 Guys it's spooky season so we've got to read horror and I got thinking okay what fun video can I do around horror and I I've come up with an idea. Spooky, oaky, kooky and creepy special edition. In my experience horror is one of the most lowly rated genres. People are quite picky with their horror they tend to rate it quite low and so I thought it'd be interesting to read the lowest rated horror on my tbr and the highest rated horror on my tbr and see how much they differ in quality. I feel like horror is an interesting one because it can kind of be rated low not because a book is necessarily bad but because people just don't understand the vibe. So I have found my lowest rated and my highest rated and we're gonna be reading them both in this vlog and seeing are they really that far apart and let me tell you right now there's almost a whole star rating of difference which is quite a lot between these two books. That's quite dramatic. So I'm interested to see what the difference is. So our first book is Pine by Francine Toon. I think this is a bit of like a thriller horror hybrid but its primary genre is horror and the best it says a pacy horror tinged novel. Horror tinged. But this one we're following these two characters who live in the Scottish Highlands and they stumble across a woman on a road one night and in the morning she's gone it's about this community this strange like inshallah community in a place that feels like the end of the world the wilderness of rural childhood and the intensity of small town claustrophobia. How exciting I think it's gonna be a bit gothic. I've always loved the cover of this. I love this what animal is that deer? I don't know I love the way it looks I think it's such a great cover and this is now pretty old it's one of the oldest books on my TBR. So this has a 3.39 average rating which is pretty low you know for something for example for just set a baseline in order to be nominated for the Goodreads Choice Wars which is on my brain a lot at the moment. We only talk about that. A book has to have above a 3.5 so 3.39 I would say is lower 3.1 3.2 3.3 is all kind of lower average ratings and then our highest average rating you guys is Sleuthert by Brom this has a 4.33 average rating so like I said almost a whole star rating of difference which is quite drastic and this is the highest rated by quite a while I think on my TBR. I've told you guys about this a lot we're following a demon called Sleuthert as a set in 1666 aka 666. It's devil's season and I think this is gonna be witchy it's gonna be dark it's really dark I want it to get dark I want to get really dark. I think this is gonna be immaculate vibes I'm really really excited so these are the two books we're gonna be reading I'm very excited I think I'm gonna start with Pine because I think it would be unfair to start to read this first and then to always compare this to I want to see how I how I feel about Pine in its own right because this is like a five star prediction I mean I've got to stop saying things are five star predictions because every time I say that they get two stars so like shut up Megan but I'm gonna start with Pine I'll check in with you once I'm a little bit of the ways through it but I'm hoping I'm still gonna enjoy this even if it is lowly rated I wonder what the reasons for rating it low are but I'm excited to get into some horror good afternoon my gorgeous cuties I am halfway through our lowest rated horror pine and I'm gonna be honest guys I'm quite enjoying this but I understand it's low rating so what you need to know about this is that we've got Lauren who is about 10 and her father who live in the small village in the Highlands of Scotland and the first chapter is her and her friend going trick or treating at Halloween and it really like opens up something I think it does really well is it opens up with them going then being driven around to like four houses that are nearby because that's all that like it's such a small village that it's kind of like organized right we're gonna go see this old person and this old person this old person and you'll sing them a song and then I'll give you a Mars but a kind of thing and it really opens up with showing you how isolated this town is and how small their lives are and just like it really sets the tone I think for the rest of the book really well then on the way home her and her dad come across this woman in the road and they take her home to help her out then the next morning she's gone and her dad doesn't remember that happening and it's kind of going on from there it's kind of like a gothic ghost story I would say I can see why people don't like this but I am really enjoying it it's quiet but nothing's really happening it's eerie but nothing's really push me up against the wall give me a kiss then I might get excited no in terms of what I'm enjoying I am enjoying that quiet and that slow burn and it's just eerie and creepy and I don't want to spoil anything but you're starting to figure out who the ghost maybe is and how that's all coming together as well as answers about Lauren's life is really interesting also you know Lauren's 10 and so you're kind of like consuming this through her eyes so consuming the idea of like a ghost story through a kid's eyes I think it's something very powerful and very evocative like I was kind of obsessed with ghosts and I was like 10 so that she is but like it's an interesting angle you know there's like things she's relating things to her life in a very interesting way and I haven't read a book like this in a while that does it it's very subtle it's not like overbearing like oh this is written by a child like you read some books where it's like misspelled and stuff they haven't got that and you know she's suffering at school she's very much bullied