Wild Dark Shore

Welcome to the Redheads. Today's episode of the Redheads is brought to you by Quince. Quince is all about elevated essentials that feel effortless. It's designed for layering and mixing. Each piece helps build a timeless wardrobe made to last. Refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Go to quince.com slash redheads for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's quince.com slash redheads. Welcome back, Redheads, to another episode of the Redheads Book Club February edition. You guys, the 2026 Redheads are unlike all Redheads that came before because we are prompt. We are timely. We are here. Ladies, how you dern? We're dern good. So happy to be here. So happy to be here. We are back with each other quite quickly because we, 2026 is the year of preparedness for us. And we are recording early in the month so that everything can happen on time. The girls have just gotten so busy in the last, how many years have it? Six years that we've been doing this podcast. This month is our six year anniversary of our first episode, which is so crazy. And so much of life has happened in those six years. And getting four girls, four busy, fabulous women. on the horn requires a lot of planning and this year we are putting in that planning and putting in that work so I'm so happy to be here with you guys catch up with everyone and talk about this month's book because this month's book was nothing if not the book of the moment so before we get into all of that oh and today's episode marks a major 60 it's six years later there is a major structural change to the redheads and that is that I will no longer be leading the discussion for books that I didn't choose. When I was editing last month's episode, listening to myself, I was like, can you shut the fuck up? Like, I'm so sick of hearing myself as I continue to talk and no one else has spoken. Hey. But now, just like the girls started doing the summaries for the books that they chose, the person who chose the book will be leading our book discussion. So this month, that is Rebecca. We will get into that, and I will throw the episode over to her at some point, I promise. I'm so excited. But before we get into the book, I have to get into the girls. How y'all doing? Bex, let's start with you. How's it going? Being the lady of the month. Oh, the lady of the month. I'm doing great, you guys. Never better. Love to hear it. Honestly, everything's great. I am just like gearing up for like a little winter storm in New York City. So I'm planning my recipes, frankly. I'm going to make a soup. I want to make a bolognese. I want to make a bread. Wait, I love that. What kind of soup? What kind of bread? I want to make pasta fujol, which is just like noodles. Like it's like a vessel to eat pasta. And I'm like, it's a soup. It's so good. And did you say what kind of bread? Was that the next question? Yeah. There was like a cardamom banana bread that I saw that was like spicy and hearty. I was like, okay, yeah, that sounds amazing. But Jack's like, I'm off my sourdough game. And maybe this is the time to get back on. A sourdough with your pasta fajule sounds good. Oh my God. That's what I was thinking you were going to say. Yeah, not like a dessert bread, but also good. No, I have been, I really need to lend some TLC to my sourdough. So maybe that's a good pivot for me. Thank you for inspiring the idea. Yeah, I love that. Satchel, how are you? I'm great. I'm working from home today, which is just fabulous. I have a heating pad on my booty. Like really I'm just in heaven at the moment. I'm going to Sun Valley, Idaho tomorrow. And I'm so excited. Is there snow there? Yes, there is. And I just really am so excited for it. And Jackie, do you know why I know what Sun Valley is? Can you guess it? Because of Dynasty? Yes. Yes. Literally. Simpatico. Simpatico. And so I'm really just channeling that sort of energy. And I can't wait. So I'm great. That's awesome that you're going there. I hope you have a great time. We'll miss you. Thank you so much. Dana, how are you? I'm good. I apologize to the listeners for my nasally voice. It's just cold after cold over here with our zero degree weather. But I did get a haircut. That's my big update of the month. It's been months. And I still think I live in New York. I decided I was going to walk to the hair salon. It was only 30 minutes on a main road. Don't worry. The gods said, never mind. Because that was the day that Verizon outage impacted the entire nation. And I embarked on my journey, had no cell service, couldn't call anyone, didn't know where I was going, couldn't even listen to music. So that was the end of that. But really the takeaway is that my hairdresser was a redhead, and she was lovely. And I was wearing my redhead sweatshirt, and she was like, I love your sweatshirt. Oh, my God, the redheads? And we just hit it off. So that was, like, really my first time. That's amazing. It was my first time leaving the house, really, in four months. So to have a redhead amongst us in this newfound town I have yet to explore, like really made me feel right at home that's such a nice story I know I was like I really felt amongst family other than that I've just been like binging on tell me lies been waiting so long for this and trying to like stay away from the cold sounds good yeah tell me lies is so great don't talk about it because I've only watched the first episode no I wasn't gonna spoil anything one because it's like a book right a show based on a book and two like where they go like their school and their social scene and like the whole setup is so coldly like it's really really crazy by the way it really have we ever said that it is we have said that snitch i've talked about it on the toast but i don't know if like me dinner back like our friends have like talked about the fact that this is like a show i said i mean they go to baird but it's the same thing yeah no i think we've definitely talked about it that's like why i ever watched it because i was like i just feel nostalgic Like I want to remember that frat life. So coldly coded. Yeah. Well, I'm doing well as well. We all caught up like, you know, just mere two weeks ago when we did our last episode. So I don't feel like there's that much to say. But just, you know, back