 So, I have a problem. Coming to this video today, I am still seven books behind schedule of my Reading Goal for the Year, which is 150 books, which I've never managed before in my life. Delusion. Convince yourself. And for some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to set that as my goal this year, and then I had a shitty first couple months this year, and I didn't read as much as I needed to. So we're seven books behind schedule, and I want to fix it. So I decided I wanted to do a video where I read seven books in seven days to get, well, to get caught up to it, we'd probably still be like one or two books behind schedule because I'll expect to read books this week, so we won't get entirely caught up, but at least we'll get close. Because I've been kind of hovering around like seven, eight or nine books behind schedule for the past couple weeks. I just want to like get through it in one fell swoop. So that's all we're going to be doing in this video. I thought to myself, I can't just read seven random books in seven days. Like I have to have something decide how I read. Right? It's just me. It can't be easy. So what I decided to do is we're going to be participating in a read-a-thon every day and one of their prompts or some of their prompts or however that read-a-thon particularly works is going to be deciding what we read, and I'm so excited. I was speaking actually recently on a podcast I do over on my Patreon about how I miss read-a-thons because they're difficult for me to always participate in because I've got so many other things going on my own content, but if I was just a viewer of YouTube I would be obsessed with read-a-thons. Like I think they're the most fun thing ever and I'm sad I can't participate in them more. So we're going to be like kind of going through some of the ones I wish I had participated in or which I was currently participating in and doing like a whistle-stop tour of them essentially. Now three books that I definitely want to try and make sure I get to in this vlog are Pet, The Woods Always Watching, and Over the Woodward Wall because these are three books that's still on my TBR, Kudo, TBRs, I think they're the only physical books I haven't read, I've got two other audiobooks but we're not going to worry about them in this vlog I'll get to them at some point and once I've read these I'm pretty much caught up with all my previous months TBR Kudo and that stress is off my off my back. So I want to try and fit these in they're all pretty short I think like between 200 and 250 pages. Today I'm actually quite busy you think it's oh it's Sunday today everyone it's Sunday. Fuck is a Sunday. And you think I'd have a lot of time because I'm not working today which is pretty rare but I'm actually going out for a long walk now with Tom's family and then I've got a movie night tonight with my patron so I don't think I'm actually have a ton of time to read today so I'm going to try and pick like a really short book or a graphic novel or something like that. So the readathon we're going to participate in today is the Magical Readathon. So I love the Magical Readathon I think it's pretty much one of the best most immersive readathons out there. I participated in The Novice Path which was the last main round of the Magical Readathon but I just have decided I can't like continue it. I just haven't got the time which I'm really sad about but we're going to try today. Now the way that Magical Readathon works if you don't know is you kind of pick a calling like a job almost and then you have to do certain exams to get that job. Now that's not what we're going to be doing today we're not going to be picking a calling because we're not doing a readathon we just need it to pick one book for us. So I haven't looked at the prompts yet I guess we can just look at the prompts and pick a book based off one of them or maybe we can try and do like a book that fulfills a few prompts maybe we'll do that. So this is happening at the moment the first round of exams is happening in April. Okay what are our prompts we have book featuring romance quick read okay well all of the books are reading this week are quick reads. I'm not going to be reading don't think I'm reading like any full length like not full length novels but like long books in this video they're going to be like 200 page books every book in this video. Um top of your tp red list okay that could be like anything source of light on the cover word shadow in the title oh book under 100 pages I don't think I actually have many under 100 pages short story earth setting intimidating read mythology inspired book set in the future book featuring healers creature with claws on the cover huh I don't just want to like use the prompt quick read or top of your tp red list because he could all all be that do you know what I mean I want some of the other ones oh hang on hang on hang on hang on I have an idea let me go look up the synopsis okay I know what we're going to be reading okay so we're going to be reading emergency skin by NK Jemison this is under 100 pages it's under like 40 pages we're reading a quick book today it's set on earth it's set in the future it's a quick read I think that's all the ones oh short story it's a short story it fulfills like five prompts I've connected the two dots you didn't connect shit but I've connected them so this is NK Jemison's short story in the forward collection which is like a selection of sci-fi novellas essentially or novelettes I don't know what the correct terminology is but I've read the first two I've read Ark by Rona Karoth and Summer Frost by Blake Crouch and I gave them five stars and four stars so I'm really excited for this I'm really enjoying this collection and NK Jemison's and Andy Weir's were the two I'm most excited for so I'm really excited to get to this point in the series there's six in title this is the third one and I want to finish this series in like the next month or so so it's like you know off the list and I'm really excited for this one I think it's about a character going back to earth and like I think humans have to flee earth and it's like climate change ridden and it's like terrible and we've got a character going back there this is perfect actually it will start off nice and easy today with emergency skin only being like 40 pages I have the ebook and the audiobook if I want to listen to it so I'm gonna head out on the walk and I will read the ebook probably like on the way there or something oh my god really great pick so tired we did like I think about 9k it was a long walk so I'm very tired but I finished emergency skin it wasn't hard it's like 30t pages or something like that and I'm gonna give it a 3.5 star actually it's my lowest rated out the collection so far which really surprised me considering this was one of ones I was most excited for you are an individual