 So hi a while back. I did a video called booktuber scavenger hunt, and I loved it so much that I have decided to do it again That's what we're doing in this video. I don't know why that was a weird intro So the idea of booktuber scavenger hunt is that I start with one booktuber They give me a reading prompt I go off read a book based on that prompt then I go back to them Tell them what I thought of that book and they send me to the next booktuber to get my reading prompt And we're gonna do this like three or four times like three or four different booktubers, and I'm I'm really nervous Apprehensive nervous bit scared also weirdly calm perhaps on the verge of hysteria because last time I got some Crazy prompts Zoe from Zoe's all booked gave me the prompt to read a book I thought was gonna be one star So people really have the opportunity to just fuck with me if they want I have no control over the prompts and beyond the first booktuber I have no control over the booktubers I go to either. So like I'm really just relinquishing control And this is gonna decide the first book I read this year So my first book of the year is always really important the past two years It's been a five star read and one of my favorite books of the year and this year I have no control over what it is, but part of that's good because if any of it's not five stars like it's not my fault So I asked Kayla from Vixen Lala to send me a reading prompt and I haven't watched the video She sent me and I think she's like I think I think it's not gonna go well I was talking about it on a live show that I did and she said that She doesn't even think it'll be a book I own. So let's just watch the video. She has sent me. Hi Meg We all know how much I love a good game. So today I'm gonna make you play mash Instead of giving you one prompt I'm basically giving you four and you're gonna have to find a book that fits all Four things that you end up with at the end. Good luck. Here's your mashboard The four categories are the genre. Oh my god. What items you see on the cover? What colors you see on the cover and a letter found in the title? There are four options you could land on per category and you're gonna pick a number between one and ten You're gonna keep counting out that number and every time you land on it You're gonna cross out that option until you're left with one in each category Then you take all four and you find a book that fits all of them I think it's gonna be hard and I'm happy about it I can't do it. You can. You can do it. You can. You can. Oh no Check. We're gonna play mash. I'm so excited. This takes me back. I'm just writing out the categories like the options I'm gonna film it on my phone. What number do I pick? I feel like I'm gonna go with eight because that was my first thought Okay, so I'm gonna go this way like that. So one two three four five six seven eight Okay, it has to have E in the title Okay, it's fantasy. It's fantasy. I feel like I own a lot of fantasy So that could be a good thing animal on the cover and then White we've got a fantasy. I feel like a fantasy is what I own the most of all So we've got like a chance there something that's white with an animal on the cover with the letter E on them I Will just say that I I Sabotage a lot of things About the year of the witching because it covers everything else, but no animal Oh How can you be in like a swamp land and not just give me like one small bird? I just need a my hair everything's going wrong. Just give me a bird. It's the animal. It's the animal It's the animal that's gonna kill me. Oh wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait Can I count this is having white on the cover this is fantasy it's got animal on the cover It's got multiple E's There's like a bit of white. Okay. I'm gonna call one of my family to come up here and have them be like an Independent opinion. Do you think that can count as white on the cover? Yeah, you think yeah Okay, thank you. You made me feel so good about myself My mom said it can count as white on the cover. So I'm going with it We're gonna read when the tiger came down the mountain by Nevo. I'm very excited about this I know Kayla read this recently and really liked it. It came out I think last month the first one is the Empress of Saulton fortune and this is the next they're really short novellas Which really focus on like the art of storytelling and I am doing live reading sprints on Riley's channel tonight Riley Marie's channel I think I could read this whole book today quite easily whilst packing and doing loads of other stuff That counts as white like we've all agreed that counts as having white on the cover Sure, Jan. I'm really excited to read this especially because I know it's one that Kayla Liked and I picked this one up on her recommendation. So I feel like it's quite fitting So I actually just finished when the tiger came down the mountain I was intending to like check in with you halfway but I read to 80 pages in the reading sprints I did with Riley and then I just like it didn't want to stop So I just decided to finish it. I have to actually speak quietly because all my family are asleep. I love this I'm gonna give it 4.25 stars. I really really adored it There's something about Niveau's writing that is just so vivid for such a short book the world that this is in is like Amazing like it's so so so vivid so lush so detailed. I love it I love it basically this series follows Chi who is a non binary cleric I love that our main character. This is non binary. I don't think we have enough non binary main characters Like in literature as a whole it's their job to write down stories And they are traveling up this mountain on this mammoth who is the cutest mammoth in the world I really loved as well the character they were traveling with see you basically they get ambushed by these tigers These three tigers and the tigers want