SPEAKER_05: 0:08

Hey bookish baddies, welcome to Black Girls Lit.

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Where fine women, fine literature, and fine libations collide. Step into the lit life.

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Black girls lit starts now.

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Black women are so complex.

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What's up, guys? Welcome to Black Girls Lit. My name is Nicole.

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I'm Tasha. I'm Lex. I'm Star. And we have a special guest today, Stephanie. Welcome. Thank you. Hello, ladies. Oh, okay, you guys. We have big things happening in August. We're actually doing a whole special. We are diving deep into the Legacy of Orisha series. We're going to actually be dropping three episodes, one tackling each of the books in the series. We're going to drop each episode every other week in August. So you're going to be hearing a lot from us in August. And what makes it even more special, like we said, is we have our dear friend, friend of the pod, um, Stephanie, who is a big part of our book club, which is where Black Girl Lit Podcast began. So yay, we're so happy to have thank you.

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I'm happy to be here.

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Stephanie. We love Stephanie.

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We love Steph.

SPEAKER_04: 1:25

Okay, and I think that's it. Normally in book club, you know, Nicole and I, we always try to do like a little something, try to jazz things up. So this month, we were looking at trying to be very Afrocentric, you know, with our African thing we have going on here. And I do believe that Nicole has a special surprise. But she's known for what we got.

SPEAKER_05: 1:44

Have a special surprise as far as when it comes to cocktails. There's a partial book then, and it has three different relics in it. And the way that we're gonna make our cocktails is by reading a stroll, having a sunstone, and then we're gonna stir it with a bone dagger. And the stroll itself has our incantation or drink. Oh cute. That's cute. That's cute. Yo, they've been holding this secret all damn day. It's been a two-hour, they held that for two hours. Maybe. So it's a different way for our drinks to be made today. The drink we are, I guess, conjuring up today is called the Whisper of Desert Heat and Mango Dusk. The drink or the spirit of today's three, or I guess this month's three episodes is rum. So everything that we're tasting today is going to have rum in it. My liquor of choice, love me some rum. The whisper of desert heat and mango dusk has 10 to 1 rum in it with some lime juice, grilled pineapple juice, and bitters. Once we conjure it up, we'll let y'all know how it tastes. This is cute, guys.

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Like it's a spice, so it's spicy. It does got the spice in it, okay? A little bit. It's good.

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Oh, this is delicious.

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Oh, gosh. Like one of them ones that would sneak up on you.

SPEAKER_01: 3:11

But it's really good.

SPEAKER_04: 3:12

It's good. It's that sweet spicy. Like, you know, I love a spicy margarita, and that's what I'm saying. Not a margarita, it's just rum. I like it. Okay, what it says effects upon the mortal palate. First sip, a cool citrus gale. 15 heartbeats later, the sunstone melts. Was it Burberry? BBF. Bebedi. Worst it works. Okay, Ember cools around the tongue. Mango rises in golden plumes, blood warms, nostrils flare, and phantom caravan passes behind the eyes.

SPEAKER_03: 3:47

That's accurate. That's absolutely what's happening. You're feeling all that happening at the time. Yes. That is absolutely what's happening. This is so cute. What's the spice? What's the spice?

SPEAKER_05: 4:00

Is that the beret? Let's listen to Google one more time. Especially if we're about to say this all episode so long.

unknown: 4:10

Burberet.

SPEAKER_05: 4:15

So the right spice beret.

SPEAKER_01: 4:18

That's what I was thinking. Yep.

SPEAKER_05: 4:20

Bear beret. Yeah. It's giving very much magic.

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You're getting more flavor as it melts to me.

SPEAKER_06: 4:27

Yes. Okay, so because with a different flavor. What is mango and cuba? Mango manga line ginger. Okay. It's the ginger. It's the ginger, too. Yeah. But it is a little spicy. It's spicy. So you won't tell us about this beautiful author?

SPEAKER_01: 4:46

Let me give you guys a little info about the author. Tommy Adiame is an American writer and creative bride and coach. She's best known for the novel Children of Blood and Bone, The First in the Legacy of Orisha trilogy. In 2019, she was named the Forbes 30 under 30 list. And in 2020, she was named the Time 100 Most Influential People of 2020.

SPEAKER_04: 5:11

You know, here at Black Girls Live, we first start off with our overall feel of the book. So we're not looking at the whole series right now. We're just looking at the first book, Children of Blood and Bone. If we love it, it's cheers. If we it was okay, you know, about three stars, that's gonna be a sip. If it was okay, you know, it took you a little while to get to it through it, and that's a babysit. And if you really were like, okay, I'm over it, then that's just gonna be a send it back. So it's basically a one to four star scale. I will go first. I mean, it's it's cheers for me. Cheers a little, it's just me.

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Surprise, surprise, surprise.

SPEAKER_04: 5:55

Never interna cheer for me, okay? I really did. I when it was presented as an option to read, I was kind of not really feeling it because they started talking about fantasy and all this and that. And I was like, well, that's not really my genre. But once I read it, it was just like, ooh, African Warrior is what I was seeing. And it was just like, I loved it. So cheers for me, Nicole.

SPEAKER_05: 6:16

Definitely a cheers without a shadow of a doubt. The first one, the the depth of the book, the way first of all, I'm not a fantasy girl, I am very practical. I'm gonna read something that's like capitalist or something like that. But this one right here, I loved it. I liked it. I liked it a lot. I too will give it a cheers. First book was very well written, it had adventure, it had a little romance, it had empowerment, it had war, it had fighting, all of that. Yeah, I really, really enjoyed the first book. I am a fantasy girl. Fantasy actually is all that I read. Twilight is my favorite book, so there you go. Um, so I was super excited when they agreed to do this series. So cheers to the first book.

SPEAKER_02: 7:05

For me, I'm also going to cheers. Now that that's something new.

SPEAKER_04: 7:12

Yeah, so this might be the first cheers ever, for real.

SPEAKER_02: 7:15

So the the book is funny because when Lex suggested it, I was like, absolutely. Funny thing is, I this is my second time reading it. I don't remember the circumstances under which I read it the first time, but it was some years ago for sure. And it was like, I think probably my first read on a Kindle or something like that. Reading it a second time, it was still, I still had my initial interest and all of the things. So cheers for me.

