 So with it being the start of a new year, I have seen a lot of people's most anticipated books of 2023, and it got me thinking. What were people's last anticipated books of last year? And I figured it's time we bring back Booktube Rewind. That's what we've been waiting for! It's what we wanted all along! I think it's been about a year since I had done a Booktube Rewind video. I need more. If you have more ideas for how I can look back in the past on Booktube themes. So far I've done a Booktube Rewind vlog where I read the most popular books that people were reading in a certain month, and I did a Christmas book haul one. What were people hauling in their Christmas book haul? So this is going to be our third. And I'm going to go back and see what the most anticipated books of last year were and read them. We're going to find out together! So that's basically the idea. We'll do some research first, and then the rest of the vlog will be me reading the book. So shall we just get into it? I don't think there's anything more to say. Let's go find out what we're going to be reading in this vlog. Okay, so it's time to start collating the data, watching people's anticipated videos from last year to figure out what book I'm going to be reading for this vlog. I'm trying to figure out how many people I want to set as my goal. Let's say... Oh my god! For the size of my data sample. Oh hey there, Lux! How many should I go for? Let's say a minimum of 22 for 2022, but ideally I would like to aim for about 30. The thing is, in some of these videos people are going to be listing like up to 40 books, and that takes a long time to input all that data into a spreadsheet and into a Word document saying who said what, who takes quite a while. Let's aim for a minimum of 20 people, 20 videos, but hopefully 30. Let's see how we go. I'll check in with you when we have our first duplicate. Okay, so I have watched my first three people's videos, which were mine first because I have the most chance of owning those books or, you know, like being excited to read those books that I've put on my most anticipated, so start over with mine. And I've watched Mel from Mel Reads and Jen and me from this story ain't over. The only book that all three of us have said is one that I have read called Babel, of course. I feel like that might end up being one of the most popular ones. And then there's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11. There's 12 that me and one of them said. So me and Mel both said Gallant, Book of Night, The Paris Apartment, Daughter of the Moon Goddess, The House Across the Lake, Seasonal Fears, The It Girl and Amari in the Great Game, and me and Jen and me also said The Daughter of Dr. Moreau, Love on the Brain, Curry Sota's Back, The Weight of Blood, I think that's it. So they're the ones I've had in common with them so far. I think of that 12 that two of us have said, six of them are ones that I haven't read. I would love The House Across the Lake. I would love Gallant. I'd love Amari in the Great Game. I wouldn't love Book of Night. I wouldn't love, a bit nervous about Seasonal Fears, but nervous about that one. So I'll come and check with you. I'm going to be else. I don't know if I'm going to get this all done tonight. This may be a multiple day job. A few moments later. I did about 30 people in total and I watched their most anticipated books. Listen, it's not like the whole of BookTube. I'm not claiming to be that. When you did science experiments in high school, you did a sample size. You didn't test everything, you chose a sample size. And that's what I did. I've done a scientific data research. There's science and scientific proof. It's biology. So the most popular book mentioned, the most anticipated book of last year is a book that I've read. It's not really a surprise. Babel Babel by Ahir of Gwang. I've read it. We can't read it for this vlog. There's been so many like challenge videos like I did, people's favorite books of last year where like this has come up so many times where I could have read it for so many videos. But we're not reading it in this vlog. Yeah, this was mentioned nine times, which I was surprised. I thought it might be more, but I suppose when you think of like a third, a third of people mentioning it is one of the most anticipated. Now, I was super interested with the three books that we have ended up reading for this vlog. I want to know before I tell you what you thought would come up. There's a few that I thought would come up that kind of got close. There's a few that I was surprised that got close. I think it's interesting because certain books can kind of grow over the year. There's one book I want to check how many it had before I say stuff. For example, I think of maybe The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead as like a big book that came out last year. Only three people mentioned that. The books we've got here, two of them, seven people mentioned and one six people mentioned. There's certain books that kind of grow throughout the year and end up being a big book by the end of the year. And there's certain books that kind of a lot of people mentioned, like one that we're not going to be reading, but I think got five was Is It Nine Lives or Nine Lives? Nine Lives by B.J. Swanson. A lot of people mentioned that