reading the MOST POPULAR books of 2026... according to Goodreads!

Every year, Goodreads puts a list out halfway through the year of the hit new books of the year so far. And every year I read it. However, this video is coming a little bit later than usual because many of you know I was on a book buying ban June, July, August, and I was only reading books on the TBR. June, July, August, I didn't read a single book that was not on my TBR. However, that has now ended so I can read some new releases maybe. I'm really excited. I tend to like not read new releases in the first half of the year every year and this year is no different. So, we're going to go to the list. We're going to pick a mix of genres, a mix of books to read. New release of the year that have been super popular. I love doing this video because it enables me to like, you know, stick my fingers in the pies of what is popular right now. Get all up in there. Read some new releases that people are loving, give my two cents on them, and I I'm not going to lie, guys. This video is pretty notorious for having some hits. also notorious for having some misses. It tends to be one or the other. I love it or I hate it. But like last year, I'm pretty sure I read my favorite book of the year atmosphere in this video. So, that bodess well. What if I get my favorite book of the year? This year in this video, I'm in need of five stars. Let's be honest. Let's be honest. Four, five stars so far this year. Like, I will take anything I can get. These could all be five. I would love if these all Can you imagine? Can you imagine if these were all five stars? That would be so good. They won't be, but I would love to get multiple five stars in this video cuz your girl needs them. So, let's dive into looking at the list and seeing what I'm going to be reading. Okay, it's time to find out what is on the list. I'm so excited. I'm so excited. So, usually I have the rule that I read a book from every genre if I haven't already read a book in that genre. In this vlog, I think they've increased the amount of categories. So, I want to read like five or six books in this vlog. I think that's still a good amount. It's still a w a wide I can't say wide array. I can't say it. I can't. Why do I keep trying? It's still a wide array of genres. But yeah, I feel like I'm not capable right now of reading like 10 books. I need to know my level, but I think five or six would be a really good level. So yeah, I'm super excited to see what's in each category. And should we just get into it? Okay, contemporary. Oh, there she is. I'm reading Yes. Yeah, baby. I'm reading Yes. Write it down. That's that's a definite that's not even one that is like a maybe. I am so excited to read yesterday year. It's been on my most anticipated releases since the start of the year and just it being I mean it is this year's buzziest book. They are right. Oh, this is laid out differently though. That kind of makes me sad. I don't like that. What they used to do was have maybe like five books per genre, but each book would have something written about them. And I like that. I like reading their little I mean, I know it's just kind of like a summing up of it, but I like reading their little summarization of the books. Oh, that makes me sad. Okay, because sometimes I will be picking a book that isn't this number one. There we go. I mean, there's some other stuff in here and I'm intrigued about Lost Lambs I've been seeing everywhere. But nothing could compare to last year. I simply simply must read it. >> We need this. This is essential. This is a crisis. >> I'm so excited. I'm so intrigued by the tried wife premise. Can't wait. Historical fiction. Kin. I haven't heard of it, but this sounds very interesting. Story of two black women from Louisiana, best friends, lives plot in different directions. Lady Tmaine sounds kind of interesting. Cinderella's stepmother. Okay, I'll put these two down as a maybe. Kin and Lady Tumine both sound interesting, but part of me feels like I might find things on the genres that I'm more interested in. Mystery thriller. Have I read one already? Because I still have I have. Okay. I thought I might have read one in this category. will still have the rule that if I've read one in the category, I'm not going to read another one. I read number 13, Dissection of Murder, which I think was really good. I gave four stars. I think it's a great debut thriller, but I mean, I just can't believe it. I just scrolled past it. I said, I'm not recognizing that. >> Thank you. I'm disengaging. I am not engaging. >> Serious. >> I'm not acknowledging that. Dear Debbie is number one. This does give me a little bit of an insight into what might be in the Goodreads Choice Awards. If you think this is this list was made halfway through the year, you could think anything kind of from here and above is likely to be in it. I would love her last breath by Tad Adams be there. I would not like The Divorce to be there. I I mean, Alice Feny, why do number one, number two be things I don't want to read. These three I would read. These two, number four and five in particular, I'm very excited about. It's not Her by Mary Ka and This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crom are both books I would really love to get to. I might just have to suffer through the Alice. I'm getting heart palpitations thinking about it. I just hate I'm so sorry, but I hate Freedom McF. I hate them. I can't change who I am. Anyway, next category. Oh. Oh, for romance, Abby Jimenez is number one. Okay, I'm I'm going to read that. I am behind on my Abby Jimenez. I haven't read Say You Remember Me, but I own it. But I will read an Abby Jimenez. I love Abby Jimenez. boyfriend's best friend. Oh my god, that makes me a bit nervous. I don't know if I like that. That makes me nervous. I don't want her to hurt him. Oh, I don't think there'd be anything here that I'm desperate to read. I mean, I've heard things about Into the Blue that I think is a bit different than like a typical romance. I also really want to try out BK Boris, but I mean, I'm going to read Abby Gimenez. Okay, we've got two books that are definity. Baby, I have free will. Isn't it great? Isn't it great to exist in a world where you have free will? I ain't reading it. I ain't reading it. >> I can't do it. My heart is saying no. >> Oh, fantasy will be interesting. Oh, number one does sound interesting else. Magical library of books are literal portals into familiar fictional worlds. The Regency era Jane Austin or Sherlock Sadden. That does sound really good. Let's see. Oh, hang on. Oh, okay. Right. Okay. This does intrigue me here. The Astral Library. That sounds interesting. But I have three that are on my TBR. I have uh The Book Witch, Agnes Orbert's Mystical Cat Shelter, and The Unicorn Hunter. I'm reading I'm reading Mad Girl. It's probably too early in the video to swear. Katherine MF Arden. Let us just say I'll refer to her proper and full title later in the video. Katherine Arden, my baby, could be my favorite book of the year. I just feel it. I just feel it in my bones that The Unicorn Hunters could be my favorite book of the year. I love Katherine Arden. One of my favorite authors. That's my girl, as you all know. And it this is this is one of my most anticipated releases of the year. I'm reading it. Oh my god. This list, can I just say, is shaping up to be absolutely crazy already. My god, these are like five star predictions. I think all those three books that we've got dead set already yesterday, The Night We Met, the Unicorn Hunters are like five star predictions. What? Good golly. Okay, so Okay, we've got a DAR. I need to make progress. My dad is on like number seven and my mom's on number five. They're both reading it. They I introduced them to it both and they're just like speeding through them. My dad goes on walks and listens to the audio book. I was like, all he does in his walks is listen to dodge a corner car. So, I need to catch up with them. Is there anything else here that is like a definite that I want to read? I would be intrigued in TJ Cloon. I did just DNF a TJ Cloon, though. But I think this one's quite short. It's about like a gay couple at the end of the world, an older queer couple. Um, and that does interest me. So, let's put that as a tentative one. If I was to read something from sci-fi, it would be that, but I'm not putting it on my three that I have to read yet. Horror. Oh, okay. There's a lot here I'd like to read. The Caretaker, I'm very interested in. I am one of the only people that didn't love We Used to Live Here. I know that was like everyone was obsessed with that book and everyone thinks it's the best horror book ever written. I gave it I think a 3.5. I found it just kind of okay, but I want to give him another go. Do I just read this part about the rabbits nerve shredding tension some huge reveals? I think good readads have just convinced me that I have to read this. But thing is there's loads here that I want to read. I want to read Japanese Gothic. I want to read Mocha. I want to read a box for darkness. I want to read Wolfworm. I want to read Honey. Like all of these are on my