it's just like a nice one it feels like you're at your local, your local pub, just having a natter. Yeah, it's a's a really nice, I don't know. It feels like home.
Speaker 2:Yeah, doesn't it? It does a bit. Obviously, we're British, so it's set here. Yes, what?
Speaker 1:about you? Have you been reading watching? So actually, we got a message on TikTok from a self-published author. She goes by Mika M-I-k-a-c. Uh on tiktok, but her like author name is mikaela ae and she mentioned to us about her book which was called archangel, and I've been reading that and it's actually insane. It's so good, really really enjoying it so far. It's definitely kind of a fantasy, dystopian setting. I'm really enjoying this book and I think it's really hard for authors out there to get their work out there and if anybody is listening to this and does like the sound of it, I'd highly recommend it. So this particular book, I'm just going to read you what she has sent me as her kind of roundup of what it's about.
Speaker 1:So the story follows a girl named Ember, who you will see as a child and an adult, and this is what I love about this book. So at the start of the book, the main protagonist is a 12-year-old girl. So you're looking at her life through the eyes of a 12-year-old girl and we all remember what it was like to be 12. And you have your ambitions and what you want to do. So you go through her excitement about certain things and then her absolute heartbreak when things go wrong as well. So you follow her as a child and adult. She belongs to a society that is heavily regulated and controlled Even careers are decided for the citizens and she quickly finds that she doesn't quite fit in anywhere. This society is divided into two cities, basically an upper and a lower class system. There is strife between these groups. The upper class hoards everything, including clean air. When ember has a forbidden meeting with a boy from the lower class, her entire world begins to unravel. To survive what comes for her, she must reclaim her mind and her very soul.
Speaker 1:It's amazing. It's really clever. I genuinely haven't read anything like it and I'm really, really enjoying it. The way that she's introduced the world building is really clever. I don't want to give too much away, but you don't feel like you're. Sometimes you can read a fantasy book and you spend about half an hour with somebody describing a tree Do you know what I mean? And you're just like, oh, come on, get on with it. But the way that she's done the world building, I think, is really a unique way of doing it, and you're learning about the world that Ember lives in without realizing that you're learning about that world. So it's really clever. Highly recommend it, really enjoying it so far. I had to pause it because I needed to get through our invisible life of Adi LaRue, um, but I am very much looking forward to getting getting that book finished. So highly recommend that and I'm expecting, on our next episode when we have this conversation, you're going to be there going well, I'm currently reading oh yeah, make sure you make me download it it sounds amazing.
Speaker 1:We have an exciting segment for everyone today. We don't have a jingle yet, so for any jingle makers out there, please make us a jingle and send it to us. Our segment is called Rosie's Bit on the Side. I'm going to sing it for you all. This is how I want the jingle to sound ready rosie's bit on the side, you know, like a proper game show. Yeah, yeah. So everybody imagined that that was the best jingle ever.
Speaker 2:Um, rosie, take it away so I think my bit on the side going forward is going to be a bit of a weird and wonderful book. So the crazy premise, the crazy characters, the really odd sounding books or authors, that's what I'm going to showcase. So for my first one, I'm actually revisiting authors. That's what I'm going to showcase. So for my first one, I'm actually revisiting a bit of an older favorite of mine Ice Planet Barbarians. So it did make the rounds on BookTok and stuff a little while ago, so you might have already read it, but it's basically escapist sci-fi romance. Uh, weird, definitely weird, definitely wonderful.
Speaker 2:Alien mate bonding, uh, with a more than generous sprinkle of smutty times. It's certainly a smutty, smutty, smutty book. Um, alien smut, it's aliens, yes, so they are. The basic premise is a group of women get abducted from the earth and, um, our fmc kind of wakes up and she's in this cargo hold of a ship. Everything is gross. Um, there is a bit of a trigger warning. Some not nice things happen in that, uh, by some mean aliens. Um, so definitely check that if you are sensitive to sexual violence. But um, anyway, then they some things happen and they crash land on an ice planet and then some other things happen and it turns out the NMC is a massive blue alien with huge horns, sexy.
Speaker 2:Well, I've written a little note here to say the standout plot point alien anatomy because his peen has a little nub. A little note here to say the standout plot point alien anatomy because his peen has a little nub above it. Wonderful, um. So yeah, that's that's it. If you're looking for serious world building, then walk on by. But if you're after kind of low stakes fun and more than a bit of a laugh, then jump in. Um, I kind of did a bit of an enjoyment level rather than a book rating and it's a five star for me for an enjoyment level. But you have to lean in, you have to lean into it, yeah, and then it's a five star.
Speaker 1:Enjoy, um and you do have a thing for monster alien romance I just love a bit of yeah I'll cut that out. It does sound good, though I do think it's something.
Speaker 2:It's fun, it's quite sure it's not a novella. It's longer than a novella but it's quite short, really easy to just dip in, not think about it. Read a bit. And also, if you came for an Audible membership, it's on the first one. So this I Spent Up the Barrels is on Audible Plus. Oh, amazing. And I loved the narrators as well.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love it when you get a good narrator. I was reading Lights Out. I don't know whether you've read it. Yeah, I've listened to that. Oh my God, it's such a good book. But the narration on that is brilliant because it's a comedy. I don't really know how to describe it. It is a mask fetish, but comedy, smutty book it's a bit of everything really. I really enjoyed it and the narrators for that were fantastic. Who the narrators are For Lights Out yeah, I think the male narrator is fairly well known, is it Jacob Morgan?