SPEAKER_01: 7:44

I'm also gonna go with cheers. Uh, that's the theme. The fantasy theme is for I wasn't, I'm practical, autobiography, of course, some erotic romances, but you know, this was like, I'm gonna try. It took a couple of chapters, and I was like, it got right into it. It did. And so for me, it was just all of that the African culture, just everything behind it, their outfits, the hair. Just to try to imagine it, it's like different than everything else that I read. And so I would give it a four. It's a great read. I was ready to read it all, and then we'll discuss the rest later.

SPEAKER_03: 8:29

Yeah, heavy on the heavy on the we'll we'll get to that.

SPEAKER_05: 8:33

But we loved the first book. BGL loved book one. Is that the first part? We've all like around the table. Look at that, look at that. Very telling. Good work, good work. All right, so as we're sipping and snacking, we're gonna talk about book one. A really big part of the book was this was definitely a sibling story. We had two sets of siblings actually. So we had Zane and Zeli and Anon and Amari. So Anand and Amari are royals, honestly, probably the equivalent of like a princess and a prince type thing. And then Zilly Zel Zale and Zayn are from a tribe within the realm that the author has created, which is Orisha. With that background, can we talk about the contrasts and comparisons between Zale and Zayn's relationship and Amari and Anand's relationship? How are they the same? Are they the same? How are they different? In which ways are they different? Let's get into it.

SPEAKER_02: 9:50

Well, I think the biggest difference, the biggest difference was the Amari and Anand, they were really competitive, I think, with each other versus the other siblings were more the brother was more protective. So Zayn, right? Zayn was more protective and kind of like a protector. Amari and Anand's relationship was not that. I mean, they, you know, they loved each other and they cared for each other, but very much on like a competitive way almost. Because I think they were, you know, they sparred against each other and kind of fought each other and trained against each other and and all of that. So that was the biggest difference that stood out to me as far as the two, the pairs of siblings.

SPEAKER_04: 10:32

Yeah, I think that was Sam's neat too. That I feel like you see that, like Amari and Anon, like that type of race relationship, like, you know, in royal families, where you got, hey, one has to be on top and one is gonna be the second, you know, or even like in families where you where you stand in here like a business and stuff like that, where there has to be okay, well, who's who's taking over? You know, like where it's just like ends up being like a natural competition, is where I feel like you tend to see those sort of relationships where, you know, like your average, everyday family. I feel like it's just typical. You're gonna have, you know, the big brother is going to take care of the little sister. And I know, like, for me, just even reading the book, I just kept going back, but you know, I I do have, you know, a younger sibling and an older sibling. I'm a little child classic.

SPEAKER_05: 11:19

Um makes so much sense.

SPEAKER_04: 11:23

It really does. As far as like sibling relationships, I do think that that was like the first thing I noticed in the book was the sibling relationships, just because it is an interesting dynamic to me. I think about like the relationship I had with my siblings, you know, when I was younger, you know, who we are, and then like, you know, as we've grown up and grown apart a little bit, but not really apart, we're still close. But like I talk to my sister every day. You know, my brother, you know, I talk to him, you know, less, but we I would still say, you know, that we're close, but definitely, you know, he's naturally gonna be a protector. But we never had like any of that fighting or like, you know, competition other than well, maybe me and my sister did. When we were young, I did not like her, but only because we were fighting for my dad's attention. So I guess there is always gonna be some some level of competitors. I thought I was going one way, then I'm like, oh, that's right. I did not like her for a good like 13 or 14 years. That's wild. 13 years old.

SPEAKER_05: 12:18

I felt like their relationship reflected the upbringing that they had to know. Like they're a monarch, like you need to be prepared to fight yourself like that. I think their bond was still a tight bond. Understanding that also, like I said, duty before self-self.

SPEAKER_00: 12:39

They had to be raised in that tiger environment versus one that needs to have a oneness, which would be amongst amongst the normals, the originals.

SPEAKER_05: 12:49

You know, they would down.

SPEAKER_00: 12:50

Yeah, and I do you though? Like that they have responsibility, like they were growing up to have a responsibility over people. Correct.

SPEAKER_01: 12:57

Well, and I think the parents have a different method, and that's how you have to look at it. That's not that's not they're not family-oriented, they're family-oriented to a degree where where Zalie and Zayn, they had that loving family upbringing where we protect each other, we nurture, and they even didn't, they didn't get nurtured, Amari and Inand, because that there was no hugs and kisses, there was no daddy's little girl, it was no mommy, you know, she's doing my hair. It was Binta that did her stuff. It wasn't, you know, so she had more of a motherly figure through her nanny than she did her own mother. So it's yeah, their upbringing, it was a reflection, but they still found humbleness to a degree, like, because it was one of those things they they're only getting one side of the story. So everything that they've been taught was to hate racism, like your lower class, and it was, but they still had they have a heart, and you it always they it shined, but it would diminish sometimes in certain situations, and it was more for Anand, but you know, but Zayn and Zalie, you know, I don't want to get off track, like they just had a loving, caring, protective, you know, tribe. It was a tight unit where in the kingdom you trust no one, it's just us, where with the tribe you have everybody that's trying to uplift each other and support each other. So yeah, it was just different, somewhat similar because I think they all had the heart. It's just within Nan and Amari, it it didn't shine as often.

SPEAKER_04: 14:39

No, but didn't see that different motives. Well, I was just like, but I felt like Amari and her family, I mean, everything else aside, like she was treated like lower class within her family, like her mom treated her man. Even like the dad, and whereas in with um Z Lee and Zayn, like everything, everything that the dad and Zayn were doing was to protect Z because she was the one who was she was the magi and she they knew that she was more susceptible to harm and stuff, and like everything was geared around protecting her. Whereas I did not feel like Amari was forget being protected, like not even cared for barely, you know.

SPEAKER_02: 15:18

But she was so in royalty, and like when you're talking about royal families and different things like that, the the boys do usually get treated like a little better, they do get treat they you know what I mean? Like that if you think about collectively, you say be a princess, yes.

