 Yo, how's this happen? I am so sad. I'm so disappointed. And this, this, I, oh. Hello everyone, welcome back to my channel. Today's been a very exciting video, but since it is now November, but I think this is coming up in December. Yeah, I'm pretty sure this video is like the first up in December, so I thought I would commemorate it by wearing my Christmas jumper. This is the season in which I excel. I love Christmas. I love Christmas. I, I love it so much. I love it. I love it. And it gives me that buzz. It feeds exactly what I wanna do. In this video, we're gonna be reading two of my most anticipated releases that they have just come out. This is just going on, but you just have to look on the way back. We have some other developments to go through first, so hang on. We've got a bit of a book haul. We're starting with a book haul tonight. I hope you don't mind. That's what we're getting into first, because I am gonna do book hauls for like Christmas and stuff, but this was just very unexpected that I've accumulated a lot of books. So let's just quickly have a visual representation of what we're about to talk about. Okay, we're gonna open the Starless Sea and the Toll Last. If I can figure out which one's the Toll. Because they are my two, two of my most anticipated releases of the year, not of the year, upcoming releases. I'll link the video where I spoke about all my anticipated upcoming releases in the description up above, so you can go check that out. And these are two of the five. And I am, oh my God. I'm so excited. Okay, we move. So first, these books, let's talk about the two other than the Starless Sea and the Toll, which I bought myself. I'm gonna go try and go through this quickly because we're here for a reading vlog, but this is just a bit of fun. I'm just sitting down on a Thursday evening to talk to you about what I've bought. So the first one that I bought was Daisy Jones and The Six. I have been meaning to get this for the longest. For like the past six months, every time I've got into a bookshop, I've almost bought this, but then there's been just one other book that's like pushed it off, do you know what I mean? But I finally came. This was actually my self-reward because we love to treat ourselves. It's my reward for myself for reaching 500 subs like a week or two ago. And now I'm at 840, which is so scary. But I am so looking forward to reading this and a lot of the books I'm buying at the moment are longer. So I'm excited for a book that I feel like is a bit lighter, not lighter, but a bit quicker to get through. You know the drill. I did a poll on my Twitter actually between a few books and this is what won. So I bound to peer pressure and I bought it. So that's the first book. Then I had 10 pound credit on my Waterstones gift, not gift card, like the loyalty card. And I should get these books out of the way and see what they are. One of the other books I'd put on that poll was The Night Circus and Rachel, Rachel really told me no. It was so boring when she read it and I trust her opinion. So I didn't buy it then. And so, because I trust her so much, instead of spending seven pounds, eight pounds, get the normal edition, I got the new Waterstones edition. But really only cost me two pounds because I spent my gift card. So I think this is so gorgeous. Look at the blue spray edges and like the cover is just so nice. I am excited to read it. I feel like it's gonna be my kind of thing. Anything that some people usually say is boring usually ends up being my kind of thing because I was saying in my ninth house vlog that I like something that feels like I worked, like I earned it. I earned finishing the book. So that's that then. So everyone was making Amazon wish lists and I was in a couple of group chats and we needed each other's and I just thought, oh, I'll just make one. Like no one, I'll just put it out there, put a few things on there and people have actually got me shit. I don't really know how to act. I don't know actually after having received these. I'm very appreciative. I don't know how I feel about people buying me books. It makes me just feel bad. But anyway, firstly my dad got me one from the list because he wanted to check that like you couldn't see my address at any point. So he got me Stulking Jack the Ripper, which, hey, I'm so excited to read this. I have been hearing just increasingly good things about it and just having a quick look through it. I love like all the old pictures in it. Like this is gonna be my shit and it's quite thin. Like it's not scary. Like I feel like this is quite an easy read and I feel like this time of year kind of like winter is the perfect time to stop these. So that's just like, that's my dad. So it's fine. He can buy me a book. Then I got a parcel from Simone from Chasing Pages. She got me Lock Every Door by Riley Sager. What? We're gonna read this together. I have been wanting this for so long. I wanted to read it after I heard books and Lala talk about it and say it was one of the best theories she'd read this year. And I also returned the key like she recommended around the same time and I gave her the key five out of five stars. As you've seen, if you saw my OG reading vlog, I don't think it. I am ready for another thriller in my life. I love to turn the key and I feel like thrillers could be my new thing. I feel like I could become a thriller girl. I think I know more about thriller books than you do to me. You'll never listen to any American ghost dad. Okay, next I'm gonna open this one. I haven't, I