Speaker 2:Or Zachary Webber, don't know Is it. Yeah, it's my favourite.
Speaker 1:He's got the right timbre. So, guys, for anybody listening, it's jacob morgan, the narrator on that one. Um, and if you're wondering why rosie found that so funny, it's because we've spent the last five minutes trying to find out who the narrator is. I couldn't remember, uh, but it is, it is, he's brilliant isn't he, I really enjoyed it. Yeah, so that's our Rosie's bit on the side. I guess we need to do another Rosie's bit on the side at the end to kind of round it up so yeah, again calling out for anybody that's going to make jingles for us.
Speaker 1:You know you want to send us that please.
Speaker 2:Then we have another segment we do For Katie we do, and it's called what's the Plot, what's?
Speaker 1:the Plot. What's the Plot? What's the Plot? So my book is less. Some of them might be monstery, I suppose, but my book is the book equivalent of a guy that came to fix your sink ends up not fixing the sink but doing some anatomy.
Speaker 1:Plumbing book that I've chosen of this genre is not typically of this genre, but it is a book that I loved so much that I was hand typing quotes from this book and putting it into our whatsapp group chat for like a week of me reading it, because I just found it so hilariously funny. It's a parody of Fifty Shades of Grey and it's called Fifty Shames of Earl Grey by Fanny Merkin, aka Andrew Schaffer or Schaefer, I'm not sure. It is absolutely hilarious. It follows the exact same storyline of Fifty Shades of Grey, but it picks up on all of the things that you found annoying as a reader and amplifies them by a thousand and just picks up on the ridiculousness of Fifty Shades of Grey and makes it even more ridiculous. And it is absolutely hilarious. And, if you don't mind, I'm going to do a little dramatic reading for you all from this book.
Speaker 2:Go ahead.
Speaker 1:A growl, I'm going to start again. A growl, I'm going to start again. I apologize because I'm going to giggle all the way through this, because I find it so funny. I growl with frustration at my reflection in the mirror. My hair is 50 shades of messed up. Why is it so kinky and out of control? I need to stop sleeping with it wet. As I brush my long brown hair, the girl in the mirror brown eyes too big for her stares back at me. Wait, my eyes are blue. It dawns on me that I haven't been looking in the mirror. I've been staring at a poster of kristen stewart for the past five minutes. My own hair is fine. So that is essentially what the entire book is like and I absolutely love it.
Speaker 1:And if you would like a segment just on 50 Shames of Earl Grey, please let me know, because I am scrolling through our group chat at the moment and I have just. There are so many quotes that I've taken from this book. It is so funny. Highly recommend it. If you need just a giggle of utter ridiculousness, please read it. It is bizarre, but in the absolute best way, and I love it. Uh, so yeah, next week I promise for it to be something that you can properly get your teeth into. But for this week, I needed to mention the epic book, that is, 50 shames of old grey. You're gonna make me read it, I will 100, um, I think it's. Are we now ready for the time? Well, we need to do our social shelf. Oh so, our social shelf. Now is the.
Speaker 2:Now is the time this week we wanted to take some time just to say thank you to some of our um listeners. Although they haven't listened to anything yet, they've listened to our trailer. They've listened to our trailer. So we just wanted to say thank you to some kind, lovely people that have supported us. So far.
Speaker 1:There are many, many, many, many of you, but the people we're about to mention are like super supporters.
Speaker 2:Super, they are carrying our tiktok on their shoulders so yes, we just want to say thank you to kelly jones fantasy author, raquel shelf, help with jess and andra. You guys have just been so seeing you guys comment and like our stuff and stick around to listen to what we've got to say is just amazing and has really helped us kind of keep going.
Speaker 1:And yeah, and kelly jones fantasy author we accept your offer of being a groupie, even though you were referencing our 2003 girl band. We've just decided to shift you to the 2025 podcast instead.
Speaker 2:Hope you don't, mind.
Speaker 1:So now it's the time, the time that everybody has been waiting, the thing that everyone's been waiting for.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we should put the time that we actually start talking about the book in the description.
Speaker 1:I will Once I've edited out all of the faff. Yeah, the Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. We are going to start by just doing an overview, with no spoilers. So if you have not read this book and you would like to read this book, you are safe to listen. Uh, we will put out a big, oh so jingle person that's going to create the other jingles. Can you also create that sound for us too? Yes, I was going for like nuclear blast, but um, yeah, duck definitely was. Was the factor there? Um, yeah, you are safe to listen to this first, but we will give you a warning before we start to talk in detail about this book, so that if you don't want any spoilers, you are safe.
Speaker 2:So the invisible life of addy larue is about addy larue. Uh, she is she's.
Speaker 1:She grows up in france and that's how we first meet her um it's one of those books I have to say that it's very hard to give an overview of because, yeah, if you try and give any type of overview, you will just be explaining the plot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, but that's in too much. You meet her when she is growing up in france. Um, some things happen and she ends up going out into the wider world to live. She wants to be free and live this life of freedom, so that's what she goes out to do. She travels um and you kind of follow that journey um, and she has her trials and tribulations and she overcomes them and you follow that um and interspersed through the story is this kind of these snippets of um, art, different pieces of, yeah, not just art, is it?