because Peach Sun's a fairly well-known author, but I don't think a lot of people liked it. So it wasn't a book that a lot of people were excited to read. So that's kind of what I find interesting about this video. We've got two that seven people mentioned. This one I think I was surprised to see because this author's previous books, particularly their previously released before this, had it been all of it, a little bit providing an opinion. So the first book we're going to be reading is The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager and here are the booktubers who mentioned this one. In this one we are following a woman named Tacey who retreats to her family's lake house in Vermont. And there's across the lake a couple that she kind of becomes obsessed with. I think she's like looking at them through her eyes like. And when the wife goes missing she will insert herself into this problem and find out exactly what has happened. I want to love this. I do. But one of my main issue with him as an author is that he writes really bad female characters. This will be the chance to redeem yourself but I'm also really kind of hesitant and cautious going into this one just because it does sound really really simple and basic. The synopsis calls it gas-worthy so we'll see. And you know yeah it's Riley Sager. I'll read anything he writes. He's always going to be on my most anticipated list. I don't care. I love him. Yeah survived the night was controversial so I was surprised at this. I knew this would be like up there but I thought it might get like four or five not the seven that it's like front of the pack with. I suppose Riley Sager's just like a go-to well-known author. I would also say Riley does a great job of promoting his books on Instagram. Like he was just great teasers that I feel like get people excited. He's a very good marketer of his stuff. When he announces the book title and he like does like themes and covers like whenever all of that stages come out he does a really good job of like getting people excited. He always gets me excited so I think that something as simple as that can have a big role in it. I've heard mixings about this. Some people are giving it five stars. Some people are giving it one star. We'll see where we are. I will give you synopsis of these books when we read them in the vlog. The other um the other book on here Mimi I'm First. Mimi I'm First was number one in the voting. I could not believe it. Is she number one in the voting or was Mimi like number was third in the voting? I can't like quote it's not quite there. Most of it's there. Anyways I could not believe this was on there and seven the highest number of people mentioning it. Book of night. So in this book we are following Charlie who is a low-level con artist working as a bartender trying to distance herself from the powerful and dangerous underground world of shadow Shadows that can be altered for cosmetic and personal purposes. Shadows that can also be manipulated to grant people more power and influence. The past comes back to her and she's like again trapped in this circle of like dastardly deeds like murder and stuff and thieving and stuff like that. Obviously love Holly Black and this is her adult debut. I'm sure it's on many of your lists as well and honestly I'm counting down the days and they're saying it's supposed to be like about thieves and like secret societies which yes. I just know that for my enjoyment of what I have read from her the cruel prince I'm extremely curious and intrigued and excited to see what she'll bring and come up with in this new adult fantasy series. Book of night by Holly Black. Yep yep a book that like everyone who has read it has been like like this didn't even make it into the Goodreads choice was for fantasy because they had too low a rating. Actually same with Ronnie Sager. These two books didn't qualify for the Goodreads choice was because they had too low a rating. What am I letting myself in for you guys? Is this a case of like the most anticipated books end up being shit? I don't know. So all I know about this is that it is Holly Black's adult debut and it didn't slap not a lot of people have loved it. So we will see what I think of it when we read it and the third one that six people mentioned was Gallant by the Ishwa. Our main character Olivia Pryor has grown up in this school for girls and the only thing she has left of her past and a semblance of family is her mother's journal which slowly but surely truly just unravels into madness. At the beginning of this book she receives a letter inviting her back home to Gallant but when she arrives there she quickly realizes that no one was expecting her. She's given two rules to follow. One is to not go outside after dusk and the other is to stay away from one very specific wall because on the other side of that wall there is a magical world which just so happens to call to Olivia. I feel like the Ishwab is just an author I'm probably always gonna give a go. Coming out March 1st 350 pages and it's pitched as The Secret Garden meets Crimson Pink so I'm very excited. Not really a surprise the Ishwab is a favorite author. I'm actually really excited to read this. A lot of people have recommended the audiobook. I've heard mixings about this one as well but I just I don't know