 and I hated the first four books. Rich people are people too. I am Jax, I'm surprised. Oh, what an idiot. The best of the three, including this book is 24D and I. Ridley and Arn't Express hated it. Like, they didn't like it either. I keep trying to film this video, and they keep making noise outside. Now, my Greg is making noise. I was feeling like pooped and annoyed. And instead of ordering Starbucks, I just made a cup of coffee, a Starbucks cakeup. I think I can film this now. I'm so just like, you know how irritation is like really draining. So like, I'm tired, but not from like doing anything. It's from being frustrated. So anyway, we're gonna try again. I'm not gonna hold up the stack because I have a cup of coffee. Did I say I'm doing my April wrap up? Trying again to do my April wrap up. First four books that I read in April I hated, so it's gonna be a downer of a start to this video. I'm annoyed, I have coffee. That's not a bad thing. And I hated the first four books. But anyway, let's do it. The first book that I read and hated was Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson. This I picked for the cover. Had never heard of it. I heard of it after I picked it. And I love the cover. I still do. But this book promised to be like a sparkling witty, like kind of send up satire of the rich. And it was neither sparkling nor witty, nor really even a send up. It was more like apologizing for the rich being like rich people or people too, which is like, okay, yes, rich people are people too. Does this need to be said? Do it, what? So like the characters weren't interesting. It also wasn't like an interesting glimpse into like how wild and different the lives of the rich are. It was just like, I don't know what the fuck what the point of this book was. It wasn't an exciting story. It wasn't a deep dive into characters. It wasn't like a glimpse into, like I said, like a bizarre, like how strange and different the lives of the rich are. It was just a whole lot of nothing. Wasn't particularly like beautifully written or cleverly written. I just, I can't tell you why this was written. Who this was for or who would even enjoy this? Like there's finally some semblance of a plot towards the end, but by then, first of all, it's too little too late. And second of all, even that isn't all that much. So my understanding is that this is a debut that was written by somebody that like works in publishing. And like, that's why this happened. Having learned that after reading it, I am Jack's complete lack of surprise at what it's actually like. So anyway, do not recommend. The next book I read, it really hurt me to dislike and that was The Magician's Daughter by H.G. Perry. This was an anticipated release. I have loved H.G. Perry's Shadow History's Duology, the Declaration of the Rights of Magicians and Radical Act of Pre-Magic. I was hoping that H.G. Perry is just like an autobiographer for me now. And this proves that to not be the case. I really, really did not like this. It was quite different from The Shadow History's. What this most reminded me of was Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rodgerson, which I really, really don't like. And I know a lot of people do. So that being said, if you really like Sorcery of Thorns, you'll probably really like Magician's Daughter. If you did not like Sorcery of Thorns like me, then you probably won't like Magician's Daughter. It's like about a girl on an Irish island and there's like magical secrets and magical societies and magical shenanigans that she gets kind of like, she's at the center of such, gets herself in the center of. It's really long and it feels really long and the characters aren't particularly well written and the humor does not work for me and the magic is kind of chaotic and it's like too much specific nonsense. And I just don't care about any of it. I don't care about the characters or the story or the magic or anything in this book. It was a slog to get through. And I kind of kept hoping that I would change my mind about it which made it even sloggier because I was like, maybe I'll start to like it at some point maybe, but I didn't. And when I finally finished it, I had to admit that I had hated it. So it was better than Pineapple Street. So I gave it two stars, but it was not good. The next book I read, I have a full review for on my channel. I think that was the last video I posted because I've not been posting a lot lately, except I'm really, really busy. That was The Adventures of Amina Al-Sarafi by Shannon Schafer-Bordy. This is also my patron buddy read book club book, whatever, we haven't had our chat for it yet as of the filming of this video. I think we're having our chat as like around the time this video is going up. So I haven't talked to my patrons about it yet other than in the Discord. And I know there's some people in my Discord that did like it, but I think for the most part they agree with me and did not like it, but it wasn't like universal. There have been books in my Discord that we like 100% all of us hate. This is not one of those, but more agree with me than disagree, I think. Well anyway, we'll find out when we chat about it. Maybe they'll be like, you're wrong, we all love this, you're crazy. I don't think that's true. Anyway, yeah, like I said, I have a full review for this if you want to hear my full thoughts. Yeah, I did not like this. This is not for me. It's, the style of the writing is not for me. What it purported to be is not what it actually is. And it does a lot of things that like also just personally bother me, that wouldn't necessarily bother other people. So yeah, like I said, if you want to see my full thoughts, the review is up, but I do not recommend. The next book I read was the Blades and Bodice Rippers Book Club book and that was Splendid by Julia Quinn, who's the author of the Bridgerton books, which I have not read, but I have seen the show. This was the, like I said, the Blades and Bodice Rippers Book Club pick. It was Amanda's pick, so the live show was on Amanda's channel and we all dressed up in our Regency binary. That was, I was very, very fun dressing