to work. Mama Ting's chugging along. I think that's actually time for me to provide an update about my Facebook hack. Yeah. So the last we spoke, my Facebook was under attack. and I'm happy to report that it's still under attack. It's still happening. Nothing changed. Oh, no, things have changed. Things have definitely changed, but not for the better for me. My hacker has changed my name to Jennifer Kramer. So until further notice, please refer to me as Jenny. Jenny K. Jenny K. Not to be confused with Jenny K. I know. I was just thinking, I was thinking, am I a clothing brand? Um, so that's where we're at. And it's, um, hilarious, frankly. It's still just as funny as it was last month. She posted a new profile picture. She is. Wow. Yeah. She's digging in. Oh my God. She's insane. She, but the profile picture is still of me. Well, you know what? It's good that it's not your name anymore for like people who don't know what's going on. Hopefully she changes the picture soon and they'll just be like, oh, Jenny Kramer wild and out again. That's so crazy that she's, it's beyond. I completely agree though. I'm actually glad that she changed it to Jenny Kay because someone texted me. They were like, I was trying to think who I know who like went to Colgate and works here and lived here and was named Jennifer Kramer. I was like, I don't know her. It's so funny. All these Colgate people are now friends with Jennifer Kramer. Oh my God. That's so funny. I needed to close the loop, you guys, even though it's still very much open. thank you for the update we shall check back in next month I think without further ado it's time to get into this month's book which was Wild Dark Shore by I want to say Charlotte no that's exactly right McConaughey maybe oh okay great you know what my new kindle doesn't have the book cover on the face of the kindle when it's not being read it's just like some kindle artwork so I had no idea what this book was called until I was like making the title of this recording session today um so I'm glad I got that right wild dark shower you got it so right so Jax is this where I sort of take it away this is where I leave you let's get into the dbq today's episode of the redheads is brought to you by hers it's a new year and it's time to get back to feeling like yourself if losing weight is one of your 2026 goals and you're ready to make progress you can count on then weight loss by HERS might be right for you. 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That's 50% off your first year at monarch.com with code REDHEADS. Today's episode of the Redheads is brought to you by Quince, our favorite one-stop destination for beautiful, timeless pieces for your wardrobe. Quince is all about elevated essentials that feel effortless. Designed for layering and mixing, each piece helps build a timeless wardrobe made to last. With versatile silhouettes and thoughtful details, they're the kind of styles you wear again and again. They've got the wardrobe staples with quality that's made to last, 100% organic cotton sweaters, premium denim made with stretch for all-day comfort, luxe cotton cashmere blends perfect for changing seasons, everything you need for a wardrobe that actually lasts. Plus, Quince works directly with safe, ethical factories and cuts out the middlemen so you're not paying for brand markup, just high quality clothing and top quality fabric. They use high quality materials like 100% European linen and organic cotton. 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And they the final caretakers of a remote Antarctic island called Shearwater which houses the world largest seed bank So think apocalypse comes and you need to replant all of the world's plants, vegetation, life. You use seeds and that's where the bank is. So their isolated existence is upended when a mysterious woman named Rowan washes ashore after a violet storm. So she's the lone survivor of a shipwreck. When Rowan recovers, she starts to suspect that the family is hiding dark secrets about the island's abandoned research facility. There used to be tons of researchers on this island studying the environment and protecting the seeds. And now everyone's gone. so she also has her own hidden motives for coming to the island and those slowly come to light also um so it's kind of a thriller it's literary fiction there's a lot of themes that we can explore um but i think that's really an overview so maybe let's get into it my friends great great should we start with um whether or not we like this book a hundred percent that's what I was about to do snitch oh sorry sorry sorry I mean like you have such a itching to lead it so just give me a chance let her sorry sorry I'm literally I'm done I'm done I'm muting I'm literally muting give me a chance um so since you're so eager Margo please share your thoughts what did you think what did you feel what do you think I thought about this one I don't know Tell me. I fucking hated this book. No. I'm shocked. There's nothing that I like. There's literally nothing that I liked about this book. Like seriously, I can't give it like one redeeming quality at all. I didn't care about any character. I didn't care about any like. This is why I usually don't ask Margot. Okay, there's a learning curve later. Learning curve. Don't throw to Margot first. But Margot's also. a little impressionable so like if she goes first maybe she'll be like okay I loved it you know no no no no honestly that's true but usually I'm impressionable and then it makes me like it more after hearing other people like talk about yeah like by the end of this we might get your rating yes but I usually like to go in with a softy I find typically Rebecca and I little like you know how the sauce gets made i find rebecca and i are like the more neutral um parties of like we oh usually like something i always start with myself because i'm just like yeah it was good whatever dana has more firm opinions she usually either loves a book or doesn't like the book but she usually likes it more and so we always that's not true i loved broken country my pick broken country was your pick no that's the joke oh well but it should have been mine dead um okay well thanks snitch dana tell us more about how you felt about the book oh we are a house divided ladies