[00:01] If fantasy and romance are what you seek Featuring heroines who aren't quite so meek with book talk and Instagram full of deceit Simply listen to our podcast, our picks of the week.

[00:11] I am talking about a fanfic. I'm.

[00:13] Oh, I forgot that you mentioned a fanfic earlier.

[00:16] I'm not even mad about it.

[00:18] Is it Dramione?

[00:19] Yes. I don't bother with anything else. Cause there's actual like published authors in this little community. Everything I've read has been good. If it's not good, I like, don't read it.

[00:30] Cause I mean, so for our readers, I have forayed into this world quite a bit. If you open up a fanfic and you're like, I wonder if this is good.

[00:40] If at the very beginning it has been translated into other languages. It's probably amazing. And this one has been translated into like 37 different languages. What the ****? Same with Manacled.

[00:51] You can get like different like translation versions. Like there'll be like multiple in Spanish, multiple in Chinese.

[00:57] Wow.

[00:58] Yeah, dude, these are.

[01:00] Yeah. So this is Measure of a Man by in a day's 22. We'll put the link in. I cannot encapsulate. I have probably read this book. I'm going to call it a book too because it's like seven times maybe.

[01:13] Oh my God.

[01:14] Yeah. And it's also SCP fanfic readings on Spotify has turned it into like an audio fic or like a podfic. So you can listen to it too, bruh. It is the ultimate slow burn.

[01:26] It's the ultimate like character treaties. Like it's the transition. It's follows the whole family as. Cause it kind of. I've never like read the follow the House of Usher, but the Netflix show where it's like each like character and having to like go through their arc or whatever.

[01:44] It's kind of similar to that because the premise is that Hermione, after the war became a healer and they're kind of like focusing in this new age. Everyone's older. This is like very adult themed.

[01:55] Everyone's older and they're kind of trying to focus on mental health. And so she has become like a mind healer basically. And she takes on long term patients, mostly like terminal patients, to help them through, you know, whatever horrible thing that they're suffering through, ptsd, et cetera, like addiction.

[02:13] And so she is being asked to help Narcissa Malfoy, who has dementia, but like a magical version of dementia. And so she's like slowly kind of succumbing to this disease.

[02:25] And so she comes into the house and immediately Draco Malfoy is working on this like anti terrorism task force and he's doing it for free because his family's been targeted after the war because they were like turncoats and so people have tried to kidnap his son, they've like targeted his mother.

[02:43] Wait, Draco has a kid?

[02:44] Yeah, that's like a canon thing. He has a son, Scorpius. And so it like love that name. I know because they have the whole you know, constellation theme or whatever and so it gets left out of some folks fix but this one it doesn't.

[02:58] I honestly yeah, they've tried to targeted his son, tried to target his mom and he's coming to the like understanding that if my mom has dementia and she leaves him somewhere cuz this happens, like someone could kidnap him and he got left at like a tailor for like three hours because she like went back home and he's like, where the **** is my son?

[03:18] And she's like, you don't have a son. Whole episode of dementia and so her money gets brought on to be the healer. Except Draco is like running himself into the ground.

[03:27] In according to like pure blood society, like the wife has to take care of the children and the father, father only takes care of like his sons once they hit a certain age and need to be like shown how to be a man or whatever.

[03:40] And so his son is so young that his mother has taken on all of his like teaching and like his day to day schedule or whatever. And she is like you have to be strong enough to like get put up with all of these like terrorists trying to attack you and these Death Eaters and society saying that you know, we're turn cloaks and like are judging us.

[03:58] And so she's like outrageously strict with his schedule and he's a little bit on the spectrum but he's like nonverbal and so he doesn't talk at all. And there's this moment where Hermione is like watching him and she like talks kind of gently to him and he's like looking off the window just like very solemn for like a four or five year old.

[04:18] And she's like are you okay? And he starts crying. Oh I know. And she tries to like give him a hug and he like steps away because you know he's not really used to affection.

[04:28] And so that sets the basis for this book where it's just like that was very dark. Yeah, it's where you are walking into this situation where you have these fraught relationships and all of this trauma and then moving them into, how does this work in the future?

[04:43] And you get. Hermione and Draco are very much at odds at first. He's like, you come into my house. You say that I have a ****** up relationship with my son.

[04:50] You say that my mom is dying and you want to help me, but you're so judgmental and I need to change everything about my life. But, like, I have all of this, like, job problem.

[04:59] I have people trying to kill me all the time. Like, I don't have fudgeing time.

[05:02] Oh, my God.

[05:03] Yeah. And so, like, Hermione obviously gets, like, defensive about it. So it's these, like, interplays of relationships and oh, my gosh, it's so long. But she does it so well. Like, you get the intricacies.