anticipated releases of the year. So I'm just I'm going to read The Caretaker. It's tempted me. I'm going to read The Caretaker. I just something about it feels like I need to read that. Oh, okay. Memoirs. I'm going to read Strangers. Here's I wasn't like, "Oh, I have to read that book when I first heard about it." And I know that there's like critique of it, how like she's incredibly incredibly wealthy, but I think that is actually part of the book in itself, the commentary on it. You don't know. It's like a woman whose husband just told her like right in deep co like March 2020 that he is having or she finds out he's having an affair and he just leaves. He just leaves their life. And I've just been seeing a lot of people talk about it. I've been seeing it on like podcasts, reals, like I've been seeing a lot of people discuss it and I feel like I want to be part of the conversation. And I think it's pretty short. I'll probably just get the audio book for this one because I I'm guessing she probably narrates it. So, yeah. Okay, we're going to read Strangers now. Are we going to read another non-fiction or are we going to read Cuz I'm I reckon there's one more category. Oh, god damn. I think I got to read this. Also, sorry I keep I keep reading the first books, but like they are the hyped books for a reason. Veteran investigative reporter Patrick Raden Keefe uncovers the truth behind the mysterious death of London teenager Zack Breler who fell to his death from the balcony of a luxury tower on the rivers. His investigation takes readers into the glitzy nightclubs and dark alleys of London's criminal underground. I've heard so many good things about this. I think either Marina or Richard on the rest of Entertainment recommended this and that's when it went on my radar and I've really wanted to read it since. I've seen it around. I've almost bought it a couple times. So, I've got to read that baby. Are we reading? All of our picks are the number one pick apart from the Unicorn Hunters. There we go. The six books we're going to be reading. Yesterday year, The Night We Met, The Unicorn Hunters, The Caretaker, Strangers, London Falling. I think that that could be six five stars. I rarely now have a reading vlog where I'm like, those could all everything in this vlog could be five stars. This could be like our most successful vlog of the year. Now, it equally could not be. I could be disappointed by all of them, but I think there's some real I'm thirsting for more five stars and I think there's some real possibility that we find some here. So, I don't know what I'll start with. I'll probably just get them all my hands on all of them and then see what I fancy. But what a selection. I'm so excited. Hello everybody. I am looking a bit vragalled. Like this hair and makeup was put on at 9:00 a.m. this morning and I've been to the gym since. But let's chat, shall we? I'm so ready to chat. Okay. Yesterday she's Oh, the not the camera focusing on you. I want to chat. I'm only 55 pages in, but I wanted to just give my initial thoughts. So, if you don't know the synops, have you been living under a rock this entire year? Like, I'm sure almost 99% of you know what this book is about. You don't. Before this woman who is a tradife influencer, profits off that imagery, profits off that selling that life to her followers, but she has a whole staff. She has staff. She has camera crews. She has all this, you know, mechanism. Uses every modern technology you can remember, but hides it all to kind of portray her as living on this farm and, you know, just that they live on the spoils of the farm and she toils away on the farm being a wonderful wife, yada yada. Anyways, you know very quickly that's kind of like a lie in the opening. And then she gets transported back to the 1800s in her house, but it's not her house with her kids and husband, but they're not her kids and husband. Like there's only four kids when she has five kids usually, and they all look a bit different, but they all kind of still look like her kids. And the same with the husband kind of looks like him, but kind of doesn't look like him. And so I'm already intrigued to see where it goes from here because that setup is kind of all I know. That hook, right? I don't know what goes on from here. And so I'm intrigued to see. I think that's a I think it's a really strong opening. Spoiler, I loved the opening of this, but where do we go from here is kind of my question. And I got to say, I really enjoyed the writing. There's like these little she's very it's very voicy and she's very like emot there's a lot of emotions. There's a lot of emotions that she's keeping bottled in. We also kind of in that in that opening got excerpts of like someone someone asking her questions and her responses. And I'm not sure if it was like real, like she went on a TV show or something and they were asking her, you know, how do your kids feel about being filmed and her response or if she's kind of like throughout the day having these imaginary conversations in her head. I don't know which way it lands. However, I will say already I'm like three chapters into the past timeline or the present. I don't know. I don't know what the right word to prepare this is. We're having a lot of flashbacks to her life, like telling you about her now and how she's become this person that she is. I'm not so interested in that. I'm interested in her being in this 1800 situation and being like, "What the ever living [ __ ] Like, how the [ __ ] am I going to get out of that? Who the [ __ ] are my kids? Like, who the [ __ ] is this husband? What the fuck?" I'm more interested in that. However, I do recognize that learning about her as a person is kind of necessary to the story. The things we're learning, we're kind of we're going to learn how she became the monster that she is. You know, that is necessary to the story, but is it what I'm most interested in? Not necessarily. And you guys know I do sometimes have issues with split timelines. They're not they're not always for me, you know. They're not always for me. So, that's where we land. I'm intrigued. I've enjoyed the start. I want to keep reading tonight. I'm on reading sprints with my patrons right now. So, I'm going to keep reading. I'm enjoying The Voice. I'm enjoying some of the kind of biting societal commentary that this is already kind of making through its voice, through its character, but also kind of against its character. It's a very interesting debut. Ooh, I'm intrigued. I think this could go many ways and I'm just hoping it goes a way that I find exhilarating and not boring. I'm going somewhere very exciting today and I'm going to take you along with me a little bit. Maybe I'm going to try and vlog my life. I've actually got a very exciting two days back to back. I can't wait. But I'll just tell you about today's first. So we are going to the rest is fest which is really aging me I think a little bit. I said quite a white middle class demographic I'm guessing is going to be there. However, if you don't know, the rest is podcast, like a huge selection of podcasts. So, you've got like the rest is politics, the rest is history, the rest is entertainment. There's loads more as well. The event that made me want to go to this was Marina from the rest is entertainment, which Dosman is also a co-host for the rest is entertainment, which we'll get on to in a second. Rich in my mind. No, Marina from Rest Entertainment and Tom Holland from The Rest is History, not that Tom Holland um are doing The Real Housewives of Regency England. Oh my god. I don't think there's if it ever been anything more for me than The Real Housewives of Regency England. Excuse me. I just can't wait. So, we're going to that in the afternoon and then in the evening we're going to The Rest is quiz, which is going to be Rich Dosman hosting a quiz for all of the different podcast teams. So, I'm super excited. I'm going with my mom. We're going to have a lovely day in London. We've got some time to kill in between them. So, we'll grab some food. We might go to like the Tate or something which is nearby. But yeah, come along with I got to go. So, let's go. Emma Hamilton. Lady Hamilton as she becomes um is best known as um Nelson's girlfriend, but she had a remarkable life. I don't know whether she's a worth worthy admiral, but I'm going to suggest that her analog is Eric Jane from the Beverly Hills franchise. She actually she met her husband as a cocktail waitress, which has a touch of the winter gardens to it. >> Thank you so much. my throne for today. >> It's so lovely to see you, Natie. >> It's a pleasure to meet This was truly destiny. >> That was fantastic. Nothing is scripted no matter what you say. And I know you said it could be partly, you know, it is not. I can guarantee that from the inside. >> So, we just went to our first talk which was the Real Housewives of Regency England. It was great. I mean, learning about the Real Housewives of Regency England. I'm obsessed. I loved it. And every time there was like a a Regency England housewife mentioned, Marina Hyde would then compare her to like a Royal Housewife Housewife. I feel like she'd only