sent from this world earth no planet what sort of looking for like elite selection of earth elite I'm using that in quotations went and moved to when the earth was dying and you're sent back to earth because you need like samples from earth essentially and the whole thing is told in second person like um one perspective in the fifth season by nk jemisin is so it's all you do this you do that and it's the ai that's built into your brain talking to you so you don't read any of what you say or what like yeah what anything of you say but you read all of the ai's responses to you it's like what you're experiencing basically is what you read funnily enough although you is meant to make it more personal it just meant I felt a bit more detached from the stories a whole I think the concept is great and where the concept goes and I think like it has a lot to say and there's a few little fun nods throughout the book but I mean it's 30 pages and I feel like it could have been longer the other two I've read were a little bit longer even if it's just 10 pages longer I feel like it needed a bit more depth I deserve and just the the decision for it to be second person perspective second yeah I feel like I just didn't really connect to the story as a whole which I'm really disappointed about because like I said this was this and Andy wears ones and Andy wears one is really short as well these were two of the most exciting ones I'm a bit not worried they could be my least favorite in the collection but at least I'm halfway through it now I'm halfway through the collection it wasn't hard to read that today but I was right I didn't really have any time to read I've got movie night with my patrons now watching knives out which I've never seen I've actually never seen it and everyone always pitches it to me because it's like murder mystery so I'm really really excited to watch that this evening you know I loved um arc by Veronica Roth so much because it really made me feel something in 40 pages I think that one's about 40 it really made me feel an emotion and like feel very emotional and really connect to the characters and connect to the storyline and it felt like a lot more happened and there was a bit more like depth to everything whereas this I just felt ambivalent because it's an AI talking to you and so it's very detached writing perhaps it's more that it's an AI speaking to you that I felt very rather than it being second person maybe I'm confusing the two but um yeah does anyone got anything to say it was good like I enjoyed so many aspects of it but I having had like a five and a four star in this collection so far and it being NK Jemisin I was expecting more I think it's giving me like a great it's a great concept right it's a great idea for a novella I think that's why it's been so successful because it's like it's something unusual it's something different and I thank it for that but then I move on so I will see you in the morning tomorrow when it's time to pick our next book and our next readathon wake up it's a motherfucking Monday morning everyone it's Monday morning and I'm very excited for what we're gonna think next so I today the readathon I'm gonna be participating in is a readathon that I co-hosted the Thousand Doors readathon which is generally I mean I know I'm biased but like one of my favorite readathons ever so if you don't know what it was it's been a while actually since ran around we do need to run another one you have reading prompts and then what do you think of that book determines what reading prompt you get next and there's doors you go through and everyone has different prompts that they can get throughout the readathon and I want to get a prompt that I never had for any of the readathons now when we did the initial longer Thousand Dolls readathon we did like duplicate some prompts just otherwise if we'd like made every path a new path we would have to have done like 400 prompts or something like that but when we did the smaller one because it's only after about three rounds it starts getting out of control logistically um when we did the smaller weekend one each path was completely individual so who you started with determined what prompts you get and like each new path was a new thing if that makes sense it doesn't make any sense it's very hard to describe I don't explain it I never really got it Emma did all the work logistically figuring that out so I'm going to go to the weekend prompts the smaller one we did and I started with Emma's prompt last time when I did it so I'm going to start with Tasman's prompt this time I'm not going to do that prompt I'm going to go to the end of the video and answer the question there based on the last book I read yesterday and that will determine what I read okay so we'll just scrub through Tasman's video sorry Tasman so the question was what rating did you give your last book and we obviously didn't think about people who rated books 3.5 although I did round up to a four in Goodreads going with the four to five doesn't feel right I'm going to go with the one to three because it was three point five so let's go with that one and see who I get I'm so scared why am I scared oh it's Emma! Emma from Drinking By My Child and I'm sorry to hear that you didn't much enjoy the last book you wrote it's readathon let's see if we can get you to have some better luck with prompt number two or I should say each of the hosts have different themes for their prompts my theme throughout this readathon is going to be games the next game that we are going to play is an old favourite of mine backpacker you can see how well loved and well used this set is the box is completely falling apart this is a game basically revolves around traveling the world seeing loads different sites having different experiences it's really good fun I'm going to select a random card from here oh my god that's going to decide our next prompt so I'm going to close my eyes and I'm going to pick Egypt oh okay so there's actually loads of things we could do with this prompt so this is the country card for Egypt so you could obviously read a book set in Egypt with a book by an Egyptian author it's also brown all of the countries have different colours so you could read a book with a brown cover it's also with a hundred points this is one of the highest scoring cards in the game so perhaps you might want to read a five star prediction a book that you think is going to be one of your favourites you can have a little look at the design of the card with pyramids in the background the sphinx at the front maybe any of that will prompt you go wild go and enjoy your next book right um I was angry I was angry so the obvious thing to go with would be to read Death on the Nile but I get the Christie like that'll do like the first thing that pops into my head but I'm actually reading that for a different video