Speaker 1:it's also like music, like creative art.
Speaker 2:Yeah different art, yeah, music, yeah illustration, poetry, um, and then they kind of relate to her through.
Speaker 1:There's lots of flashbacks. So this is one of those books that if you want a book that is just chronological and easy and straightforward, don't read this book. Rose is laughing because our lamp just poofed out. There are lots of flashbacks, then flash-forwards, then flashbacks, then flash-forwards. The one thing I did like for the majority of the book the flashbacks were in chronological order and the modern day were in chronological order.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so if you were flashback, it was after the last flashback yes, so it wasn't.
Speaker 1:It wasn't like you were like holy, where the hell are we now? So, although I have to say it was a little bit confusing to get into at the beginning, because at the beginning you don't really know what's going on. You haven't got much of an idea.
Speaker 2:So that was a bit, um, confusing yeah, one of my notes is the further along in the book I get, the easier I find the time jumps to follow yes, absolutely, because you know more about why it's happening, yeah, and what's happening, and more about her and who she was at the time of the flashbacks and who she is now, and and the different situations.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was gonna. I was gonna say what were your first impressions of the book. But when Rosie and I had a very small conversation about it and I at the time was about halfway through the book Rosie had made a note. What was your note?
Speaker 2:I really struggled to start the book. For some reason I really I'm probably a mood reader, so I really struggled to sort of have this book I had to read and I just couldn't get past the first bit. So my note the first time we were trying to talk about this was that I said I love the first line the end.
Speaker 1:Love the first line. There we go. It need you here anymore to want to read this book. Uh, but yeah, what were your first impressions?
Speaker 2:so my first impressions were that it was a little confusing and I also didn't love the present tense. Um, it's just. I think it was just because you're not used I'm, you know, most of the books I read aren't written like that, so it was hard to just get into that frame of mind of reading, but I did soon get used to it. Same with the time jumps I found them a little bit confusing, but again, the further along in the story you get, you know it doesn't take long at all in it, it doesn't jar at all and it I realized where I was.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was exactly the same it was. I found it a bit of a clumpy read to begin with. I was. It wasn't a. There are some books that you could read and watch tv at the same time and know exactly what's happening in both the tv program and the book. This is not one of those for me. I had to really focus on what was going on. But would you recommend this? Would you recommend this book if somebody asked for? You know, I've I've run out of books. I've finished this magical person that's managed to finish their tbr. Um, would you recommend it? Or do you think there are other books you'd recommend ahead of this one?
Speaker 2:we did um. I mean, we can talk more about it in the sort of wider chat, but yes, I would. So I did enjoy it. Um, it was kind of um, certainly not fast paced, um, but overall while I was reading it once, once I sort of got into it, which I didn't find too difficult. Once I got past the first couple of chapters, I was in um, I did get through it quite quickly, sort of at my normal reading pace, um, but yeah, there's, it's a bit of a, it's more of a thinky book.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I totally agree.
Speaker 2:Not a dewy book. I don't mean that it's more of a thinky book than a fun read.
Speaker 1:And for those of you that are, I know that lots of the people that are following us on TikTok that might be listening to this podcast. Hopefully you all are following us on TikTok. That might be listening to this podcast. Hopefully you all are. If you're a fan of the Pickle, this is not the book for you. No, there are instances where a dill might appear, but it hasn't been in the brine for very long.
Speaker 2:No, and it's not. You don't really see much of it.
Speaker 1:It's a very little pickle you sort of hear about the pickle.
Speaker 2:You don't see it and you don't taste it.
Speaker 1:You don't. There's no, there's no pickle tasting in this book. Um so read this book if you. We've not sold it very well. I don't feel it's a weird one to talk about without spoilers it's very difficult insert duck, quack, quack, quack, quack.
Speaker 1:Now is the time for spoilers. We're going to do a deep dive into the invisible life of Adi larue. If you wish to read this book, skip ahead to the end of this podcast, just so we can get your view counted, your listen counted. Um, if you've read the book, or if you'd like to know about the book without having to read it, then don't stop listen on, keep listening keep listening.
Speaker 1:Here we go, so the invisible life of Adi LaRue. We start with Adi LaRue, young girl, yeah, that has to marry, or been told that she has to, for her community to help her community has to marry some bloke whose wife has died, yeah, and that has children yeah and she knows that she's gonna just be raising these children and maybe she doesn't have a few of her own. She doesn't want, but she never has like even when she's never, yeah, exactly she gravitates towards that witchy woman, esther, yeah.
Speaker 1:Estelle, estelle, yeah, so Estelle is a character that appears, if you put all of her text, probably on half a page, but constantly throughout the book. So like she's referred to a lot.
Speaker 2:But she doesn't have a massive role. I feel like I wanted to know a bit more about her, the effect she had on Addy and you know she stayed with Addy through 300 years being thought about constantly, but we didn't actually see much of her.
Speaker 1:No, we didn't really know much about her.