I'm feeling good vibes from this. I feel like we could be lucky. So these are the three books we're gonna be reading in this vlog. I think I will read them in that order so I will start with The House Across the Lake. I have been so excited. It's been one of the books I've wanted to read the most for quite a while because I want to know what I think of it in comparison to what everyone else thinks of it. So yeah let's just get into it and see what we think. Okay hi. Everyone say hey Miss Rora. Are you looking at them? Hey Rora. Okay so hey I am halfway through roughly The House Across the Lake. I'm currently reading some of my patrons and it's helping me get through a lot. Don't start washing indecently Rora please. Let me take out the plot first. So this is the newest Riley Sager. Miss Riley. So we're following this actress who is an alcoholic. Okay let's just get that the way. So it once again is Riley Sager with Oh Don't Go. She says bitch you're too noisy. It is Riley Sager again with a woman with mental health issues slash addiction so she's an unreliable narrator so we can't trust everything she says. Okay. I agree I've had it. You know what I've had? It. So that's bothering me a bit. Anyways so she lives or she's at her family home at this lake where there's about five houses and she can directly see into this one house across the lake that's like all glass and there's this famous couple staying there. We know at the beginning that the wife has gone missing because we had kind of have present day little flash forwards I guess and then most of the book is told in the past then going back and figuring out what happened and she just basically wants to figure out what's happened to the wife what is going on with this couple. I'm actually really enjoying it. This one. Okay so survive the night Riley Sager. I feel like it was kind of universally bad but this one I've seen like one thousand five stars like it's really polarizing. I actually think I might fall into the top end because I'm really enjoying it. Here's the thing with Mr Riley I never expect like the best books on on the earth right you know. Also with Riley even when I don't like the book and I think the book is shit I still have fun and I can't say that about many authors like Riley you're just going there for shits and giggles do you know what I mean? Like it's just fun. It's a fun thriller. He's gonna deliver you a good time. It's gonna be good and we're all gonna have fun. And that's just what I feel like this book is like I don't I just I'm over like I'm so far removed and I've come to terms with Riley and this pattern for unreliable narrators that he likes to do and like praying on women's mental health like whatever okay like I've just accepted it and like it's not even like I'm over it you know what I mean? Like I've just taken his fact and that's gonna happen so it's not even necessarily really annoying me like I didn't survive the night. I'm really loving just the character interactions, the way that this is written, the few nuggets of information we have, a few things that I'm like that seem what's what I'm looking for. Seem normal, seem unmisterious, seem not suspicious but like there's a little hint of something that leaves me feeling like they are. Something that I'm loving is she is using binoculars to spy on this house right? A little bit of voyeurism. Is that actually voyeurism or is voyeurism sexual? I don't know anyways. I read and loved The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley but I heard her pitch it an event for the guest list um long before it came out and the way she pitched it was like you know it's a Paris apartment where you can see into other people's windows and what I wanted from The Paris Apartment which I never got was like seeing things so like maybe seeing someone chopping something at the sink or whatever but like you could only see from here up right so you don't know really what's happening below and so stuff can be misconstrued. This isn't quite that like you can see everything that's happening but because she can't hear what they're saying she's only seeing the events like stuff can easily get misconstrued. I love that. I love seeing and like visually seeing something and knowing that we can take many meanings from that and there's many possibilities and like oh it could go off in so many directions. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I think it's a device I really like. A little bit of spying. A little bit cheeky spying never hurt no one. So I decided to go and investigate it. I don't know. I do like our main character. I feel like she's just bland enough that she could be anyone and I'm actually okay with that in this in this circumstances. I feel like there's a lot of little things being laid that could end up being a twist at the end. Oh I'm choking that could end up being a twist at the end. I'm just really enjoying it and here's the thing I could get fed up with it by the end and I could rate it low. I also want to recognize that having just been ill I promised this is the last time I mentioned I've just been ill but whatever. This is exactly what I wanted to read and I think I was trying to read other books and it wasn't feeling right. This is like what I've been craving so it's a little bit of right place right time but