next week can you believe it so I don't think I have any other books set in Egypt I've got to think let me like cut the camera's dead ass like let me think for a bit okay I know what we're doing I know what we're doing okay so we're partly gonna go with Emma's permission to pick like a five star prediction this is definitely a five star prediction probably the book I want to read most right now like if I wasn't doing this I was like reading you know me reading this is probably the first book that I would pick up and this is like a stretch right are we already for a stretch right um I associate Egypt with when I used to like love history as a child right so in the UK we have something called the horrible histories books this you guys are gonna clown me but you guys go drag me for this huh okay I loved the whole histories books and the show when I was younger and they do a lot about like ancient Egyptians pharaohs that kind of thing and that was probably when I like consumed the most media about Egypt and I associate with being a child and like learning about history and also when I was a child I liked fairy tales and so I'm gonna read a spindle splintered by alexe harrow do I say that right spindle yes anyway um so many people know the once and future witches was my second favorite book of last year and I've just been like like hankering for more alexe harrow writing like I think her writing is just the most beautiful lyrical stuff ever and this is a retelling of sleeping beauty it's super short but I am so excited to read this this is absolutely a five-star prediction I think I'm just gonna love it and like eat it up so this is quite good because I've got quite a busy day today I'm like running around different places I gotta do some important bits of work I need to finish heart stopper this evening with my mom so I feel like this is a good pick because it's only about a hundred pages there's illustrations and I'm very very excited to read this oh my god I'm so excited I hope that isn't too much of a stretch I feel like a five-star prediction fits enough but then you got a little added taste if you needed more from me yes I didn't finish it yesterday you're gonna burn in the flames of hell for this and I'm gonna make sure of it listen I like finished work I took Tom home I made lunches the next couple days and made dinner last night and then me my mom watched Heart Stopper and it was 10 o'clock so like sorry we're still gonna read seven books in seven days but like you can't tell me that uh I had to read some one day no I read like the first 50 pages so I've read literally about half of it it won't take me long to read the rest of it I actually just remembered I have the audiobook for it on script so I'm gonna listen to that but I thought you know it's the morning good morning everyone let's decide what we're gonna be reading today after we finish just finish this and we'll like read them together okay that's the the plan the readathon that we are gonna be participating in today is Blackathon this is like a black history month inspired readathon that takes plays and it's always really great really well organized again a readathon I've always wanted to participate in but never found the chance but we're gonna be participating in today so I haven't looked at the prompts let's go let's go look at them okay so I'm nervous oh team lit contemporary non-fiction but okay I'm just like oh Throne and horror, drarity of vengeance justice this is hard these are hard prompts mental health oh romance I don't read a lot of romance so we're not gonna read that so this is team science fiction fantasy and there's a book called trans spectrum representation I have it we can read pet I believe this does follow a trans girl and it's like main protagonist this is like one of the three books I needed to read this vlog we hadn't read any of them yet and I was like starting to get me nervous I was like if I don't pick one of them today it's gonna be shit so we can read pet that's so great okay so we will finish a spindle splintered I will check in with you my thoughts when I finish that and then we will read this now I have got time to read today I need to edit a video today probably up until like five ish but then at half seven tonight I have got reading sprints my patrons which I have every week and they're like one of my favorite points of the week so tonight I'm not letting us chat which usually we just chat for ages today we have to we have to read I'm gonna make us read and we will get through pet I don't think it'll take me long I have the audiobook for this as well so I can make my way through it maybe when I'm making a thumbnail for tonight's upload and stuff so how exciting let's go finish this and then read this today I didn't burn my quiche and as per usual I can have my quiche wet and says tomorrow hello you may have noticed it's the next day just felt shit yesterday you guys I okay I just feel like my health has been bad vibes in April everything else in my life has been pretty good but like I was had a really bad cold knocked me out for a week like three weeks ago then I sprayed my ankle then I was okay for a week and then the past couple days I've just been exhausted all the time like falling asleep in the middle of the day like not even meaning to just falling asleep I think you can tell by my face that I'm extremely tired today but I feel like this really is a fail I wanted all the books to be contained in their days but anyway let's chat about what I've done so I finished a spindle splintered I really enjoyed this so this is like a sleeping beauty retelling where we're following a girl who has this like condition from birth that means that she probably probably won't live long there's no one no one has ever lived beyond 22 with this condition and she's telling 21 and she kind of accidentally goes into this like sleeping beauty world and hijinks ensue from there and this book pretty much did what I expected in like really subverting and doing like a feminist retelling and like you know really mixing up those old fairy tales and I recently read disfigured with my patrons for our patreon book club and actually a lot of us didn't really love it I mean without getting too much like I could talk very just about it but it was kind of like half memoir half factual and the two bled into each other too much I think we all found pretty much all of us didn't love it but having read that and having read about kind of the history of fairy tales and like the the phases that fairy tales have gone through like sleeping beauty has been kind of rewritten reshaped by so many different kind of groups and people over the years I found that very interesting how that was played into our protagonist is kind of like obsessed with sleeping beauty and other fairy tales has a degree in fairy tales and so speaks a lot about that about