at school and just the kind of like the insight this has into the way kids behave or like the kind of stories that will excite a child or the way a child will try to get attention or anything along those lines I think is very perceptive like it's kind of reminding me of things when I was at school that I'd forgotten about I think it's very tuned in to the angle that it's writing from but at the end of the day nothing is really happening like I'm halfway through the book and it's just slow and creepy and I think how much you enjoy this will really be determined by what your perception of this going into it was right if you're expecting like a horror horror I don't think you'll enjoy it and also if you're expecting like a thriller like I think this was waterstones thriller of a thriller of the month one month that's how I found out about it and how I bought it and I think if you're expecting a thriller it's not that either it's a gothic horror so if you can hear Rora scratching on the bed she's in one of her moods I think if you're expecting a thriller it's not really that either it's eerie or I suppose it's a gothic thriller but I think you gotta know the gothic part to go into it Rora we have guests to go into it enjoying it so I can see why it's slowly rated I can see I wonder what is the rating split I imagine it's rated low because it's a lot of three stars let's have a look on good reads yeah it's a lot of three stars quite a lot of four stars as well okay that doesn't surprise me and that's why it's rated a bit low I mean 13% two stars is quite high it's got like basically the same amount of five stars as it has two stars which actually doesn't surprise me but yeah no I'm really enjoying it and I'm really enjoying it being set in the Highlands and Scotland I think it's a very interesting community for it to be focusing on so I'm I'm really enjoying it I'm gonna go carry on reading it but yeah I don't think it's for everyone but I am enjoying reading it at this time of year it's autumn is setting in the cold is setting in the it's getting darker I think this is a good good time of year to read this okay I haven't read much more but I have accumulated like the most amount of parcels I think I've ever accumulated in one day today we've got all of these and we've got some books that I picked up while I was out today so let's I just want to do a little unboxing with you this evening I feel like I need this I'm returning so some of these are book orders and some of them will start with ones I know are book orders and then some will be makeup and skincare because I think it must be something to do with like getting loads of it at Christmas or my birthday but all of my skincare and makeup ran out at the same time like scary amount scary amount of it and I'm the kind of person like I only really have one foundation that I use I only have like one sun cream one moisturizer and it all went so I had to make a big purchase I think all of that's arrived I think the books have arrived but let's just let's get into what we've got so we have got none of this is true by Lisa Jewel I picked this up because it's going to be nominated for the Goodreads Mystery Store Awards which I'm going to be reading it's I think this might win this Riley Sager or Stacey Winningham which isn't very exciting Stacey Winningham wins I'm really excited to read this and then we have a beach house to die for which is one of my book club picks for my Costa Rica trip which is coming up in like two weeks less than two weeks oh my god it hasn't really sunk in I can't I can't really believe it's happening it still doesn't feel real so yeah this is one of our book club picks nice and short we've got like a more serious book which I think will be in one of these other boxes but this is a more of a fun book our fun cozy mystery the cat with a knife so I'm excited to chat about that with everyone I'll probably read that whilst we're in Costa Rica as well and then I have also got an elderly lady must not be crossed by Haleen Tersten this is sequel to an elderly lady's up to no good and I got this because maybe I'll be finishing this series soon it's like tiny look how small this book is it's like the smallest book ever yeah the first I really liked the first one um I have heard this second one isn't as good but I mean we'll see now this I think is just my bookmarks that I ordered so that I'd get free shipping I probably spent the same amount of money that I would have done had I not had free shipping but I got some bookmarks out of it you're so clever oh my god you're so clever I love these ones from waterstones this one's got a sloth on it so I got a new one of those and I got oh that's cute I didn't really look too close to the picture I just clicked on another one I was like yeah that'll do that'll do okay I think then this is my other waterstones package yeah this is our other Costa Rica book club pick where there was fire by John Manuel Arias again this isn't too long which is good oh it's got interesting it's very interesting see it it's like grainy paper interesting I also really like the cover this is set in Costa Rica in 1968 both the books we're reading are set in Costa Rica I wanted to read books set in Costa Rica on the trip so um yeah I'm excited to read this and discuss this with everyone as well then what is this which would my skincare and makeup because I placed three different orders oh this is space and k I had to place an order on space and k Sephora and boots for my different things oh I got my test I think she was just genuinely excited about fucking everything what did I get I got the cordily serum and a sunday Riley eye cream it's my tested how exciting um so from space and k what did I get oh yeah I got two things I got my eyebrow pencil the Anastasia brow Anastasia