Speaker 1:So Estelle is essentially the old spinster of the community, but she is like a fountain of knowledge of. So I'm guessing at this point we've got new religion being introduced into her community in france. Estelle is very knowledgeable of the old gods and the old religion and very much into um, you know you have to sacrifice something that you love, not a, a human, but you know items that you hold dear to you, to the gods, and she describes them as fickle, quite a lot throughout it, but just to get their help. And she gives Addy one very important warning, which is to not ask for help from the gods after dark, um, because then you're asking help for help from the wrong people, um, and unfortunately, addy finds out that she's got to marry this bloke and in her panic she doesn't realise that the sun has set when she starts burying her ring, the wooden ring that her dad made into the ground, into the ground, and so she accidentally prays to this god of the dark who is referred to throughout the book as many like metaphorical devil.
Speaker 2:Yeah, implied isn't it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, but there's no, he's never given. I mean he's called luke throughout the book, but she connects.
Speaker 1:She gave him that name because it was the name she used to draw her like fantasy bow, and so he appeared to her as that realized version, so she referred to him as Luke anyway. He then says to her well, what do you want? And she's like I don't know. Here's my issue. She literally sells her soul to the devil spoiler because she doesn't want to marry some old guy with kids. I just feel like that's a bit extreme.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but she doesn't realize what she's doing, I get it, I how old is she 18?
Speaker 1:Yeah, but some magical being has just appeared from somewhere that looks like the drawing that you've drawn.
Speaker 2:She's used to praying to the gods. I don't think she's thinking about as we know, because as soon as it happens she's saying it was a mistake for years after. Do they have a snog to seal the?
Speaker 1:deal, yeah, but it's like a bite. Yeah, it was a mistake. It was a mistake for years. After they have a snog to seal the deal. Yeah, but it's like a bite a bitey snog. It was a blood deal, but yeah, so she's just being granted. She doesn't understand what she's being granted. That's the tricksy isn't it?
Speaker 2:we're talking about the gods. If you look at Greek mythology as an example, all of those stories talking about the gods, if you look at Greek mythology as an example, all of those stories are like the gods are tricksy. They trick humans into saying the wording is key and you asked for this, but you didn't ask for it properly.
Speaker 1:And actually that is a very important aspect of this book is the wording of any kind of deal that is done with the metaphorical devil, the dark gods. And so she's basically said she wants to be free, she wants to be able to live her life with no, not no consequences, but no, she doesn't want to be held back by anybody, she doesn't want to have to get married, she doesn't want that stereotypical life which is expected of her in the 1700s in france. So he then accepts this bargain, although she doesn't really realize what's happened to her at this point. They have a bitey snog and then she wakes up, wet, because it snowed, it snowed or rained or something. She wakes up and she's like whoa, what was that in the dirt? And he's not there anymore.
Speaker 2:And she runs home. So she goes to her home and the parents are there and then they're like we don't know who you are and they kick her out because they're scared, because it's a crazy person and they're saying she's their daughter and they don't have who you are, um, and kick her out because they're scared because this crazy person in there saying she's their daughter and they don't have a daughter. And then so the same thing happens over and over. So she goes to Estelle went to Estelle.
Speaker 1:But we learn kind of what's going on at Estelle. That's where we get our first insight, because Estelle says are you a stranger or a spirit? And then they have this conversation and then she shuts the door and then she comes out and then she says are you a stranger? And she starts to repeat the exact same conversation. So at this point we learned that essentially as soon as Addy is out of sight you forget that you've ever met her. And that's where we first kind of get the inkling of that's what's going on, uh, and we learn that she can't say her name when she goes to her parents, because she goes to say her name and she can't say it she can't say her name, and she can't.
Speaker 2:And then through the story you learn she can't say her name, she can't write anything, she can't leave a mark no on the world.
Speaker 1:So she can't light a fire. There's a really lovely quote later on in the book which explains it, I think, really well, which is that she can't light a fire, but she can keep a lot of fire lit. So she yeah, she can't make any type of mark on the world. Now the this is where I struggle with this book. Now that all sounds like incredibly exciting. Yeah, that is the premise of the book. For the next two-thirds of the book, we just follow addy larue back and forth through time, meeting people that forget her immediately as soon as the door is shut or they've closed their eyes and woken up in the morning yeah now there are some, you know, sad bits.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you know what's it? The french, her first. She's had to do some horrible things, hasn't she? To kind of make her way. She can't get a job because people forget that they've hired her. The minute that she leaves, she can't rent a room. She can't rent a room. She's got nowhere to live. And you do get an. And I have to say they've done a great job in kind of, because I wouldn't I think I wouldn't have thought of that as being an issue unless it was mentioned.
Speaker 1:As soon as it was mentioned, I was like, oh my God, of course, of course she can't rent a room because they'll forget, the minute that she's left, that she's rented it, which did happen. She paid a lot of money to rent a room. Then they chucked her out because they didn't realize that she'd rented the room. She obviously can't get a job, so she ends up having to steal, basically, doesn't she? She has to enter a life of crime to survive. Uh, she also has to do some things that she doesn't want to do. So she ends up selling herself to make money, because it's the easiest and quickest way to make money. And then she has an experience with a really lovely French guy.
Speaker 2:I can't remember his name?
Speaker 1:What was his name, remy? Well, she's dressed up as a boy so that she can get into a speakeasy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so they. No, this is before the speakeasy. This is before the speakeasy. She's dressed as a boy just because boys at that time can move around on their own with no questions. Um, and then she meets him and they just get on and they just hang out for the rest of the day in the evening and then they spend the night together and then he wakes up in the morning and he doesn't remember her and he pays her money because he thinks he's just got drunk and so she's heartbroken yeah because she genuinely really liked him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, and there was a, there was a very there was a cornish on there. Wasn't there a very small pickle in that chapter? Um, yeah, yeah, so we've got half a pickle for that chapter, if you, if you want to just skip straight to that one, um, but yeah, it was. That was quite sad actually that she had to go through that. But, yeah, my issue with this book and I think the reason I struggled with it for a good while to keep reading it was it was very repetitive of meeting people. They forgot her.