have no idea. I have no idea what's in these. This one's, oh my God. Hang on, hang on, hang on. Oh my God, it's Nicole. Oh my God. Okay, so these are from Nicole, from Nicole on her books. I'm literally gonna be re-buddy reading the toll with her in this video, which is what I'm gonna be opening in a sec. And she sent me two books. Oh my God. Like, I don't know how to describe to you, like, oh, I don't understand. Why people are sending me books? Yeah. Whoa, okay. Okay, so she first has sent me The Raven Boys by Maggy Seawater. This is just like a, I just want whatever books I'm gonna recommend, because she has spoken about this endlessly, obviously. And she's written the note. You are a superstar. I literally took you a minute to take over Booktube. So grateful to make this platform. I'm so excited to watch you continue to grow. Love you from Nicole. I love her so much, Nicole. I know you're gonna be here with your long ass comments. And, oh my God, I love you so much. Those of you who like my channel will know I love nonfiction. I read quite a lot of nonfiction and I'm really trying to read more, because definitely since joining Booktube, like, nonfiction is being pushed out a little bit. And she got me Bad Feminist. It's a collection of essays by Roxanne Gay. This, I, if there's anyone know, I am a feminist. And yeah, I love anything like feminist literature, feminist ideas, whatever. So I am, I'm so excited to read this. Okay, next is like a, this is like a really small package. So I don't know what's gonna be in here. Oh my God. What? Okay, so this is from Books with Mara. She sent me a monster cause by Patrick Ines. I, again, have been wanting to read this for the longest. This is actually one of the oldest books on my Goodreads Want to Read list. I really can't do it. Okay, come on. Thank you. Thank you so much. I don't want to start growing, but thank you so much. That is like the loveliest thing ever. Oh my God. Okay, so I got the paperback. It was like five pounds. So here's the total. She is thick. She has how many pages in this one? 625 pages. Oh my God. That is like thick for a paperback. Like that is like difficult to read almost. Do you know what I mean? Like when a paperback is that thick. I can't wait. I've been wanting this for so long. The Thunderhead I gave five stars. It's one of my favorite books of the year so far. And I really hope this doesn't let me down because so if I gave three stars, then Thunderhead I gave five. I'm hoping this is a five as well. No. The Starless Seam is the one with the beautiful, beautiful cover. And with the Waterstones Edition, you get one of three like insides. And there's like a light blue one, a dark blue one, and then like a pink one. I don't want the pink one because I don't feel like it matches. I don't feel like it matches. So I'm hoping because obviously if you buy in store, you can like decide when you get, but it was cheaper for me to pre-order it. So that's what I did. And this is them, oh my God. Yo. Are you ready? I don't think you're ready. Okay, we're gonna take this slowly. Look at that. What? What? I'm gonna look at the spine. Excuse me. And then look there. Oh my God, you just got a glimpse. And then what? The back, that is the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen in a book. That is actually the most. Okay, I understand why it has the pink now because of this. I won't be as angry if I get the pink. But look at that. Oh my God. I'm actually having like heart palpitations. Okay, we're gonna have a look and see what I've got. Oh, okay. No, no, no, I can see right now. I can see. I've got the blue one which is the one I wanted. My God. Oh my God. This is like the most beautiful book ever in existence. Like there's nothing, there's nothing that tops it. There's nothing that tops it ever, ever. So yeah, I don't know if I'm gonna read any of the told tonight because I actually need to do some editing and it's already like nine o'clock at night. So I think I'll probably start this tomorrow. Yo, how was this happen? Okay, I'm gonna go now and I will see you whenever I pick up the camera next. Bye. So this is the next day. And I just got another parcel. What? So let's open it. I think I know who it's from because she tweeted me about it. Okay. So it's from Rachel Marie who I love. I love her so much. Oh my God, you didn't need to do this. Okay, so firstly, let's do this one first because I need to explain. So she got me a monster calls which if you're called from last night someone else got me they got me the normal version and this is the illustrated version which I didn't have this on my Amazon wishlist. So she must have seen it and thought, oh, I'm gonna get the illustrated version and that's why two people got me it because it was still on my wish list after her buying this, I would guess. But for me, that's actually really good because I wish I had two of every book because being here at uni, I'm constantly separated from like a large majority of my books, whether I'm here or at home. So like I'm trying to figure out how I wanna take all the books I have up here home with me during the Christmas break because I wanna have all my books with me. Is that weird? Like I wanna have it all with me. So I can like film with everything and just plan out what I'm gonna read when and just visualize all the books I own. Is that weird a little bit? I don't like being separated from my books like either end. So it's actually really great for me to have a copy of the illustrated. I mean, having a copy of the