Beverly Hills brow is and I got I refuse to ever use another moisturizer again it's the Tatcha Dewy skin cream I love her I love her but my luck I just ran out of it and I got it for either Christmas or my birthday the one that I just ran out of so it lasted me like girl mouth it's almost a whole year isn't that adding up so I think that's not bad even though it is expensive but it's like my one big splurge out of my makeup and skincare okay that's one of our parcels how exciting oh my god and then I did go in I had to go into town to get a vaccination for Costa Rica today and I went into the works which if you don't know if you're not from the UK the works is like kind of like it has a lot of stuff in it but they have some books and they have really good deals they have on some books three for six pound which is kind of crazy but these three I got were all three pounds three pounds so I always have a little look in there I don't always get something none of these were ones that were like top of my list to get or even I don't get any of these are on my wish list but they're all ones I've been like moderately intrigued by so I thought why I shouldn't really have done this because I'm not supposed to be buying books that I don't need but I did it anyway I don't think I don't think I'm allowed no I don't I don't know I'm not allowed I know I'm not allowed so I got love in the time of serial killers by Alicia Thompson I'm not going to tell you anything about these because I don't really know anything about this just once I've seen and I thought that looks okay um yeah I got love in the time of serial killers I got a witch's guide to fake dating a demon which looks kind of cute it's not necessarily always my kind of thing looks like you and I got how to kill men and get away with it which is probably more my thing of all we've got so yeah I have more skincare makeup coming but thank you for unboxing all of those parcels with me today how exciting is that I'm gonna go settle down and hopefully finish pine tonight and I will see you either final last thing tonight or first thing in the morning with my thoughts on finishing pine but I'm feeling positive about it I'm quite enjoying it so far I don't know what I'm to do I just miss you more than anything it's way too quiet in the house I'm just wasted on the couch because I don't want to feel anything wish you stay here beside me this is how it's supposed to be wish you stay right with me I can't shake that feeling that we say goodbye to so the power's getting late I shouldn't sit here contemplating I just can't stop thinking about it I won't forget a single thing from drunken nights to sunday mornings and how you smile at me wish you stay beside me this isn't how it's supposed to be wish you stay right with me I can't okay okay I finished pine this morning this is a tricky one my mom just needs so loud my mom when she says she goes chill anyways I finished pine this is a tricky one because I stayed up to like midnight reading this last night granted I was reading it slowly with the audiobook so I wasn't reading physically I was like playing games on my phone I can't say this into the audiobook but it reaches a point in the second half of this where there is a mystery element I feel like I've got cat hair on my face this is not go girl there reaches a point in the middle where there's like a mystery element to it and you're trying to figure out both of the character that not the character that you care about deeply but maybe a character where if they were to have done something bad it would have extreme ramifications for those that you do care about deeply in the book you think they've done something bad and so for a minute without like five interruptions I have been pushed to the limit with this yeah so that does happen and you really think like oh god like this is gonna go in a certain direction and like I really wanted to find out what the truth was and I could not stop reading it however by the end I do understand why this has such a low rating because you kind of read it and you go what was the point of all of that you know I'm giving it a 3.5 and I really enjoyed elements of it but I it does feel a little bit not like there's a lack of resolution at the end because everything is kind of tied up you have answers for everything but you kind of feel like is that enough for a book you know I think this could have been stronger as a novella I think if you cut 100 pages of this I don't know but then again I don't know I don't know it does it does bulk out what it's doing well like with how well we get to know characters and kind of spend this slow quiet time like delving into their psyche and delving into the town but I think it either needed to be longer or shorter right I think it either skimmed on a few bits like a few characters like a few of the older girls the teenage girls that she knew I feel like we could have known a bit more about them all we needed to scale back the book I feel like it kind of wasn't quite there but it is a debut and I feel like the atmosphere of it that is impeccable you know the gothic isolated nature in the Scottish highlands I could envision everything so well it was such a different culture and a different kind of lifestyle than I'd read about before so I think there's a lot of pros about it I don't think it deserves to be the lowest rate horror I read worse I don't think it's there's a case sometimes horror that's like a bit experimental can be lowly rated that isn't the case with this it's that I think it is a debut that kind of is still working out some of the kinks of like structuring a story but for me there's a lot of pros to this it may be even more like a 3.75 but I'm gonna call it a 3.5 but it's a very interesting is it it's a different bit of a different