SPEAKER_05: 15:37

You the yeah, but I also do agree though, I do think that Amari did, and it talked because we read y'all, we read these books super quick, but I feel like there was a reason Amari was treated less than I feel like the author went into a little bit about skin complexion. I think she went a little bit into like some other things that also fed into why Amari was not getting favored better, if you even want to call it that. Because honestly, I think the whole thing was a cluster. If you're gonna if I'm gonna be completely honest, she did have some parallels though, and so I don't know, but I think into that point, I do think honestly, both siblings relationships were a little foreign to me, only because I have two younger sisters, so I'm the oldest, and I know like what it means to like protect your younger siblings and like all of those things. But I think one, the huge difference that I saw with Amari and Anand is I would never intentionally hurt my sibling, ever, ever. If we ever even raise our hand to act like we were gonna hit each other or something, my parents nipped that in the bud. So the fact that Amari sustained a major injury from Anand, even though yes, their dad like told him to do it, it's like, ooh, like that's where they lost me. Because I just could not ever picture hurting my sibling in any type of way, let alone to that degree. Whereas you have Zayn and Zelly, and he wouldn't, I know Zayn would never hurt Zelly. Like he, you could tell that was never a thing, but there was this air of protection, but also I think he didn't see how Zalee was coming into her like womanhood, like she's growing up. That's where I they lost me a little bit because I don't know. I think when it's all girls, maybe it's a little different, but I feel like they kind of wanted to keep Zalee in this box, even as she was getting all this power and she was becoming political and like becoming a ruler, and they still were like trying to treat her like she had, like she was made of glass. And so it's like, but it's like where did where's that balance of like protect like overprotecting versus like masking your siblings like shine and potential? And I feel like there's a little bit of that going on, which is why I'm like I couldn't relate, but I do think that their relationship was more positive in relation to Anon and Amari, obviously.

SPEAKER_04: 18:30

But I'm gonna pick up something you said. Was anybody else waiting for them to be like you are not the father of a um of uh Amari for to find out that the king was not Amari dad? Nobody uh oh when I was reading, I was thinking see, I was waiting for them to be like that the king, because they kept talking about her her complexion and she was a little bit different and how she was getting treated differently.

SPEAKER_01: 18:52

Yeah, I didn't think I do think Amori Povich, like you are not I did get that because I was like, why? I said, did the queen do something? Did the queen like they treat something? No, that's not that well in that moment. No, the the way they were the way she set it up, I could see where Tasha's coming from.

SPEAKER_04: 19:10

I could see I definitely was waiting for the uh you were not the father.

SPEAKER_01: 19:14

Especially with with the powers coming in into play and the streak for Anon, like it was like I was like, are do they have different daddies? Because when he was changing and she wasn't, you know, those different things was for me. I it wasn't like a strong, let me hold this in my back pocket, like aha, it happened. It was just well, like I wonder.

SPEAKER_05: 19:38

So the next drink is the Ruby Mirage on Coastal Sands. This drink is made with rum, of course, and then you have some pineapple juice and lime, bitters, and smoked salt. I did not know you could smoke a salt, but Here we are. If you can smoke a paprika, we can smoke. You know, you learn something every day.

SPEAKER_04: 20:06

Oh, this one is definitely smoky. You know what? Nicole trying to kill herself. What is happening?

SPEAKER_05: 20:16

You told me to put seven. I'm the sous chef, everybody. That's why.

SPEAKER_04: 20:23

I was like, oh, it's smoky. It's giving like mess kills. I liked it. Nicole.

SPEAKER_05: 20:28

I don't think it's that bad. It's definitely strong.

SPEAKER_04: 20:31

It's rum.

SPEAKER_05: 20:32

But again, we did say rum is our smoke.

SPEAKER_04: 20:35

I was like, oh, it's kind of smoky. It's giving like a it's tasty to me.

SPEAKER_02: 20:38

Me too. Nicole might be the lightweight of the group for real. Like, what do you think? Steph do you like it? Steph don't love it either based on her facial expression.

SPEAKER_00: 20:47

This one got wrong.

SPEAKER_02: 20:48

I like the first one better. I'm drinking rum.

SPEAKER_06: 20:54

Not Red Bull.

SPEAKER_04: 20:55

No Red Bull. All the Red Bull in fact. The effects upon your mortal palate. Oh, but crisp sea spray lime, a faint grilled smoke.

SPEAKER_06: 21:05

The smoke, yes.

SPEAKER_04: 21:07

It is very smoky. You're gonna end up with the tamarind caramel floods. Vonnet heat flickers at the throat. Ooh, that's all that pineapple does everything. A breath later, heartbeat slows.

SPEAKER_01: 21:19

Pineapple is shit.

SPEAKER_04: 21:20

Shoulders loosen, sunset appears behind closed lids, and waves taste of rum so crude. So you swirl that cart that pineapple, then you'll taste it, and you got all your senses just on fire. What's happening at happening at my throat?

SPEAKER_03: 21:37

What's happening at my throat again? That bonnet heat. What's happening at my throat again? It is because that's the most important part. Oh my god. On this scroll.

SPEAKER_04: 21:49

What's that flickery? The bonnet heat. So you have the scroll, you're reading.

SPEAKER_05: 21:55

Hold on. Let me see. I'm not feeling beach. Not in.

SPEAKER_03: 22:05

I'm not feeling beach if the tamarind caramel. The beach that you the edge be having like the stiff in it. I'm losing the caramel. Here's the thing.

SPEAKER_02: 22:14

There is none of that. If the tamarind caramel floods, bonnet heat flickers at my throat, I'm definitely not at the beach.

SPEAKER_05: 22:23

I'm just more so looking at the last part where it says shoulders loose in sunset, appears behind the lips.

SPEAKER_01: 22:31

No, that is not the case.

SPEAKER_03: 22:34

Listen here. It's not giving public beach at sunset. It's giving red light special. It's absolutely red light special in red light district.

SPEAKER_00: 22:46

Um this is going with an experimental red, red a ghana. Oh, you made red red. Red red. What is that?

SPEAKER_05: 22:54

Red red. That's this one. I love red, red. Hold on.

SPEAKER_06: 23:01

They're so they're so cultured, these youngins.

SPEAKER_05: 23:03

Look at shout out to my Ghanaians. Red red. Yeah, this is coming through. So the red, red with uh and plantains. I'm supposed to have avocado, but I forgot to have a cato. Well, I didn't eat red red before, but it's really good. Yeah, red red is good.

SPEAKER_02: 23:21

It's giving peas, stewed tomatoes, onions, is that what I'm saying? You seen that before? Something in the south. That's what I was gonna say. It's like a tash.

SPEAKER_06: 23:33

A lot of these oh we can tell that the butterbangs and I mean the laminar. The mud is fire. You like it? Yes. What is that? Is that harissa in there?

unknown: 23:43

I don't know.