watch Beverly Hills though. It was all Beverly Hills housewives. I'm like, let's pull from the archives. Let's pull some New York. Let's pull some Atlanta, babe. But then at the end, they bought out a Real Housewife. I cannot believe my eyes. It was Nessie from Real Housewives of London cuz apparently she's a big The rest of history fan, and it was great. My mom, who obviously doesn't watch, well, obviously she refuses to watch Real Housewives. makes fun of me. I'm like, you just don't understand the sociological, you know, investigation that is Real Housewives. But anyway, she was like, Nessie was too afraid to say anything against the party line, like to say anything wrong about Real Housewives. But as someone who loves watching the show, it was great. And Nessie, if you've watched Rehearsal London, she's just very nice. She's never going to say anything mean or bad. Anyway, it was so fun. We're going to walk along the South Bank now cuz we got like 5 hours until our other talk that we're going to. So, we're going to walk along the South Bank, maybe go to the Tape Modern, grab some food at some point. But yeah, I'm having a great day. Hey, hey, hey. Go on record now saying the rest is quiz is not a good name. So I have renamed it and long before the rest is quiz is now called the test >> of information was never meant to be shown in public during the war. >> Football is actually one thing. >> It's not a moment of pity there. Just take it away. Oh my Oh, good Morning friends. Before we get into the vlog properly, I'll keep this brief, but I did want to chat about the water st event that I went to last night because I didn't get a lot of good content. They wouldn't allow filming during the event, like during the talk. So, I like quickly filmed a little bit as they walked out and then put my phone away. And then it was so hard to film when you were meeting the authors. My mom, bless her, tried her best. First of all, can I just say it was so stupid putting all these authors on the same table in a cramped corner of the cathedral when everyone is there to meet Rich Dosman. 90% of the people 95% of the people queuing up were there just to see Rich Dosman. And so Lucy Fo and Mark Billingham were just sitting there by themselves like awkwardly and it just made me feel so awkward. They hated it. So I met Lucy. First of all, the talk was very interesting. Obviously I love these authors. It was fascinating to hear from them. I do feel like though I do prefer like one author events where you really get to like dive into their thinking of a book. But anyways, I met Lucy and I'm going to have to get rid of the audio of us chatting because the publicist was very worried about what I asked her about. It's something I've spoken about on the channel before. It's like something to do with her new release and you know maybe how I'm acquiring it. >> You said it. Is that what you think? >> I'm asking. You said it. I didn't say it. They didn't say anything incriminating. They were very careful not to say anything incriminating. But um the publicist was very which then makes me feel so awkward because I can see her at the corner of my eye. I be like, "Are you filming?" And I'm like, "It's not nefarious. I'm not trying to get some journalistic scoop." Thirsty. Anyways, but Lucy was very nice. She said lovely stuff in the books that she signed. And then Richard after that, I decided we're not going to film because also we wanted some tea from Richard. And I thought if we're filming him, he won't give us the tea. We told him that we went to the resters fest the night before the rest is quiz and we were like was it hard because it seemed really hard cuz all of the guests were drunk as [ __ ] like all Gary Lica Al Murray like all of them and Scaramucci they were all drunk and he was like yeah it was really difficult cuz I knew we had to be done by a certain time and I knew people had paid money to see this and then my mom went like am I right in saying you also had to like manage a lot of egos there and he was like well you said But that was really fun. Richard, we had a little kiki with Richard Osman. It was really, really fun. He was a great sport. Um, and it's crazy like looking him in the face and seeing him be like, "Oh my god, you're Richard Osman. I love you, mommy." Anyways, um, that's all to say. I'm I'm aware that this vlog has begun with like a lot of things that aren't the vlog. So, now to get into reading, but I'm very excited for all the books I got to get this vlog. Hello, beauties. How are we doing? New day, baby. I am just over 200 pages into yes. So I wanted to do a quick check-in now before we finish because I feel like going from like 60 pages to finish is kind of crazy. I'm still really enjoying this. I'm still really enjoying it. The thing about this is I can't put it down. Few books I've read recently, even ones I've enjoyed, maybe even just this year, babe, it's hard to like lock me in on a book. Often I'm like, "Okay, I need to be reading this." I feel like you're really crooked. Let's That's Is that better? I feel like that's better. Oh, yeah. It's rare that I am like can't put a book down flying through it. Flying through it at the speed of light, but I am with this. I'm just I'm eating up. Eating up. It's interesting. I was thinking about how people either love or hate this book. It seems >> Everyone loves me. Well, the old bastard hates me, but they're just wrong. And I think this book is kind of meant to make you a bit uncomfortable even if you are very far away from the worldview that she is in of this very like evangelical Christian you know the the role of a wife the role of a mother the role of women in society like even if you're very far from that this book is kind of questioning a women's place in society and I think it kind of raises some uncomfortable questions like her observations of like for example this is just one example but like her observations of girls that she goes to school with and like how hard they work to get these internships, to never to then get these jobs, to never quite be treated like a man is, but to work so hard to have equality and to be a woman in the workplace and how you still then have to be a mother. You still have to be a woman. You have so many expectations that come with the role of being a mother then that come with the role of being a woman. how to be attractive, how to stay young, how to stay perky, how to stay positive, how to stay smoothing emotions of men around you and and never quite getting the reward that they get, right? And she chooses from that to like remove herself from that world and be like, well, I'm not going to engage with that. But you see cracks with that that methodology later on where you're relying on a man and like, you know, how are you going to get out if you're relying completely reliant on this man? I don't think we should then completely remove ourselves from wanting equality, from wanting careers, from wanting to have it all, but I think it's incredibly harder for a woman to have it all. Right? And so I think there's going to be people who read this book that like but I think I think it can kind of make everyone uncomfortable because I think I don't know if I'm speaking for everyone here but like I think there are ways that I as a woman feel like there's so many things on me. There's so many plates I'm trying to juggle and sometimes I don't feel like I'm doing a job good job of having it all. And sometimes I find it hard to as a feminist as a you know I hope an intelligent woman but sometimes I find it hard to separate what about femininity about womanhood about my motivation for for health for wellbeing or makeup appearance or clothing or whatever is from an empowered place and is from a disempowered place and I think there can be messaging that like women are creating right online of like youthfulness of of fitness that is from a disempowered place and there's some from an empowered place and I think sometimes the border between them is very fuzzy and so sometimes this is things I'm crushing myself I know that that's a lot of thoughts right there that's a lot of like disperate thoughts that I just laid out there I don't know I think this can hold up an uncomfortable mirror to parts of society and I think if you're like oh my god I think if you're a practicing like you know evangelical Christian Christian this may make uncomfortable reading and a lot of America is right and so I think that's the reason a lot of people hate them there's a few people who like didn't rate the book on good readads that I'm like I feel like you didn't rate it because you fundamentally disagree with the narrative around religion that this is giving and I it's interesting I for those that don't know this is again a tangent I'm so sorry but I think this book is thoughtprovoking right and like what more do we do we want than fiction to be thoughtprovoking I'm not saying that I think it's nailing the head on every topic that it's touching or whatever, but I think it's thought breaking. Something it made me think about was I was raised Catholic, right? I went to those that don't know, I went to Catholic primary