story right your relationship to the characters is a bit different your relationship to the understanding of the plot is a bit different but I did enjoy it so we're now gonna start Sleeve Fert by Brom next I'm gonna go ahead and read some now I'll check with you maybe we're not like a hundred pages in I'm hoping for great things from this I'm pretty sure I put this on my five star predictions um earlier this year so no pressure I don't mean to make you nervous that much by the way all my other parcels have just arrived so I thought let's just like unbox them together because apparently this has become an unboxing video I got a parcel that I wasn't expecting but I think it's the second half of another parcel that I got earlier which I don't think I've shown you yet I've been meaning to yes okay so this is the first model which is like murder mystery logic puzzles can you see it's like one of these they sent me a couple days ago or maybe like a week or so now second one in this like how cool is this and like an evidence bag um with like a pencil and like a book a special bookmark how cool so this is the second one I'm definitely gonna take this first one on the plane to Costa Rica because I think this would be a fun thing the plane ride is like I think the longest plane ride I've ever been on it's longer than when I go to Florida so I think it's like 12 and a half hours that's the second one as well so I thank you so much the publisher for sending me these how cool I'm just keeping it in its little evidence bag like forever because I think it's so cool a fun imaginative way of sending stuff over yeah and I think they get a bit more difficult as it goes on like they ramp up in difficulty but there is an online version of these but I'm more of a book girlie yeah I'm really excited and I think this would be good training for like writing a murder mystery I don't know I feel like figuring out layers of mystery it's something that would be very helpful okay I have two other parcels this is all just makeup and skincare that I've run out of but I'm replacing it's not very exciting so Sephora so testers the most exciting thing we have got Charlotte Tilbury supermodel body and we have got wishful thirst trap juice I find testers very exciting I never ended up buying stuff that I got through testers I ran out of my foundation which is the rare beauty foundation in the shade if you're intrigued 150c is the shade that I use who cares like seriously go to work I got this is my third time maybe even fourth on a third time purchasing this this is the makeup by mario moisture go lip pumping serum these are similar to like the mac squirts if you've seen them but like you roll them up and they're like a lip gloss this is the shade bronze glow I love this I wear it all the time and then I did purchase I'd run out of my lip liners I didn't love them though I've been using the rare beauty ones they're okay but also all the shades I like are out of stock everywhere so I picked up the huda beauty lip pencil in the shade pinky brown and I'm very excited to swatch this oh yeah that's very similar to some of my other shades okay that's the kind of color I wanted cute from boots what did I get oh yeah this is so exciting guys isn't it I got a mini of the pixie glow tonic because I've used this for years but I probably want to buy something else in its place it's like better but like I don't have the mental capacity to do that now so I brought like a travel size La Roche Pose sun cream 50 SPF oh my god it's the best sun cream ever it is the best this is just the sound of that it's very strange it's the best sun cream I swear by it so I picked up that and then I'd run out of serums and I didn't love the one I'd been using so I picked up the inky list which is really affordable hyaluronic acid serum so we'll give it a go I don't know I've heard of an inky list affordable price anyways that's my haul how exciting um I'm gonna go read brom and I'll check with you once I'm a little bit of a ways to wrap I just got way too cozy in bed so I'm not I'm not taking the hoodie off okay I'm activating cozy mode I'm 100 pages into sleep with my bra and it's been a pretty easy like 100 pages why because the book is so tall um and you know it's like there's quite a lot going on on a page that it would take me a long time to read it but I'm reading it pretty quickly um I'm obsessed no I don't think you understand I'm obsessed no I don't think you understand I'm obsessed I don't know how to sum up to you guys what I am experiencing right now this is this is a moment moment moment dislocation um so the plot of this we're following our girly apitha um we're in kneskin 1666 she's on a town of puritan she's been shipped over from London by her daddy sold her off um and so she's married to the sky that he's very kind um but it's not like you're not dead on love um and she's like very headstrong she's gonna tell everyone her opinion and these people don't want to hear her opinion I don't want to say much more than that there's stuff in the synopsis that I think you shouldn't really know going into it and then we're following also like this demon called sleuthert the devil who knows who's kind of like been awoken in the forest and just oh my gosh guys the vibes are this I'm reading this on a cold october's evening oh my god I forgot how much I loved reading stuff that's witchy that's this far back in history I feel like a lot of witchy stuff I read is either modern or like a lot of historical historical stuff I read is Victorian but I haven't read something this far back in history for like a long time and I'm really enjoying it I love it I think I used to read a lot of witchy stuff set in this time period when I was younger and I just haven't in a long time and so it feels nostalgic the writing is