Speaker 1:She met somebody. She inspired them. Yeah, because that was her way of leaving her mark on the world. Yeah, was because she couldn't write, she couldn't draw, she couldn't have her photograph taken. Yeah, the way that she and all she wanted after 300 years of being on this planet, was for somebody to remember her so that she could leave some kind of mark, and how she was doing that was essentially inspiring people. So there was a musician that she got to write a song with her, but he never realised that he wrote the song with her.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he just remembered the song.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and she ended up being a muse for a few artists that would paint her. Yeah, paint her and paint ideas of her and drawings that looked a bit like her and for those of you that are going, oh, plot hole, I thought you couldn't take her picture. What's the difference? Well, it was. It is explained.
Speaker 1:It is later in the book that art is an idea is part of your imagination and therefore it's a loophole. So that was acceptable. Yeah, that was allowed. It's her kind of work around. Yeah, essentially, yeah, but yeah, so that happens for a great part of the book, and then suddenly we get a chapter that is not about hadi larue, it's about henry. Oh, henry um. And this is where the book really picks up, in the last, I would say the last third of the book.
Speaker 2:But when we first meet, henry, it's still in that very slow yes, very even after they are kind of together and it's still quite like yeah, just this is what I mean when I think like thinky book, it's a very thinky book and it's a very repetitive book.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you know, when you're in an argument with somebody and they are so intent that you understand their point, they just keep repeating the point over and over, but reword it ever so slightly. You're like I get it. Yeah, stop talking. That's like this book. It's the same point that's being made over and over and over again, but just in different circumstances. But yes, we meet Henry. He's a bookshop owner.
Speaker 2:We meet Henry. He's very sad. The note I wrote about him was. So I wrote two notes about him. One is he's definitely got something weird going on with him, yes, and the other is everybody notices Henry like the antithesis of Addy, of Addy, yeah, it was like the opposite and at first I thought that was an accident. Oh okay, like it just happened to be, they met and that was just going to be a happy ever after they met each other in the end. But then I also said, well, I was also questioning what is it about Henry? That means he remembers and he looks like Luke. Maybe he's a plant by Luke to trick her into kind of hopelessness.
Speaker 1:So when we first meet Henry, we don't know, know they haven't met addy and henry haven't met at this point. So we get introduced to him. He's a very sad guy, but everybody like knows who he is. So part of me was like is this guy famous? Is he like a famous person, like a really rich person that's super famous? Like is he an actor or something? Um, and then immediately I went into bookworm mode and I was like right, who is this guy?
Speaker 1:and, like you said, why is he? The complete opposite of addy? There's got to be something going on here. And my first thought was is he a god? But like a day god, so like the opposite of luke, yeah, or. And then my brain went to like ultimate weird, is he dead? Is he dead? And the reason that he's so sad? And but then then it was like, oh well, people notice him. So obviously not. But I was going through that kind of thought process of what is it about this guy, this dude, because everybody loves him, yeah, um, and then she goes, addy goes to return a book to henry's bookshop and he's like because she stole, you stole that from me yesterday. And she's like excuse me, and that is where we learned that Henry remembers Addy. Yeah, the first person in 300 years to remember her. Yeah, and she's like what the fuck? What is going on here? How do you know who I am? They end up going, for the logical thing to do when somebody is stolen from your business is to go for a coffee.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because that's what they do, and they have a chat, but then we find out that she's intriguing to him later.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, so there's lots of, and again we go back and forth. We go back with addy and at this point, once we've met henry and we know that they have then met, we then get flashbacks for addy and henry.
Speaker 1:So we're then dealing with flashbacks for Addie and Henry so we're then dealing with flashbacks for Henry's life, flash flashbacks for for Addie's life. Yeah, they never intertwine, which is what I was expecting to happen. I was like, oh, at some point they've met in the past or something's happening. Never, it doesn't happen. Um, so they just carry on dating. He introduces her to his family God knows how many times that's a thing that happens and then after some trials, the first time he introduces her oh to Bea, yeah.
Speaker 2:Then when they meet again, he's like what are you on about? You already met. And then when they meet again, she has to explain to him what's going on about. You already met. And then then, when they meet again, she has to explain to him yes, what's going on?
Speaker 1:but b is interesting. So she is an art major and she has found these paintings of this same girl that has what looks like a star constellation of freckles. She's found a connection, yeah, and it's got this star constellation of freckles on her face, which is what everybody says about addy larue. She's got these star constellation of freckles on her face, which is what everybody says about addy larue. She's got these seven very distinct freckles which look like a constellation. And so she has already said you know who is this woman, because she's turning up 50, 100 years apart from each other. Why is that happening? Yeah, um, so that happens. And then he introduces her to the family many, many times, because they end up in a relationship together, very lovely relationship. Yeah, it's his friends. Yeah, found family. Yeah, so we've got robbie, who's his ex-boyfriend, which was, I think, a bit of a toxic relationship. Wow, oh, so we go through all of this. Let's just jump to the nitty gritty, shall we? We go through all of this.