school, Catholic secondary school, went to church almost every weekend. My family were like, you know, involved in the church, helped run condemnation, helped run communion. But then basically over the last 10 years, not only have I left like religious schooling or whatever, but my family have like stopped going to church. We don't go to church anymore and obviously there's a lot of issues with like religion, right? And I first of all, like this is related to this, but I don't really know where I fall on the question of like what I was taught as a child and like believed in, you know, and what I think about religion and God and Jesus and all that now. It's not really something I think about. I've kind of put it in a box and put it away. I'm not a practicing Catholic. I don't go to church. I don't pray. I may in my darkest moments say dear God name father son and holy spirit dear god you know like once every 3 years or something but I'm not a practicing Catholic but anyways I don't see my what was my religion kind of portrayed in this I feel like the American evangelical Christian or Mormon or all these kind of offshoots of evangelicalism is a very different religion than what we have here in the UK. very different, you know, Christianity than what we have in here in the UK. And maybe I'm like maybe just where, you know, the school I went to, the church I went to, it all felt pretty normal and not crazy. But I don't feel I like I don't feel Here's the thing. I don't want you guys to I'm not Oh my god. I don't see what was my religion when I was younger kind of uh portrayed in this. It feels like two like miles and miles apart. But I think if you are a Christian in the US, an evangelical Christian, I think even if you're progressive, right, I think this would make very uncomfortable reading. That's a lot to say, but I just think it's interesting that I don't see what I experience portrayed in this. I don't know. These are all just thoughts that I'm having at the end of the day. They're just thoughts that I think are interesting, but I'm really really enjoying it. I don't know if it's going to be a five. I would like it to go a bit crazy. I feel like it needs to go a bit crazy. We need to go somewhere, you know. That's the only that's my request, please. So, I need to go do some housework and stuff. I am actually going to start the audio book, Strangers, for our next book, which I'm probably going to read in one go cuz it's so short. I'm going to go briefly start the audio book for that while I do like some housework. But then I'm hoping the rest of this evening I will finish this bad boy. So, hopefully I might check in with you this evening, tonight before bed, with my thoughts because yeah, once I put it up, I ain't putting it down. Okay, everyone. We need to discuss. We need to chat about yesterday year. Oh my god. Okay. I last night had to stay up to finish this book. I had maybe 60 pages left and Tom went to sleep and I was like, I'm sorry, but I feel like it's about to get crazy and I need to like read it now all in one go for like maximum effect. So, I'm giving this 4.5 stars. I really, really, really enjoyed this. The ending, let's talk about the ending. The ending goes there. The ending has a twist, right, that I personally did really enjoy. Now, it is the kind of ending that I can I can imagine someone the author sitting like at a dinner with friends and like one of the friends is in and then the ending should be this like it's kind of crazy. It's kind of whackadoodle. It's kind of the thing you kind of come up with when you're riffing with people and trying to think of one of the most outlandish things that it could be. So, there is that element to it. There is a whacka doodle vibe to it. >> It's whacka doodle time. It is whack aadoodle time, >> which maybe some people don't enjoy, but I loved it. I didn't see it coming at all. I didn't see the twist coming at all. I'd be intrigued to know how many people saw that twist coming cuz I did not [ __ ] it. I feel like the book does just enough to kind of dispel that as a possibility. In the end, this book has so much to say, not only about kind of like tradife influences, but just family vloggers in general. You think back to like particularly I think there's a lot of parallels to this with the Frankie family, the um what's her name? Ruby Frankie. And I read Sherry Frankie's memoir either last year or the year before and obviously there was a big documentary around it. And so I feel like there's a lot of inspiration from that case around this book. Not to spoil anything, but just in terms of like some of the vibes and stuff. And I will say the ending makes you use certain things about the book in a different way. You know, I really think Natalie, our main character, is a really great unlikable narrator and unreliable narrator. and the twist makes you view things that certain little nuggets, certain little Easter eggs in a different way where I think this book would kind of stand up really well to reread and kind of little clues that have actually been laid that you miss towards what is actually going on. I was reading actually this is the kind of book I mean I guess because it's been so buzzy I really wanted to read reviews and read what people were talking about and people who don't like it I think can kind of get confused with bad things happening in a book meaning that the book is an endorsement of those bad things you know like there's some issues around sex in this book and some like icky kind of yeah questionable sex things are happening and people were kind of viewing that as like the book wasn't challenging that enough. But like critical thinking, guys, like I do feel like the fact that things happen in this book or I said in this book are obviously not an endorsement of them. And yeah, I just had a really great time reading this. I flew through it. I didn't want to put it down. I was locked in. There's a lot going on, right? There's a lot being examined and there's a lot of like blame sharing going on in terms of the kind of systems that exist that that these women these kind of women who get brought into maybe like tread wife influencing or tread wife living or things like MLMs a lot of this stuff kind of exists within Christian America right and like the systems that are set up to kind of make them fall into these traps but then also they are like then set the traps themselves and walking into them and setting the traps for their kids and making their kids walk through them. Do you know what I mean? Like it's all a perpetuation. And so I thought the examination of that was really really interesting. I thought there's a lot of detail to this little parts, little commentary that I really enjoyed. So yeah, I would really recommend this. I know not everyone loves it, but I had a fun time reading it. I can understand some people finding it slow. Like when you think back to it, you're kind of like, "Oh, what really happened?" You know what I mean? And I think because of the split timeliness of it, which is often a problem I have with split timeline is like you have less of a story in each timeline. So I can understand maybe some people finding it like slow or boring, but I didn't. I loved it. I could not put it down. So that's a success. I'm starting to feel like I've just got to be okay with 4.5 stars and like view them now as like a subset of my fives because I've only had four five stars as yet. I have already started Strangers, but um I'm going to finish it today. I've started at the start and the start is Wacka Doodle, but like I've literally I haven't listened to much of it and it is short. So, I'm going to keep listening today whilst I like make dinner and stuff like that. And hopefully this evening I will give you my thoughts on Strangers. I'm really excited to to finish it. I It kind of feels like the end the start of Strangers. I'll talk more about this in my review, but the start is like [ __ ] crazy. like you feel like you're in a simulation and you're I mean she feels like that in the book and then it kind of is peted out into more of a kind of memoir of life and like telling the facts of life. So it'll be interesting how it ends or like maybe how we ramp back up some of this the pacing of the book again. But anyways, I'll talk to you later tonight. Okay, let's discuss Strangers. I have finished it. I flew through it. Like I said, it wasn't very long and the audio book is like seven hours long. So, I flew through it and I have thoughts. So, this is the memoir of Belle Burden who basically finds out her husband is having an affair. And like the first night she finds out he is like apologetic. I'm so sorry. It meant nothing. Like very loving towards her, trying to win her back over. The next morning, he wakes up with a cold look on his eye, packs his bags, and says, "I want a divorce. I haven't been happy." And leaves. And let me tell you, that man leaves. He leaves her, their children with little to no expectation. Let me tell you, this man is a loser. Loser. Loser. Loser. Lo loser. Biggest loser you've ever met in your life. Loser. He like doesn't want custody of the kids. He tells them like pacing