i loved it i thought the writing was right up my alley it was nice because i felt like i was using my brain again you know it was just like i had to pay attention but not in such a grueling way where it was a chore in a way that i was invested and wanted to learn more um i thought they did a great job with the character build-up like the rowan and dominic final love scene came at a time where I was like okay good like we have built this up enough and I'm ready for it and it was not too hasty where I'm like this is unrealistic some things to know I really am like not for the botany and climate change and ecological plant stuff I like kind of skipped over Orly's descriptions of everything that's just not for me having said that I would have liked a little more clarity like how did this island come to be the one like what were all the ghosts and why did they kill them why was it going under and like they dedicated so much time effort and energy to making this the seed base and by the end they were just like throwing random stuff into a mini fridge like I wouldn't have minded more background on on that part but overall I I really really enjoyed reading this thank you for sharing your thoughts Dee those are all fair points I kind of feel you on some of them not all of them but really good to know I'm so glad you loved it Jax take it away what did you think about the book I didn't like the book which was surprising considering this book is everywhere so many people recommended it to me a few weeks ago when I was like I want to get back into reading what should I read like it's the it reminds me a lot of crawdads it feels like the crawdads of the moment especially being like so nature focused but one the content in general like just did not really pull me in like this cold windy island I thought um the seed thing it was like they were trying to save all these seeds again you know risking their lives to save these seeds and it's not as if the world has ended like you could go make the seeds again when we get back um and it just got like so dire at the end and of course at the end like or at least just saving like these seeds that are actually like not the ones that we need to survive and it's like you guys literally broke your backs to like save a bunch of random seeds that again like do not apply yet like there was no apocalypse i felt like you know the apocalyptic uh propaganda was kind of a lot um and yeah not my favorite setting the characters were okay I feel like Dominic started as like this like gruff like rando father and then by the end he was like meant to be sexy so I had to sort of like shift my mindset like okay we're getting down with Dom um but yeah mostly I didn't really I didn't really like this book I did it didn't connect with it um there were some like sweeter moments I thought the fact that spoiler alert Rowan died was for me like the nail in the coffin on this book because the only good that was about to happen from this book is them all leaving and starting a life as a family together like she was the puzzle piece that they were missing like a mother who loved nature and she was like the family that they were the family that she always like really deep down would have loved to have but like couldn't bring herself to do it and it's like kind of like instant family and the fact that they're not going to wind up all together like throw this book in the garbage no yeah that was heartbreaking I haven't stopped thinking about it um I'm not at all shocked by these comments Jax as I was reading it like the only thing I didn't like about this book while I was reading it spoiler alert I loved this book the only thing I didn't like was as I was reading it I was like Jackie's gonna hate this like that was what was hard for me it's so funny but the thing is I'm not you I don't usually have like really strong feelings and like I wouldn't even say I hated it like there were a couple books that we've read that I hated like My Country Friends and I don't use that word lightly and I and I didn't hate this book I just didn't like it and I didn't connect with it I understand um well personally I loved it and I have not stopped thinking about it it had all the ingredients that make for me a 10 out of 10 it had amazing writing it had a location that like fascinates me like I really do like Antarctica is my like number one go-to destination bucket list location so it was like a very exciting environment for me I love botany I love plants I love to like I do like nothing excites me more like Orly's descriptions like the fact that you skipped over them my heart breaks for you they were so good and he was so passionate about it too and I was like okay Orly let's go so I I really liked Orly like he like held such a special place in my heart and I liked the character development I liked each story like there was never a character whose section I arrived at and I was like oh eye roll like everybody brought something to the table in my mind and I thought like the visualization of of like description was amazing like I it really came to life for me I was awake like in the middle of the night reading this book for hours I could not put it down like my sleep schedule suffered because of this book so i mean that's where i'm at a house divided divided but usually that makes for interesting dialogue so yeah that said let's jump into the dbqs um we'll start by asking the question how did the environment known as the dark shore influence the emotional state of the characters could the story have taken place anywhere else or is this landscape essential to the plot definitely essential I feel like it was a character on its own the landscape anyone else like read this at any point when they themselves were cold and felt so much colder like at one point I was freezing in this house with the heat nut on and I was like I actually can't read about the like snow piercing their faces while they're going underground they did a very good job with the imagery and making you like feel like you were there I totally agree I honestly thought it was I mean it was called wild dark shore like they lived on a dark shore and it was a wild environment I thought it was critical so yes I think it was very much like environment set the tone and the story unfolded