up. It was not fun reading this book, but none of us liked it. So at least we all agreed this time. That's been so far the case this year. We've been agreeing about the books, which is nice. Yeah, I probably hated it the most as usual, but like the ladies were not far behind me in disliking it. So it wasn't just like them all liking it, being like, oh, Liana, of course you didn't like it because it's romance, like they didn't like it either. Again, I think all of us agreed. It was fun to dress up and it was not fun to read this. And then, yeah, we talked about both things for an hour. So if you want to check it out, if you missed the live show, I'll leave a link down below. But yeah, I don't recommend and neither do my romance reading friends. So that's, I think that's pretty clear. Don't read it. The next book that I read was Morning Star, by Fierce Brown for the Red Rising Readalong. The live show for this was on Angela's channel. If you missed it, I'll leave it linked down below. Ton of fun chatting about Morning Star. There is still time to enter our giveaway. You have until the Iron Gold live show, which I believe will be on Alex's channel. And yeah, it was a blast rereading this. It was a blast chatting about it with Alex and Angela. And realizing that I actually had some spicy takes about Morning Star, like I figured out why this one doesn't work as well for me as the others and why everyone else, like everyone else like seems to think Morning Star is the best one. And I really don't feel that way. I finally figured out why that is. Nothing other people agreed with me, but we uncovered the reason. So that was interesting for me, having read it now three times. And I'm so excited to read Iron Gold. My favorites are Iron Gold and Dark Age. I love the next gen books more than the originals. And I really like the originals. So I'm very excited to read Iron Gold. But yeah, it was a ton of fun, as always chatting about this with Alex and Angela. And I'm so excited to read and chat about Iron Gold. The next book that I read was not on my TBR at all. It's a book that I've owned for a really, really, really long time for years. I don't think I got it when it came out, but I got it, I think pretty shortly after it came out. And I just had a hankering and I wasn't wanting to read anything that was on my TBR. And I was like, okay, let me read this. And I couldn't put it down. So I just continued reading it until I was done. And that was The Wonder by Emma Donahue. I never before read any Emma Donahue before. I know she's, I think, most famous for Room. Obviously I've heard of Room and I vaguely know what it's about. But this is the first of hers that I've owned and read. I own another of her books, I haven't read it. Yeah, I knew what this was about generally again, based on the dust jacket. That's why I bought it, it sounded interesting. I did not expect it to be so unputdownable. Like I had a craving to read it weirdly, but I did not expect it to be a book that I would sit down and start reading and I would not be able to stop and I would be upset at having to go to sleep because I wanted to keep reading and I would wake up the next morning and be like immediately get coffee and get to reading again because I cannot stop until this is finished. It kind of, for me anyway, it kind of sneaks up on you. Like it's not a thriller and like when you sit down to read like a thriller that's like called, you know, like, you know, only one survivor left by John Grisham. I don't know, you know, something like that. Like you expect that to be like, okay, this is gonna be a page charter. Every chapter is gonna end on a cliffhanger. I'm gonna be hooked by this, whether it's good or not. This is like a contemplative book about Irish people in the Boonies and it's historical fiction. You don't really expect, at least I don't expect that to be something unputdownable. And the way that, and like the mystery at the center of it, I don't wanna say too much about it. If you don't know anything about it, I think it's best not to know too much about it. The mystery at the center of it, like it's not like a huge thing. It's not like the freaking Da Vinci code. Like it's really small in scope but it's just so well written I think and the way you're like with the main character and like even though there's things that you maybe notice or identify or spot before the main character does, there were definitely times when I was like, well, this is what's going on. This is what they're talking about. The main character doesn't get it. I'm like, I think it's this. And then a few pages later, the main character is like, oh, it's this. And I was like, yeah, I know. But it never feels like, oh, what an idiot this main character is like, I got it before she did. I felt like genuine to me that she wouldn't necessarily put together what I had put together for various reasons, some of which are like the knowledge I have from the modern day that people didn't necessarily have back in the day. That's quite believably told. I think both sides of prejudice are explored quite well. Sort of like the pro science and pro-religion sides are decently well and balancedly, balancedly. I don't know if that's the word. Portrait, like a main character is quite prejudiced, but her prejudices sometimes are vindicated and but also oftentimes challenged and complicated by what she's encountering. And she's kind of forced to confront her prejudices about some things while she also forces others to confront their prejudices. I think this is so well-written, five stars. No question. I really, really loved this. Definitely gonna read more Emma Donahue. So I have another half of books already that I own frog music, I think. So I'll read that since I own it and then like go check out her backlist. Maybe Broom since that's her most famous one. But this totally worked for me, surprise. Like, I don't know what mystical forces overcame me that I was like, I should read that book. And then it was the perfect book to be reading and I couldn't put it down, but it was a great experience and I highly recommend. The next book I read was Blood of Elves, the