 I'm just looking for an imprint of my face on that one, isn't it? Oh, there it is. I have to take a makeup wipe to that. Hello everyone, welcome to this week's video. Today we're just gonna have a little chat about the books that I have loved this year so far. I know obviously the year is kind of coming to an end, but you don't really know what I've been loving this year and I haven't got a chance to talk to you about them yet. I hopefully will be doing some kind of an end of year wrap-up which you'll probably hear about these again in, but I really wanted to just share with you what my current favourite books are, considering I'm so new or give you an idea of who I am. I'm trying out a bit of a different filming location. Normally I stand up, but I thought we'd sit in front of the bookcase today. As you can see, books are missing. I wonder what they could be. This is my like TBR shelf, the one that's actually got majority of the books on it. If you haven't seen my all my physical books TBR video, I will link that for you to go and watch. Where I go through all of these, I need to help figuring out which of these books are going to be my new favourites. So without further ado, let's get into the video. So I've cheated a little bit. I wanted to do my five favourite books of the year so far, right? Because that's simple, succinct. We love a, you know, clear, clarity queen on our own zone. But for me, three of those books would have been taken up by a series if I had just done five. So I'm counting these as one book. For me, it's impossible to separate these. This is The Winter Night Tragedy by Catherine Arden. I have gone on about this so much. I'm probably sick of them hearing about it. But for those of you are new, this is an incredible, incredible, incredible series set in medieval Russia. It's a fantasy series. We follow Vassia from when she's born up until she's a woman. Her duty, her responsibilities progress. Her magic progresses. The world expands, expands, expands so much. I spoke about this a lot in my first video, my August Wrap Up, which I'll link as well. You know, I don't want to go into it too much and bore you, but this is incredible writing. First and foremost, Catherine Arden writes in a way that you feel like you are reading Russian folklore. You feel like you... It's just... The style of writing is so fantastical, whimsical, magical in itself that it just enhances the story. The magic is so understandable because it progresses in such a natural way. It's never explained to you. I hate books when it... It's just all, you know, explanation and you're just supposed to sit through it. This leaves a lot open to imagination and doesn't explain everything to you and forces you to come to your own conclusions yourself on a lot of things. The future universe is left open. I'm not saying that about the ending is open, but there's so much in the universe that is unknown to you and I really, really enjoy that. It feels so multi-dimensional. If I was told to pick any fantasy series up right now, it'll be this one because they're all out. So you can just binge away through them. They are so readable, so brilliant. I just want to hug Catherine Arden and just say, just give me 20 more in the series. I just want to follow everyone again. I think it's such a special story following her from a child into a woman, seeing how she grows, and the things that happen to her build in such a wonderful way. And she, she's such a wonderful character, such a wonderful character. And yeah, this is definitely one of my favorite series ever, but I find it difficult to separate them into what book is my favorite. For me, it's just like a blend of wonderfulness across it all. Another one of my favorite reads this year so far is The Secret History by Donna Tartt. A lot of people love this on Booktube, but for me this is a really special book because it's what got me back into reading this year. It's the first book I read and I flew through it and it just made me want to read more and more and more. It got me even deeper into Booktube than I already was. This book has just really changed my life. I said in my Booktube newbie tag that I really don't think I would be here filming this if it wasn't for this book. It really ignited a love in reading for me that I had been missing for a long time and I had been building on getting back, but it wasn't fully there. This follows a group of students at university. You find out on the first page that one of them has been killed, then you travel back in time to find out how the killing occurred, and then you follow the group dealing with the aftermath afterwards. If you have an issue with you have to like your characters, then you won't like this. They're not very nice people, but you almost... I mean, I like Henry. Even though he's like an awful human being, I still like him. So I know people that haven't liked this book because they're all ODS human beings. They're like not nice at all, and you just kind of have to accept that. But Donna Tart's storytelling is incredible. Her atmosphere setting incredible. I just felt so drawn into this book, so drawn into the characters. It's really a story that's stuck with me. It's probably the story that's stuck with me the most out of all of these. I just have so much love for it because it is what got me back into reading. And everyone's always saying go read this book, but truly go read this book. Donna Tart is such an incredible writer, and this book is just fascinating. It's fascinating to look at how these characters think, how flawed they are. I also really liked how kind