 which is a series I'm doing through December where I've wrapped up 25 books the most excited to read and 25 of the books I'm least excited to read and it's a risky business because what am I gonna unwrap? So in the first episode I'll leave a link to if you haven't watched it yet we were lucky we got one that I was most excited to read so can we continue the streak I'm aiming for all four I'm somehow lucky enough to get ones I'm all excited to read that's generally what I'm aiming for oh let's be realistic so we have to decide what to unwrap now and I don't know I'm feeling green today we unwrapped gold last time and I'd like a hardback there's three I'm looking at okay hold on let's get them all out and then we'll make our decision I would like for something that isn't mystery thriller because I've just read a lot for the Goodreads Awards video which I think will have just come out where I read the top ten mystery thrillers which of these was I more interested in this one but now I'm looking at it it looks really big so I would like maybe a fantasy or just something that isn't mystery thriller basically okay these are our three options that one looks really big I'm getting rid of that I think that one looks too small I'm gonna go for this one in the middle oh my god I'm nervous yeah okay let's just do it let's just do it let's just do it let's find out what it is I'm doing it oh my god you're a winner baby oh my god I am so this is like a dream come true I am so excited this is one of the I've been most excited to read this year it's Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour I love Nina LaCour and this is like a contemporary kind of romance literary fiction but I am so excited Megan to wrap up Neil baby yeah I know too much about this apart from it's about two main characters who have kind of been through difficult stuff in their lives and it's the kind of their story of love and them coming together and going apart I listen to a podcast where Nina LaCour spoke about this and it just sounded amazing and it's one of my most anticipated releases of the year that I still haven't got around to yet oh my god wrapped up the wrapped up gods like me okay let's go ahead and read this I am so excited a Christmas pajamas I just had a bath so apologies my face is a bit red but I have read of the first hundred pages of Yerba Buena this is such a quick read it is like because the font is massive I this is 300 pages in the Book of Month edition but I wonder how many pages the normal edition is because this font is huge so the plot of this is that we are following Sara and Emeline kind of in their two separate lives these two girls they haven't really crossed over much yet in the first hundred pages we've kind of been getting to know them each individually but we're kind of been getting to know the trauma that they both carry Sara I don't have much to say I think she kind of go into this blind but some horrific stuff happened to her and she fled home at the age of 16 and Emeline's sister is a drug addict and a lot of her trauma comes from kind of her sister's struggles throughout the years and her kind of proximity to that you know I look up the trigger warnings for this because there is quite a lot from the get-go um I'm I'm loving it I'm I'm in awe of this book already I I think I know what to say to you I cried 30 pages in I think that is a feat I think that is like in I don't remember the last time a book made me cry 30 pages into it I felt like I knew these characters the moment I met them you know when you like meet someone in real life and you feel like you know them straight away that's how I felt with these characters and I was just completely in love with them and attached to them from the get-go I can't remember the last time I I felt like that and although the book has been very much like it has very long chapters I reckon we've only had like three chapters and we spend like 30 or 40 pages with one of them following their story in great detail I'm not disliking that in fact I'm like I'm loving it I'm not being fun here who are you I love both of their stories so much and kind of getting to know them I mean we're only the beginning I mean I've read a hundred pages but like I say the font is massive so not much has happened yet and I just can't wait for when their paths fully convert like when there was a little hint where they kind of met each other for the first time but not much came of it and I went but I think for a book to make me cry is incredible like I just can't really get over it and you know Nina LaCour's writing is I don't describe it it's so quiet and and intimate and gentle like I don't know how to describe it as much as I love my like vivid prose in-depth storytelling books you know lyrical writing that kind of book I love a book like this where it's just like you feel like I don't know you're in the back of a coffee shop just before closing and you're intimate and it's it's oh I don't know how to describe it again like I love long books and detailed books I also love how Nina LaCour it feels like every word right is is perfectly placed I feel like I've said this about her before like every word is there for a reason every word is like held with so much care and respect and I just don't feel like I read many other books like that no word is wasted right every word is telling the story every word has this great deal of meaning I'm loving it so I'm probably gonna end up finishing this tomorrow because it's such a quick read like literally I'm gonna fly through it it does not take long to read at all and I'm already in awe and of you know this is her adult debut and I'm obsessed I'm obsessed I'm obsessed I mean what ratings have I given her other books I'm just trying to remember we are okay I gave like a four and watch over me I gave a five so she's not gonna qualify as a favourite author if this gets a five which I feel like it's going to I feel like we're up top loves me but yeah I'm obsessed I'm obsessed good morning so I have read a bit more of Yabba Buena but me and my family are about to pop out to a garden centre nearby that I've heard has got like a Christmas through the decades or Christmas through the ages display I don't want to expect but I want to go look at the decorations Christmas decorations so yeah we're gonna pop out there and I'll get back but I love doing stuff like this it makes me feel so Christmasy so let's go hey we're back the garden centre was very cute it wasn't quite what expected I expected the displays to be a bit more like I expected to be a walkthrough of Christmas decays it was like little corners of the garden centre had those kind of displays on it but it was still cool still gave me Christmas vibes more Christmas ornaments that's what's Christmas is about didn't it yeah and I have gotten 