first, like properly the first book in the Witcher series for the Witcher Read Along on chapter three podcast. If you missed the podcast episode, I'll leave it linked down below where we chatted about Blood of Elves. I really enjoy the Witcher books, at least to begin with, as I've said many times, like by the end, they kind of lose me. But this is the beginning where I remembered loving it. I still love it. So Kowski's writing is quite witty and engrossing and I love some of the banter between the characters. It just reminded me again, why I hate what the show did to these characters. There's, I absolutely laugh out loud at some parts. It's quite philosophical and political and just really interesting. So yeah, I'm having a great time and I'm really excited to continue with the Witcher books. Next book I read was the book that my patrons chose for me to read and vlog for them. And that was Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick, my second Philip K. Dick book. And I'm afraid the vlog for this book is a little bit of a mess. And I still don't quite know how I feel about this book. It was quite interesting to read Having Seen Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049. I really love 2049. That's why my patrons picked this for me because I kept talking about 2049. And I still think that, I mean, I would have said the best of the two was 2049 and now I would say the best of the three, including this book is 2049. It is really interesting how different it is from Blade Runner and in what kind of going, you know, reverse engineering kind of, because Blade Runner to me was first and kind of seeing what they decided to change, what they decided to take out, what they decided to add in. Some choices I'm like, that makes total sense. Other choices I'm like, huh, I'm surprised that they changed that or took that out or whatever. I can't really, between 2049, I love it. Between Blade Runner the movie and this book, I don't know which I like more or hate more or whatever. I think they're both deeply flawed. And weirdly, I feel like, well, one of my complaints about Blade Runner the film is that it doesn't actually seem that interested in engaging with the philosophical questions it purports to be proposing. And this I would say seems more interested in engaging with those questions at the same time. Blade Runner ultimately does actually at least give some, give an instance of like kind of really engaging with the philosophical question, like for way too briefly, but it does. And this, it kind of like dances around those questions more than the movie does, but then ultimately like doesn't actually do anything with it. And at the end, I was kind of like, what was the point of that? Whereas the movie Blade Runner, I feel like it was wasting a lot of my time, but ultimately had a point. I am glad to have read it. And I hope that the vlog isn't too bad. But anyway, that is that. The next book that I read was American Gods. I owe you a video for that, as well as the smoke and mirrors vlog, they're coming. This was my third time reading American Gods and it's a hell of a book. I'm pretty excited about the video. I have planned for American Gods. So I don't want to say too much about it other than that it's coming and that you should get hype. And if you don't watch it, it's fine. But yeah, I had a good time rereading American Gods and I think I have a lot to say about it and I'm excited to say things about it and I will, forthwith. The last book that I finished was The Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie. And this book was given to me by Mara a really long time ago. And I finally read it and I really, really enjoyed it. I think this is my first Miss Marble that I've read. I've watched all the adaptations of Marble. But I think, because I've read quite a few Agatha Christie's now, nothing compared to Mara, I don't think I had read any Marbles before. Let's see. I had read Ridley and Aren't Express, hated it. And then there were none, loved it. The Secret of Chimneys, meh. Crooked House, quite liked it. Look, I read one after that. Maybe not. So this might be one of my fifth Agatha Christie. Oh, Death on the Nile. I read Death on the Nile. So this is my sixth Agatha Christie. I believe. And yeah, I really, really liked it and I've always loved Miss Marble as a character like in all the adaptations I've seen. So yeah, I really had a good time with this, more than I thought, because I've seen a couple adaptations of this. So I pretty much knew what to expect and I knew who did the doing of the done it. But nevertheless, I found it an engrossing experience and I found it quite tense, even though I knew what was going on and I knew the answer. So, you know, Testament to Miss Christie, it was, I, what? I just noticed that this book says that she's the Queen of Mr. Is that, I assume that's a misprint, right? Or does that mean something that I'm not aware of? The Queen of Mr. What? Anyway, yes, I had a good time with this. So Mara, I read it finally. Thank you. And I'll read some more Marples because I really do like Miss Marple, always have. And I'm glad to find, because I like Poro adaptations but I haven't liked the Poro books that I read. But Marple, I like her. So anyway, that. And then I haven't yet finished because I put this last because I like to read it right before we have our chats but Citadel of the Autarch, the fourth book in the book of the new sun, I'm partway through it, but I'm finishing it like now as a filming of this video, like our chat is in a couple of days from now. So yeah, I want to have read it like freshly before we chat, which is why I haven't quite finished it yet, but I will soon. And I'm so excited to chat about it. Those are all the books that I read in April. Let me know in the comments down below your thoughts about these books. If you've read them, if you have not read them, if you want to read them, if you never want to read them, whatever you want to let me know. I post videos on Saturdays, other random tabs, well, definitely Saturdays so I can subscribe to my Patreon if you feel so inclined and I'll see you when I see you.