because of that definitely and like the remote nature of the island like gave way to the story unfolding the way that it did but I do feel like when they go back like there are plenty of places that they could live where it will feel like they're you know on it they could even live on an island that's like less remote and as much as they were living on an island they literally had so many supplies so much food as much like you know generators as much as they could possibly have it wasn't like survivor where they're like building a house out of a hut so I feel like they could achieve they could like simulate that experience when they go back home and that like going back home like won't will be a good thing because they'll have they can find all the things that they loved about the island but also like a little more civilization and normalcy and like fenn sleeping with those seals yeah that was tough to watch um so rowan has complicated reasons for coming to sheer water do you understand her decision do you think it was the right thing to do no it was insane right insane insane to go like to antarctica to chase down a guy who you don't love and doesn't love you and you're kind of all done like wait till and and she went because she was worried about him because he said like they're trying to hurt me I'm losing my mind um so she didn't go but like she doesn't really like love him anymore she sees through him so like why would you go all that way just wait till he comes home and like figure it out I thought that was absurd I feel like she described it though as like she had been in such a state of in a stupor of malaise where she had nothing to live for was so like stagnant in her emotions and when he emailed her like send help I'm going down it sparked in her emotion that she hadn't felt in so long that she's like I have to follow this feeling like it actually has nothing to do with him and everything to do with I feel motivated again let me cling on to it before it disappears that's a good point but at first when I like was getting to know Rowan I thought that she really really loved her husband and she was like this is my soulmate like this is the person I need to go save like what is happening here and then it was just like as the story unfolded he became more and more unlikable and like the distance between them became more and more apparent so then I was quite confused that I was like okay lady like you risk your life and brought like a an innocent sailor with you on this treacherous journey to like find a man that you sort of hate deep down inside and like who left you abandoned you when your whole life burned down like that's like really where the disconnect started but dana you're totally right like the fire it inspired inside of her like but like justice for yen did anyone else think this book was going in a very different direction when she washed up on shore if it was going to be like who is this rowan where is she from is she a mermaid like i didn't realize that didn't cross my mind but i was confused i was like but i like it took me a minute to like understand the plot yeah I thought it was gonna be about like who is she the whole time or I thought when I read the description and like when you described it Rebecca I thought it would be like they're on this remote island protecting like what will carry on civilization and this woman has washed up to like let them know civilization has ended and like they're sort of responsible for bringing it back but everything that they did it was hard not to see like all of their work is like incredibly pointless I funny that you were all talking about this i think that's a good point my interpretation of based on the description that i read was that like she was a nefarious creature washing ashore that she was like out there to like either murder them or like destroy their work and that's where i thought it was going and then i was like oh no she's sort of lovely i did feel that similar frustration though at the end where it felt like all their work did not matter and they were nilly willy just like throwing shit away and to your point civilization was existing maybe they were scared it wasn't going too soon but like it wasn't as impactful it is kind of crazy like civilization was fine no no no literally nobody nobody knew about this nobody needed it it's not like everyone the redheads were podcasting in new york like it was fine hank was losing his mind over so like deselecting half the seeds so that they could be transferred but it's like whenever you get to the place of transfer it's like you could bring in the other half of scenes yeah so weird it would have benefited from more genuine apocalyptic stuff yeah feel you yeah the narration rotates around the perspectives of the main characters snitch this one is calling your name there were different styles and formats of those perspectives why do you think the author made the narrative choices to switch And was there a character that you were especially drawn to I mean it didn bother me that much in terms of because I feel like everyone had like different experiences and like different things to say. Like so many things were unraveled through different narratives versus if it was like just Dom. Like he didn't know half the shit about his kids. Like, so that made sense to me. I think my thing, and I understand why authors do it. I just don't like it is like when at the end of a chapter like something major happens and then it's like cliffhanger or Lee talking about seeds like that's annoying right I find that when she found his passport yeah and then it's like we won't hear from her again for five more seconds yeah and then it's like there's blood like in what she also kept finding stuff and not confronting him about it but that doesn't bother me because I'm like gather information you know I agree with that yeah I have a question when Fen was like banished and sleeping by the water because there was so much tension with her and her dad was that just because like of the shame associated with the hanks sex scandal so it seemed to me that she she didn't go to the water because of the tension with her dad she went because she felt safest by the water because when hank was still on the island like she felt like if anything happened