Speaker 2:Nobody knows why. Is it that? So it's when they first meet or they go to that dinner party, and she then has to explain why everyone forgets her. Yes, and she tells him the whole story and then he's like oh, that's interesting, you made a deal.
Speaker 1:Because I did too. Yeah, so the reason he can remember her is because he also made a deal with Luke.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but not Luke, and their deals kind of count. Not counteract each other, but they allow they get what they need.
Speaker 1:So he proposed to his girlfriend of two years, who said essentially I'm going to paraphrase here no. And well, yeah, that's my paraphrase. Paraphrase here no, he said. But I thought you wanted to get married. And she was like, yeah, I do, but like not to you. And essentially she said that he wasn't enough.
Speaker 1:So that his, his deal with luke, or the dark god, was that he always wanted to be enough for somebody, whatever that person wanted. So, essentially, people would see him as the perfect person in whatever what they needed. So some people saw him as a perfect employee, the perfect son, the perfect partner, friend, you know, the list goes on. However, that didn't happen for Addie, because the one thing that she only ever wanted was to be remembered. So she saw Henry for Henry. She didn't turn him into anything else Because he remembered her, because he remembered her. So it was perfect, they were perfect for each other. So, yeah, so then we have this thing of Adi LaRue is going to live for eternity. And then we learn that poor old Henry made this deal and he promised to hand over his soul after one measly year, one year I mean.
Speaker 2:I know he was wasted, but and on the edge yeah, but yeah, so he had one year.
Speaker 1:And then she's like well, how much time do you have left? And he's like three months, what so? At this point, how much time do you have left? And he's like three months, what? So at this point and I did find this bit a bit confusing, mind you Mm Addy then decides that she's going to contact Luke to see if she can make a counter offer and somehow get him out of the deal. Yeah, because at this point he's got three months to live. It's all going peak-toll, yeah. And then I don't know whether we get flashbacks and we learn that Luke and Addy had this crazy. It's a flashback.
Speaker 2:New Orleans. They mentioned it earlier on in the story.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, by the way we had like a proper hardcore relationship you and I. We were in love. And we had like a proper hardcore relationship, you and I. We were in love and we're like whether, hang on, I've read the almost the entirety of this book. Not once did you mention that you got the. You know the night, god's pickle. What's going on here? Uh, it was just mentioned a bit late. I was like hang on, a minute. This. This is a major plot point, addy that you should have mentioned a bit earlier on here anyway.
Speaker 1:So we then get flashbacks to her and luke's relationship and then he says that he loves her and then he's like psych. It was just my way of getting you to do what I wanted.
Speaker 2:Well, because she then says something like snarky back or something, and he obviously can't admit no.
Speaker 1:so he's like yeah, I'm only joking, by the way, I don't actually love you.
Speaker 2:I'm just saying this to get you to do what I want.
Speaker 1:So then she gets annoyed. She's like I don't love you, but I'm also annoyed that you don't love me. Yeah, but it was a game, so that hurts, so all of that happens.
Speaker 2:Basically, he is constantly. Luke is desperate to keep hold of the upper hand, to keep hold of the control.
Speaker 1:In their relationship we missed a massive point, which is that every year, on the anniversary of her making this deal, he turns up and basically says have you suffered enough? Can I have your soul? Yet yeah, and she says no every single time, because she does, just because she's, doesn't want to give in like she's stubborn she is belligerent to a fault.
Speaker 2:So what I was saying was I think luke is so desperate not to give up control of their interactions, their relationship, and she is so desperate not to feel like foolish, like she's fallen for it, yeah.
Speaker 1:But what's interesting is the fact that there are huge periods, periods of time where he just doesn't turn up. No, like 40 years, and he's just like, nah, yeah, I'm not going to turn up. And then it is a game. It is a game and he he makes the point that he wanted her to suffer so that she was more likely to then give up her soul when he next turned up, which is what you do when you love someone, right?
Speaker 1:So eventually she then, after spending time with him, with Luke, and trying to get together with this deal, she essentially says and they make a deal, don't they? That, if he can, he says look, I can't cancel any deal that I've made. However, we might be able to alter the terms of the deal somewhat. And so they you've got chocolate in your mouth, so I'm just going to wait for you to finish. I was like I'm going to speak really slowly, uh. So then she makes a deal with him to save Henry. He can, and I've got to. You know, earlier we said the wording was really important. She says you can have me by your side as long as you want me. And that was the deal that they made, which he accepted. Then she got really upset because she went back to oh no wait, she'd gone.
Speaker 2:That was after yeah, so initially he said he'll consider changing Henry's deal if she spends the night with him. So she goes and they have dinner and they go to dance dancing, and then, uh, then he basically says no, he's not going to change the deal, he never was. So then she ends up going back to henry and they just try and do their time.
Speaker 1:And that's when she finds out that he hadn't just taken her for the night, he'd taken her for an entire month, a week, an entire week. Um yeah, so that hurt her because she was like you've taken my time away, yeah, with him anyway.
Speaker 2:So then we go, we sort of we, we go to henry's point of view, then the majority of the end, yeah uh, where he's sort of winding down his time. He knows the end's coming, he says goodbye, he says this like the other oh, that's the other thing he's been. Addy's been telling him the story of her life and he's been writing it down because she can't, so he's been doing it for her and there are journal upon journal upon journal of it, full notebooks of Addy LaRue's story.