200 pages through Yabba Buena but whilst I was out my fair and noon arrived so I figured we could open this together I think this is November's box this just feels like Christmas once again this is more Christmas as opening fairly always makes me feel like it's Christmas because it's like a gift you know our theme oh look at that our theme is the witching hour oh my gosh look at that we have this mug I love their mugs look at the gold oh my gosh inspired by the characters of Kingdom of the Wicked that is gorgeous wow I love that okay what else we have a witchy spellbook pen if we'd focus there we go very cute oh what is this look how gorgeous this is oh this is like a book journal like a book review journal so you have like title notes rating how you read it the designs in there so gorgeous oh my god I might even use that I've never used like a physical book journal but that's very exciting and then not this oh a letter opener oh my god that's quite aggressive so it's like a letter opener I think this one is inspired by Serpent and Dove and what is the book oh I haven't heard of this the ones we burned by Rebecca Mix oh I haven't heard of this what is this about a standalone witchy epic fantasy with romance interesting I will leave fairly linked down below as always thank you so much for sending it to me listen it feels like Christmas when I get to open it okay right let's chat more about the other winner because this is such a short book I don't have that much more to say other than I'm still enjoying it I'm still loving it I think to call this you know a romance is very incorrect have I been calling it a romance I think I have it's very incorrect it's not really a romance it's more about these two characters stories and like you know you wanting them to come together the whole time and not knowing whether they will and I don't know it's a very unique kind of story it's not a love story but I would say it's like a story about love you know I keep reading this and I keep recognizing myself or things I've experienced or things my loved ones have experienced through stuff that's happening on the page and uh I don't know I think it's just like you know Lecore always manages I feel like to hold a light up in a mirror up to life and like the cycle of life and death and loving people and and feeling sad and going through horrible stuff and I don't even know like I don't know how to describe it but when I read her books I'm just they're gentle they're soft but I'm just overwhelmed by how accurate I think to human nature they are and I'm just still loving our characters I would say the characters other than our two main characters feel kind of transient and feel we don't get to know them very well and in other books that would be like something that would make me enjoy the book less but I feel like I know our two main characters so intimately and so well that like I don't mind that because we're kind of seeing the other characters in the book through their eyes and just the knowledge they get to know of them rather than sometimes read a book and like you'll know other characters better than the main character does you know we only are privy to the knowledge and the information that our main characters learn does that make sense even though it's not written in first person we're kind of like holding their hand through the story and so yeah I just think it's really unique I'm loving it loving the reading experience I can't think of you know anything that has really made me feel this way but I adore it so I am literally just gonna go sit down over there and finish the book and I will chat to you in probably about half an hour 40 minutes because only 90 pages left yeah I'm gonna go ahead and uh and finish it and see if it ends up being a five-star which I think it will I finished Yabbruna and I'm giving it five stars I loved it we did it we did it Jill I think this is such a special book honestly I recognize it's not going to be for everyone because it doesn't follow like a normal narrative structure it feels throughout somewhat unresolved I feel like if you read me in the middle corner you kind of know what to expect you're kind of just following these characters through parts of their life and you're just like lucky to be there with them kind of following through them through these parts of their life and it does feel unresolved but like I don't care I don't care I loved it I think the assumptions that I gave to your 100 pages in have kind of just stayed the same throughout the whole book but it's beautiful it's heartbreaking it's gentle quiet intimate like all of those things like I said before still stand I feel like I've kind of got nothing to say to you other than that it was so sad but I feel like we knew that 100 pages in I'm so rubbish at talking about books I loved I feel like sometimes like I have so much less to say and I just want the book to speak for itself whereas when I just like a book I'm like right let me tell you about this book you know I feel like the dialogue in this book is more realistic to real life where people will kind of say half of what they want to say or say half of the truth and it's all about I mean I'm gonna cry it's all about just wanting to be loved and wanting to love in return and wanting to feel safe and wanting to know yourself and just like humanity I just it's so good I kind of knew that I was gonna love this I mean Nina Korwa just does something special to me I'm like Nina give me another book right now please look I'm ready um to be put through all this again I don't know I loved it I don't have anything else to say to you it's very short you'll read it in like two hours or something like that and it was a very special book and I'm so glad that I finally got around to reading it thank you wrapped up so listen so far in the first two episodes of wrapped up we've had a book that might be in my worst books the year and a book that might be in my best books the year I'm not sure if either will quite make it onto those lists but they're in contention so it's definitely been a wild ride and a wild adventure so far so I hope you're enjoying it make sure you subscribe ring the bell so you don't miss any more episodes I'm loving it I'm very excited I'm gonna find out this evening when I'm reading in the next episode and I just can't wait I want to unwrap it now but I need to finish editing this video first yeah thank you so much for watching I love you if you got to the end per a flower or drink kind of alcoholic drink because um how they need is I didn't even mention this to you but one of them is a florist and one of them is a bartender so yeah comment a flower or drink of choice emoji down below but thank you guys so much for watching go pick up the other one I'm interested and I'll see you very soon in another video bye