SPEAKER_06: 23:43

What is that?

SPEAKER_04: 23:44

I like it. And it's going with my drink too. Fix it. That palm oil is good. I love it. And with my drink, I mean, I don't know Steph don't like it. You hate it.

SPEAKER_01: 23:54

Oh I don't even put it on there.

SPEAKER_03: 23:58

Yup. So wait. Steph sample don't even have none on there. Like Steph said, oh no, oh no. She was like, I think it makes a peace. I said, but I want to eat it. I'm not trying that. Put mine on the side. That's what Steph said. Put mine on the side of keep it in the kitchen.

unknown: 24:16

Shh.

SPEAKER_06: 24:17

That's just the peaky in her.

SPEAKER_04: 24:19

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00: 24:19

Mine's a little sweeter.

SPEAKER_06: 24:20

Oh no, it's good though. Red Red is very good.

SPEAKER_04: 24:23

I like it with the plantain. My plantain is a little sweet, and so it just bounces out with like the salty. This is good. It was like with my smoked drink. I'll be like, Shag y'all may have the rest of the podcast, but I'll be sitting here eating.

SPEAKER_01: 24:36

So the pairing is good too.

SPEAKER_02: 24:38

It's good. I don't love plantains, but all the flavor in what's it called? Red red. All the flavor in it is kind of overpowering that plantain that I don't love. But it's a whole it's a whole thing happening right now together.

SPEAKER_00: 24:57

It reminds me of the South. I'm not gonna lie. So I see where we brought it over.

SPEAKER_02: 25:01

So with that, we're gonna get into question number two. It says, Zalee is a young black woman. How do you feel about her being tasked with saving her people?

SPEAKER_05: 25:13

Man, if that ain't the daggone, black woman's story forever and ever and ever and ever.

SPEAKER_01: 25:21

What was that infinite? Continuous, right?

SPEAKER_05: 25:24

To infinity and beyond. It's the entire story for all creation. And I love how she kept on saying, I'm tired. Like there was times like she just wanted to get a little bit of a little bit of a little bit. Correct. She wanted to be selfish, but then something happens every time I try to do this, I think this is in the fight. There's another one. I was like relatable, relatable, relatable.

SPEAKER_04: 25:45

And even like the way where she sometimes she doubted herself. She's like, I'm not ready. I'm not gonna be able to. But this still was like, I mean, in the mix of, I don't know, like we can all relax that. We in the midst of doing it, but being like, I'm not, I don't, I can't handle this. I I can't do it, I can't do it.

SPEAKER_01: 25:59

But meanwhile, you steady, you building the ladder to make it happen. And then you have the support, and then you have the support because the people she was surrounded still supported her, give her gave her something to fight for. So she wasn't necessarily, she was on her own, but she still had support. She had a reason behind it. There was always a reason. And I think when she held on to that, that's why she was able to continue. But by the end, I could understand where she wanted to just give up because it was like you finally get to this point, and it's like, what? There's more, but then it was just the support that you get from everybody that's surrounded by you. So she she had reasons that kept her going.

SPEAKER_02: 26:40

I think the biggest thing for me with her was the guilt. Oh yes. Like that was such a big thing. And I think, you know, if we can kind of step into reality a little bit and what what that experience is to be a black woman, to be, to be all the things to everybody. Right? It's when things don't go the way that you think they should go, or when things don't go the way you expect them to go. What did I do wrong? Did I do something wrong? What didn't I, what didn't I share? What information didn't I give? What did I do incorrectly? What did I say wrong? Like, that was a really big thing for me with her because I experienced that a lot. It's something that I struggle with all the time being a parent. Is did I give you all the information? Like, is it my fault that you made this decision? Or is it my fault that the outcome of things that you have to learn this lesson this way, and so on and so forth? So I think that was the most relatable for me in it. And I definitely have gotten to a place where I don't carry that guilt, but it's a conscious, it's a conscious effort. Like it takes conscious effort to not feel guilty about all the things that don't go the way that I think they should go. Because at the end of the day, it's not my, it's not my story, it's not my journey, it's not, you know, for me to dictate how things should go. But she carried that guilt a lot. And to the point where she wanted to give up, a lot of times, like, nah, I've done enough. Like I've made, you know what I mean? Like, not being able to see the progress or not being able to see the positive. Because to your point, you know, to you guys' point, it's you get over one hurdle only to be faced with the next one. So because there's another hurdle, like immediately right there, you don't even really get an opportunity to experience or see the victory in the previous thing that you just, you know what I mean, like got over. And she she really, really carried that a lot. So I think that that was the biggest thing for me and kind of watching her or listening or her going through that.

SPEAKER_04: 28:57

And I think too, is black women, it's always, oh, we strong, strong black woman, strong black woman, you know, and sometimes it is, you get tired. Like, and I think about the time when like I've had friends, you know, they've um they're like going through loss, you know, they have to grieve somebody, that they lose somebody important in their family, and then they can't even like they don't even have opportunity like to grieve themselves because you gotta be there, you gotta, oh, let me make sure the kids are good. They they just saw so and so, so I gotta be there for them, I gotta take care of this. And in moments like that, you know, I said we just when do you get a moment just to be like, okay, let break. Can I feel it too? Yeah. I mean, you know, it's like we just always have to be strong. We have to be nurturers, then we gotta also be like out here, be strong and hard out here in the world, and just so many, and like, you know, holding everybody up all the time. I just feel like it's a role that I mean we've been doing forever. Like, you know, and and I don't know if it's I'm proud of it. I love it. I love the identity of being a strong black woman, but I ain't gonna lie, sometimes I just wanna lay down and cry. Like, I'll be tired. I'm not, I ain't I ain't got it to give. But then also, I like I said, I do take a lot of pride in the fact of, yeah, you know what? I'm a strong black woman. And I got it. Don't worry about it, like and even if I don't have it at the moment, I'm gonna figure it out. Yeah, yeah. Like, trust and believe, we ain't nobody gonna follow my watch, y'all. We got it, we'll we can figure it out.