Speaker 2:So he's finished doing that. He sort of says goodbye, they go up to the rooftop and then he's looking at his watch, which was his little symbol. Yeah, how much time he's got left and the time done, but he's still there. And then addy says that she's made another deal, that sort of swapped her for him in a way, and she says that's where she's agreed to be by she says I'll be by your side as long as you want me, and he agreed to that.
Speaker 1:So she has to then leave, henry, at which point she says remember me, remember me, which was quite sad.
Speaker 2:I really cried.
Speaker 1:I really was close to tears, which, considering I found this book really annoying for the first two thirds of it. The last third was really hit, hit home. That's really sad and she just says remember me and then off she goes and he is heartbroken. But then he realizes what he has to do, which is essentially publish this book of Adi LaRue, and one of the things that he made sure that happened was the front cover only contained her name, because she'd spent her whole life, never, nobody, ever knowing her name and never being able to write it down. And so the book that he published was called the invisible life of addy larue. Um, and it was really lovely and it had her whole story in it. And we also find out that b did her dissertation or her PhD thesis on those three paintings.
Speaker 1:Yeah, finding the Muse, finding the Muse of Addie LaRue. So she became, everybody knew who she was. She spent 300 years with people forgetting her the minute they looked away and then suddenly she was. Then her whole life was a best-selling novel. Yeah, and the bit that got me I'm not gonna be able to say because I will just burst into tears. He put a dedication in the book so that if she ever found the book, which she did. She picked it up, she found the book and on the first page of the book it just I remember you, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's so sad, so sad. And that's when we then find out the very very ending, we go back to Addy.
Speaker 1:We go back to Addy's point of view and she explains that she was very she did the tricksy and she was very careful on the way that she worded this new deal, which was I will be by your side so long as you want me, and so she was going to spend eternity, if need be, making his life a living hell. So that he did not want her there. Yeah, so that she could leave the end. Hope you enjoyed it guys um.
Speaker 1:So my takeaway from this is the fact that the first two-thirds of the book are necessary for us, and we had to go through the turmoil so we could understand her turmoil yeah, the note I wrote was I like the ending.
Speaker 1:It makes sense and works for the characters addy is not afraid to be uncomfortable, but she's learned that over the years, so that's I'll tell you one good thing as well is I did not find her annoying. I find a lot of sometimes a lot of female protagonists can be I'm so me. Come on, oh, come, save me. And she wasn't like that at all. She even said to henry at one point she was like this is my life, this is how I've had to live my life for the last 300 years. If you don't like it, do one. She was not afraid to live her life how she needed to live it, and I thought that was really refreshing.
Speaker 1:As a main character, uh, I'd liked Henry's character as well. He, it was almost. They were opposites in the sense that he was almost behaving in the way that we would. That, in lots of books, would be the way that the female protagonist would act. You know, oh, I'm really sad about life and my marriage fell through and I didn't get engaged to the person that I loved. And now I'm really sad about it.
Speaker 1:Life is meh and I just want to be noticed. And that was Henry. And then we had this total badass. Basically that's been a spy during World War II, being part of the French Revolution, like she was an integral part to many big uprisings and battles.
Speaker 2:He goes through and meets all these people, philosophers and artists.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it was quite good to kind of see a role reversal, I suppose, between those two characters. But yeah, so that is the Invisible Life of Adi LaRue. That's the basic overview of it and so how?
Speaker 2:so you weren't enjoying it?
Speaker 1:I didn't enjoy. I didn't enjoy the first two-thirds of the book. I found it incredibly repetitive and I was like why are you telling me this story? Because I know what's going to happen. And then I found because we all know the door is going to close or they're going to look away and they don't know who she is anymore. As soon as Henry was introduced as a like, we got his POV as a chapter. I was like well, obviously this is going to be the turning point, so now I'm just waiting for her to meet Henry. I feel perhaps what should have happened is that we met, we had a meeting between them as just a normal chapter, as we had done previously before we got his POV, so that it wasn't like well, now I've had Penry's chapter, now I've just got to wait for the two to meet, because it's obvious there's something. Do you see what I mean?
Speaker 2:I do see what you mean. I didn't. I was fine with that. The way that that character came in and was introduced.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but yeah, so I did. I did enjoy. I loved the last section of the book and I thought the ending was perfect. It wasn't a happy ending, but it was an ending that was appropriate for the characters. Henry got his life back together. He became, you know, part of his family again and part of his friendship group again, and he started to live again. Um, it was quite sad because he also says at the end that he is starting to forget addy because it's been such a long time that he just can't. You know, he was like, oh my, my house no longer smells of her anymore. I am starting to forget those details that I once loved.
Speaker 2:But she had a similar where she was sort of forgetting things from her human life. Yeah, yeah. Her life before the deal. She recognised the sort of normal human memory.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I thought the ending was really good. I think I would recommend this book because I think the ending the last third of it made it all make sense and all worth it. But I would definitely put out a warning of just please slog through the first, just push through the first bit. I promise it'll be worth it. The first just push through the first bit. Yeah, I promise it'll be worth it, so I didn't.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was definitely very slow paced um throughout I thought there was no kind of angst. There was emotional difficulties and philosophical thoughts yeah, um. Philosophical thoughts, yeah, um, stop for a second um which are obviously kind of slower things, but there was no kind of angsty, anger, kind of things that push like plot lines.