to eat them Chi like strikes a deal with them that they'll keep them alive as long as Chi tells the story about this tiger Who was in love with a scholar these two? It's like a sapphic Relationship the tigers and Chi have been told different versions of this story And so the tigers are correcting Chi part of what is really interesting about this is seeing how people can have different Perceptions of a story, you know, it's really interesting hearing Chi tell the story and then the tigers tell it in a different way And you can see how both can be true or one can be the version of the truth You don't know but hearing these same events told with different motivations and in different ways I really loved that aspect of it. I thought that just made it so special and so unique I think I even preferred it to the Empress or sort of fortune like I mean I love them both and look how good they look Together, but this had all the vividness and the amazing Relationships like the relationships are really really interesting in these and detailed and imaginative But it had that extra element of a really unique style or storytelling of not knowing what is true And how the truth warps over time. I think that's one of the greatest books of our time I just think that the way she writes that book. It just takes me to another place I just can't I just can't believe how this has some of the most vivid Worldbuilding and storytelling and it's so short and it's so brief as well like the time you spend at these characters I love the rep in these books. I love the writing. It's some of the most beautiful writing I think it's out there So I would really recommend picking up this series if you haven't yet already I told Kayla what I rated this and she has told me to go to Aaron from booked and busy next one of my favorite People in the world. Yeah, I'm just gonna wait for Aaron to send that and then we'll see what I'm gonna be reading next But first book of the year finish this on the first day of the year didn't take much time and it was Magical, okay, so I'm back in Leeds as you can see I promise I washed this jumper LMAO Aaron has just sent me her prompt so I'm gonna watch it now and I'm terrified I I'm so scared because she said she was gonna be mean. I don't know how mean she's gonna be But the prompt I don't think I'm gonna be going Hello Megan I hope this message finds you well and that you're having a great day because I might be about to ruin it So my prompt for you is to read the most intimidating book on your TBR And if that one is a little bit too hard Then you should read a fantasy book that another booktuber has given five stars enjoy Okay, I wish I were dead combine those most Intimidating book Hang on I need to look at my books that are wrapped up because it may be one of those I want to combine the two like I want it to be a fantasy book that another booktuber has given five stars And I want it to be something that I'm intimidated by oh Oh my god, it's that isn't it. I know what it is And I bet if I go and good reads loads of people have rated this five stars Nicole Nicole's rated it five stars I couldn't find out if Aaron's read this. I feel like she has yeah, okay She's read this and she gave it five stars. Okay. Let me go. Let me go find it in this stack and unwrap it I'm gonna be reading the fifth season by NK Jemisin So like everyone gives this five stars, but I'm very Intimidated by it. It's quite long. Are you comfortable? I'm not scared. Are you scared? You should be I know this is like a book a lot of people struggle to know the synopsis of before going into it I just know it's kind of this fantasy dystopian the world is kind of ending I know that we follow I think a few different people and part of it or all of it is told in second person as well So like you do this you do that, but I've also heard like how long it takes people like it takes people a really long time to get Through I'm really scared I'm glad that this is gonna finally make me get round to this but like I'm terrified Last checked in with you I had to read the garment tower for my read-along of the winter night trilogy And then I've started this and it's taking me forever now I'm in a bit of a slump just in terms of like my speed of reading I didn't read the girl in the tower quick, and that's one of my favorite books I'm just struggling to read without audiobooks, and I really don't I don't don't at all think this is the type of book Or this is the book you want to be reading when you're in a slump Because it is confusing. I don't know I just thought this isn't the right time to be reading it, but we're gonna push on. Sorry. Let me adjust my bra strap I am 150 pages into it, and I am really enjoying it. The writing is amazing. It's very High fantasy. I think it's making me realize how like not high high fantasy a lot of what I read is I read more urban fantasy YA fantasy this is a lot for my brain to handle I always say whenever I was speaking about this when I hold it Oh, it's it's a really hard plot to explain. I don't really know the plot, but once I read it. Oh, no I'm constantly reading this and just thinking well Megan you are so dumb She's so stupid a lot of things that I think are just flying over my head Or you know when you read a scene and you're like, I'm almost getting all the information and like inferred Meanings of stuff I should be but I'm not quite getting it all That's how I feel but essentially this world is going through I think it's like another season I really hope I'm not wrong in saying this So like a season is when the world is ending and then it starts again But this is gonna be like a big big big one and in the society there are these things called Origins there are people with these special powers where they can like connect to the stone and like the earth beneath them and like Kill people or like cause these massive events and they're