so good the writing is so good I'm sorry I was checking how long I had left on my SD card the writing's impeccable like I am just eating up every element of this it is gory like there's some gory scenes to do with death and shit I'm like but it's giving me exactly what I want for like a witchy devil-y book set in this time period with the characters that are in it the plot machinations that are happening and I'm just excited for it to like brownie at the beginning you know we're only in the first third I'm really excited for it to kick off and just go crazy you know what I mean with like witchiness and crazy devilry and oh I didn't even know like it I'm so excited this is Satan's work I'm so excited I mean I knew I was in love this I'm just hoping I don't want to talk too soon I don't want to talk too soon I don't want to say it's gonna be a first star I don't want to say that you're not gonna hear those words come out of my mouth but am I thinking it possibly I just don't want to speak too soon but I'm really just loving it I don't want to talk to I just want to read this book I don't want to say anything I will check in with you on 200 pages in because it's just so good it's so good hopefully I will get 200 pages in tonight I've just woken up and I'm filming in a room I never usually film in because um there's people in every other room in the house and I guess I could wait for them to move but I don't want to because I want to carry on reading this book so I am now 200 pages into sleep fat I'm still loving it look guys also our bookshelf in here collapsed the other day and so we found this out look at baby Megan look at her that's baby Megan anyways girl nobody cares nobody cares anyways yeah so sleep fat I'm still loving it I can see why this is so highly rated right such a highly rated horror because it's doing something different right I can't think of a book really like it that I have read and for me I feel like that's really what is determining what I give five stars nowadays like a five star has to have a innovative element to it nowadays for me it has to be kind of like the first at doing something or is doing something in an interesting way a solid murder mystery that just doesn't do anything new but is good is only gonna get a four star for me do you know what I mean like I really enjoy it but if it's not surprising me and like listen it doesn't have to be new to surprise me for example like I if I had read murder on the iron express for the first time today I would still give that a five star you know but I'm feeling like this could be a five star there's something about the writing I think the way it's written like the writing style that feels very nostalgic it's embodying the period so well because it feels like the way we used to tell stories I love anything that plays with the art of storytelling um Nevo's novellas do this a lot I can think of the um the ones we clerked Chi they kind of like the whole series is about honoring the art of storytelling and the different ways the stories can be told and I feel like there's something very nostalgic about the way that this is written so yeah I'm still loving it I don't really have any other many other thoughts for you right now I just want to go finish it really so I will see you when I've finished it but yeah I'm really really enjoying it and so dread that I'm finally getting around to reading it I'm intrigued as to what's gonna happen in these last 100 pages I feel like it could go a bit crazy I don't know if I'm ready for that I kind of want it to go a bit crazy I don't know I want to be shocked in these last 100 pages so guys it's a five star hey success I loved it I love the direction this went in it kind of went in the direction that I was hoping that it would go in and honestly I always say I support women's rights and I support women's wrongs okay I'll always be in defense of women's rights and women's wrongs I don't believe in the glorification of murder I do believe in the empowerment of women no I loved this and I can see why it is so highly rated it's a very special unique book if you guys own this this is a perfect time to read this is a perfect time to read it like now right the second is the perfect time to read it I'm so glad this was my like Halloweeny book around this time of year because I loved it also it's a very quick read I feel like when I looked at the audiobook it was quite long but actually physically reading this I sped through it like my eyes were moving at the speed of light I couldn't stop reading it so it's a very easily readable book but like I said I love the style that it was written in I love the pagan versus Puritan kind of conflict that is happening throughout the book I feel like the pacing was perfect I feel like the plot flowed at the perfect pace I loved it I loved it and I need to obviously read more Brom because I've never read anything by Brom I've seen stuff before I think there's like a Peter Pan retelling I feel like but um I'm really intrigued in reading more stuff by Brom listen the hype is legit around this book I got another five star yes I know it's like a momentous occasion and yeah I can see why this is so highly rated it deserves it I don't like I have much more to say to you because I don't want to spoil anything like I kind of think this is a fun book to go into not really knowing anything but I loved it it was a five star so there we have it that was my little experiment reading the lowest rated and highest rated horror on my tbl listen I don't think pine was bad I gave it a 3.5 but I can see why it is a whole star rating lower than this majesty over here um let me know what you thought of either of these books if you've read them if you got into the end comment a ghosty emoji and I'll see you guys soon in another video bye