Speaker 2:There were peaks and troughs with her and her life, but there was no like mortal peril, no, and it felt very that we were looking at it from this sort of like lens of what's important in life and time we were on the passive, weren't we? Yeah, we'd gone in and we were just watching it from, uh, from a distance I know I had was the story as a whole is obviously kind of quite artsy and philosophical, and so if you are someone that doesn't like that type of thing, you probably won't enjoy it.
Speaker 1:No, I think I'd agree.
Speaker 2:Because you don't like kind of wider.
Speaker 1:The whole book is like a giant metaphor, isn't it? Yeah, it's. Yeah, that's such a good way of putting it. And, like I said, the ending is perfect for what it is the characters you you do empathize with them. So I got very teary at the end because of the way it was written. It was written beautifully at the end because there was no over the top I love you. Like it wasn't like that. She, she had made that decision, she was dealing with it, she was okay with it and that was it. That was what was going to happen and it was just remember me, yeah, and I'm off now yeah and that was it.
Speaker 1:And I think that's why it was so utterly heartbreaking that when he put in the book I remember you, I was just like, oh, my heart, um, and you know, there was that part of me that was like, please let there be an epilogue at the end where, like they just cross paths and just see each other, yeah, and you know, like you know, just across the street or something, and we know that there's something gonna happen.
Speaker 2:And it didn't, that wasn't there I would um, I always feel this way about books like this, though I would love to know what happened next. Yeah, I'd love to have a bit of an insight into there. Do you know what, though?
Speaker 1:I think it would ruin it I think if there was a book two which was all about luke and adi larue and that getting out of that it would have to be a completely different style of writing yeah, that's true more into the fantasy realm of writing, um, and yeah, I don't know it, just wouldn't, I don't think it would.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think you're right. I desperately would love for there just to be that bonus chapter. Yeah, their eyes met across. You know, she's going one way down the road, he's going the other way down the road, and their eyes meet and they give each other that knowing nod of time's obviously not right yet, but I'm still here oh, how do you, henry?
Speaker 2:they would never. It's not like they would ever end up back together, because obviously she's she's trying to make the god of the dark, or's she's trying to make the god of the dark, or whatever she's trying to make luke give her up and he's not gonna do that she's.
Speaker 1:Essentially. This is almost persephone hades, isn't it? Yeah, it's very, it's very persephone hades coded. Yeah, but yeah, I I loved the ending and I hated the book less because of the ending. Yeah, if the ending had been anything other than what it was, I think I would be sat here like I. Why did anybody recommend this book? This is awful, yeah, but yeah. So final thoughts are, yes, very philosophical. One giant metaphor, if you're into all of that thing. If you don't like fermented vegetables, then you'll love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:If you like just a bit of escapism and a fun read, maybe just listen to this podcast episode and leave it at that. Don't go further. So time for a bit of tea bagging. This is where we need another jingle time for tea bagging. We're going to rate this book out of five tea bags. How many tea bags? How?
Speaker 1:many tea bags would I go for. I would go for. I'd go for three tea bags, but I'm going to let them steep, so it's ever so slightly stronger than three tea bags. That's good. I wouldn't. I wouldn't put in four tea bags, so I don't think it's a four tea bagger. I think it's definitely a three tea bagger. That's just been left in the water yeah for a bit longer than needed. What about?
Speaker 2:you, I'm going for a four tea bag. I I did enjoy it overall. Um, it was too slow really for me. It's not going to top my favorite reads of the year. For that reason alone it was. But it's a bit difficult, isn't it? Because I would wonder what you could chop out, because it obviously all does build up it was all necessary for the ending.
Speaker 1:It was almost like all of that first two parts was necessary just for that last third to understand yeah, what was happening and understand her, but yeah, so it just felt a bit slow. Um, I saw someone describe it as beautiful but boring oh, that's perfect um yeah, I agree with that, I think so maybe that's that's right, but yeah, so I'm going for four tea bags four tea bags. Who doesn't love a bit of tea bagging?
Speaker 2:hey uh.
Speaker 1:So our next week read for anybody that would like to not next week, our next episodes we read oh my gosh, our next episode. So our next episodes read rosie. Um, we've gone for if a hallmark movie was a book book apparently it's called the last train home by l cook, and the little, the little tagline on the front is sometimes we find love where we least expect. Oh, so, a little bit of a change of scenery, yeah for us with this book something different.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we needed something less grainy. So if you would like to join us on our on our reading journey, please start reading that book. We will be posting on our socials. If anybody would like to run our instagram, please let me know. We will be posting. I promise I will do something with it, but we'll be posting on tiktok and hopefully also instagram. So please leave your comments if you've either read this book or you're going to join along on this journey with us, and obviously we will read those out in our next episode. So thank you all for joining us on our very first episode of the cozy cup book club and we will see you all in a couple weeks time with our next thrilling read, minus the flashbacks, hopefully oh my god, if this is another big flashback, I'm gonna cry. Anyway, we will see you all on our socials at some point in the future. See you next time. Cozy Cup Book Club out. Can we have an out jingle as well, please? That'd be great. Thank you, can you just repeat?
Speaker 2:the intro.