illustrated is like not the same as getting two copies of the same, same book. Because like for example, another thing in my wish list is I wanna do another read of Harry Potter even though I only read it last year but I wanna read the illustrated books. I own Harry Potter the normal books but I want the illustrated books because it's like another thing. And then we've got a red, white and a white or blue. Oh my God, I love you. I can't get over this. I can't get over it. Oh my God, thank you. You're the best. Can you see me? Am I okay? No. Apologies for my appearance and apologies for my flat appearance if you can see anything. Hopefully not. Let's talk about the toll because that's what we're really here to talk about. I am 203 pages in. So I'm like only a third of the way in. It's like four stars. It's not five stars for me. Something about it I'm just not fully connecting to. I just feel like it's jumping around a lot with characters and I am not feeling particularly connected to anyone. Grayson's character has had a big overhaul in the bit that I'm reading right now and I feel like I don't really know him. Like I don't know him. I don't know him. I don't know him. And then the bits of the villain I just like don't fucking care. Like I don't like him the most. And then I just don't know. I'm not loving it. I'm loving it. But I feel like it could get much better. Obviously when I'm still really at the beginning Nilshoosm is bringing in a lot of new types of storytelling. He's always had in between the chapters like there was scythe diaries and there was all these different things and there's a few new elements that he's bringing in this one, which I really like. But there are certain things that are happening appointing towards certain things. And I don't want that. That's not the way I want this ending to go. Like I'm not interested in. And I feel like to be told it already. I don't know. I don't know essentially. So that was my check in for you to see me being. Let's all say I mess with me. Oh my God, my fly just clicked. Oh my God. Woo. Who's a mess? Megan. Okay. Bye. Bye. I am here with... I can't even pick it up. Oh my God. I don't even know if my focus came far away. But I'm here with all the books. That I've, you know, also had obtained over the past few weeks. Oh my God, no. Okay. Ah! I just knocked them all over, but you couldn't see. So we're just gonna pretend it didn't happen. I've always had the top shelf be my TBR. Then this middle shelf be the books we need for uni. And then the bottom shelf just be like a dumping ground, but that's just not feasible anymore. Like the bottom has been a few more uni books and then my red books. But what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna shift all on most of these books down and then have two rows of TBR, I think. So we're gonna see how it goes. Hello. It's been quite a long time since our last check in with you. I think it's been about a week. I'm on page 442. So I really haven't got that much more to read. And I think in the last clip, I expressed a lot of issues I was having with the book, but that I was giving it like a four star. After that, my enjoyment slipped quite significantly and I was, it was kind of like a low three. I don't think I was ever considering giving it a two, but like a low three, I was very disappointed. And just kind of now, in the last maybe 40 or 50 pages, everything's picked up again. So it's kind of like a four again. So we've had like the middle bit didn't really work for me and it's getting good. Like I'm, I am excited. I am excited to read the rest. They chose their own fate, that's all I see. Okay, let's talk about the book. I've seen people giving it two stars. I've seen people giving it five stars. Right now what I can say is I feel like it's very, very... Ambitious. As the series has gone on, it's got more and more ambitious every time, right? The Thunderhead was a big step up from Scythe and this is definitely a big step up in terms of ambition from Thunderhead. But I feel like Thunderhead dealt with that ambition really well. And I don't think that the toll is dealing with it as well. I think that it's struggling in some parts. It's struggling to handle all the new storylines we've got in such a way that it's really neglecting some other parts in a way that I'm not enjoying. But we're finally spending time with the characters I was actually interested in and then I wanted to spend time with. So that's a plus. I still feel a bit disappointed though because this was one of my most anticipated, you know, releases of this year. And Thunderhead was one of my favourite books of the year so far. So I feel like it's tainting Thunderhead a little bit for me, which is really sad. And there's so many plot points I feel like some could have been gone rid of. And I don't know, it's difficult. Or I think it needed another book in order to do everything that he wanted to do. I think maybe it needed to be a four book series because there's just so much that he is trying to cram into this that it's just not quite working. It's just a little bit off the mark, if that makes sense. I finished the tell this morning and I've kind of taken them on to think about it. And I've realised that whenever I felt slightly good about this book was when I checked in because the majority of the time I was feeling depressed about how I was feeling about this book. So anytime something good happened, hitting something slightly that made me think, oh my God, it's gonna get better. I picked up the camera and