really like frowned upon in society Obviously people are very scared of them and we are following three different women or girls and they are all Origins one is an origin who had been hiding and been pretending to be like a normal woman for many years had a family and Her son had inherited the powers from her and she comes home to find him murdered Presumably by his father her husband when he found out that he had powers because people are that scared And now she's trying to track her husband down and her daughter to get revenge on her husband another one is a young girl who Was found out to have these powers by her parents and they gave her away to a guardian Who is someone who trains children who have these powers and our last one is a woman who kind of like For my understanding works within this organization that Origins are supposed to work in she is on this important mission But she basically her role is to have a child with the guy who she's on the mission with so there are three women Basically, they've all just been traveling so far and there's been a lot of world building Like I said a lot of it is going over my head But I am enjoying it like it's it's a lot I just can't take this There's too much, but I really like the writing. It's beautiful. It's really sarcastic as well I love when books are written with this really Sarcastic tone of voice and the audio book does a really good job of playing up on that Also, one of our perspectives is written in the second person So you do this you do that you go there and I'm enjoying that so much more than I thought I would I was Scared and intimidated of that to begin with but it makes you feel so Absorbed and connected to the character like you are going through everything with them because you are them in that in that Kind of way of storytelling. So I'm enjoying that so much more than I thought but the fact still remains Like literally the dumbest person I know like why don't you like go fucking back to high school or some shit like You're literally the dumbest person ever Yeah, it's just a lot more like complex that I'm used to and that I need right now, but it's okay tonight I'm hoping hoping hoping I can get to about page 300 so I can be about two-thirds of the way in and I can check in with you again tonight That's my plan. I really want to do that, but I need to go and get some uni work done because That's happening again now I don't know if it's gonna be a five-star just cuz I feel like the circumstances prevent it from being a five-star like I just don't particularly want to pick this up right now like I'm just not in the right mood But also I kind of think maybe it's a bit too like complex to me. I don't know I'm not that dumb I'm gonna go read some more hopefully doesn't take me like 10 years and Hopefully I can read another 150 pages today I did read another 150 pages tonight well done me It is actually flown by I have loved the last 150 pages Firstly, I just wanna get out there like I can't contain this in a mini more. I think I've realized something. I've connected the dots I've connected the two dots. You didn't connect shit, but I've connected them I was probably supposed to realize it's a long time ago. I'm currently on page 297 and the signs are all there. I mean I could be wrong I could be completely wrong because it hasn't been like confirmed or anything yet But I think I've realized something that's been happening throughout that is very clever And I feel very clever for realizing it if it is that that is so cool Like I can't say it because it's spoiler, but like if it is that that is so Just exactly what I want to see that's what I want to see. I would like to see it So I've been enjoying it a lot more. It's definitely now like a solid four minimum I've said before how I've struggled when you're following different story lines and in a story like I typically Find a bit of resistance with books like that. However, I really like it in this each of our three story lines That we're following are really individually strong are really individually interesting Have things that are pulling you back to them every time you leave them You're like wait, no, I want to be with that story wait No, I'll be with that story. So like they are doing a really great job of holding your attention in each one I really love the complexity of it as much as it makes me feel like I have a tiny brain I can admire it and the whole stuff would do it like earth and stone and like Elements like I can vibe. Oh my god. I hope what I think is gonna happen and it has been happening is true I hope I'm not crazy. Like I hope that is actually reality. I think I've just had confirmation. I'm right And I'm very happy about it Have the mind of a master master. I have the mind of a master might what's that? I don't know maybe I should have known this from the start because there are certain things that make it very obvious But like oh My god, it's so good And there's my glorious football pitch I'm gonna get the bear. Oh Megan Megan Megan. I've got a photo for you There's like cherries here with like ice on them. Wow. What do you look at that? I finished the fifth season and I loved it like I loved it Oh Yes, it is just so beautiful and clever and heart-breaking and oh, it's just everything like the first 150 pages that first third I couldn't read without the audiobook like I couldn't really follow it without that But as I got more and more into it, you just get into it and you learn and you're like so absorbed I felt by the end of this I felt so absorbed in the story I think I'm gonna give it a 4.5. It hasn't quite got that like five star feeling, but it's very close It's a brilliant book. I really really really enjoyed it I would recommend it to everyone if you want fantasy mixed in with dystopian the thing that I said I thought was happening did happen And I'm so glad it did because it brought such