like she could go to the water and that would be her refuge just like how it was when he tried to drown her so she wanted to sleep by the water to feel safe and dom was kicking himself because he let her do that um and also to say that she didn't feel safe in the lighthouse or with him like she only that that she only felt safe by the water and remember that one night where she was like maybe gonna sleep in the lighthouse and then she shot she thought she saw a shadow and she's like I'm out I'm going back to the water like you can tell like how at the forefront of her mind it really was that her discomfort being anywhere but near the water i enjoyed so that eventually made sense yeah thank you raf tells rowan deep down you know as well as i do that everything dom does is for his kids do you think that justifies his actions in the novel including the choice to imprison hank in the seed bank why do you think rowan dom and orly all decide to go try and go back and rescue hank during the storm i don't know because by the way like he should have been murdered well that was so annoying that he died anyway then like fen killed him so what was the point of rescuing him for him to just meet the same fate and then have rowan die in his place i i thought it was really interesting at one point dom was making that point about how he would do anything for his kids he was like i don't know they shouldn't have sent someone with a family down to be the caretaker of an island with the last living species on earth like i by the way i literally thought the same thing when i read that like it's so true like Obviously, he's going to choose his kids over saving civilization. Sorry. But in this question, like, does it justify his actions to hide Hank away because he took advantage of his daughter? Maybe. But more so, it justified it because if the whole purpose is to save the seeds and Hank's throwing them in the ocean, then he probably needs to be locked away. Yeah. Like, there were many reasons that Hank needed to be locked up. Yeah. Yeah. But nobody wanted it on their conscience to kill him. Like, they're not killers. so that's why when Dom didn't kill him when he like took his anger out on him it's not like he was going to go back that would have been like non-premeditated murder which is different than premeditated you know there is a difference um and I think also why they went back to rescue him when it was flooding because again like they're not murderers and they're gonna like what all start a life together knowing that they killed someone like I can understand why they didn't want to but yes again all for nothing I know that was I actually think like of course it was heartbreaking but it was actually more so enraging like pulling the fourth wall back like I think that was a bad choice by the author to kill Rowan I think it just like invalidated the whole book and we knew she loved Orly and would do anything for him we didn't need that proof yeah yeah and like she could have come to and CPR and and it would have had the same effect right because now I'm just like waiting for her to like come back same snitch yeah i'm just it's just such a waste it's a waste i agree and it's like they wanted to go live on her land now they can't that land belongs to hank because she's that's her husband and she's dead he's dead too they have nowhere to live right okay so who's it's nobody's land they have nowhere to live like it just it when the whole book is so negative like to end on a positive is nice when it's so positive then of course something negative has to happen but like i just felt like we had our fill it's a good point like we could have used an injection of happy ending because it wouldn't have it wouldn't have felt fake and it wouldn't have even been that happy but it would have been something hope i know like this family was tortured and they are leaving this tortured island with so much more grief like they already have a thousand years of grief to wrestle with and now it's like 1001 and sorry can someone remind me how did their mom die childbirth that's what i thought okay that's what i thought in your view is hank jones at all redeemable or forgiven given the pressure on him no yeah i think like a little for strictly the seeds if we're gonna operate under the premise that he was in charge of life thereafter and it rested squarely on his shoulders in terms of the fenn stuff no right like so unnecessary if this was just about the seeds yeah but like no no and then with orally absolutely oh yeah oh what the fuck was that so unnecessary but like rowan was ready to rehabilitate hank even with the seeds and fen like she was like he's you know out of his mind not competent um mentally ill so she was like we'll get him home and we'll get him somewhere so she thought that that he could be redeemed after that but after orally like no when fen was like you tried to drown me he's like i don't remember that he was lying right yeah oh yeah he was definitely um not a very redeemable character in all fronts also like rowan i felt like was such like a poised woman but there was one moment where i think it was when she was trying to find orally when he had been locked in like that prison cell where she was like thinking to herself she was like oh hank i'm so over him i was just like okay girl an out of character an out of character moment an ooc moment as the redheads would call it we sure would we coined the term why do you think fenn decides to burn her mother's possessions do you sympathize with her actions how do the different characters in this novel relate to claire's memory even though she dies long before the novel begins do you consider her to be a character in the story i felt like ben could have handled that i agree first of all they don't have that many worldly possessions with them like you are not really in a place to be burning stuff um it's disrespectful just because you hold on to someone's things doesn't mean that you can't move on like of course dom needed to move on he's like talking to her ghost so yes that should be addressed but that's stuff you can't ever get back and i disagreed me too i understood why she did it I feel like it was to like get her dad to like try and move on with his life but like there's just other ways that