the different variations of these stories and how they've been molded over time and I found that very interesting I found the kind of like tragic hopefulness in this is a is a trope I love and I know dear I love I love like corny summers does this at the end of the books like I love like a hopefulness in the in the face of everything being shit and I thought this book without spoiling the ending I feel like it dealt with our characters disability very well kind of giving the audience what they wanted from the story whilst also how can I say this about spoiling anything not not dealing in some kind of tropes that have existed in the past youth disability so I gave it a four star it wasn't quite a five star I don't really have anything wrong with it like sometimes when I give five four stars there's like a little something I can critique and I can't really critique anything about this I thought it was really well written I thought it was fun I thought it was joyful but like sad at the same time I did feel like Alexey Harris writing wasn't quite what I remembered from Once a Future Witches perhaps because that's more historical and then our protagonist in this is more like present day lingo how do you do fellow kids what I think that is the kind of drawback for me wasn't quite the kind of magical like gorgeous writing that I was hoping from it but I'm still really excited to continue on with this series and I had a lot of fun reading it so yeah okay so I am halfway through pet I got halfway through pet yesterday so we're going to finish this today we're not going to pick our next book until I finished this this afternoon sometime I need to do a bit of video editing at tbr kludo this morning I am enjoying this so we're following pet who is a trans girl in this kind of future earth world and there is no monsters in this city anymore monsters have been banished but monsters aren't like creatures they're like bad people so like the police or billionaires are referred to as monsters and then a creature arrives called pet who tells jam that something is living a monster is at her friend redemption's house hurting him and so jam is trying to help find out what that is and try to end it and I am enjoying this I'm really enjoying the audiobook the audiobook has all like the accents and I think that really helps when reading it because in this in the book when pet speaks to jam in her head there's no speech mark so I just really I'm enjoying the audiobook I think it is helping I'm not like a hundred percent it's probably kind of a four star at the moment this this vlog has been very one note but I am enjoying it I feel like I'm going to have more thoughts on it once we get to the end and kind of see how this this plays out because I've spent a lot of time getting used to the world and kind of this future setting and what all different linguistics mean but I'm really enjoying I don't have to put this but like the style of storytelling in this I think it's a very unique style of storytelling the kind of just the way the characters speak to each other and the way that scenes are structured I don't really know how to describe it and a parcel just arrived for me which I thought we would open together I think I know what this is it's from canon gate but I'm not a hundred percent sure so let's open it quickly because I feel like if it is what I think it is I need it right now I'm not waiting to open it it's like a little okay hang on let's like look through this in stages so they got in contact with me and asked if I would like a copy of the comfort book by Matt Haig the midnight library I absolutely loved when I read it and I think this is a collection of constellations learned in hard times and suggestions for making bad days better yeah good that's cute you're so clever oh my god you're so clever so I'm really excited for this I it's like kind of there's some really short sections and it's kind of just like little anecdotes there's some longer sections as well of you know positive thinking and getting yourself out of thinking in a rut and I think this kind of stuff can be really helpful and I I do tend to prefer self-healthy stuff if you can call it that that's more like grounded and realistic and like really stuff that anyone can implement and that's what I think this is so I'm super excited that they've sent me this but they also sent like a self-care package so that's like let's like dive into what it is okay so first we have this gorgeous mug excuse me hang on I wasn't expecting this a gorgeous mug oh my god look at her that's so pretty we have a candle soy lavender candle from vegan bunny oh that smells like it that smells like um Tom's house that's so cute okay I love candles oh we have some tea we have lemon ginger and manuka honey and supreme matcha green I don't typically drink tea but I may try the lemon ginger and manuka honey and maybe maybe I'll try both who knows who knows oh my god you passive oh my god I'm gonna cry what is all of this okay made by coopers calm atmosphere mist get out that smells really good oh my god eight vegan chocolate Easter eggs with a soft center caramel ooh extra spicy sauce that's gonna strain my basket okay well guess I have no choice but to try one I guess I have no choice what can I do oh my god they look very interesting okay let's try mm-hmm mm-hmm someone's gonna have to hide them from me that is so good then they sent some matches how cute some safety matches for the candle and then we've got a face mask maybe I'll put this on tonight I love a good face mask oh my god thank you so much for sending this to me this is like really said like a little self-care package I thought it'd be like a face mask and some tea not like a mug a mist a candle I am so excited thank you so much and I'm very excited to read the comfort book I feel like this kind of stuff is always really helpful to read so maybe I'll read this like over the next couple weeks just like really slowly and I'll let you know to wrap up what I think about it it's like a playlist in it this looks so much fun so thank you so much I am gonna go edit and then I'm gonna go what am I doing oh reading pet and then we'll come back this afternoon before the sprints hopefully some time to figure out the other book we're gonna be reading today it's also fridays it's the weekend to cheer up okay so it turns out when I said we were gonna read um seven weeks and seven days those days did not need to be consecutive it turns out by the way my neighbors are playing music really loud just apologies you can hear it turns out I was so tired on Tuesday because I had a virus of some sort and immediately after I spoke to on Wednesday I came down very unwell I've heard like a stomach bug and I'm also like a headache in the base of my head into my neck that's been genuinely one of the most painful headaches I've had consistently since midday