with his mask on after months of leaving this house and then like gets her to make him a sandwich. Like, can you make me a sandwich? and doesn't come for his kids after telling them I'm having a divorce. Let me tell you, both this and yesterday, they do leave you with a feeling that just men pathetic. Pathetic. Like so pathetic. Yeah. And it's kind of the story of the first year in particular after this happens, but kind of a few years after that as well, her life really and what happens. And some people don't rate memoirs. I have no qualms rating a book really on my enjoyment. And I'm going to give this four stars. I found it very compelling. I find the the honesty that she writes and kind of yeah, I I can't imagine how painful this must have been to write because you kind of don't want to maybe this is just me. I don't want to like think about the worst moments of my life. I don't want to dwell delve into them. I don't want to dwell on them where she obviously had to in order to write this. I can't imagine like god he is awful. the stuff he does to her and his kids, his children. Innocent party in this just kind of like picks up and leaves his life, right? Just leaves. Not just the marriage, but his entire life. He just is like, I'm gone. The cruelness is just insane. And I, you know, I just found it a very compelling read, a very interesting read. She narrates the audio book and I just loved listening to it whilst I was doing other things. I do want to address some of the critiques. Now, some people critique this as like she's very rich. She comes from a line of wealth, baby. And some people are like, you know, she's blinded by her privilege. You know, there's things that she finds difficult in life, and she doesn't realize how difficult other people have got it. And I I think I have to push back on that. Like, no matter how rich you are, this human experience that she goes through is an incredibly painful one. Right? There are things that money can't buy. Money can buy a lot of things. Money can buy a lot of safety. And like, she has in many ways a very blessed life other than this. But this is still an earthshattering, groundbreaking thing to go through. And I think people are like, "Oh, she never says she's rich." She does. You You just have to like She talks about how she has a trust that she used to buy a flat in New York and then this house on Martha's Vineyard, the private schools they send their kids to and the the lineage of wealth that she comes from and none of it is hidden. Her her like dress is designed, who is it? It's like Calvin Klein or some some designer designs her wedding dress. Okay. Like I don't think she's trying to hide anything. I think it's all pretty out in the open. So I didn't feel that it was blinded by her privilege. I think it's it's a woman who goes through an incredibly painful thing and talks about it with searing honesty and rawness. And so yeah, I don't agree with that critique of it. And I think any critique she kind of touched on the end cuz I think she originally publishes an article, right? And then this book is kind of taken from that and grows from that. and some of the critique that I see both of this and and of her online and in the book that she mentions like a personal attack on her based on this. I just don't I can't imagine reading this and not having empathy, right? I think that's kind of a strange reaction. Um or yeah, I don't know. Having like empathy for the husband and be like she should have kept this quiet. I don't know. I do think some of the takes surrounding this are wild, but obviously that kind of is what happens when you open yourself up to the internet. Everyone's got an opinion. Yeah, I really enjoyed this. And I think that too often a woman in her situation would want to kind of like keep the peace and not make something like this public out of fear of how it will affect her children. And I think that means that kind of men's behavior like this where they can kind of act with impunity and kind of like remove themselves from the the horrors of their actions, right? He doesn't want to deal with any of the fallout. He just wants to go and he leaves all of the fallout to her, all of the financial fallout. She might be rich, but this man is taking the [ __ ] piss with trying to like get a stake of a flat in the house that she entirely bought. He was lucky enough to have his name put on. My goodness. Cuz he wrote in the prenup, basically had a prenup where like everything that they, you know, make in the marriage is their own, but she becomes a homemaker. She becomes a stay-at-home mom pretty much and he is the money maker and he hides how much money he makes from her. I just can't. It's crazy. It's crazy. But she put the houses in her name. So they are a joint asset. But then everything that he has is just his. It's >> man. >> So there is I mean there's financial abuse there. What was I saying? I can't remember. Anyway, yeah, I think to not speak about this means that these actions kind of women end up sharing in kind of whispered conversations with each other and going to lunch with a friend and being like, "Oh, well yeah, well, you know, my husband did this or or my dad did this to my mom or what?" Like I think both this and yesterday year yesterday also examines kind of masculinity and and toxic masculinity and and the way the world is set up for men and the way that you know Natalie and yes may be a monster but her husband ain't innocent and he kind of gets away unscathed out of like pathetic in in many ways like inaction and so yeah I think it's kind of interesting reading these books back to back because there is something there but yeah I this is a quick read right this is 7-hour audio audio book. It's well written. One thing I think is interesting, I know I'm talking a lot here, she kind of talks about how she doesn't really read or I don't know, particularly during like the breakup, she can't read. She can kind of only really do puzzles and stuff like that. That's where she finds kind of her quiet time. But I don't think she's a big reader. And I think the reading experience maybe why it's a four and a five for me. You can kind of tell that this is someone writing to share and writing to process what she's been through. It is not someone who has like a deep love of books and the art of books and the art of reading and literature. Do you know what I mean? There's something in the writing that feels almost intensely emotional but also emotionally detached at the same time. Well, I think just the writing style more than anything. She obviously has something there. Like there's obviously it's well written but it's I don't want to say cold. It's not cold but it's kind of um matter of fact. It feels like a really a journal entry that's been like poured out into the world. So, I just think that's interesting. You can kind of tell I think she's not a reader, and I think I do prefer readers. I like to read from readers, you know what I mean? So, yeah, there is that. But I thought it was incredibly compelling. I'm glad I've read it. I really enjoyed watching actually um Cindy's video on this. I'll try to remember link it below. But if you don't want to read the book and you just want the like cliff notes, particularly what he does at the beginning, the opener of this book is [ __ ] insane. The the actions this man takes is insanity. It's crazy. It's crazy. Not even just to her, right? Like marriages break down, but like what how he abandons his kids in this emotionally is just insane. So yeah, I enjoyed this. I'm now today going to read as much of the night we met by Abby Menace. I'm going from a tale of like can there all be loved hopefully a romance. It's like 3:00. I have got some reading not reading experience. I've got a Nancy Drew live stream with my patrons tonight at 7 and I've got to have dinner, but other than that, all I'm doing is reading this. I'm hoping I can kind of blitz through it. I love a good Abby. So, yeah, I'll see you in my thoughts. Maybe I'm about halfway, but I it's been a while since I read an Abbeby. I think just for the summer in 2024, maybe was the last Abbey that I read. So, I'm looking forward to seeing what I think of this one. Actually, I'm just sitting at my desk doing some work and I realized there's two things I need to tell you. Number one, I've decided I'm not reading The Unicorn Hunters in this vlog. I know. Here's the thing. I just had to read these books fairly quickly for this vlog, and I don't want to rush The Unicorn Hunters. I want to give it as much time and space as it needs. And all the other books I'm reading in the vlog are like number one. Da, calm down. And all the other books I'm reading in this vlog are number one in their cate are number one in their categories. Hello. So it kind of just makes sense. The Unicorn Hunter is like number 12 or something in this category. I just really want to read it. Okay. The other thing other than RIP Unicorn Hunters, I may read it next week. I've got vlogs I can read it until the end of the year. Don't don't worry. Da da wants skullies in the bedroom and DA's not happy. That's what the meowing that's going on is. I