 Hello friends. I'm smiling like this because I am already regretting doing this video. Hello. So, here's the situation. I do two most anticipated releases videos every single year. I do one for the first half of the year and one for the second half of the year because otherwise the video would be like an hour long and we don't want that. And in November of last year, I reacted to my video for the first half of 2022 to see how many of them I've read. And I think it's fair to say that I didn't do well. And a big reason I felt I didn't do well, I mean obviously I never do well at these kind of things. Do you guys like watching these react videos because you like to see me in pain? But I felt like I didn't do well because it was too quick. Like if you think that video went up to June in terms of releases and then I did it in November, I think that was too quick. So I've left a little bit more time this time for the second half of 2022 most anticipated releases. It's July, you know, coming up to August. I feel like this is enough time. I feel like I should have read it's a year on from some of these being released. So I feel like we've had enough time and we're going to see how many of my most anticipated releases for the second half of 2022 I have read. In terms of hopes and aims, I mean I'd love to have read half. Will that happen? Probably not. It's the truth. I originally saw Mara from Books Like Woe do this video I think and she separated into four categories and we're going to do the same. We're going to do read and liked, read and dislike, unread and still interested and unread and I'm no longer interested because that's kind of a positive as well. If I've decided I'm not interested in that book anymore, get off the TBR or whatever like anything that gets books off my TBR. I feel like I'm kind of overflowing with books at the moment and it's stressing me out. So anything that gets books off my TBR is a good thing. So shall we just stop procrastinating and get into it? Okie dokie. Why do I feel sick? A third? A third would be positive. Oh dear god Megan, what a mess. Let's just get into it. We're going to go in chronological order throughout the year from July to December of the releases that I am super excited for. First we have Miss Orgid Regrets by Louise Hare actually. Okay interesting. Miss Orgid Regrets, unread and not interested. I'm no longer interested in this one. This one I've taken off of my, I think I've taken it off my wish list. It should not be there anymore. And I decided I was no longer interested in this just because I didn't hear very good reviews. It is a murder mystery set on a ship which I think is a fun setting but I just heard pretty rubbish things. I really wanted to read it. I really met things, like everyone was giving it a three star and there's just so many books out there, so little time. I kind of forgot this book had existed. So yeah not interested in that one anymore which is I mean that's still a positive. I mean I was hoping we'd start out the gates with one that I read and that hasn't happened. Next is The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager. So Megan I haven't never been proud of you than I am in this farad. I'm amazed by you. I read and liked The House Across the Lake. I really liked it. I think I gave it a four star. I'd say it's my second favorite Riley Sager. I literally am foaming at the mouth to read the only one left. I know I could have read it during summer ween. I just didn't feel mentally prepared okay. I know a lot of people read it during summer ween. I didn't feel ready. I have to like you know as someone who's a TBR reader not a mood reader I have to really work myself up to reading a book. I just didn't feel ready but I'm so excited for this one. I feel like Riley you know The House Across the Lake was great. Riley he went some directions that I just I was like go Todd. Todd Todd Todd. His name is Todd if you didn't know it's not Riley. We've had this discussion many times cos he originally wanted people to think he was a woman probably cos he writes with female protagonists and so all the loads of the male flurritis who write with female protagonists take on gender neutral names so that people you know don't know what gender they are. Anyways it's a conspiracy theory that I'm actually interested in. Yeah The House Across the Lake was great. Oh my gosh Megan we're gonna do great in this. I can already feel it. Any self doubt has just evaporated from my body. I'm like you know what I mean? Like next we have How to Sell the Haunted House by Grady Hendricks. So I've never read Grady Hendricks. Okay okay here's the T unread and still interested but I this didn't come out till this year did it. It got pushed back so I'm like do you know what do you know what I'm not even gonna count it. Scratch that. Scratch that. I'm not gonna count it cos it didn't come out then and so it's not part of the cohort of 2022 releases that I could have read. I'm gonna scratch it, scratch from the record. I still want to read How to Sell the Haunted House. I'm in my Grady Hendricks era. He is my horror person you know I really like his horror. Well I really like the idea of his horror. I haven't had a five star yet. I really love the US cover of How to Sell the Haunted House and I think the UK cover