you could go about it maybe you guys should start trying to communicate with each other that would be a good first step I think she thought the items were like a legitimate conduit to the ghost appearing like he picks up the items and his dead wife comes back and she thought if she could get rid of it then he couldn't conjure up her her up anymore and he would have to stop I don't think it excuses burning it because agreed snitch they should just communicate but I think it was less like move on you don't have her stuff and more you physically can't get her ghost anymore if i take this away turns out he still can at the end he's like wait it wasn't her ghost it was me manifesting i was like you couldn't have realized that like three days ago literally and like not like during the most crucial moment like okay yeah i totally agree as the seed bank is closing the salts are supposed to be saving the seeds that could help protect humans in the future including important crops but orly decides to go rogue and save instead the seeds that he finds the most beautiful and unusual do you think one approach is right discuss well i think you know if we're going to be speciest is i think the term where we like you know think there's a hierarchy in species like or at least like saving the animals and the plants before the humans i think most humans would go like humans first but something else that bothered me about this book is I found it to be very godless I feel like when you're talking about like the beauty at least for me like not to be like a bible thumper and I know not everyone has different belief system but like when you're talking about the majesty of the world and how things work and how one seed on the foot of an animal can populate the whole world like to me that's God and talking about all of these things and not making much like just in my belief system it felt like it was missing that is because I just think so many of these miracles are so godly and for that reason I didn't agree with like the overall perspective of the book like as it related to the natural world that is such a good point thank you satchel that is an extremely interesting perspective I agree that it's like not treated whatsoever in the book it probably would be difficult to treat it because that brings in like a whole new layer yeah then it's like theological and then you're alienating people who don't believe the same but like for me and my belief system like when I see what Orly's describing and when he was talking about like the majesty of like that one plant that would go or the one that like is you know only sprouts during fires or how like those little groundhogs burrow in the ground and save other animals like to me that's like the work of God like it's designed by the creator and so that's why again like I don't feel like I related so much to this book because the outlook of it is not like the same as my personal outlook. Orly also made a comment how humans are always going to figure out a way to eat so we don't need to save the food and that was a little lost on me. I'm like can they figure out how to eat if there's no food to eat? Like what do I know? I'm very ignorant about this topic but that felt like like a child sorting out like the colorful seeds that are just plants versus the necessities. I didn't have as big a problem with orally, like in including some of like these kind of unbelievable seeds, like the ones that he was describing. I feel like it sort of speaks to like how resilient these plants are and like belief that they will continue on, even though they weren't on the list like there's still so much power and capability within the seeds so I was like okay like I kind of like this perspective of him being like yeah like maybe like textbook wise they wouldn't be the first but like they're so unbelievable in all these ways that weren't considered that like they will like do just fine and like be just as necessary so like I was like okay with him going rogue yeah me too especially because like as a believer in god like i do think even if we had half the seeds of the world like the way that everything is so interconnected like other seeds would then sprout like i just i have a little bit more belief that's why i didn't mind orly throwing in a couple of the randos but you do you should try and be and ironically with the god theme like the whole book was these people were playing god and i don't know how much agency they actually have in the outcome of the world to your point if they just lost every seat except two i feel like the world could continue to go on because of evolution so again they weren't as important as i think this book like made it out to seem what do i know i agree i when i when you say that i feel the same like what do you know like what about i know about what seats it will take to make the world go around um but i had faith same dog and now we will break out in gospel choir yeah now for a prayer anyone want to have brandon lake on the podcast i know you do i do um okay you guys even though rowan dies do you consider this novel to have a happy or hopeful ending no no what like what is waiting for them you know i mean finn like can't play the violin anymore rin also the names was was thank you uh raf the names were a challenge by the end like i you know and i don't want to be like so dumb dumb like i couldn't like keep the names apart but they were all so similar i'm sorry fen and raf and rowan i know the names were kind of like they were they were tricky and they were kind of blah like just like a couple letters strung together one plot hole even though they did circle back to it when raf's love interest alex dies and we're meant to assume that the blood in the cabin was his that made no sense considering he hung himself outside of the cabin and then they like went back and said it was hanks but that whole time i was like I don't understand how you get from point A to point B. No, but they never, the only person who was confused about the blood was Rowan. So everybody else knew, she just didn't clarify soon enough how Alex died. So nobody brought it up to her, like, yes, by the way, like, Alex died. She knew Alex died. She assumed that it was the blood was Alex But we knew that it wasn Oh I thought she knew