wanted to let you know I am hosting a weekend readathon over on my Patreon next weekend. So, what weekend is that? Let me tell you the dates. This is going up on Sunday. So, the weekend after. So, the weekend of the 26th, 27th of September, I'm hosting a readathon on my Patreon. I do one every quarter. And this one is available to all tiers. So, you could join us for £3 a month is the lowest tier. And um I'm revealing the theme on Monday. So, the day after this vlog goes live. So, I can't tell you the theme, but there will be reading prompts. There'll be loads of reading sprints. And it's just like a really fun activity that we all do together. Like there's a Discord where everyone shares what they're reading and updates on what they're reading. Listen, not to speak about my Patreon too much, but I think it's really good. Okay, you get a lot from being on my patron. There are weekly reading sprints. There's movie nights, games nights, quiz nights. I do Nancy Drew game streams like I'm going to do tonight. There's a Discord full of readers that you find out my video plans ahead of time. There's Zoom calls. There's a book club. There's loads of stuff on there. So, if you've ever wanted to join something with like a bookish community and also just hang out with me more, you know, like you could see me for hours long's reading sprints every week and like hang out and read together. It's just a really nice community and I love getting to know the people on there. Like I know I you know, I don't know them cuz we don't meet face to face, but there's people on there that I really have gotten to know and I love seeing their names, you know, come up in the YouTube chat and um I it's just a lovely space. So, if you want to join us for that readathon, if you want to get some great reading done, it will be a great opportunity. Loads of reading sprints, reading prompts, a way to motivate you, chat to everyone, talk about what they're reading, like it's a really great experience, you can join. It's for all tiers, so £3 pound a month will get you that as well as like countless other reading sprints that I do every week and loads of other activities. So, yeah, I'll leave the link to join down below. But anyways, I do need to go read. I need to get my way through a good chunk of this book. So, wish me luck. Hello friends. I just got off my Nancy Drew game stream with my patrons and I am tired. I've got a bit of a headache. Set the the clip of I can't remember what her name is, but East Enders lady going. I think you can tell by my face that I'm extremely tired today. >> I think you can tell by my face that I'm extremely tired today. But I always check in because I'm like 150 pages into The Night We Met by Abby Gimenez and I fear I'm going to go get in bed and read and like I could finish this before we check in otherwise. So quick check in. All you need to know the premise of this, it's a boyfriend's best friend romance. Now I was nervous about that setup because I don't want cheating. I don't want like, you know, but if anyone's going to do it well, it's Miss Abby. It's Miss Abby. I trust her to handle difficult topics well. And it's done in a way where like they've only just become official. They've been dating for like two months casually. So, it's very fresh. It's not like a long-term relationship. They haven't said I love you. Do you know what I mean? And Abby is doing a good job of making the boyfriend in particular the one who's not the love interest like he's not a bad guy, but he is doing enough like not taking care of her or like looking out for her in the way the love interest does. So, like he had to ask his best friend, "What should I get her for her birthday?" And the boy the best friend gave the boyfriend the idea or just now they go into like this ski trip and the best friend calls to him. He's like, "Get rid of all the nuts in the house cuz she is like deathly allergic." And he gets there and he hasn't got rid of the nuts and the best friend's so angry that he hasn't got all the nuts for her. So, I feel like it's she's doing it in a way that like, you know, he's got his own [ __ ] going on. He's got a complex life and so you want the best for him, but you're also like she shouldn't be with you. And listen, I am just flying through it. It's been a long time since I read an Abby. It's been a couple years and I just love her writing. I just love it. I just love it's so easy. It's so easy to get through. She's one of my girls. Her and Ally are my top two girls without a shadow of a doubt. Like oh my god. Please, if I love Alli Hazelwood and Abby Jimenez, who should I read? because just I love it. >> I love this. I love it. I love this. I love it. I love this. >> Something Abby does really well is like characters with baggage, right? They've each got their own [ __ ] going on. They've both got issues with their parents. She comes from poverty, which isn't something I've really seen before in a romance. Like, she's really struggling for money. She's really like living paycheck to paycheck. Has got issues with her parents around money. And I just love him. He's such a nice guy. And usually I don't like the like really nice guys, you know what I mean? Usually I want a bit of a grump sunshine kind of dynamic and he's just so lovely. And I just love it. I just love it. I just love it. So I'm having a great time reading it. It is like definitely an enjoyable kind of lighter book after some more like serious books that we've had. So I feel like this is a good one to have midway through the video. I feel like by the ending there's it's not impossible this is five stars. It's not impossible it's four 4.5. We're having a really good vlog so far, guys. Can I just say that? I mean, I knew we would. I would like a five star before the vlog is over. >> I would like to see it. >> I hope that's not too much to ask. I really just want a We've already had a 4.5, which like I say is kind of 4.5 is only five in this household, it seems. I'm intrigued to know how far into the book they get together. Is it going to be like right at the end, or are we going to have some romance early on between them? Like, is she going to break up with a boyfriend earlier than the end of the book? You know, I don't know. but loving it and I'm looking at say you remember me up there. I've got it and thinking I need to read that right now. So anyways, I'll see you tomorrow once I finish this. But oh my god, I am having the best time reading this. Abby, Abby, Abby, Abby, you did it again, babe. Listen, listen. Couldn't put it down. Couldn't put it down. Five star. >> I believe in love. Oh my god. Oh my god. It's just too good. It's just too good. I loved every second of this. My god. I love Abby Jimenez. Oh my gosh. I cried. I laughed. I ate. I I pout road. >> I laughed. I cried a number of times. I sweat. I danced. I got a shot. I ate. I just loved every second of reading this. It was perfect. It was perfect. It did everything it needed to do. It made me feel everything I needed to feel. There's no sex scenes in this book. Know that going in. No sex scenes, but it didn't need it. It didn't need it. His acts of service are sexy enough. Let me just tell you, this man is the human embodiment of acts of service. I just loved it. I loved it's slow burn, guys. Just know if you're going to read this, the slowest burn you've ever banned. like slo the whole book slow but I loved it. I loved seeing them fall in love. I loved seeing all the things he did for her without her realizing it was him. She thought it was her boyfriend but it was him. It was him. Feral. I'm feral for it. Oh yeah. What can I say? Abby Jimenez 10 out of 10 writer. These characters 10 out of 10. I cannot wait to read Say You Remember Me. They actually Say Remember Me follows some of their friends. It's kind of like a series like part of your world. Oh my god. What's it called? Part of your world. Yours truly. Oh my. Am I okay? Oh, just for the summer. Yeah, that book. That book I gave five stars. That's kind of a series. I assume say Remember Me and maybe like there'll be cuz we're following like this guy friend group, right? That her boyfriend is in and then Chris is in. And I assume the first one is another one of the boys. So I assume we might have her boyfriend's romance at some point and the other boy. Oh, no. He's already got a girlfriend though, one of the other guys. I don't know. I just kind of assume that maybe she'll continue doing this. She likes doing these little self-contained series. Can I just say I have a bone to pick. This isn't a review of the book, but I have a bone to pick with the Goodreads description of this saying she co-parents a dog with her boyfriend. She doesn't. She co-parents a dog with him. That's a whole part of their thing is them co-parenting this dog together and texting about this dog and swapping the dog over. What? Have you read it? I think someone read the synopsis and got confused at Goodreads. Come on, guys. Fact check. >> Where are your facts? Back them up. Come on. >> Cight. >> I whenever I spot a mistake like this from a reputable company, I'm like, you could have fact checked. But then again, I probably