yeah I'm gonna go ahead and carry on with the sprints and I'll see you all when I finished it. So this book goes there like it does like I can understand why it is so polarizing because it goes places. It does things. I'm gonna give it four stars. I feel like that's a little bit you know I'm not I'm not adhering to the five star or the one star reviews that I've seen. I loved the direction that this went in let's just say. I loved the route that we took. I loved the reveals. I loved I don't know how to say this without spoiling it but I loved the places we went that Riley Sager has never gone before. I really appreciated it. I really liked it. I do just feel like some of the final reveals and final stuff at the ending wasn't quite necessary but other than that I did enjoy it and I have to admit something I was like I think I was flicking ahead to see where I wanted to get to by a certain night and you know when you just end up on the one page you should not end up and you spoil yourself it happens right. If you're reading like 100 books a year you're gonna accidentally spoil yourself like one or two. The last one that's happened to me where there was big little lies. I was googling like the movie cast for that and then there was like a question you know Google has those questions where when you google something it gives like related questions and one of the related questions spoiled something for me. I was like I spoiled myself on one of the biggest reveals of this and I do wonder what my reaction would have been had I not done that. I think I would have loved the reveal but I wonder if I'd have been like what? I wonder if knowing it helped me prepare myself for it but I was so excited to then read up to that point and see how it's revealed and see what happened so I don't think it didn't negatively impact my feelings of the book at all and I'd also been slightly spoiled for the direction that this goes in shall we say and again I just felt like it made me more excited I don't know like here's a thing right does it have its flaws yeah it's just a fun time something fun something for the summertime something for the girl so you know get ready and party what do you want from me it's just a fun time like it's just it's not great American literature it should be taught in schools it's not I thought the pacing was great I thought the reveals were really good like I just thought that I wouldn't have predicted had I not spoiled myself any of these reveals I just loved it I loved the setting of all these houses across this isolated lake I just felt like it was Riley Sager at his best not quite his best because you know I think the last time I lied is that his best it was so much fun and I think that's what I come to Riley Sager for I do not come here for the best writing or the best characters or the best plot or the best reveals it's an amalgamation of all those of like yeah okay we're gonna have a fun time that I come here for he just gives me his chits and giggles you know I mean we're here for fun so that's how I feel about this I'm glad I've read it I'm really excited for his next one like I said he does a great job of selling me with the synopsis so now we're gonna start I'm really nervous about this one book of night look at this lovely like arc that I've got with the black edges yeah I can't promise what I'm gonna think of it I will check in with you when I'm a little bit away through this about what it's about and what my thoughts are because I'm a little bit nervous that I am not gonna love it let's see so I'm gonna be honest halfway through book of night by Holly Black um I'm gonna do I I don't know if I can give you the synopsis of this book because what is it I can tell you that we're following Charlie Hall who spent most of her life doing kind of like magical crime I guess I don't really know and she left it behind but then she gets kind of sucked back in back into the murder and the liars and the ceiling and what have you okay that's all you really need to know oh oh here we go the synopsis is gonna tell me what these people are glow mists magicians who manipulate shadows to appear into locked rooms strangle people in their beds all worse okay I'm gonna be honest I don't understand the magic system of this I I feel like this book has been simultaneously like not info dumpy but like you know when a book is trying to describe a magic system to you and act as if that's like normal like that's totally normal but it just sounds absurd like that's kind of what this is like the glow mists who manipulate the shadows and who's the people who like make your shadows do something I don't even know it's like all this like shadow stuff like make your shadows look cool oh my god it's a new plastic surgery I do not give a don't give a don't don't um I don't think this is a bad book like I said I'm halfway through I don't think it's bad do I think it's boring yeah I have no inclination to read this I'm just gonna have to like force myself I'm just gonna finish it tonight okay I'm gonna read it over the next couple hours I'm just gonna finish it because I'm actually really excited for gallant but this I don't think it's bad it's just so derivative of the genre it simultaneously feels like it's drawing a lot of modern trends you know it's very ninth house s god the protagonist