SPEAKER_02: 30:22

But I think it's also it to in that vein, like it's really important to communicate and be open and be vulnerable and tell people, listen, I don't have it together. Like, listen, I'm feeling really anxious. Like, listen, if it's not anything major, don't call me. Because when you call, like, I'm there's this, you know what I mean? There's this anxiety that I'm gonna feel. So, you know, I think it's good that we not only talk to the people that we have relationships with that we're nurturing and we're doing the things for, and being vulnerable and transparent with them and letting them know when mama tired too, you know, like I need a minute, or otherwise, we may have a rage fest happening. So everybody calm down. But also having other women that you can share conversations with and stories and different things. Because I think the biggest thing for me is we realize once we start talking, we realize we're all dealing with the same things and the same situations, right? So now we're in a position where we can help each other. Like, girl, how do you cope? Because I be wanting to smash walls. You don't, you don't do that? You don't, you want, oh okay, well, what do you do? Like, okay, you be taking deep breaths. I'll try it. You know what I mean? But it's like we don't communicate and share and share in those challenges, right? And share those challenging moments and things with other people, then we may never figure out or get an opportunity to to learn how to try to.

SPEAKER_01: 31:59

Yeah, yeah, it's being on all the time. It's like you have to be on, like ready, like the day has begun. Yeah, even I put my phone on do not disturb. It don't matter.

SPEAKER_02: 32:12

Just for your throat, like, oh no, just call back again, it'll rank right.

SPEAKER_01: 32:17

So I think it's just, you know, you have to be on, like ready, like you don't know what's gonna happen. You know, the good, the bad, and the ugly of everything, of parenthood, relationships, whatever it may be, carrying, you know, the whole Orisha clan. Is you know, you just sometimes it's like you have to be on, and sometimes you just want to shut it off for a little bit. And it's like it's but it's never ending. It's like you can never shut it off. You could dim it a little, like let me just take a little break, you know, but you know it, but you can never turn it off. And so I think I mean, but that's the only way that I know. So it's just hard to, you know, I reach out for help. I don't mind, you know, because I think cultures and generations, everybody was private, all of this being openness, people are like, what is this life? You know, it's too open because it's like you're giving too much information. And but the thing is sometimes you could be very helpful. What might not work for me, it might work for you, but you have that information and it could save a person's life, it could, you know, help someone, anything. And so I feel like instead of always carrying it yourself, talk to others. I think with Zealie, she had that struggle too, like she didn't know who to trust. The biggest thing is who do you trust? Mama Agba was gone, like at the time. So it's like, where do you go for your guidance? That's all she knew, and now she has to rely on herself and what she's learned. So once again, she's carrying it on her own. So it's like, who do you talk to? She could talk to her brother, but it's like if he knows your fears, he can't be that protective brother that she needs to get her through whatever she needs on this journey. And then Amari, she's looking at her like you spoiled brat. Like, I don't trust you. Yeah. You know, and so then it's like, who do you go to? And then when Lay Lakin, the seer of this Sataria. Yeah, in the very beginning, where he ended up being killed, it was like that was her, she was like, I have guidance. She lost it so quickly. Yeah, you know, every time she got it, and then it was just taken away from her. So it was like she had to keep caring, like, I gotta be on, I gotta be on, you know, and and she had a reason. She had reasons, people gave her reasons to keep going. But that girl, she's young, like you're she was she was young, she was in her teens, 20s, something like late teens, I think, you know. So it was like, what? Even Amari and Anand and that they were young, all of them were young. So, but that's what you know, like that's what you know back then, like what era this is. So who knows? But it's just like that's all that they had.

SPEAKER_05: 34:58

So it was like you just grew up to farming, welding, whatever your whatever you were in, and they were in the palace, so you were just being taught to combat and become the next ruler of Orisha, you know, and then a princess, where Zili and Zane had to work to pay these criteria to protect that we don't need but I but I think to that point though, like I think that's why context is so important and like how like your upbringing and understand like how your mother, grandmother, all of those people grew up to get a better understanding. And I say that because that's something that I think I went through with my mom. Um, and I didn't realize it was such an important thing until I went to therapy for it and like was able to talk through it. And then also going back to y'all's point of vulnerability and like how sometimes, not even sometimes, a lot of the times, black women, it's not a safe space to be vulnerable, and sometimes it's not even a safe space at home for you to be vulnerable. And that was one of the things with me, like I had never seen my mom cry until I was in college. And so growing up, that was ingrained in me. Okay, you don't you don't cry, you don't feel at least not in front of people others, like you keep that down. And I'm sure like my grandma was the same way and her mom was the same way. And I think like it all also comes back to how you're raised to figure out how to cope with what it is you're going through. And I think it's important to talk about those things, like you were you all were talking about, and like being vulnerable for those things, so that when you have kids and their kids have kids, like it's normal to see the matriarch and your family like not necessarily break down, but like be human and but then pick themselves back up and to figure it out like that's an important piece rather than just showing your kids, nephews, whatever the put together part. Because then it's like, okay, I'm supposed to be like that all the time, all the time, yeah. And that's when it becomes ingrained, like, okay, I need to be strong because all the women around me were strong 100% of the time. When little do you know, maybe they weren't, and they probably weren't. I got a weird thing, just thought like let go. Did y'all have like a very spiritual kind of connection to this book?

SPEAKER_00: 37:31

Because for me, I guess as I was reading it, me even seeing like her pictures of these gods that were women, I was like, why have I never pictured gods as women? And then da da da da I was like, Oh my gosh, I've heard of them, but it's like Greek and all this kind of stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01: 37:53

And then as she was talking about, I was like, because they because it's been ingrained to us that men are the ones in power, and it's not the case so much smarter than them.

SPEAKER_00: 38:04

You're quite beautiful, let's go with the gods.

SPEAKER_08: 38:09

Like, I was like, Yeah, why can't I have a female god?

SPEAKER_00: 38:13

And it's so foreign, right? Like, we make it so blasphemy, so like anti- So anti-everything, but it's just like, but why not? Why?

SPEAKER_05: 38:23

Like, when I was the pictures, the images that were imagine you growing up and actually instead of seeing yourself in books with chains and all that kind of stuff, you have these pictures of your mind of being this glorious, beautiful, I don't know, bodish white hair difference in growing up in that type of world and mindset versus here's the story of slavery again.

SPEAKER_00: 38:45

Yes, and this is what it and here's another story of slavery again, and that's what it was.

SPEAKER_04: 38:51

So when y'all said, yeah, when they pitch it to us as this fantasy, and I was like, oh, I don't really like fantasy. But as soon as I started reading it, I was like, oh no, this is about some powerful black women out here. They is killing it. Oh, look at the young girl. I was like, so it took on again, like African princess warrior, and I was like, I was here for it. So I was really, again, I was I was pulled in like from the beginning.