make mistakes now and then, don't. So, let's just take a moment to reflect on the fact that my this is a five star. My five star before this was Misborn the Final Empire. Like truly the duality of a woman, you know? I can give anything and everything five stars at the end of the day if it's good. I love Abby. If you have yet to pick up Abby, I don't know if this would be recommended where I start where you should start. I think one of the part of your world, yours truly, just for the summer would probably be a better place to start. This is a bit heavier, bit angstier, slower, no sex. Like that's not going to be for everyone. A bit of a difficult premise, difficult trope to tread, I think. But if you haven't read an NP, this should just be your sign to pick one up because you're gonna have a [ __ ] amazing time. It's just so good. So good. So good. So good. So good. Loved it. Now, here's the thing. It's Saturday. This video is supposed to go up tomorrow. We have two books left to read. We have The Caretaker and London Falling. I'm going to start on The Caretaker today. I do have two live shows. It's the afternoon. It's like 3:00 maybe. I do have I have a Zoom call at 5 with my patrons. And then I have a crafting night where guys, I'm so excited. Let me just show you this. Look what I've got. I've wanted to get this literally all year. I'm doing the crafting night is the perfect excuse. Are you ready? Oh yeah, baby. Markers. I I was restrained and I got the smallest set. There is like This is like 38. I think there are some that are like 128 markers. But you know what? I might let myself expand the collection. Hang on. Have I got some of the same? Oh, no. They're different. I might let myself expand the collection one day if I want to. But I went restrained and I'm so excited. So, I'm going to be coloring. I got like the, you know, the coloring book that everyone has um to start off with. And I'm just going to I'm I'm hoping coloring could become a new audio book activity for me because I think I need to like wean myself off the phone games a little bit. I do love them, but I think I'm a bit addicted to the phone games. I'm not sure it's good for me. Yeah. I'm going to start The Caretaker. I'm just going to read it physically again. I've read so I read yesterday physically. I read I can't listen to a romance audio book. Absolutely not. I'm not doing that. I read that physically and I'm gonna read the caretaker physically and the two non-fictions I am going to get the audio books for. So, I will get the audio book for London Falling today. Might start it, but I'm just going to go lock in and read as much of the caretaker as I can. You're not going to see much B-roll from me and the rest of this vlog. No fun things happening. I'm not going anywhere. I'm locking the [ __ ] locking the [ __ ] in on reading these books and I'm coloring later. Can't wait. I must actually get like halfway through this today. So hopefully I'll see you later this evening with my makeup and hair looking a lot more bedraggled probably. Hopefully I'll see you later for halfway thoughts on this. I am a bit nervous. Here's the thing. I just looked it up. Sorry. I feel like I've got like verbal diarrhea. I'm just all talking at the speed of light. My goodness. I just looked my spreadsheet cuz I feel like I haven't read many horror this year. I haven't read one since May. I've only read three this year. This is my fourth. and two of the three I've read were YA horror, which is kind of like a different vibe, isn't it, to like adult horror, so I haven't read a lot of horror. So, I was really excited for this, but then I saw this has a little bit of a low average rating on Goodreads. Now, horror does have a lower average rating in general, but I think it's like 3.58, so we'll see. But, I mean, I didn't love his first book as much as everyone else did. So, this is kind of like a give him another go and if I don't like it, not trying again. So, we'll see how it goes. Hello everyone. I am just getting ready for my crafting night with my patrons, which I'm so excited about. My Marcus, let's just have one more look at them. I'm so excited. But I am about 100 pages into Caretaker. So, I thought I'd check in because after this, I'm going to wash my hair, get in bed, read as much as I can before I fall asleep. So, I thought I'd check in now cuz I might get maybe like another 100 pages read tonight. I don't know what I think of this yet. So, the premise is very simple. Basically, our protagonist, she is looking after her younger sister. She is struggling for money and she comes across a Craigslist ad to basically like look after this house while this owner goes away. And the owner's husband has recently passed away and he had a set of rules that you have to follow to keep the house safe. She's basically been hired to do these rules. His wife is like, you know, it's all nonsense, but you've got to do it. I kept I made I made a promise to him that I would do this stuff. And so, we've literally had all that set up now, and she's just got to the house in the last like 15 pages or so. And I just don't know what I think of it yet. Honestly, it's not a very exciting check in. It's fine. I'm enjoying it, but like all of its execution is going to come from now on, right? How it does this haunted house, demonpossessed house kind of sticktick. Um, it's all going to come down to that. And I I just I mean it's fine. The thing that I the problem I had with We Used to Live Here I feel like I gave it a three or a 3.5. It wasn't bad. It was just missing something and I couldn't quite see what everyone else saw, you know, like I didn't quite get it. And I don't know if I'll feel similarly about this. I'm not disliking it, right? I'm having a perfectly fun time. I think also like I read the Abby Jimenez and I flew through it and couldn't put it down. And so I'm kind of then picking this up. I'm like, "Oh, it's not the same. It's not the same." But obviously very different genre, very different vibe. Um, so yeah, it's I'm intrigued. I'm interested, but I'm not like I'm obsessed, you know? So, I'll see you tomorrow morning with my thoughts. But like I say, it's coloring time with the patrons. Then I'm washing my hair. Then I'm reading as much as I can before getting in bed. I hope I hope it goes balls to the wall crazy. But there is something about it that I find kind of like real scary horror. This isn't silly horror like some of what I read. It's not campy horror. This is scary. It's scary. So anyway, I'll see you tomorrow. I will have fully formed thoughts then. Right now, it hasn't lost me. I'm intrigued, but I'm not grabbed by it. Good morning. How are we doing? I have finished The Caretaker this morning and I still kind of feel like I don't know what I think about it. I don't know how I don't know how we're at that place, but I'm still just kind of like I don't know. Here's the thing. I think I'm going to give it a 3.5. It's maybe like a 3.75. I will probably round it up on good readads to a four. But there is just something missing. I think this is a difficult book to write. Right. Where right where she is alone in this book for the vast majority of it. She's alone in this house with [ __ ] going wrong. And I think kind of without the traditional kind of structure of a story, without these distinctive markers of her interacting with other characters, I think some of it is a bit forgettable. Now, I did read this very quickly. I think I read at one point like 80 pages in half an hour. Like I was speeding I I didn't want to put it down. I was flying through it. But I never loved it. I was never in the story. I was kind of detached from it. Right. And I think that's sometimes when I most struggle with a book when I'm there's just something there's just something that I'm not gagging about. There's just something and I think it's really personal. There's something about this just doesn't appeal to my personal tastes where I'm not loving what it's doing. I can see what it's doing and I can respect what it's doing and admire what it's doing, but it's not for me. And it's I think it's really a taste thing with We used to live here. I remember being like I don't see what everyone sees. I can imagine someone really enjoying this. I think it's doing some really interesting stuff around grief, depression, and a lot of this, you know, horror is kind of best when it's a metaphor, right? It's a metaphor for real life horrors. Everything that the house is doing is really a metaphor for grief and depression. And I think it does that very well. It pulls off what it's trying to do. But was I ever in it? No. I've also got to say, and I really I can't say a lot here because I don't want to spoil anything, but I really don't know how I feel about that ending. >> If I speak, I am in in big trouble. in big trouble >> and like I every descriptor that I try and use I feel like spoils it and I wouldn't want to know that the ending is like this going into the book cuz I think it would ruin my reading experience of the book. But the ending is instinctively not what I want it to be and feels um god it feels like the book as a reader we earn something