is basically annexed 2.0 whilst also like I said in a way that it describes the magic and the world building feeling very like 2010s fantasy I don't know I never read Holly black before like I said I've never had the cool prints or anything I do own the cool prints maybe one day maybe one day that's not one of the oldest books on my tbr but it just feels so like nothing new nothing new nothing changed same old shit you know I mean it just feels so boring and been done and has been and just overworked I don't know I'm not enjoying it so that's where I'm currently at with it that's my current opinion and I listened to I would say the first 60 pages just via audio and that actually usually enhances my reading experience or like my reading comprehension because I listen to it slower than I would if I was reading it physically so it gives me longer to kind of take in the world take in the world building no comprehension I don't understand what's going on there's all these words and I don't understand them so anyway I'm just determined to finish it and I'd like to make a good start on gallant tonight because I'm feeling really excited I don't get too ahead of myself but I posted my tbr kludo video last night and a lot of people said they really enjoyed it but just expect it to kind of read like middle grade I think the protagonist is like 15 maybe and then it reads young so I'm actually really up for that and I feel kind of cosy V Schwab I'm like intrigued to for a YA middle grade kind of middle of the road from her so we've just got to finish this and then we can get started on that one tonight as well hopefully fingers crossed apologies if you can hear Luxie snoring over there snoring anyways nope I finished it I finished it listen I didn't dnf it I could have done if I dnf'd it like 180 pages in like I was debating last night I would have had no different thoughts than I currently do I'm gonna get 1.5 1.5 the little little 0.5 because it's not all one is because I don't think Holly Jackson is like the worst writer ever do I mean I think the writing is you know you can get through it I I still do not have a single clue as to how this magic system works and yet I feel like I've had it forced down my throat the entire time like how is that even possible I don't understand it I couldn't tell you how these shadows work I'm like why are these shadows like why which folks are gonna shadow magic and what's going on like the choice like I couldn't tell you anything I mean the ending by the time it was the end I was just like reading it for the sake of reading it I don't think my reading comprehension was great I didn't think the twists were great I didn't feel inspired to read on it feels like I read a 500 page book like it was a slog to get through there was no excitement no like it just feels so done like I don't know I feel like I've read a thousand books like this or heard about a thousand books like this there's nothing exciting about it nothing inspiring about it and the thing that I can't get out of my brain is the implied incest I just wasn't expecting that what is it I swear I didn't read Cassandra Clare but isn't there like implied incest kind of stuff going on in the fast to Cassandra Clare books what is it about these like early YA authors yeah a little bit of like oh think it's incest but it's not or like is it like what what like why why are we doing this I just can't get out of my brain like how are we oh choices choices are made I need to say I won't be continuing on with the series I can see why everyone didn't love this it just felt like she had some vibes in mind I was like oh shadows thieves work in the shadows we can do something there you see what I did pun this whole book's based on a pun uh without actually uh it's so let's go ahead and read the final book of log gallant I'm hoping it's gonna save me I think it'll be a fun quick read from miss Victoria who I you know I have some faith in I'm hoping to get quite a lot of this read tonight I have got a movie night watching clueless on my patrons but other than that I'm gonna try and read as much as I can tonight so you may see me again we'll see good morning hello um so it is the morning I'm just about to do my skincare hence the it's bad and do my makeup and I thought I'd chat you about gallant so that I can keep reading the audiobook or listening to audiobook whilst I get ready I am just over halfway through gallant there's like this section from page 140 to 170 where it's all like journals that read pretty fast so I just read that and I got up to page 175 okay so the plot of this is basically just for following Olivia who has lived in this school for girls for basically a whole life that is very you know cold devoid of love and all she has left of her mother is her journal where her mother slowly descends into madness throughout and she gets a letter inviting her to gallant from her uncle her family home and the last thing that I think the mother's journal says is never go to gallant but she's so desperate to get out of the school for girls that she goes um and it turns out her uncle is now dead so how did he write her the letter that's basically all you need to know going into it and there's a wall she's not allowed to go near a wall but the wall calls to her before I got into this people were telling