an interesting element to the story and fleshed out the whole story and Linked it all together in such a brilliant way. I cannot wait to read the next one in this series I need to get my hands on it asap I'm gonna like move it to the top of my wish list and hope someone gets it for me for my birthday Because I just feel like I need to get back into this world and like consume it as quick as possible and like finish this series As quick as possible to just like keep everything in my head It was just so vivid and I became so attached to the characters by the end like there's literally nothing wrong It does take a while to get into like at the start you will be like oh my god What is happening like you'll be so confused but once you get into it? It's like incredible It's so so so so good so harsh and how love and Strength and bravery can be found in these horrible situations I think it ties into issues in our world so well and makes you reflect on so many things It's amazing. It's so good If you haven't picked this up yet because you've been intimidated like I was you'll start it And you'll still be intimidated, but once you get into it. It's so good Smile I told her and I loved it and she has sent me to Jocelyn from Jocelyn reads who firstly can I say I'm obsessed With her thumbnails this trilogy I believe was one of her favorite series last year So that's why Aaron sent me to her and Jocelyn has sent me my last prompt for this video So we're gonna check it out. Hi Megan So I get most my recommendations for books from booktube So I thought it'd be cool to give you the prompt to read a book that you bought because it had all the book To pipe and you haven't gotten to it yet. Good luck. Oh Okay, that's a really exciting one. Oh, that's really kind. Thank you so much I think that's so many of my books I went and I had a look and I think I found a good middle ground This is one that I picked up because of multiple booktubers But I feel like a lot of people have been talking about it as well And that is the Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson So I picked this up because both Kayla and Riley loved it who I pick up a lot of my recommendations From them and I am gonna be reading it this month anyway for Aaron's Book Club Which is perfect timing Aaron's Busy Bee Book Club This is the book for January and I'm co-hosting this month, which is so clever to ask me All I know about this is that it is like a horror fantasy Historical combination. This was very kindly gifted to me by Gabby as well I'll link Gabby's channel down below and get I am so excited for this I haven't done a five-star prediction video in ages because I still haven't read all the books for my last one The level of unprofessionalism far too much If I was to do one now, this would be a five-star prediction for me Like I genuinely am that excited to read it So we're gonna go for this and hopefully I love it A third of the way through the Year of the Witching I am what page am I on? I'm on page 125 Firstly I just want to say whilst reading this I have been listening to the soundtrack of the video game Far Cry 5 the entire time which is like this Small-town America cult which is very similar to what this is like Christian extremist cult takes over the county And I really love the soundtrack. I don't play it Tom plays it I can't play video games for the life of me I really love the soundtrack of the games so much and let me tell you the vibes are immaculate like with this like talented brilliant incredible amazing show stopping spectacular If you read the Year of the Witching just trust me just go listen to the soundtrack Like you just gotta trust me like they pair together So well, I'm really enjoying this so far So since you were following Emanuel who lives in this cult But she's kind of like not able to be fully in it because her mother was very Scandalous she had a child with like an outsider who are black people who are shunned to the outskirts of the area This cult is in there's also a lot of witchy Stuff, I don't know like spoil anything but basically Emanuel is discovering that perhaps the stories of the witches the four main witches who bore plague and death to this cult that perhaps her mother had Stuff to do with them and perhaps they're not as much of a myth as she originally thought the vibes Oh my god, this is exactly what I want to read like it's everything. Yes sis pop off go in You didn't have to snap so hard like I love this like toxic religious like back stabbing Coat setting like I just love it like I think it's so interesting to see all our characters in this setting and the way that People have to act and the way that the rules of the cult dictate everyone's lives And it's just so interesting and like on the first page Like there's a sacrifice of a lamp and I got really upset and then I thought to myself Megan it's a horror book. There's probably a lot worse to come The atmosphere the writing there's a certain like Relationship that has a lot of tension in it that I really like I really like Emanuel as a character I think the story of her mother in the past is really interesting. There's so many interesting Elements this so I'm really enjoying it so far Two thirds of the way in and here's the thing I'm really loving it like I really love it But I think because I want it to be a five star so bad and it just doesn't Quite feel like that. I'm a bit disappointed like and the thing is I'm sitting here It's like a four. No, it's like a 4.5 I'm sitting here and there's nothing wrong with it. Like I'm thinking to yourself myself Megan What's wrong with it and the answer is nothing However, I just don't have that five star feeling where you're just completely in love with it My first three reads of the year have all been books. I've really enjoyed like my reading is going well They're all four 4.5 stars But I just want a five. Do you know what I