different than that and I get I really don't want to spoil anything. I'm trying to explain how I feel without spoiling anything. I get why maybe the book didn't want to do that. I get why the author was like well no I'm not going to give you that. But as a reader I'm like I feel like we earn it to not be that you know. Oh, have I said too much? So, I really I can't make up my mind how I feel about the ending or like there's another part of my brain. It's like, do I respect it? Do I respect it for going there and doing what it does with the ending? Or am I just like, for [ __ ] sake, dude? Maybe all my reviews now to avoid spoilers should be noises. So, yeah. I I I feel like again, I don't know exactly what I gave Reese to Live. wasn't high. But this one, there was just enough to make me be like, I could read him again, but I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. Right. I I enjoyed my reading experience. I never kind of wanted to put this down, which makes me think, should it be a four, but there's not much when I think back at it that sticks out to me that like other than the metaphor for grief and depression, there's not moments that stick out as like, oh, that's a great moment. I really enjoyed how it did that. You know what I mean? I don't know. It was Yeah. I don't. Yeah, I don't know. It was fine. I now It's over there. I can't go get it. I'm now going to start London Falling. I need to read up today. I still don't know how I feel about this, which is a strange place to be after reading an entire book. Hello. Hello. Hello everyone. I am about halfway through London Falling. It opens up you finding out this or hearing the story of this young teenage boy, 19-year-old boy jumping off of a high-rise, very expensive apartment building into the temps and dying. And then we're kind of going back in time to realize how that's happened. We learn about his family comes from quite a loving, stable family. But it kind of becomes clear at the time of his death he was living this other life perhaps like impersonating a Russian oligarch son to people in power and kind of like it seems like he was existing in this little bit of a criminal underbelly that exists within London within these very wealthy powerful people's lives. And I'm really enjoying this. I don't know quite what rating it's going to be yet. I feel like it's at least a four, but I don't know. I don't know if it's a five. I don't know. I'm really enjoying it. This reminds me a lot of what Hi Rubenhold does so well where there are details poured into this that you are like, how do you know that? How do you know that the story that Patrick Ren Keith is piecing together is like on a different level in terms of its detail and the jigsaw puzzle that he is building and how accessible he makes it to you as the reader, how engaging he makes it, how he's able to kind of jump around in topic at different points but still make it feel cohesive. I'm kind of just reading it and being like, "Wow, this is someone who in terms of this sphere of kind of investive journalism, non-fiction." Like, I kind of feel like he's at the top of the game. You can just tell this is someone who is a seasoned professional. And I feel like there's something inspirational from reading someone who is so good at the game because they've obviously done it so many times that I think it's to remind all of us that like we're not going to be I mean, I haven't read his debut. Maybe it's this amazing. But you know, this just feels to me or I've read even fiction books, right? Like I feel like I've read Alisa Juul before and been like I can feel when reading this that she is someone who is so seasoned that it just becomes like second nature what they're doing and they've built skill upon skill upon skill. So yeah, it is this story of this this underground criminal underbelly that still at halfway we've kind of really only scratched the surface of and I'm really looking forward to seeing, you know, more that's uncovered. I feel like he is laying a perfect web of there's things that we don't know yet that are going to that maybe he knew at certain points investigation. Like I feel like he's revealing everything to us in the perfect way. He's peeling back the layers of the story in the perfect way. So I'm going to go finish it because I want to get this video out tonight. But I'm loving it. I'm loving it. I'm having a wonderful time reading it. It makes me want to read more stuff like this. And this is very different than stuff I usually read, but I am very much enjoying it. Hello friends. Good evening. I have finished London Falling by Patrick Grad and Keith. Ratingwise, God, I hate when something sits between half stars in my brain cuz I don't give I don't give C stars, but it feels like a 4.25. I think I'm going to go with a four. I think I'm going to go with a four for this. And we'll get into why in a second in terms of like I guess the one reason that I think it's not a five feeling, but this book is so well done. It's interesting thinking about some of the discussions I've kind of had around crime fiction in my most recent video essay that I did, but also thinking about true crime, right? And how this is a true crime book essentially, and how sometimes true crime can feel exploitative of the victim, sens sensationalized. Yeah. Like there's a whole I think there's a lot of discussions that can be had about true crime as a genre, but this never felt like it was exploiting Zach's story, like it was using him for selling a book. You know, this book is really done in partnership with his parents. I think he says in like the acknowledgements or sources at the end, like this book has been made through daily conversations with Zach's parents over two years, and you can feel that presence throughout. It doesn't ever feel like it is taking advantage of the situation or it is dramaticizing things beyond what they should be. I mean, it's a pretty dramatic story. It's pretty crazy criminal underbelly that this book kind of exposes. And it kind of makes you I'm I mean, I think I'm just a bit uh naive sometimes to what goes on out there and what is common in society. I'm Listen, I'm just a little cozy gal who sits inside reading books. Let's be honest. But the reason I think this isn't quite a five star is I'm sorry to compare this again to Hi Ruben Hold, but I love her, you know, and I was thinking about her earlier, I guess. I think her books often make me really feel something. Like when I think back to story of a murder, I I felt so many emotions, anger, upset, heartbreak, all these things for the main character main character, the person who the book follows, who so much atrocious stuff is done to. I think this didn't quite have the same emotional impact as her books for example. And I don't want to say I mean I don't think that's because it's not sensationalizing right cuz you don't want things to sensationalize it. But I think this is written like in quite a matterof fact here are the facts. Here is what I've uncovered. Here is what's been happening way. And there are small inter in fact I read I thought of this when I read a paragraph from his mother from Zach's mother the boy who dies talking about how difficult it's been without him. But those do feel those moments of emotion feel very few and far between. And so it kind of is more of an analytical read, more of a factbased read. And I think this is obviously an incredibly incredibly emotional horrible thing that's happened. Her son, you know, this family's son has died. And so I think sometimes I was missing that emotional connection to the book and to what has happened, you know, and there's there's a wide array of people that have been impacted and hurt by what's happened and sometimes it just felt very facts based. But I really enjoyed it. I think it's a great book. I think like I say the way he plays with the timeline of what happens to kind of reveal things to us in the most perfect way in terms of like a structure of a book telling a story I think is masterfully done like like I said before not to be a broken record but he is a great writer like you could just read this and go like oh my god he's so good. Yeah it was a fascinating read. It's one that I feel like I could recommend to a lot of people in my family. Like I feel like there's a there's a lot of people who could read this book and enjoy it. So yeah, listen, I I would really recommend this. And I just want to say uh I hope you guys enjoyed this vlog of me reading Goodreads hit books of the year so far halfway through this year. I certainly did. I certainly had a great time reading these books. All of these were a success in their own way. So thank you guys so much for watching this video. I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you thought of any of these books cuz I'm sure many of you have been reading them throughout the year so far. So yeah, please let me know your thoughts on any of them. Even if you disagree with me, if you didn't give Abby Jimenez like four or five stars, maybe don't talk to me. But other than other than that, I'd love to hear your thoughts and I'll see you very soon in another video. Bye.