Summary: We left money by the phone for pizza, listeners! The parents are out to dinner tonight while Holly and Devin discuss books featuring babysitting. Whether you made pocket money as a teenager or lived your best life as an Au Pair in Europe, most of us have experience babysitting and certainly being babysat. Books that explore the power, social, and logistical dynamics of babysitters with their employers and children usually go one of two ways, and Holly and Devin are the resident experts for both. Grab a slice of greasy cheese and get excited to hear them break it down. 

Topics Discussed:

• The Dagger (4:29 ): Holly discussed Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak, a supernatural thriller that inspires nightmares. Mallory Quinn is fighting for a new beginning after leaving rehab and lands a full time nanny position watching five year-old Teddy for the Maxwell family. Finding the stability she’s always craved and bonding with Teddy, Mallory thinks she’s found the solution to her future until Teddy’s adorable drawings take a sinister turn; Mallory must decipher the images and save Teddy before it’s too late. Holly’s key takeaways were:

• A major theme of this thriller is second chances when all seems hopeless. Mallory’s struggle with addiction not only underlines the triumph of her new beginning but throws her into self-doubt; can she trust her recollections and experiences as Teddy’s drawings reveal what should be unbelievable? 

• The pictures add a unique and engaging twist to this story; Rekulak builds tension well by including the actual images of Teddy’s drawings in the book. The reader will be turning pages seeing normal stick figures of a kid, a bunny, the sun—and then unveil something super creepy. 

• Mallory’s relationship with the Maxwell family underlines the class and power dynamics often at play for babysitters; she moves into a well-to-do suburban setting, in drastic contrast to Mallory’s upbringing and her life recently as an addict on the Philly streets. 

• The Heart (23:06 ): Devin discussed Life’s Too Short by Abby Jimenez, a romance following Vanessa Price (YouTube sensation and world traveler) and her next door neighbor Adrian Copeland (a workaholic criminal defense attorney) as they are thrown together in order to care for Grace, Vanessa’s half-sister’s baby after the child is left on Vanessa’s doorstep with no warning. As friendship blossoms into something more, both Vanessa and Adrian must acknowledge that the last thing either could just be the thing they need most. Devin’s key takeaways were: 

• Adrian and Vanessa are on the opposite ends of the risk tolerance spectrum but for similar reasons. Trauma and fear drive them both to do what they do; for Adrian it's to do nothing at all and work nonstop. For Vanessa it's to experience as much as she can all the time, with no consistency or roots. Thrown together, the sparks fly as these polar opposites clash and connect.

• Vanessa already lost her mother and sister to ALS, and she has a 50% chance of getting it herself. She lives with the assumption that she won’t make it past 30 years old. What do we do when we think right now is all we have? Does it make us love harder or avoid it? Jimenez interrogates this with her polar opposite protagonists.

• In the physical form of baby Grace, both Vanessa and Adrian must confront their relationships with responsibility. Vanessa has spent her life avoiding real responsibility, obligations and deep connections because she doesn’t want to leave anyone heartbroken after her expected, untimely death. The reader examines with our protagonists the point at which love and responsibility meet.  

• Hot On the Shelf (40:13 ):

• Holly: The Sleepwalkers by Scarlett Thomas

• Devin: Outlive by Peter Attia, MD

• What’s Making Our Hearts Race (44:06 ):

• Holly: A Gentleman in Moscow Limited Series Show

• Devin: Just For Us Standup Comedy Special by Alex Edelman

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Website: www.heartsanddaggerspod.com

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