[05:14] You, like, understand them as people, and then you see how they grow.

[05:18] Oh, man. Masterclass. In, like, character arcs.

[05:22] I'm still kind of obsessed when you said turn cloaks, not turn coats, and I don't know if that was intentional.

[05:29] Is it not turn cloaks? Oh, my God. Okay, well, I learned something. But, like, turn cloak is so apt for Harry Potter. It really is. Wow.

[05:40] And I did.

[05:40] Okay.

[05:40] So I was wondering if you're like, oh, that's just part of, like, the language in this book.

[05:45] Nope. I have apparently been indoctrinated.

[05:49] I'm like a sleeper agent. That's terrifying.

[05:52] Oh, my God. But, yeah, you can read it in regular format. You can listen to it. The Chick SCP fanfic readings. She's amazing. She does it all, like, for free.

[06:01] She has a bunch of different fanfic full audiobooks, but it's just so good. Like, she lives in this, like, beautiful cottage house thing and has a bunch of land, and you can tell that she's kind of, like, struggling in her own way, but with the veneer of, like, staying bus and always helping other people and never taking time for herself.

[06:19] And it's cool, too, because as the book moves, you see her start to take on more and more to help other people. And then she has, like, an event where she kind of has, like, a psychotic break a little bit.

[06:31] Yeah. So it. It deals with so much, like, mental health stuff and, like, relationships and, like, parents and children and generational trauma. Like, oh, man.

[06:40] See, Hermione is kind of a divisive character for me because, you know, growing up, I really liked her as a, like, when I was a kid reading Harry Potter, but I feel like in some of the fanfiction and in the movies, she's kind of like portrayed as a nag.

[06:53] Yeah.

[06:54] And it's off putting. And that's. I know that's kind of like a deliberate attempt to portray her that way, which is not accurate. And so it sounds like she's not that way in this fanfic.

[07:05] No, I feel like in this she's very much like, it's a little bit overdone, I will say, but it's like the modern woman, like, she's focusing on herself. She like takes herself out on dates.

[07:16] Like, she has everything that she needs. She has, like, good, you know, friendships and she focuses on her work and she takes it seriously, like, very much like the quintessential modern woman independent feminist movement in this world.

[07:29] Is she or was she married to Ron?

[07:31] No.

[07:32] Okay.

[07:32] Yeah.

[07:32] God.

[07:33] I think they just like, oh, they broke up. Anyways, the plot. Yeah. Because she's very much living on her own. And then you get to see like her relationship with Draco.

[07:40] Like, I'm excited to read this one because this sounds like what I. The Hermione I want to read, so. Because Manacled is on my, like, my tbr.

[07:50] But it's like you have to do it soon, readers. And Jordan, it's going to be taken down because it's going to be published as a, like, full book. So you're not going to be able to find it unless you, like, you know, underground.

[08:01] So do it. Just do it. Do it.

[08:03] This is peer pressure.

[08:04] I've read so many reviews and like detailed synopsis of Manacled. I'm like, I feel like I know the story, but I'm like, I just can't pull the trigger yet.

[08:12] Girl, do it. I know it. Emotionally taxing, I will say, because if it. Have you read, oh, a handsmaiden tale that's emotionally tired. This is worse. It's more so. Yeah. So Measure of a Man is a good.

[08:27] If you like this, you'll like Manacled because they're very much like well written full novels and they're still like a subplot of like a terrorist attack and somebody's targeting her money, et cetera.

[08:38] So there's like action with the emotional development. But man, Measure of a Man. This is like God tier, you know, incredible.

[08:45] So a note for our readers who, like me, don't know a lot about Archive of Our Own or the fan fiction world, is that you can download these books and send them to your Kindle if you're a Kindle reader.

[08:57] And you prefer to read that way because it's kind of hard to read like on. On your phone.

[09:01] Yeah.

[09:01] It is life changing to be able to send it to like an actual, like, readable format. So we'll put some links in our show notes on, like, how to do that.

[09:08] If you're wondering.

[09:10] I also think too if you do that, it doesn't matter if it gets taken off archive of our own.

[09:16] Yeah. So if you want to read Manacle, just maybe like save it for later.

[09:19] Yeah. Wow.

[09:20] Yeah. Measure of a man in today's 22, there's no way she's not a published author of some kind of like adult romantic, something suspense. Oh, man. I can't talk about this book.

[09:32] I've read it like six or seven times.

[09:34] That's a great. All right. That is moving up on my list. So from Katie's shelf to yours, we'll.

[09:39] See you on the next page. Hi, readers. If you'd like to help us pick our next book, send us a message on Instagram.

[09:56] Or if you'd like to just listen. We post new episodes every Monday and Wednesday on Spotify, Apple and Amazon. Thanks for listening, Bussin.