mean? I just want a five so bad Please Let me know how often when I read a book and reading vlogs You'd like me to check in at the moment I check in every third But would you just like like a halfway check-in and then an end check-in Which are a bit longer than my current check-ins because I've started to feel like at the two thirds point Which is this point of a book like everything's just gearing up to happen So there's not much to say does that make sense? So let me know how often you think I should check in with books because I feel like always at this two thirds check-in I'm kind of like well It's all it's about to go down, but it's not necessarily going down yet I kind of wanted to be a bit darker Like I went into it hoping with this whole witchy vibes and like how it started as well that it would be a bit more unhinged I just wanted to be a bit more like I didn't get real dark when we all know and actually I don't think everyone knows except my darkness like I'm getting dark like you know how Catherine house was like Like a bit unhinged. I want that and it's not giving me that it's a bit more like traditional However, I think your writing is incredible. I love Ezra the prophet son, but also I don't trust him one bit one bit don't trust him one bit but like You know like I love him, but like at the same time I'm scared he's gonna be our antagonist at the end But I just want a bit more darkness like hopefully we're gonna get that when I read horror I want It to be a bit more tense whereas I feel like we know a lot of what's gonna happen in terms of bad stuff I don't know but I am loving it. That's like the point five the pacing is so good like in every scene I don't know how to describe this but like just the way That actions are described and they will flow into one another and the way that like The stories move forward it just paragraph to paragraph. I'm talking not from like even chapters chapter like Literally sentence to sentence the way the stories move forward is like almost clinical Like it's you are only told what you need to know, but it's done very very well And it's beautiful writing at the same time and it once is like when I said, oh, I don't know if I read any cult books They everyone says bunny. I'm not when I say cult. I'm not talking about five people I'm talking about a village. Like that's what I'm interested in. I'm not taught I'm not talking about four blonde girls. I'm talking about a town a county Overtaken by a cult like this. That's the shit. I'm here for like that's what I'm interested in. Oh, I love also Can I just say No, I love every chapter opens with just a little quote Some are from the holy scriptures Some are from old prophets, but a lot are from Miriam Moore and a few actually from her dad as well So from Emmanuel's mom and dad and that's just very interesting And I love how Miriam is like a character even though she's not a character like It's just so good like how we get to know her partly and understand Why what's happening is happening, but she's not a character. I just think it's very good So I'm gonna finish this tonight. I'm hoping for good things. I'm hoping for a bit more darkness I want some stuff to go wrong because like all those stuff has gone wrong so far I just want more Okay, so I actually finished this last night, but I've been editing the video all day So let me keep this quick because I know the video is already 10 years long Just get to the point I finished this and I'm gonna end up giving it four stars The final third was actually my least favorite part of this. I mean, I still really liked it It's still a four star But I didn't like the direction it went in it felt a bit static to me It just felt like it lost some of its potential and excitement in that final third I just constantly wanted more. Do you know what I mean? Like I just constantly was like give me more. Give me more. Give me more throughout the whole book And I think about the first two thirds I was like well, we still got a potential for more But then I just felt like we never really got to where I wanted us to be it never felt truly dark enough Don't be shy. Put some more Put some more For example, I feel like the witches these these four witches who have been delivering plagues to this town throughout history They weren't explored enough I think as characters they could have been so interesting and yet we barely followed them. We barely met them I wish we could have gone into like the mythology behind them and the background behind them and like Met them more or like just explored who they are and their powers more I felt like that was really lacking. I'm like, these are some of the most interesting characters in this book Can we please follow them a bit? But that didn't happen I felt like what carried this book was the vibes like I'm not, you know, not the ending. However, I would still really recommend it I'm still so excited for the next one in this series I can't wait to see where it goes and what happens because it's kind of without spoiling anything Like I don't know where it can go like the fifth season had a very clear lead into the next book and this doesn't So I'm very curious. That is it for this video. I'm sorry. It's been so long Let me know down below if you've enjoyed it. Let me know if you would like to see me do this again I love doing these kinds of videos. I think it's so fun Fitting my fate in other booktubers hands. Make sure you go subscribe to all of the booktubers who were in this video Who contributed and gave me prompts. I'll leave them all linked down below So please make sure you go subscribe to them all and if you have gotten to the end comment Oh comment the horse emoji. I feel like we had a lot of horses Comment the horse emoji if you've gotten to the end of this video. There's a long ass video I hope you've enjoyed and I will see you very very soon with another video. Bye