SPEAKER_02: 39:14

Girl, she was texting and oh my god, I'm a girl, okay. We told you it was good.

SPEAKER_04: 39:20

Type down. I think but and let me say this is what I will say, because again, I did on everybody's age and something I wasn't she wasn't the only one who was young. Like I said, everybody recorded them, yeah. And thing is, I think that speaks to the expectations of the younger generation, which uh because they know more now than we ever like the more you if you know better, you gotta do better. Like that's why I always say you know better, you gotta do better. And I feel like the information that this generation has, and every generation is has access to more and more information, they gotta be doing better and doing more with that. So moves that we were making, you know, in my Generation, my mom's generation before that, they were moving with the information that they had. Like, we this is what we know, this is what we do. But I feel like it is up to the young generation. You just like they know more, you see the world in a much larger scope than previous generations before our view of what was quote unquote your world, really for some people was limited to their zip code, like for real, for real. Um, but the last couple of generations, like their access to the in literal entire world with that information and knowing what people are going through and seeing, like, you know, struggles and also seeing, you know, like some people's like abundance in some areas and this and that. With all that information, it is on the younger generations to do better. Like, hey, you know what's going on, you know what's possible. So my expectations from you are they they mad high. Like you, you have access, we have the information. I am expecting a lot from you. And I'm here for it. Like some of y'all people. And they still lazy.

SPEAKER_06: 41:06

Stop talking about you. Stop talking about privilege.

SPEAKER_04: 41:11

They are not lazy. They are not. Sometimes, sometimes I will say that they're lazy, but I'm like, you know what? Just if they figured out how to work smarter, not harder, like we might we can't be lazy on them.

SPEAKER_01: 41:21

Well, that's the thing. Do that part, do that part. Work smarter, not harder, but work. Work, yeah. Work.

SPEAKER_03: 41:27

Nah, they haven't. Nah, they were having their lazy moments.

SPEAKER_02: 41:31

It's so funny because I mean my mom were talking earlier about, you know, the the youth or what have you. And it's like, yeah, but at one point, we were the youth. We were the ones at some point that the older generation talked about and thought wasn't about nothing at all.

SPEAKER_04: 41:51

But not pretty much. Our generation, we have the hardest struggle. I'm people because we are that link between the non, the non-telecommunicating group and the full, like we were learning literally. Yeah, the technology people, like our our generation, we on that struggle bus trying to monitor our kids' technology, but we're trying to learn it too. I'm not learning it faster than them.

SPEAKER_02: 42:15

I'm not monitoring nothing.

SPEAKER_01: 42:18

But nothing.

SPEAKER_02: 42:19

Go with God. Go with God. I I don't. I don't want to care. I don't have the time. I'm not monitoring nothing.

SPEAKER_04: 42:27

But no, but it let me tell you, us being the link generation, that's right. We it's a thing. And I do understand our inclination to call the young, oh, they lazy. We know, we're not gonna get them too much. I well, it's not a lot of people. What generation are we lazy?

SPEAKER_01: 42:43

It's just like now that you have generation are we talking about? It's it's not necessarily fully lazy, it's just you have everything at your disposal, and I think sometimes it's overwhelming to them that they just don't even know what option to take.

SPEAKER_02: 42:58

But to that point, and why it's so important that we show them, right? And they see the struggles and the adversity, right? Because if they if they see that, then to Lex's point, it becomes a thing that they know this is normal, this is not abnormal. I don't have to feel like I don't have to go into crash-out mode because something is challenging. Like it's a part of life, like the challenges are part of life, and I think that's important to the point is to make sure that we're not always in superhero mode. Yeah, 90% of the time, I'm her and I'm I'm here to save the world. But 10% of the time, I need everybody to sit down and be quiet and chill out. So we don't have to have no problems, but they need to see that as well.

SPEAKER_06: 43:48

Well, ladies, um uh Segway. We're gonna get on to this last one.

SPEAKER_00: 43:53

It's a mocktail. Oh, she's giving us a break. We gotta take a break.

SPEAKER_04: 43:59

Because you're gonna send out, you gotta take care of your liver. Your liver take care of you. You gotta take care of your liver. I'm gonna pour a light on this one because I mean I don't need that. It feels like negativity in my life.

SPEAKER_05: 44:08

I'm gonna pour light on the mocktail because I don't need a lot of used to alcoholic. Y'all see this podcast is full of crackheads.

SPEAKER_04: 44:17

I'm watching my sugar, it feels like juice to me. It's wrong.

SPEAKER_00: 44:21

She's the problem. No, but this is juice. I I can't I have passed. I have to forge people to fork juice. You gotta do the full. It's all natural juice. I promise it's organic. It ain't got all natural. You juiced this yourself? I didn't, but I read the late. Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 44:38

All I've heard was juice.

SPEAKER_03: 44:39

I'm watching my sugar, so I'm gonna be like the funny thing is that y'all trying not to pour the mufflail.

SPEAKER_00: 44:46

Y'all, I'm pouring it uh thing went back around. The bottle that has included substance. Oh. Used to go one one time around the table. Now it came back to me and I didn't.

SPEAKER_01: 44:56

I think it's probably the first two drinks. We're just feeling it, and we're just not gonna do it.

SPEAKER_05: 45:00

We don't want to have a mum to clear it out. No, I'm drinking them all. Well, anyway, okay. Some more juice, you know. Oh, are we wanting more juice? I did it because I'm not a heathen.

SPEAKER_02: 45:10

That's what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_08: 45:14

Somebody read this process.

SPEAKER_02: 45:16

You already kind of everything before you said.

SPEAKER_05: 45:20

Okay. All right. So for all of our heathen readers out there, or rather for those who do not want to be heathen.

SPEAKER_00: 45:28

Are there heathens that don't be drinking?

SPEAKER_05: 45:30

Yes, because our podcast is inclusive, ladies. Right? Okay, so our last cocktail for book one is called the Herbal Hush. If you didn't hear me, I said Hersh. So the Herbal Hush beneath the orchard bows. We have some lemongrass mint tea, as well as guava nectar, some honey ginger syrup, lime, and salt. It definitely tastes like juice. I do love guava. Me too. Okay, this is good. I'm not gonna lie. It's refreshing. I'm not gonna lie. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04: 46:09

Uh that's okay. So next upon the mortal palette. Beginning, a cool meadow, lemongrass, and mint exhale across the lips as ice dissolves, sweet jungle guava driss in a shy, chili warmth propulses at the back palate. Chest opens, breasts lengthen, mind settles like dew on morning leaves. Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 46:35

Okay, first of all, that was a lot of words. That was a lot of words.