Wednesday and like pain has not touched it and I've been going insane so we ruled out Thursday right Thursday I was not capable of reading we're just pretending that day didn't exist the rules don't apply so we had four days right four active Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday I finished on Wednesday whilst I was ill pet I think I was halfway through this when I spoke to you about it and I didn't connect emotionally to this in the way that I think everyone else did now bear in mind I was unwell I was on a good mood so I think that that has played into it but I'm giving it a 3.5 leaning towards a 3 and I was like looking at everyone's reviews and I was like I think it was a really good book and the way that the themes of you know child abuse um this ends up focusing on my hand would very very well I can see myself really loving a kwekemeze's adult fiction but for me this just felt like very simplistic very like middle grade but it wasn't middle grade I don't mind things feeling like middle grade if they are middle grade but it felt too simplistic I had issues with the pacing and I just didn't connect emotionally I didn't really actually get emotional to what happened when you should really get emotional like that and listen I get emotional at everything I get emotional at things you don't need to get emotional at so I'm very disappointed because everyone who's told me I'm gonna love it it's the best book they've read all year they're obsessed and I just didn't feel that way about it now again please bear in mind I was unwell okay so like that could have that could have come into it but um yeah I liked the audiobook it just felt too short as well I feel like for the story that's so interesting there's a lot of world building there's this idea of monsters and angels and the town not having any monsters anymore and how that develops is very interesting but I I think I would have liked a longer book oh my god the penguin direction when I first saw you from across the room anyway I was just disappointed and I'm gonna forget about it I read it on Wednesday so that means we finished three books in the first four days of this so we need to read four books in the last three days of this so today is Friday as you have seen I'm not going to read two books today because it's now like five o'clock but I'm gonna read a book today and then two books either I think probably tomorrow I'll read two books I feel like it um so let's get into what we're gonna be doing today the rudathon that we are gonna be participating in today is the buzzwordathon run by Kayla now she's done this for many years and I've participated a little bit in previous years but I haven't done anything for this year yet so let me screen record I saved I went and saved the graphic for like what the prompts were but I haven't looked at the prompts yet I haven't looked at the prompts so let's do that now now I would ideally I would like to pick April's or May's prompts because this video is coming out in May it's almost May so April or May's prompts if I can't do that we'll do any of the prompts because I know a lot of people just like try to hit them all throughout the year they don't necessarily do them in the month basically the idea of buzzwordathon is there's a buzzword or like a buzz theme buzz themeathon the book title has to have that theme in it it'll make sense to me look at it so oh okay oh okay okay so April big and little hmm I don't like that I have big little liars but that's long I'm assuming you can have like other size words so tiny I have tiny pretty thing tiny pretty done let's look May directions okay hang on I want to go I'm gonna go look at oh I just shot my own thoughts I'm gonna go look at Kayla's video because I want to know what is included in directions is it just north south east west or is there left right like what is what are we including in in directions okay moving on to May what is May what's May May is directions I got this uh suggested I thought it was so fun so you can do north south east west um exit west for example would be a good one but you can also make it like up down left right it can also be part of a word it doesn't have to be the whole thing so southern book clubs guide for slang vampires okay okay okay um I know a lot of things but I don't know about that I'm not sure why I have down and out in Paris and London by George Orwell which is short but I don't know if I'm in the mood for that I'm not really in the mood for that down up oh oh I know what we're doing I know what we're doing okay I'm coming to you with a pitch right if up and down can be classed as directions I think Kayla would accept over over up down over right I think that's a direction so I'm counting it I'm counting it we're going to read over the Woodward wall by A. W. Raker aka Sean McGuire um I'm happy with theirs oh my god I hope we're all counting over is a direction over up down same thing same dip same dip I'm very happy because as I said at the start of the video this is one of the ones I wanted to try and get to because it was on a TBR Clio TBR so this is a short story from middle game the book that's referencing that and Sean McGuire's written it now because it's about kids going into another world I think we're following two kids who go into this like magical world it does have wayward children by which is one of Sean McGuire's like other series but I feel like it's not going to be quite like that because otherwise what's the point so it must be a little bit different so I'm intrigued I'm intrigued we're going to go read this I feel like I'll definitely have to read this today I think I have the audiobook as well on script so let's get into it go to sleep every night and watch it dreaming finished it I'm too tired to talk about it now but I'll talk to you about it in the morning but I finished it Saturday they're what Saturdays are for the Saturdays no let me just talk about them you can't really see them but look at luxe he's truly living his best life anyway good morning good morning I finished over the woodwood wall last night are we proud of me for actually finishing a book I mean this but this vlog has been a mess you don't understand I've been excited for this vlog for months and it was kind of going to be like a like let me take you along with me in my life let's like let's do like a bit of a live vlog as well like I haven't lived a life this week because I've been throwing up okay so I'm gonna give over the woodwood wall four stars I'm gonna give it four stars now I had the magic of a Sean Maguire book but I think it like it's somewhat Tennessee felt like it was written by Sean Maguire and written by someone else and it's supposed to right like it's written by a character and I thought you could really tell that and that that was very cleverly done I just didn't love it as much as middle game which