me like approach it as middle grade right approach it not as YA but as middle grade and I don't think that's entirely true to explain what I am thinking I need to mention the products of she who must not be named okay I'm not endorsing this it's just I thought all day all morning of how I can explain this without referencing Harry Potter and I can't so let's just we're just gonna mention it as an analogy okay stop stop why you're ahead what it reminds me of is the way in which Harry Potter is written where it kind of that existed at a time where like the boundaries of children's books and YA didn't really exist so if something was written it was kind of written for like every young person who was an adult so like where a child can read Harry Potter but also like a young teenager or you know anyone really can and enjoy it again I'm not like you don't support her okay I'm just using it as an analogy for that time period where the YA genre didn't wasn't really recognized yet because I feel like this could be read by a child like I think if it's a you know I think back to what I was reading when I was like eight I think I could really enjoy this back when I was younger but I also think like a teenager could really enjoy this I think it kind of transcends age categories if that makes sense it feels like books of old where there wasn't these strict age categories that books had to adhere to and so it could kind of be enjoyed by all does that make sense that's kind of what this feels like I'm really loving the atmosphere the magic the what we don't know it's kind of like haunting there's all these ghouls I love the balance of what we do know and what we don't know and what kind of secrets are being kept from us as the reader and Olivia herself and Olivia is mute as well so she can only talk through sign language and I just really I think the representation is being handled well and it's not like sometimes I feel like with disability representation particularly by authors who not that representation themselves it can kind of feel like it encompasses all of the person like all they are is their disability whereas I don't feel like that in this it's a feature of Olivia's life but it's not uh she's not like that's not all she is she has all these other traits that we get to know throughout the book which I really appreciate as well so I'm really enjoying it it doesn't quite feel like a five star at the moment although if the ending is great it could get there it's like a solid four for me at the moment but yeah I'm really enjoying it and I feel like we haven't really gotten into where like we still have got a lot of questions unanswered it feels like we're kind of still at the beginning but I'm not hating that you know so I'm intrigued to see where the second half goes so I'm gonna go get ready and I'll see you later. Subscribe at this right? I am glad this was a four star you know I I love a five star read you know we love finding a new favourite book but I also love a good solid four star I wouldn't want this to be a five star does this make any kind of sense like I'm I'm confused because a good four star reminds me that there's hope for like just enjoying reading and the book doesn't have to be the best book I've ever read doesn't have to be my favourite ever but like this was just such a nice enjoyable read does that make sense I feel like you need as much as with our five stars like you need those solid four stars to like keep the balance but yeah I really enjoyed this I thought the writing I feel like V Shrub you know you're gonna get beautiful writing and I just loved the writing in this I loved our main character I really liked Olivia and the journey that she went on throughout the story I just thought it was beautiful a really lovely book you know I'm glad V Shrub has done something like this after Adi LaRue you know Adi LaRue was like high concept like you know detailed complex whereas this is a very simple story but with you know this imaginative ghouls haunting whatever and I loved it I think this is a great YA book I think there's a lot of you know lessons about family about sacrifice about burdens I don't know I think there's a lot of metaphors a lot that can be read into this and I just really enjoyed it but it wasn't a five star but that's fine with me you know I just I just had a good time Gallant as a place was very like evocative and just the gothicness and I don't know I just really enjoyed it that's all I have to say to you it didn't have that five star spark but like I said that's not necessarily a bad thing so I hope you enjoyed this vlog we had two four stars I'm really glad I finally read these and oh 1.5 we don't need to talk about it but I am really glad that I finally got around to all of these 2022 releases that were the most anticipated releases of 2022 according to booktube if you got to the end of the video comment a rose or flower emoji there's a lot about nature and gardens in this so comment that down below if you got to the end let me know what your most anticipated book of last year was and if you have read it yet or if you are still nervously not reading it because you don't want to know what like if you're gonna love it or not let me know that down below thank you guys so much for watching and I'll see you very soon in another video bye