I was like, oh my God, it's going great. But the truth was there were times I debated giving this two stars. On the whole, I didn't enjoy the reading experience of this and my heart breaks. I gave it three stars on Goodreads and it's kind of like a 2.75 for me. I mean, I try not to give those kind of ratings but yeah, that's kind of what it's turned out to be. I am so sad, I'm so disappointed. This was, you know, the whole points video is my most anticipated books. And I really, really just liked this. It has not been good. It's been good for y'all cause y'all sitting there laughing at me but it's not been good for me. I felt like whenever there was a reveal, now I like my reveals to have meaning. These were just things that were like, oh, look here, this is a pot to myself for revealing. Oh my God. And then you want it to go somewhere. Like you want action to be taken because of that or what I really want is you have a reveal and then more reveals. Like you have a room of information and then more, you find out more things from that. But then there'd just be a reveal and then I'll be it. And there'd be kind of some action but you just be like, well, you were kind of gonna do that anyway. And a lot of people have said they don't ask for about how this ended. I thought the ending was all right. Basically, whenever I've said I was giving these four stars to you, it was in hopes that the ending would be amazing and the ending wasn't. The ending was fine. It was better than some parts of the book but it was a bit of a weird ending. Like it was a bit like, okay. Like I felt like it was quite rushed. We spend time with so many different characters, so many different characters that you're just like, I didn't have time to really connect again or connect to new characters. I didn't have time. Like I'd spend a bit of time with them and then we'd go. And I just felt like the character I wanted to spend time with, we didn't spend time with. And the one thing I was most excited about, the reveal that I was most excited about in this book was kind of like set up right at the beginning and then revealed right at the end, like the last big reveal. And I just felt like it was kind of like meh. Like, ah. I was so excited for that and I wasted the whole book. And the thing is I've got my mom and my brother both on this series. Like they are both, they've both read the first two and really enjoyed them. So now I'm just like, well, good luck. Now we get to start what I hope will be a much more successful venture and I'm gonna start the Starless Sea. There's been much more positive overall reviews for this and I'm wanting something a bit weird. For me, the toll just felt like fine. Like I could really opinion books like it. By the way, does anyone know I took the sticker off? I don't think you can see. Oh, there, there, there, there. Can you see the markets left? Like, can you hear that? It's sticky. So I'd like any advice for how to get that off. I'm already loving this so much more than the toll. Obviously I was so disappointed with the toll, but with this, I am enjoying it so much. I mean, you kind of don't know what's going on. I am on page about 150 right now and we had a lot of kind of setting up of the story which I really enjoyed. And yeah, you kind of don't know what's going on. And so I can't be like, oh, I love the plot because like nothing's really happened yet. You follow a main character called Zachary but there's also sections from the books that are mentioned in the book. Like little chapters of the kind of mysterious books that he's reading and I love them. The thing is with this, I'm reading it very slowly because it's sometimes, I don't know if anyone else has this, but I'm really enjoying a book. I actually read it quite slowly because I want to experience it for as long as possible. And then sometimes when I hate a book, obviously this wasn't the case with the toll, but sometimes when I hate a book, I make myself read it so, so, so fast because I don't want to be in it anymore. And I don't really typically DNF books. So that was kind of like my way of just getting the book over and done with. But with this, I just don't want to ever stop reading it. So I'm taking way too long to read it. So I'm going to try and get through a really big chunk of it tonight and then update you in the morning when I have some more concrete thoughts because at the moment I still feel very much at the beginning and like not much has happened. But the writing style, her writing style is just like my ideal writing style. I love it. I love it so much. It's just so beautiful and so detailed and so vivid, but at the same time, like not giving you all the information, like giving you little snippets of information. It's just, I think I'm almost on page 300. Yeah, 295. I found it difficult, like when thinking about checking in because it's almost impossible to describe it. If you know what I mean, it's such a magical story and little clues are being laid for you right from the get-go. That it's like, I don't know what to check in and tell you other than that I'm loving it. Which at least is a better situation to be in Rewind with the Toll. The thing I've been thinking about is, I think when I've read other books that have the same sort of structure where you've got the main story and then lots of little stories interspersed in, I don't like those little stories so I feel like it takes me out of it and they're less well done. But in these, they are so kind of whimsical, magical and special that like, they