of ambiguous the time setting was. I mean, you could tell me when it is set in time, but I don't think anyone really knows. There's a few kind of pop, not pop culture, but contextual phrases and items mentioned, but you still don't really know when it's set. And I really liked that as well, that kind of ambiguity around the mystery, I guess. Well, it's kind of a mystery, kind of not, but around the whole situation. Made you feel a bit more on edge, I guess, about reading it and about how you can trust. Things were revealed about the characters in a way that you never would have expected it, but then you saw along how that could have happened. There is a certain section in here. There's a dream sequence, essentially. I don't think that's a spoiler. There's a dream sequence at one point, and that has just stuck with me. Like, I want every book to have a dream sequence like that. I really like when you are not given all the answers in books, and you're definitely not given all the answers in this. It's left open to debate, to theorizing, and yeah, I really, really enjoy that. The next book that I loved so much this year was Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Nyang. Um, oh my god. Like, girl. Girl. This book is so gay, so wonderfully gay. I haven't read a lot of female-female romances, but this just makes me want to read more. I cannot tell you. I cannot, I need to not, that will like, that will be bad on your ears. I cannot tell you how much I loved this book. I loved the universe. I loved the story tank. So essentially in the universe there are, as a case system, there is the paper case, which our lead character, Lay, is part of, and the paper case are fully human, and they're the lowest on the ladder of power, I guess. Then there's the steel case, which are half human, half demon, and then there's the moon case, which are completely demon. The king is the moon case. The moon case are the kind of most powerful. They have all the power in their society, essentially. And every year a group of paper girls become the king's concubines, and Lay becomes one of the king's concubines. It's about her dealing with that, finding love in such a terrible situation. I think it's so important that topics such as rape, the one, you know, that's discussed a lot in this, are discussed in young adult novels. I think that when I was younger especially, young adult novels were much more vacuous, I guess. And in this really bad way, there were a lot of great novels, but they didn't deal with heavy-hitting issues, like a lot of today's do, I think. There's much more of a push to deal with these issues, and I think for young people, they are so important to read about in their stories. The way that it's dealt with in this is just perfectly done, in my opinion. The way that she explores different reactions to the treatment through the girls, you know, these are young girls who have never really had love before. And their sexes are complex, it draws up complex emotions, right? So then another girl becomes very adoring of the king, loves, believes she loves him, right? And it's so difficult to read, but I think it's important that she explored those different reactions because it is realistic that people react in different ways and people think in different ways. And it's so, so sad, but I feel like, you know, this book is so important for so many people to read, and if you haven't read it, I would just, I just would push you to go and read it now because it's just a really special, special book, and I feel like it adds a lot to just the YA book community in general. I cannot wait for the sequel to come out. I'm so excited, but I think I might have to wait until, like, Christmassy at my hands, isn't it? I don't know. I mean, knowing me, I'll probably just buy it, but it's just such a special universe, and I'm so excited to see where it goes next. I've seen a lot of people giving it really good reviews because they've got arcs of it. Can I have one? Lord, if there was any arc I wanted in the world, it would be this one. It's just like, to me, I imagine the arc just, like, being gold and, like, shining and just, oh, I feel like, war, hot to touch because it's just, like, burning with amazingness. Anyway, yeah, if you haven't read this, it is such a special story, so well done, and you'll fly through it as well. It's a very quick read. Fourth on my list is All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doher. This follows a blind French girl on an orphaned German boy throughout the war. Again, kind of similar to Ben and Nightingale, we follow them growing up throughout the years of the war. I read this one at the beginning of the year, so it's a bit difficult for me to give you, like, a really great synopsis, but we essentially follow them and the impacts that the war makes on them, and it's just so beautifully written. I remember, I think, like, the last 100 pages, I stayed up so late to read. Like, I should have been asleep. I had, like, a 9am start at uni the next day, and I was just sobbing. Like, I sobbed through the last 100 pages. It is such an impactful story, such a beautifully written story, and it's very character-focused. I think we're so lucky that he chose, you know, to focus on these characters and the way they did, the way it flits back and forwards in time really moves the story along. Sometimes I don't like when books do that, but he does it super, super well. The chapters are very short. They can be, like, only one page, but I really enjoy that because you feel like you're just getting little glimpses into their life, but in a way