SPEAKER_03: 46:40

What? That's good. That is the case. Say it one more time.

SPEAKER_04: 46:43

Oh, you should have a couple of things. Okay, in the beginning, you have a cool meadow.

SPEAKER_05: 46:48

Not in the beginning, like Genesis.

SPEAKER_03: 46:51

I'm so sorry. That were children of like Genesis? Steph, Steph is over here acting up. Please, I understand.

SPEAKER_04: 46:58

Well, I'm stuck on the way Nicole has 13 different ways to say at the back of your throat. Like, I mean he's coming in with shy warp pulses at the back palette. I mean.

SPEAKER_05: 47:11

Ooh, not the pulses, but the back palette. So he's still talking about the back of my palette. We we Scorpios. What do we do? So we're gonna try the uh African red pepper sauce shrimp. Red pepper sauce. Now what is this? Is this is that is um yam? It's got it's a yuga, but they say uh oh yuga cassava. Yes, cassava. So usually these are sauce of a fries. Usually these are these are these are you they usually fry these like French fries. This is like a potato, so yeah, it's okay. It's a starch though. We need it for all the liquor, but don't yeah, I gotta talk about it.

SPEAKER_00: 47:53

Do you remember McDonald's fries when it got cold?

SPEAKER_02: 47:58

This ain't it for me.

SPEAKER_05: 48:01

But the shrimp is good.

SPEAKER_06: 48:02

I don't love this pairing.

SPEAKER_05: 48:04

So Tommy's note at the end of the book, it discusses how she is feel how she was feeling at the time. The note at the end talks about what she was feeling at the time and why she wrote book one during the time that she did. Did you immediately have the same real-world parallels she discussed when reading the book? But also, why did you think she portrayed this very real topic through the lens of a fantasy novel? So that was a multi-layered question. So we'll we'll start with the first one. Just what did what real world parallels did you all um see? Colorism is what I perceived on.

SPEAKER_01: 48:51

More colorism because everybody was pretty much the same skin tone. It was just if you were darker, lighter, kind of copper, you know, the eyes, and if you were magi, where you had the white hair, you know, so it was just like it's it was more colorism because your skin tone, they it was just lighter versus darker versus copper, and what tribe you came from.

SPEAKER_02: 49:18

Yeah, I definitely immediately picked up the second time that I read it, the colorism, and like I was stating earlier, that's the thing that made me stop and say, Am I reading into this or was this her intent? And that's what led me to stop and go to the author to the author's note and see, because I think there was a point where they were talking about the different complexions and the hair and the eye color, and it immediately took me to slavery and the, you know, the darker slaves that were outside versus the lighter slaves that were inside, and the more fair skin with the blue eyes and the lighter hair were usually the ones that were born because the master was sleeping with, you know, so on and so forth. So it immediately took me there when I read it the second time with the real world parallel.

SPEAKER_05: 50:12

I think it took me straight to slavery too, colorism for sure, but I think when I was reading it, because I also read it twice, like Star was saying several years ago, but um racism for sure. Loki indentured servitude too, like especially in the part in the first book to not give it to not to give too much away. But when they got to the place with the arena and they were battling with the boats, but like it was also for like the enjoyment of like the rich. Was that not reality to this? So yeah, I was like, well, yes, reality, but also, yeah, like gave me gladiator, yeah. Slavery, indentured servitude, gladiator, if you will. Like it was just brutal. It was brutal.

SPEAKER_04: 51:00

You guys I think like in the author's not, you know, she talks about you know at the time, you know, like I think she mentioned like Tamar Rice, and and so to me, it wasn't even just like color, it was like straight up like rave rays on me, and what it means to be black in America. You have people, hey, at the end of the day, yeah, we're all people, but for whatever reason, we there is a difference in you that we can visually see off the back. So, hey, you got white hair, I know you're Magi. Yeah, okay, you got dark skin, I know you're black. And because we are quote unquote in power, we are going to make, we're going to treat you like less than. Because, like you talked about, like with like the sort of like gladiator style battles, it wasn't like oh battle that's you win. It was like a battle to the death. We're in an arena watching people kill themselves to interchangeable, and we're laughing about oh, who's who's going to kill somebody? Like these are people. And I feel like you get to a point in life where, and I said, even like do slavery stuff, where you don't, where you're able to in your mind look at somebody and because ooh, you have dark skin or you got white hair, whatever it is that we're pointing out at that moment, this makes you less than human to me. Because again, I would never treat another human like that, but because you have white hair, you have dark skin, or wherever it is, at that, you know, at the chosen moment, or whatever you know it is we're choosing, you're less than human. So then that in that way I can justify my very inhumane behavior. You know what I mean? And like, and so that to me automatically it just it took it to like, and I feel as though she did use like this fantasy world, and also, you know, and using all black people, but different shades of black people, or you know, different statuses of black people, I think that was it was very smart of her in order to do it that way because it takes it out of the same old slavery story, like you're saying that you know we've read before, like, oh, people were slaves, they were in change. You know, I mean, this makes it different, but still getting across the same point of how people are able to treat other people in a very inhumane and non-people like way because everyone else around is doing it. And I'm I'm gonna do it because if I don't go after you, then ooh, next thing you know, then I might they might be going after me. So let me make sure that I'm I'm joining in with them. Let me get on this side because on this side, they all right over here. They got food, they're not paying crazy taxes. They this is the good side. They're in the bleachers at the gladiator battle. But if I go on that side, if I empathize, sympathize with you, show any loyalty towards you or whatever. I'm in the arena.