are just as integrated in the story. And I guess because they, in the end, you know they're gonna mean something for the other part of the story, that I love them just as much as the main bit. I'm loving it. It's so good and I can't wait to read The Night Circus soon as well. It's pretty like the worst angle. Why did I talk while saying that? I can't wait to read The Night Circus after this. And I don't know if I said this in the other clip, I probably did, but I wanna reread this already. Hello. I wanna reread it right now, like I wanna start it again and read it again. I would say you're only super connected at the moment to the main character, Zachary and all the other people that he knows kind of in this mysterious world. There's a certain distance from them but you don't feel like, oh, I'm not connected to the characters, oh, I don't like that. Like I like that distance and that kind of mystery and not knowing everything about these people. And it's just the way she's laying clues down and then we find it's just such a clever book. It's just, it places kind of the responsibility in your hands to remember certain things. So he goes, here you go, remember that. Like we're gonna just talk about it later but you gotta remember that in like 200 pages. And I like that. See, I'm telling you, I have the mind of a master, I have the mind of a mastermind. What's that? I don't know, but I'm so creative. Mate, it's just a book about books. Like how can we not love, how can I not love it? It's a book about books and stories and cats and underground libraries. Like how is it, how is this ever gonna be anything but perfect in my, like this doesn't, there's just no other alternative cats and books. I mean, I just finished it. And this, this, I, oh, this maybe if not might, the favorite, one of my favorite books I've read this year. Ah, oh my God. Okay, I have not felt this way about a book since I read The Secret History, which is the first book I read this year. And that is because I don't know how to describe it like it takes you into this, it's world as its own. There's like nothing else. And obviously The Secret History isn't fantastical, it's set in the real world, but like all there is is that book. All there is is that book. Am I making any sense? I sound crazy. I sound crazy. That's how these books make me feel. The relationships and the, I'm breathing so heavily. I just finished it. The relationships and the friendships in this book unparalleled and like, just the way we all talk to each other. Even if they barely know each other, even if characters are only met in that scene, you just feel like, oh my, just, just the way people know each other in this book. I in this was constantly just reading forward. Like, hang on, if I'd be like here and I'd see something down here that interests me or maybe not that far, like here and I'd just start reading there and I'd have to go back and read the bit I was actually supposed to be reading because I was just so, I just wanted to know. Oh, just like, I just, I just, I just wanted to know it all straight away and it was just so incredible. It was just the, it was incredible. I just wanted to, this book takes a lot of turns, right? It takes a lot of twists and a lot of turns. You can place your absolute trust in where the story is going because you know when reading it that whatever twist is occurring, whatever plot is happening, it's the right thing. It's the correct thing. Nothing else could have happened, but this plot, it makes all the right decisions and you don't have to be reading it going, oh, I'm not sure if I like that or is that the right, do you know what I mean? When you read a book, you're judging it. You don't judge this, you just experience it and just like, I love, I love, I love books that are just so clever. Like you just, I don't even understand everything that happened. Like I don't have to understand every single thing, why it happened. I have to be given an explanation for why everything happened. It just did happen and it was right and it was correct and it was perfect and it was just everything. If you, okay, okay, okay. If you own this and haven't read it yet, I'm telling you, go pick it up now. Like I'm not gonna take any of the excuses. I'm not like, you've just got to go pick it up. You've just got to go pick it up now. And if you don't own this yet, just please just put it on your Christmas list. I just want everyone to read it. I just want everyone to read it. It was everything. It was everything. The way everything flowed and matched up and it was just like a little special fragile thing that you're holding on hands. You think it's fragile, but it's actually just the most robust, made of unbreakable metal thing you've ever had. And it was amazing. It was amazing. It was amazing. I think that's what I need to tell you. It was just perfection. Oh, okay, okay. So thank you for making it to the end of the video if you did. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope it was fun. I mean, I didn't seem to leave the house in the months that I filmed this. I promise you I did. Thank you so much for your continuing support. If you haven't, click subscribe down below and make sure you ring the bell because it really helps me out if you ring the bell. So yeah, thank you so much as always for watching this. I don't know how to cope. We're done out here. Okay, bye. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go. Okay, love you, bye. Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye. Bye. Okay, bye.