that really works and it feels very natural, right? Like, it's not the kind of book where you follow them waking one day, sleeping, you know, years later. You just get glimpses into their life, and your mind is kind of left to make up the rest and to imagine the rest. So, God, like, imagine me just sobbing. Imagine me just sobbing. It's such a special book. So, so brilliant. So, so brilliant. Please read it. I know a lot of people love this and you've probably, you know, if you wanted to say read it, you've probably read it already, but just wow. I know a lot of people say sometimes, oh, we shouldn't, you know, romanticize the war and something. I don't feel like this does, and God, I just want everyone to read it. And the last book on my list is a bit interesting. I struggled to choose the last one. There's a lot of books I've loved this year, but for me, one that was a real surprise and that's why it's so, you know, so high on my list, I guess, is Thunderhead by Neil Schiestemann. Now, I mentioned. I mentioned in my reading vlog, Turn the Key, which I'll link. I'm just linking everything for you, all my videos. You guys watch all my videos now, I've mentioned. But I mentioned in that how I gave Vicious by V Shrub five stars. I loved it. I read it on the plane to Florida. I was obsessed. I loved the characters. I loved the grit. I was like, oh, yeah. And then I bought Vengeful, the sequel in Florida, like crazy price, signed, like I was so excited. And then I read it. I gave it two stars. We can talk more about Vengeful on another day. I keep saying that because I don't want to talk about it. This for me is the opposite. I liked Psy. I didn't love it. I thought there were a lot of flaws with it. Parts of it were kind of basic to me, a little bit boring. But then this is incredible. I gave Psy for three stars. I gave this five stars. For me, the series just takes on a life of its own in this book. What I really loved about this book was how much we looked into the political workings of this society. For me, that's the most interesting thing, right? And also the concept of the Thunderhead in greater detail. Those, to me, are the two most interesting parts of this society. And we went more into detail in them, in this book. And it is just so good. For me, it was such a pleasant surprise. I was so excited to read it because I just felt like it was just a million, billion, billion times better than Psy. So I was so happy when I read this. And that happiness is why it's made on this list. It's just such a well-written book. And the ending. Not only do I want an arc of the girls from Snowman's Shadow, I want an arc of the Toe. I am so excited for the Toe. I think that's what I'm going to buy first, actually. Even though I think Girls of Paper and Fire, I do prefer a bit to this. It's because it's the end book. Like, it's when all of everything's going to happen. Whereas the other one is the middle book. So it's like, you're still waiting. Whereas this is like the ending, the finale. Everything's going to hit the fan. Everything's going to pop up. We're going to get all the answers. We're going to... It's such a surprise. And I love when series do that. That's why a lot of the time I do continue on with serieses, even if I didn't love the first one. Because imagine if I had stopped at Psy. Imagine if I thought three stars. You know, oh well. Fine. Not bothered. But no. I was like, there's something here. There is potential. And there was potential. I just realized I haven't told you anything about it. Great. Thanks. There's another way around. Megan, you're supposed to say this not just first and then say what you think of it. But I was obviously too excited. The Scythe series is essentially set in the world where humanity has come so far in its developments that death has been eradicated. Natural death has been eradicated. So you can't die from old age or from illness anymore. But in order to keep population under control, people still need to die. And so it is a Scythe's job to glean people, essentially kill them. And they have a certain quota that they need to fill a year. And they kill randomly. So we follow Sitra and Rowan through their journey into becoming Scythe's, the challenges they face. I don't want to get into it much more than that. And I really don't want to get into where we open up here because I think it has a lot of spoilers for the first one. But as I said, the political nature of this book is really what I loved so much about it. And we didn't see that as much in the first book. It was much more focused just on the characters themselves and their kind of relationship, friendship, whatever you want to call it. And I felt like that was a much more of a basic stepping stone to what this is. And I just really, really enjoyed that addition. We also follow a new character, Grace and Toliver, in this one who I think will become very influential in the last book. Obviously it's called The Toll, Grace and Toliver. We can make the link because we're educated bitches. I really, really loved Thundered and I'm so excited for The Toll to come out. So there we have it. That is my favorite books of the year so far. Let me know down below if you have read any of those. I'd love to hear your thoughts if you disagreed with me, if you agreed with me. I know a few of these have been a bit polarizing so I would love to hear what you think. Thank you so much for watching to the end. As always, I really, really appreciate it and all the support that everyone's been giving. And I'm so thankful. So yeah, a big thank you and I hope to see you soon. Bye.