was like a longer like epic book or there's something about the wayward children series and world that now feels very special to me and it didn't like match up to that but I still really enjoyed it I had a lot of fun reading it the audiobook is amazing the audiobook narrator is so so so so good at like doing all these voices so basically we're following Avery and Zib who have normal lives and go over the woodwood wall into this world of the up and under and it's them trying to find their way home but it's very difficult I would say this is like a combination of Narnia and the Wizard of Oz I think people often compare the wayward children to Narnia because it like kids going through doors but I don't really see it but this definitely feels like that and Wizard of Oz where like they're walking along this road and there's so different characters magical characters from this world like dipping in and out of the story with them and meeting them and helping them for like a short period of time and then they leave and then it's like a new character I really liked all the different characters that we met it's much more like nonsensical than wayward children it's very different like people I think people often think they're quite similar because it's like kids going into other worlds but this is much more like nonsensical bending the rules of logic I mean why would one does that but not in the style of storytelling this does do that it's a very weird fun style of storytelling okay I'm feeling weird right now I'm feeling like so weird it took me back to just being a child like I feel like I was watching Wizard of Oz again which I loved I loved Wizard of Oz when I was a kid and it just I think it was really good at like getting that childhood nostalgia can we just talk about how I've started three different series in this vlog that's a problem but I am excited to carry on with this series I don't know how many it's gonna be I have the second one the third one comes out at the end of this year I don't know where the rest of it is continuing but um yeah it didn't touch wayward children for me and it didn't touch middle game but it was a fun read I'm glad I finally got around to it and I really enjoyed it and I thought it was a really vivid magical world I haven't really got anything bad to say about it other than Shulna McGuire has such high standards for me like I expect so much and it wasn't I didn't love it as much as the other stuff essentially so today I would like to try and read two books if we can I mean I could tomorrow I've tomorrow I'm probably a bit freer but I would like to try and do it today and you guys I'm really in the mood to read a graphic novel but I don't know if we're gonna be able to defend what problems we get but the first readathon we're gonna be doing today hopefully we'll get around to if not we'll do two tomorrow is Bacopa Lothan I printed out the board from September last year I think this one was so this is run by Becca from Becca in the Birks and obviously she does Bacopa Lee as like her TBR game and this is a readathon based off of that there's like there's a new one happening next month which I am participating in and she did pay out the first couple prompts for that so I thought should we do that but then I thought no I want to play the board game so we're gonna play the board game and it's gonna determine what we read right let's see how many we roll I am literally so no oh my god oh my god I promise you that landed in my lap 105 so we've got nine okay okay okay one two three four five six seven eight nine monsters um okay okay okay okay okay hang on I'm I'm justifying it for myself I don't care okay so I think we can count anything as a monster anything you would dress up for Halloween as and sheets is about a ghost right I think it's a nice ghost I think it's a kind ghost but it's still a ghost and I think we can count a ghost as a monster okay and boy did I cheat like a bug so yeah we're gonna read sheets and I'll probably check in with you once I finish it because it won't take me long it was 100% like the perfect thing for me to read at the moment it was just what I needed I had so much fun reading it I feel like I need to read graphic novels so much more I'm gonna give it four stars um I think it's like I may be 4.5 virgin but I'm gonna give it it was just such a lovely story yeah we're following Marjorie who is basically running the family laundromat she's only 13 but her mom passed away last spring so she's like in middle school I think I'm like just trying to like get through middle school whilst also like running this family laundromat and it's really hard there's like there's adults in this that are really mean to her like there's adults that are enemy and I'm like oh my god why are these adults so horrible but this ghost called Wendell this is Wendell um ends up coming across the laundromat and being there I just thought it was really touching and really gorgeous and I really loved the characters it's got a lot of like blue and pink and purple color tones and I just thought it looked so beautiful it's also I believe set in like the 80s and I just thought that was a really fun setting for a graphic novel and you know just like our main character dealing with grief and Wendell dealing with grief in a way and like bullies and like we also have like this storyline of this mean guy who's trying to set up a yoga retreat it was very fun it was very humorous I feel like it had like a a fun sense of humor as a book and I just really enjoyed it I'm so glad I finally got around to it because I've had this I think I've owned it for about a year now and it makes me want to read graphic novels more because I never read them and then I read them and I love them she's she's so fucking stupid the second readathon of the day because the day is the night is young what time is it I think it it's about three o'clock so I do have some family stuff that we're doing this evening so we'll see how long the book we end up reading is when I finish it but we'll try to make good progress through whatever book we end up picking today so the next readathon we're gonna do is spring fling a ween which is actually happening as we speak it's happening right now this is hosted by Gaby and Olivia and it's like they do lots of like a ween reader funds and this is the one that's running at the moment and I really want to participate so I haven't looked at what the prompt is we're gonna watch Gaby's like announcement video and find out what the prompts are but I assume we're gonna be reading like a thriller or a horror so if we can the only book that I said at the start of this that I want to read that we haven't got to is the woods always watching which I have been putting off for quite some time now this is like a little bit longer it's about 220 pages but um we'll see if we can fit this in so let's find