just doesn't it doesn't match up and now that book depository is gone what am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to get US editions of books? What do I do guys? What depository died? Rest in peace. Like it's so sad. How am I supposed to get US editions of books? So yes I'm not we're not counting it. We're not counting it. I make the rules. You don't. I don't know if you'd notice that but uh The rules don't apply. Then we have Some Time in Summer by Katrina Leno. Katrina Leno is an author I've read from before and really enjoyed it every time I've read. Yeah I haven't read. Still interested. Here's the thing with Some Time in Summer. I can't remember what it's about. I think it's like a middle grade somewhere between middle grade and YA kind of book from Katrina Leno and I haven't really had anyone talk about it. I think Kayla read it. It's not high up on my list of books I'm gonna get. Do you know what I mean? Like if I saw it I would probably get it you know I'm up for reading it but I'm not rushing to read it you know but I'm gonna say still interested because I do want to read all of Katrina Leno's stuff. Then this is when I've pre-ordered. Pre-ordered. We have The Daughter of Dr. Moreau by Sylvia Moreno-Gasia. Don't don't click off. Click off. Click off. I pre-ordered that. I pre-ordered it. Well I wish that I could just disappear. So I pre-ordered The Daughter of Dr. Moreau. Interesting. Unread and still interested. That has been on TBRs this this year. I should have read it already. The video that I am reading it for has just been pushed back and pushed back and I don't really know why. I just keep pushing the video back. I need to just do it because it's a fun video that it's gonna be in. I swear this was in like fucking March's TBR clue door or something Daughter of Dr. Moreau. I will read it soon. It's in my stack of TBR down here. This is where I keep like my immediate TBR and it's there so I will read it soon but haven't read it. The quicker we move on from that the quicker I pre-ordered that. Dear god. When you don't read a book you've pre-ordered that's like a bad sign. Then we have The Retreat by Sarah Pierce. Unread and still interested. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. I don't want to talk about it. It's right there. It's looking at me. It's looking at me. It's looking at me. Can I get it out from there? Probably not. No. The TBR card is a little bit precarious. This is the sequel to The Sanatorium and I just haven't read it. It's a thriller that would be fairly easy to read but no. No. No. How am I supposed to move on from this? Guys I really thought I'd left enough time to do well. Whenever I come into these videos going yeah I'm gonna do shit. Ha ha. I'm so rubbish. In the back of my head I'm going yeah but I'm actually gonna smash it this time and then they're all going back oh my god Megan you did so well. Like I exceeded expectations. Yeah. That's not happening. Okay next then we have The It Girl by Ruth Ware. Miss Ruth Ware. Miss Ruth Ware. I have read The It Girl. There she is. There she is. I didn't love it. Read and liked. I think I gave it four. Here's the thing. I didn't like the start of it but I really liked the end of it. This is like kind of Ruth Ware's most, I mean it's said at Oxford so it's like academia-y. We're following you know death of a friend murdered that happened years ago and she's up telling us like blames herself. I literally just got my hands on Ruth Ware's release for this year Zero Days and I've been hearing good things. It's very different than what I expect from Ruth Ware. It's more like suspense I feel like but I'm excited. I'm really, really excited. Yeah I think Ruth Ware's an author that I read pretty quickly now like once it comes out. I just, I love her. We have a good vibe. Me and her. I think I've only ever given her four or five stars from what I've read. I haven't read The Lion Game or Inner Dark Dark Wood yet but so maybe they wouldn't be four or five but everything else I've given four or five. Next we have These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall. I've never read anything before. Okay I have now read from Kate Alice Marshall. I read also Vanishing with my Patreon book club earlier this year. Unread and Still Interested. This one has just been a ball ache to get in the UK. Kate Alice Marshall's books are quite difficult to get your hands on in the UK. I don't know why. Like more than any other author I would say. They're just really hard to get your hands on so it's not something, but also it's not something I prioritise getting. It did sound really interesting. It reminded me of Gallant I remember. If you've read Gallant I think it had quite a similar plot of like at this house that's inherited in this other while. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure that's why I remember it being. It's not a book that's yeah again like Sometime in Summer, something that's top of my priority list but I still am interested in reading it. I also didn't love Rules for Vanishing. Then we have Say Awake by Megan Golding. This is the author of The Night Swarm which I really really loved. Unread and Still Interested. Oh my god why am I doing that? It's embarrassing. Say Awake. I have not read yet by Megan Golding and I now own Dark Corners by Megan Golding which is her 2023 release. Oh my god psychotic. I don't know where it is. I do own it but it's like the ugliest. I've got the UK cover and it's so ugly. I mean the US one wasn't incredible but the UK one is it's bad. I'm gonna put it here. It's somewhere here. It's bad. So maybe that doesn't incentivize me to pick it up. I just have to question. I have to question what do I fucking read? Do you know what I mean? What do I read? What do I read? Because I feel like I haven't been reading 2023 releases enough. I feel like I've been reading loads of 2022 releases where apparently not. What the hell is going on? Okay moving on. Then we have Empty Smiles by Katherine Arden. This is the last in Katherine Arden's middle grade hor- I read it! I read. I read and liked. I read and liked. This was the last in the kind of middle grade horror series that Katherine Arden was doing. I am I enjoyed this series. It was like an easy series to read but I'm ready for Katherine Arden to come back in the YA adult sphere. Something in that sphere. I know oh it has been released what she's doing. It's like a warbook with like skeletons. I can't remember but I'll put the pitch in here if you want to pause and read it. I'll put it on the screen but yeah I'm really really excited for it. Katherine Arden as you guys know is the author of one of my favorite series ever the Baron and Lighting Girl series. I know I enjoyed this. I thought it was a fun middle grade horror series and it was a good series for me to tick off and finish so I have read Empty Smiles. Next we have Babel by Alive Crying. This is like chonky. I'm Megan. I'm so proud of you. I've read and loved Babel. It was my favorite book of last year. I love it. I love Babel. I love Babel. I still haven't read Yellow Face. I know everyone's been reading it and loving it. I'm hopefully gonna be reading it and I would say in the next month I would say. Sometime in the next month I'll be reading Yellow Face. Hopefully everyone crossed your fingers that I managed to read as much as I'm hoping to read in the next couple of weeks whilst also being obsessed with your housewives of Beverly Hills. It's a problem. It's a problem. It's a problem. It's whack a doodle time. It is whack a doodle time. I've watched the whole of season two in like a week which I have some problems season two. If you've watched season two I have you know what I'm talking about. I don't need to get into it if everyone hasn't watched it but I have some deep deep problems with how certain topics have been handled but I have watched the whole thing in like a week. It's like guys it's like 22 episodes. What the hell? But yeah Babel we know I love her. I've read it and loved it. Not just really liked it. Loved. Loved. Loved it. Oh what a book. Incredible. Are of Juan Cundino Wrong. I generally think Miss Rebecca is about to be one of the greatest authors of our generation. Like I think she's gonna go down in history as one of the greatest authors to have ever lived. That's my genuine opinion. I'm not bullshitting. Like she is incredible. Then we have Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelward. Why did I get me so excited? Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. A fate is turning. I loved it. I loved Love on the Brea- We're equal with unread and still interested and read and liked. Oh hell the tables have turned. I love Ali Hazelward. I'm not gonna accept any critique for it. I love her. I love Miss Ali. Her romance is all my favorite and we're excited to read love theoretically. But Miss Ali just always gives me a good time. I know some people hate it and I don't want to care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't want to hear it. There's certain things about her writing I recognize. You're gonna have a man as big as a fridge. You're gonna have a woman who's tiny. Actually I've heard in this one she's medium. Medium everything. Medium size. Medium height. And I'm like Ali heard the tiny girl critique. She's like right okay I'm gonna make her medium. Revolutionary. Then we have Carrie Soto is back by Taylor Jenkins-Reed. Oh my god. I'm excited I'm nervous for this. Just clock the numbers guys. It might go downhill from here so I just wanted to I just wanted to appreciate this moment. But wow what a moment. I will never forget a moment that is most pleasing to me. You guys know I love Carrie Soto. I chose back. I literally just spoke about it in my last video. I think it's a perfect summer read if you haven't read it yet. Get around to it now. I think it's a great book. I read it on a fucking beach in Italy living my best life. So pink granitas. After going on holiday to Portugal me and Tom re-questioned why granitas aren't a thing everywhere. Like they are so good. We had this strawberry granita by the place by the pool at not the pool by the sea when we were there and it was like jam. It was like frozen jam. It was incredible. It was incredible. Incredible. Anyways sorry just got distracted by granitas there. I feel like it's gonna go downhill now. I feel like this cut this is too good to be true. This is too good to be true. Half and half. Then we have Unraveller by Francis Harding. So again don't really know the part of it. It was too good to be true. Haven't read Unraveller yet. It