earlier than she did that that why she woke up raff that night when she started like spinning her wheels a little she was like wait actually like this I just assumed that this was Alex blood maybe it wasn't let me ask oh and then I learned that he was that he hung himself he hanged himself oh then that means the blood was someone else's maybe it was Hank's that speaking of lack of hope oh my god that story was also tragic with the brother like i'm sick sick like so many sickening things and and her little brother like it was sickening yeah her little brother why do we have to do that like everything was just so upsetting how did you guys like this book oh i love this book it was joyless i guess so i need balance i need a little balance and i need a little god girl that's hilarious I know I it was also just like a good like I needed a good read to like sink my teeth into something like it like re-inspired me I was like oh right like I can do this I can read I can read I felt similarly of like oh my god my brain is reading in the way I used to read all right ladies final dbq if you had to have dinner with one character from the story who would you choose it feels random but i said fen because i just kind of enjoyed her plot but i don't have great backup i just like kind of liked her character i think orly cute like camper it's a counselor in me so counselor camper it's so counselor counselor i would probably have dinner with Rowan or um Raph and I would ask them about the whale interaction because like I'm obsessed with whales like deep down inside they're my favorite creature in the world and like I need to know every detail about like being so up close and personal with a humpback as she's coming down and taking your life from you. Statch? I agree with you Orly. Oh Orly that's the counselor in you. Rebecca was that a Rebecca original question that you added to the baby kids? It sure was thanks for noticing i kind of love it she's taking maybe it'll become a staple in the next structure for all redheads episodes who would you have dinner with like we've been missing out on so much unlocked potential by me like doing the same thing all the time this is so i just wanted to like take a little creative liberty you know yeah i it didn't go thank you thank you so much oh my goodness okay so any redheads questions former hosts so no we didn't have any because we're so early in the month that we didn't give enough time for people like read and reach out so we are going to skip over redhead questions for today perfect i think that's a okay i think we were pretty comprehensive in our dbqs if i do say so myself just kidding i think so i think we really cover everything. There was not one stone left unturned. What could someone ask that we didn't answer? Okay, ladies, what are we thinking our moral of the story is? My go-to always. Man plans, God laughs. Ooh, that's a good one. That is a good one. Don't chase after a man that you don't even like. Is that Hank and Rowan? Well, you know what? I saw this quote today I think it's relatively recent it was from Elon he was speaking at the World Economic Forum and he said this and I feel like it kind of sums up the message of this book he said my last words would be I would encourage everyone to be optimistic and excited about the future for quality of life it's better to err on the side of being an optimist and wrong rather than a pessimist and right I love that I love a little optimism I liked that for quality of life Even if like you know you're wrong with all your optimism Like you will live a better life I do like that I like that too Yeah just saw a coincidentally today That's our moral Thank you for sharing that Plus 100 to everything that was shared ladies Do you have a moral Bex? My moral was I'm sort of like It was about love is worth the risk um because I think it it was a lot of the time but then I also like think it wasn't so I'm sort of taking like a step back from it yeah because I feel like the characters of this book were in like a sort of a bad place when we met them and I want to say there were worse off by the time they ended by having had Rowan in their life and loving her and seeing what that felt like and then losing her like I think that was worse than never having had it at all and I it wouldn't always say that like it's better to have loved and lost and never had it all i think in this situation it would have better been better never all she had to do was live right yeah you got it okay ladies thank you for sharing your morals let's do the hollywood treatment oh excited excited okay so for our hollywood treatment we will be casting dominic and Rowan as our leading stars and personally we love we can go around and say um our Dominic let's do them both so for me Dominic I had Pedro Pascal I needed like someone like Gruff and I had for Rowan Natalie Portman oh that's good I thought so too for Rowan yeah for Dominic I had John Cena and for because he's like strong and can lift stuff and for Rowan I had Millie Bobby Brown because I was going on the bald thing. He's literally like 40. John Cena and Millie Bobby Brown. I thought you were going to say Amy Schumer. For Dominic I had yes similar name but also he's perfect. Dominic Purcell. Anyone watch Prison Break? and then for rowan jennifer lawrence like hunt uh hunger hunger games era but older i feel that i have another hunger games era rowan and that's natalie dormer she's also in game of thrones um she's the filmographer in hunger game she has half her head shaved and so that was just like reminding me of rowan and dominic i don't have a strong enough dominic to share you can share Dominic Purcell with me because it's like a really good one. You can share John Cena with Dana. I think I'll share John Cena with Dana. Perfect. In the world of a lifetime. Ladies, it is time to rate that book. Bex, you go first since it was your book. Jax, I'm taking a page out of your book. I'm getting five stars. I'm obsessed. I love this freaking book. You can't tell me otherwise. Nothing can change my mind. I'm obsessed. I don't think I've ever given five stars, but I'm not sure. It doesn't feel like something that happened a lot before. I love it. But I support you giving five stars to books that you have. I'm so – it might be my favorite