out what the prompts are but I'm really excited about these prompts and I think they're so cute and perfect for this like spring kind of vibe because the first prompt is going to be to read a book with pink or yellow on the cover okay because personally when I think of spring I think of like yeah okay yellows and like the pastels you know and if you're thinking to yourself what kind of books can you make fit into this color palette you would actually be surprised how many thriller and horror books have pink or yellow? We need to throw that horror back with pink oh yeah okay I've already decided I even know okay let me look let's see if in the description they got the other prompts yeah I don't really have any backlist there are a little horror I want to read okay we've decided we're reading I know what I'm reading I know what I'm reading let me go fetch it it's a bit longer it's gonna be the longest book we read in this vlog but I feel good because I've got like today and half of tomorrow to read it I am going to read and not only has pink or yellow it has pink and yellow I'm gonna read Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins um so I've really wanted to read this since I got it I got it in Book of the Month what month was it I can't remember January I feel like it was very early this is a thriller about a group of friends who go to this island and then one of them goes missing one of them turns out dead I think it's quite campy and fun while also being like a thriller it's been compared to and then there were none but I don't like it when things are compared to and then there were none uh they didn't really love and then there were none I don't think it is gonna be spot on necessarily but yeah I'm really really excited the island's desolate spot with a mysterious history of shipwrecks cannibalism and even rumors of murder it's the perfect destination for most adventurous traveller to escape everything even the truth okay I'm really really excited we're gonna read this it's gonna be a bit longer how long is it I'm guessing like 300 pages oh it's literally just 300 pages so it's not too long so I feel like it's within my wheelhouse to read like at least half of this tonight and check in with you and then we'll read the rest tomorrow that's the plan and we're gonna do it and I'm very excited oh because I haven't read this is a 2022 release isn't it I've only read three so far this year so I was a bit nervous anyway we're reading it regardless because it is pink and yellow and this is perfect for this challenge here I am here we are yes another week good morning everyone um listen it's first thing in the morning like I need to discuss the way I look but I'm halfway through reckless girls and I am enjoying it like here's the thing it's a very easy read like it's one of the most like easy thriller mysteries that I've read in the long while it's like so easy to I can I say easy again it's so easy to just kind of like dive through and read very fast so basically our main character is called Lux which it's my cat's name is it a coincidence is it a coincidence I ask you is it a coincidence he's named after a pokemon though to be fair and it's her I hate when my bun just like disappears behind my head do you want to like oh let me turn my hair up in a ponytail hold on her and her boyfriend Nico gets asked by these two girls and Nico has a bow and they get kind of like hired by these two girls to take them out to this like deserted island essentially where like many years ago people were stranded on it and died but now like obviously they can go there with their boat what I like about this some like mystery thrillers you dive into like the craziness straight away what I don't what do I read recently where I didn't like that it was like that like it was immediately there was no build up with these characters it was just merely shitting the fan whereas shits still hasn't hit the fan halfway through they encountered two other people on the island since now six of them and it's just been a lot we have actually multiple timelines but I'm enjoying them both equally which I don't usually do so I think they're both interesting so we've got the present day time one of them on the island and then we've got past timelines for both Lux and Nico and is it Emma and Brittany I think who are the two girls that they took with them we're having like backstories of like their history that brings up a lot of questions as to how people know each other and people's motivations and it's just kind of like building the tension of them all on this isolated island together where anything can happen people not trusting one another relationship starting to fracture and I just really like that in my mysteries and thrillers I think it's like I really like building that kind of tension before we get into the craziness I feel like the second half is going to get kind of crazy but the first half has been pretty chill just us learning about the characters and tension kind of seeping into the cracks in one of their relationships so I'm just enjoying it it's not going to be like a five star I don't think unless it goes like crazy but I think it's like a easy to read fun thriller I already know by the way the last book in this vlog I can't remember I do not read a fun I'm doing but I haven't looked to the prompts but I don't want to read something very long I'm kind of thinking a bit read out like a bit like burnt out with reading and I just want to read something really short so maybe another one of the forward collection would be fun if we can fit that we'll have a look and see um when we get to the end but yeah I'm really enjoying this and I'm glad that I'm reading it and how perfect was it for the prompts yellow and pink I mean come on right so this book is crazy I was owing I was on I was wincing I was loling quite heartily like actual insanity that is crazy is crazy is crazy I'm gonna give it four stars here's the thing I read this so quickly I think I was reading like 150 pages an hour like I was reading it so so fast it is so compulsively readable it is so easy to read I really feel like that was what I needed at the moment so I feel like it kind of gave me what I needed it reminds me of the last where there's this really great atmosphere built it's very like high tension and the last 50 pages it just fucking crazy and you're like do I think the ending is very good no but did I have such a great time reading it yeah do you know what I mean do I think it's the best book ever no do I think it's a super fun thriller yes this is the kind of book I don't want to say trashy but it's the kind of book that would be perfect to like take on holiday with you not just because it's told on like a tropical island it's the perfect thing that's fun and easy to read you know read by the pool not a lot of thinking involved just pick it up whenever