is wrapped up I believe and you guys know the finale to wrapped up which wrapped up are we on now risk. The finale to wrapped up risk is coming hopefully this month. We'll see if that happens. It depends on how kind wrapped up is to me. It might be at the start of next month and maybe Unraveller will be unwrapped. Who knows but yeah I remember I've said this many times but the first chapter of Unraveller I've read and it was incredible. It gave me the like most incredible vibes ever and Francis Harding is an author I've only read from once. I've read Skinful of Shadows but I loved it. I feel like Francis Harding could become a new favourite author for me if I were to actually read her stuff which currently isn't happening. Then we have The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D Jackson. Now we have an interesting relationship. It's got on my side what the hell I read and I loved The Weight of Blood. It was a five star for me. I knew me and Tiffany D Jackson had a five star on us. I just knew it. I knew we had the potential for a five star and we got it. I loved The Weight of Blood. If you haven't read it I really recommend the audiobook. I think the audiobook is incredible for The Weight of Blood. It just it it's so good. It hits different. It's a carry retelling. I do recognise that I was like gagged by certain things and like really enjoyed the mixed media elements but like maybe if I had read Carrie before some elements wouldn't have been so like oh my god that's so good you know to me because I don't know where the inspiration started and ended but me and Tiffany Jackson were besties. I was so worried for so long because I'd only given her a two and a three I think in terms of ratings but I just knew deep down in my core that we had a five star on us and The Weight of Blood was it. I don't want to say anything guys because we're doing so well. Then we have Marple which is one of my most anticipated releases that are coming out the rest this year. Okay all right. I'm not interested. I own Marple. This is a collection of short stories following Miss Marple by many favourite authors. Ruthwell, Lucy Foley, Lee Bardugo. Like there's loads of them in there. I originally was just gonna like read this. I was so excited to read it but then I've just thought I've never read Miss Marple right. I think I need to read. I've set myself a goal of reading at least two Miss Marple books before I read this anthology. I just didn't think it was right because I wouldn't get references. I wouldn't get is this embodying Miss Marple. Hopefully I reckon I'm just I'm putting this on hold for a while this book. I don't think I'm gonna read it for a while. I might even read more than two Miss Marple books before I read this. I don't know. We'll see. So unread and still interested but I'm not planning on reading it for quite some time. Then we have The Last Housewife by Ashley Wynstead. So Ashley Wynstead wrote In My Dreams I Hold a Knife which again still haven't read. Oh shit. Unread and still interested. We're still doing okay. Right. What would you think? Okay. I haven't read The Last Housewife. I think it's another one that's wrapped up. It's one that I would love to get around too soon. I'm pretty sure I've put it on loads of like lists of books that I want to read. Haven't read it yet and Ashley Wynstead's release for this year sounds incredible. So hopefully this is the one that I will get around too soon. This is one of the books when I think of like books I most want to read if it wasn't for vlogs and I didn't have to prepare myself. I'd say this is in the top 20 on my TBR which doesn't sound like high accolade, accolade but it is. Speaking of Courtney Summers we have probably my most anticipated release for the rest of the year. We have I'm the Girl by Courtney Summers. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. I've read I'm the Girl and I loved it. Courtney Summers can do no wrong. We all know I love Courtney Summers. I'm the Girl's a difficult read. I remember saying I think I gave it four stars and you know I think it's a book that is handled with such care when looking at the topic inspired by the Jeffrey Epstein case. So that gives you an idea of some of the topics in this book and I think it's handled with such care but it also is like it was a horrible reading experience. I didn't enjoy a second of reading it but I think that kind of is the point. So it is a book that I would recommend to people if that does sound like something you think you can handle and you think you would be good for you to read but it was like the whole thing is very uncomfortable and like it's not like an easy easy book. Do you know what I mean? It doesn't like handle the topics in a way that just like makes you feel comfortable, makes you feel better for reading it. Like oh yeah okay I've like I've read about that now and like I I know about it like it makes you uncomfortable on purpose. So but yeah I read it. I read it. We're doing well. The next we have House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson which is so exciting. Oh unread and still interested. This is another one. Oh my god look at the US cover. Look at the UK cover. You cannot expect me to read that UK cover. You cannot expect me to do that. Are you tough enough for the