book of the year, so I'm feeling good about it. Wow. And that's a five. That's a five. Okay, Dana. I loved it too. High for me, 4.5. Great. Wow. I'm just going to have to bring the average down. it's gonna be a one seven what yeah sorry that's ridiculous that point seven snitch okay jacks yeah i like i feel bad reading it low and like yucking someone's yum but i have to stay true to myself and that's what this podcast is all about right it's giving clara and the sun where for two people it was the best book ever and for two people it was the worst and for me it's a 2.5 okay ladies Jax will you help make that calculation yep the overall redheads rating for wild our storm is shores whatever is a 3.425 wow thank you and that makes it 425 our number 34 we've read so many books yeah in between all the colors in the dark and husbands and lovers It feels sort of like adjacent to all the colors in the dark. I could not tell you what that book is about. The missing girls or the missing people. Oh, no. That guy who was taken with a girl and then paints pictures to try and find her. The guy goes missing. His best friend tries to find him. She does. But when he was held in captivity, he had an imaginary friend. He became obsessed. And he painted all these people. like he became a famous painter like trying to conjure up her face because he never saw her because they were in the dark so he used all the colors of the dark to paint her and he found her at the end doesn't ring literally one bell remember like the detective was like going from like state to state literally now guys how many years ago did you read it the friend who was like in love with him and who saved him who literally found him and then he like still was just hung up on the other girl what no i literally i didn't read this book i don't know what you're talking about remember like he had like a an artist studio like in the middle of town like a again he had like an elder gentleman friend who owned the studio saved the pretty girl from the guy so he himself got taken remember all of the books that we've read so well like i couldn't even knocked up the pretty girl and the daughter became the best friend's responsibility because he went to jail at the end because he like beat someone up and he like built a house from scratch while he was like that's how they found the killer because like they saw a picture of the house oh the house that they found a picture of the house and that's how they found it yes that okay got it got it got it that was honestly like we should do that for one book every episode of being like red crumb what what's the book literally but also i couldn't contribute i can't even tell you i don't even remember what book we read for january the segment will be called ken snitch remember this book literally what did we read for january next to heaven the swingers party right swingers by the low-key husbands and lovers in hindsight probably i feel like should have been higher is that the one in that was like wasn't that our first oh wait sorry i'm thinking of our first husband's secret should have always been higher agreed justice for husband's secret we were reading too hard we didn't realize we had no idea we had no idea what was jackie husbands and lovers was egypt and like the beach house with the rock star paternity jacks can you still recall the headlines of every book in order no what can you do any of them anymore um maybe like the first two years i could do still because that's like yeah i was very much like in it with every book but now i have help with the answer like i just don't think about every book as much so no I couldn't possibly that was like pretty savanti for a period of time yeah for those who don't know what we're talking about Jackie could recite in order the the order of redheads books that we have read title and I'm pretty sure author and order that they were read and like who chose it yes but also I used to buy every single book and I still mean to but I just like got lazy so I could see them all on my bookshelf and I like know the or and i put them in order so like i had a visual it's your pie day and i've just it's my pie day i've just sort of dropped off next month's episode will be march this episode and dana will be reciting pie for us if that's something everyone's interested in wait for pie day on that note do you guys want to hear the next book yes dana take it away let me pass the baton over to you next month's choice is a dana's choice what are we reading we are reading what kind of paradise by Janelle Brown. Tell us a little more. Oh, I don't really want to because I don't want to corrupt anyone, but it's similar a little bit to the one we just read in the sense that like this girl is isolated and then she goes out into the world. It's giving Borat, but modern age. Is it funny? It's giving Borat. Is it going to be funny? I hope so, Snitch. But you know, we'll just have to read it to find out. Okay, well, I'm really excited. I've read one book by that author before. it was like influencer swirly thriller and I really really liked it so I think she's got the stuff wonderful I hope everybody enjoys it and I was gonna choose the correspondent but I chickened out at the last minute I didn't know if it was a good book club choice that's the other book that everyone's recommending that's the other buzzy book of the moment so I feel like we'd be too basic if we did that as well yeah I feel like we this is like a perfect um you always do a great job of introducing a book that we otherwise wouldn't have picked up whereas like i think we are picking up the correspondent yeah like i'm gonna read that regardless hopefully if i ever get back into reading oh did anyone else read anything this month no because we recorded 30 seconds ago dina it's been a week agreed i was watching traders like what do you mean we literally had five minutes like i was like eating dinner in between our last episode in this one it's the 2026 year of the redheads we're on top of our shit we are okay well rebecca you did an amazing job five stars for you i love this new tradition for redheads i think it's going to be amazing and this is the year of the redheads so sit tight read with us next month and we will see you on the next on the next one love you bye