you can dive straight back into the story and I think it's really great for that purpose or like you know want to read in one sitting on a summer's day or do you know what I mean it's perfect for that kind of setting I don't think this is going to be many people's favorite book but do I think a lot of people having are going to have a good time reading it yeah do you know what I mean that's the duality of this book I really did enjoy it I really I did enjoy it I couldn't pretend I didn't I thought the flashbacks in time for all the different characters worked so well the dual timeline we know usually I dislike that but we still had one timeline which felt like the the real one the main one and the stuff in the past was kind of just to inform us there are a few plot holes that I'm I'm kind of figuring out I'm a bit confused there's a few plot plot holes where you're like that don't make no sense me trying to explain the plot holes but yeah it was a fun read one of the funnest kind of campy silly thrillers I've read in a long time I think this deserted island is a really great setting isn't a retelling of ike the christie uh and then there were none no it's really not like it doesn't have that um in and then there were none like characters keep getting killed off kind of periodically and that's what I think the truest retellings of and then they're undue and I don't like that so I actually like when books aren't strict retellings this is not a retelling maybe it takes an inspiration but it's just used the act of the christie lion has just been thrown in to try and get the book to sell more so I'm kind of all read out guys I'm gonna be honest I'm not in the mood for reading now I don't know I should like do nothing with my family so I'm gonna read a short book so we're gonna go to the clear your shit readathon which I've always wanted to do I think it's like an annual one and it's really cool because there's like a narrator who narrates the readathon who's like this sarcastic character I just love the idea behind it okay we've got shortest book and we've got smallest book okay okay okay I think the shortest book on my tbr is randomized by andy weir but that is the last book in this forward collection that I've been reading and I like to read them in order even though there's no rhyme or reason to it because they're not related you don't have to read them in order I want to read them in order so we're gonna read I think the next one is you have arrived at your destination by amor towels I think that's how you pronounce his name um I've never read anything by him but I've always wanted to so we're gonna read this one it's gonna take us like 20 minutes but then we're down and we've read seven books in seven days kind of kind of so I just finished what was it called again you have arrived at your destination by amor towels so it's this new like ultra advanced fertility lab that our character is visiting where not only can you maybe pick stuff like your child's gender or like their eye color or whatever but they basically predict what the contours that's what they call them of your child's life is gonna be like what kind of person they'll be what kind of temperament what kind of career stuff like that and he gets presented with like three different possibilities his wife has picked out of the person their child could be now I did find this one very interesting I really like the section at the fertility clinic I don't fucking speak but I did feel like uh the section when he'd left it was not as strong it was kind of boring and like the characters were speaking of metaphors and I was like listen we only have 50 pages here to get to know each other and for the storage go bish bash bosh let's let's like move it on up and like speak a bit more clearly so I'm gonna give it a three overall I I feel like it is I think it's got the lowest rating of all the collections and I can see why I here's the thing Amos houses are not a sci-fi author um he writes like I think like historical fiction kind of stuff and you could tell that because this wasn't very sci-fi other than the advances in the the fertility clinic there wasn't much else in the world or anything else in the world that was different to our life essentially and so this was much more focused on humanity and human nature and like yeah just the human side of this stuff which was interesting but I feel like for me it feels out of place for the rest of the collections so far I did enjoy it I had like a good reading experience reading it but once I finished it I was like huh like is that it like is that it I was saying potential risk because they're overweight it's claimed that they're more prone to heart attacks is that do you know what I mean so I enjoyed I really enjoyed the part of the fertility clinic I thought it was really interesting I really liked the way it was written so I'm very excited I own is it the Lincoln Highway by Amos house I always wanted to buy a gentleman in Moscow if that's what it's called um I remember being in like um book store in Florida and wanting to buy it like years and years and years ago so I'm excited he's writing so I really like the writing I just don't feel like it worked as part of the collection and as a short story anyway that brings us to an end of this vlog oh I just knocked the table I'm scared that this vlog is gonna be long I don't personally really like doing vlogs longer than like 35 minutes I don't think anyone's gonna want to watch them so if you've made it to the end thank you so much um but I'm so glad I did this I'm now only three books behind schedule because obviously time moves so I'm only three books behind schedule my reading goal which will definitely catch up to the next couple days that's the best it's been since like mid January like once I got past three books by a schedule I never got back to it so I'm very happy that we're at that point I feel like it's kind of reached my goal I'm not as anxious about my reading goal anymore it finally feels like it could be a possibility so yeah I feel very happy and we read some good books it was pretty one note though it was a lot like 3.5s 4s no 5 star if I remember correctly but I had fun reading a lot of the books I read and I'm glad that I finally got on round to them if you've gotten to the end oh my god what do I want you to comment oh come on the pink flower emojis for reckless girls because I really like that cover and how it tied into the prompt so comment that down below let me know um how you're doing on whatever your reading goal of the year is doesn't have to be numerical like any other reading goals you had I would love to know how you're doing on them also let me know what your favorite rigathon you've ever participated in was and why I'd love to know those things down below thank you so much for watching and I'll see you very soon in another video bye