job? No. You cannot expect me to do that. It's been made on fucking Microsoft Word or some shit. Like I can see the clipboard edges of stuff. So again please tell me guys where can I get these books now that Book Depository is gone? How can I get US editions? Because it's really a trouble this and how to sell it on the house. I'm not reading the UK editions. I'm not doing it. I have standards. I have morals. I know disrespect to anyone who has designed the UK cover of these books. I doubt whoever that is will be seeing this video but that's my worst nightmare. Like me being mean about it and so apologies. Apologies all love no hate but I know what cover I want to read. Then we have The Glass which by Lindsey Packett. Lindsey Packett is one of my favorite author tubers. I met Lindsey a couple months ago and I felt so lucky. Oh my god Lindsey was so it was so nice to meet her and it was just been a great time. I haven't read The Glass for it yet though because again there's another one that's really quite difficult to get your hands on in the UK. Like these sleeping shadows is quite tricky to get your hands in the UK. So that's the only reason I haven't read it yet. If I had it in my hands I'd be reading it tomorrow. Then we have Into the Windcrack wins by Sean McGuire. This is the next interesting unread and not interest anymore. I decided to DNF this series. I read the first two. Here's the thing it's Sean McGuire. I love Sean McGuire. Sean McGuire is one of my favorite authors ever okay. But just something about this series just I didn't love it and I didn't feel the need like after really reading the first two. I'm glad I read the first two. I feel like I've experienced enough of the story. It's basically if you've read Middle Game by Sean McGuire it's like short stories that are mentioned in that and she's writing them as the author who's mentioned in Middle Game. So it's kind of like Inception and I just I didn't love it. I feel like it's quite similar to Wayward Children. It's like children in this other world so it isn't and I just feel like I'll just read the Wayward Children series. I don't feel like I needed to continue so unread and no longer interested. Oh then we have one of my favorite ones that are coming out Into the Riverlands by Neveau. I don't even own it. I don't even own it. Unread and still interested. I don't even own it. I don't even own it. I want to get this so bad. This is one of the books. Here's the thing I feel like I don't buy books that often. I'm trying to be better at buying books in person rather than just buying them on the internet because I feel like buying books in person is more intentional. However the problem is when I buy books in person I feel like they don't have some of these more niche books that I want. Don't have them. So like it's a it's a it's a vicious cycle. So yeah Into the Riverlands is still one I would really lotteried and Mammoth at the Gate which is the new one this year in the Seeing Hill cycle. I loved it. They're like literally 100 Patron of Elis that are incredible and are a love story to the art of storytelling. So I would love to get around to it but alas the last book is White Out which is the kind of sequel to Blackout. Okay Unread and still interested. Yeah I own White Out. This is like the sequel to Blackout if you've read that. It's a it's a selection of YA authors writing this kind of interconnected story. They each write a chapter or a short story. So it is an anthology but the the well at least in Blackout the stories were connected. So I think this is like you know YA love stories in a snowstorm basically. I'm still really really excited to read it but I just want to talk about the percentages here. So read and disliked none which I think is pretty impressive. Everything I've read from my most anticipated release is I've I think I pretty much gave them all at least a four star. So read and liked eight that's that's you know I feel like that's better than we did in the last video. Unread and still interested 12. Listen not terrible. Unread and not interested two. So how many there's 20 22 books here? Yeah 22 books here. I've read 36 percent of what was on this list. I don't think that is terrible. What did I read of the percentage wise of what was on the last list? I only read 18 percent of the last time I did this. So that's like we've more than we've really doubled. We've doubled. We've doubled the percentage that I have read of this list. I'm I'm calling it a mild success. A mild dub. Not a strong dub. Not a good one. Just a mild attemptative success. Which we're improving as a person and that's all that can be asked of me. You only need to be one percent better every day than you are yesterday. Not terrible. I did okay and I'm really proud that I out of all the ones I've read I've liked because I feel like that's difficult. So there we have it everyone. That is how many of my most anticipated releases of 2022 I have read. Not terrible. I feel like we're improving. Next time we do this maybe we'll get 50. If I mean if we double again we'll get like fucking 72 percent. Don't think that's gonna happen. But I'm pretty happy with how we've done that. I'm pretty proud of us and pretty proud of you. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you very soon in another video. Bye!