SPEAKER_02: 53:35

Now, now I now here I am in the arena. I'm the entertainment, right? So I think the other, to your point, like the other piece that it really touched on was the classism. So we talk about you know what I'm saying? Like we talk about racism and we talk about slaving, and that was the others, right? That's the the thing that was that we had to deal with by the hands of others. But the classism existed, and that was facts. That's what we do to each other, right? Then referring to the magi as maggots. That wasn't coming from another race. You know what I mean? Like that was coming from your own people, right? In the sense of you know race, if you will. But that was that was a lot. Like the reference and referring to them as maggots, and that was a lot. That was that was really heavy for me. It was kind of hard for me to push past that part, but again, just the classism that was there, like was represented in the book a lot too, and that's something that we do to each other. That's not oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_04: 54:48

Because then we say, I mean, let's keep it above. I mean, in America, you know, we I think we often do talk about racism, but really, you know, we and we talk about oh, well, you know, black versus white, you know, like black and brown versus white. But truthfully, it really comes down to green versus non-green. You made the money and not money. Because when we show up in court, I'm gonna be honest with you, like, at the end of the day, a lot of cases, you know, you look at it, could you afford a good lawyer or no? The haves and the have nots. The haves of the have-nots. So really, classism is a bigger issue, I think, for me, but just so happy because the way we is the society, our American society has been set up thus far, a lot of people that look like us tend to be on the more on the have not side. But at the end of the day, it really does come down to that's it. The only color that really matters is green and sad but true thing. But we don't have that conversation enough because they got us stuck on the oh, the skin color called racism.

SPEAKER_05: 55:47

Speaking of racism, too, I think just as we were talking, another thing that kind of popped up in my head, and probably because this is one of my favorite parts of Ted Bits of um black history. This also kind of drew parallels to me with Nat Turner. So if y'all are not familiar with Nat Turner, he ran the slave revolts um during the time, and like, yeah, it was a whole thing. Like they were on and popping. But it just it it reminded me a little bit, not necessarily of Nat Turner himself, but just the practice that some of the slave drivers and like masses had over the slaves, and just this idea of like keeping them dumb and like not understanding that there's power in numbers and like all of these things. And I think they talked about that a lot in the book too. Like, there was a lot of magi, and once their powers were awakened, if they were just able to come together, they probably could have overran things quicker than like then things happened in the book, and so I think it drew it drew parallels to that for me too. Just like, oh, okay, yeah, like this practice of like keeping them dumb and like not letting them know their power and all of these things are gonna keep oppressing, oppressing so that they don't rise up. And so I I think that also came to mind too. Um, and I don't know if that was intentional.

SPEAKER_04: 57:20

I I didn't read the author's note to be honest with y'all, so I don't know, but I thought of that as well, like because that that was a practice that they use with the like the like you said, like with that as far as like keeping them dumb, it also reminded me of Native Americans, how when they first colonized came in and when they separate like when they sent it to like the English schools and they weren't allowed to speak their language. They talked about how the different match are like you know, but they're all different tribes, but then they made them stop speaking their language to where they can communicate, and then like in all of it is practices, yeah, to keep them docile.

SPEAKER_05: 58:00

Because I think the ruling families knew if they got a clue, it was gonna be over.

SPEAKER_04: 58:08

It was gonna be over. Yeah, if we could just start coordinating, uh, we finna do, we finna get real messy in here. And so, you know what? Y'all can't speak your own language, you can't speak nothing except for what we tell you to speak, and that is part of the whole process like stuff, keeping them dumb and minimizing that sort of like revolt mindset and communicating and building together. Hey, hey, y'all, we we're gonna get together over here on this farmland, and on the second Sunday when the moon runs on the third moon, I mean, but it's on a property. Like, you talk about that. If you read some of like the slave revolt stories, like, and this thing, because we were oftentimes like, you know, we're taught, we see like pictures of slaves sitting on porches, and they were like, oh, they run there, you know, shaving down some mammal, they talking, eating sugar cane, and making the best of life. But when you actually like read, like I read, you know, some like the slave journals and like when I tell you, my people, they was not here. They were not just chilling, they was like, okay, hey, what we here's gonna do is figure out a way to get up out of here.

SPEAKER_00: 59:16

So at the beginning, who y'all recommending this book to?

SPEAKER_02: 59:19

I'm recommending it to everybody. Like, I think everyone should read it. It's it's a good book. It's a book. And like I said, I just I happened upon it accidentally years ago. Had never heard of the author or anything, but it's it's a really good book. Very well written.

SPEAKER_01: 59:36

Very quick and engaging. Very engaging.

SPEAKER_02: 59:40

It is from from the first page I'll see. Yeah, I'll be. The descriptions and the gardens and the things like I got to have those punky spirits. I was like, You need a whooping.

SPEAKER_05: 59:54

Like, girl. Why don't you need a whooping? I'm screaming. It was so many times. It was so I was just like, girl. She'll blind spy for real.

SPEAKER_02: 1:00:02

She was just a natural rebel, though. Like even but she was hothead. No, she was a rebel. I don't think she was a hothead. I don't think she was like a baby. I don't think she was a hothead at all. I think you have like some people just have a warrior spirit. Like, and that's just what it was. Like from the very from that very first, you know, like training session when they were in there and she had that at the graduation. She was like, nah, I'm finna get her. Like, it's not, but just it's not your turn. Like, hold on. She like, nah, I'm finna get her.

SPEAKER_04: 1:00:38

Like, back to the night discussion. Some sometimes some of them girls just they're gonna be rah-rah. Hey, I got a natural rah-rah skin. You cannot.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:46

Nailey was definitely rah-rah. Well, she had to rah-rah all the way to the new moon. She got tired of it.

SPEAKER_03: 1:00:55

But yeah, she was definitely.

SPEAKER_04: 1:00:57

Dr. Tay, a natural, like, rah, like that. And they they here for the fight. It's not containing that in them. It's natural.

SPEAKER_02: 1:01:05

So the next books that we're gonna do is The Children of Virtue and Vengeance, and it's book two in the three book series. So we're going to um, we're gonna get into it. Before we leave, we're we're gonna hold off on the lit challenge. I think we're gonna do that at the end of the third book. Um, but I do have a top for thought, and um, that is it's something that I saw scrolling on Instagram this week, and it just it just really stood out to me for a number of reasons. But it says, tell people what you need. You'll either get it or realize they can't give it to you. Both are gifts. That's actually very relevant to discuss. Yeah, I love that. So, yeah, with that, we're gonna wrap this one. Book one. We'll get right back with you for book two. Talk about it. Thanks, y'all. Thanks for having me. Bye.

SPEAKER_04: 1:01:58

And we're out. Cheers, babies.

SPEAKER_00: 1:02:00

Cheers. Thank you for listening to the Black Girls Lip Podcast. Tune in for our next pour and our next page, The Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adayami. Make sure to like, subscribe, comment, and follow.