 So I have a superstition around my first book of the year. Since I started reading again in like 2018, 2019, my first book of the year has always been a five star or a 4.5 star and those years were great, wonderful, great years of my life. Apart from last year, 2022, my first book of the year was a two star. And I went on to just feel like there was this bad juju around me for the first half of the year. It's a conspiracy theory that I'm actually interested in. So I think that's because my first book of the year wasn't a five star. So we're not about to let that happen again this year. This year, I am determined that my first book of the year is gonna be a five star, the very least a 4.5 star. It's gonna happen. And I was thinking to myself, what's the best way to make sure that this happens? And I figured I'm gonna read the first chapter of a couple books that really excite me. The first chapter and whichever first chapter I like the most is the book we're gonna read and hope and pray that it ends up being a five star. So let me give you our options. The three books that I've chosen, all books I actually got these all for Christmas and they're books that a lot of my favorite booktubers have been putting on their best of year lists. And so I feel like the booktubers that I have the most similar read taste to, if they're loving them, I'm pretty gonna love them. They're also books my patrons have recommended to me a lot. The choices are Netherland Bone by T. King Fisher, Legends and Lattes by Travis Bowdry, and Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield. So these are all books as well that a lot of you have been asking me to read, even saying you're excited for my opinion. So I just have good feelings for all of these. I would say the three booktubers, evidence by booktubervazzle that I think I have the most similar reading taste to are Mara from Books Like Woe, Kayla from Books and Lala, and Riley Marie. Those are the three that I think I have the most similar reading taste to. Now I know, I think I'm hoping I'm correct, that both of these two were in Riley and Mara's best of year lists. I'm pretty sure, and I'm pretty sure this was in Kayla's best of year lists. I know that they've loved those books. And a lot of my patrons have recommended these to me. Melissa, one of my patrons, has loved this. Maya, one of my patrons gifted me this. Maya said it was similar to a darker version of Once in Future Witches, which was one of my favorite books of 2021. So these are our options. Oh, shit. Apparently I'm not going to pick you. You're being quite aggressive. These are our options. We're going to try the first chapter of each and then see which one I'm going to be reading. It's about four o'clock. It won't take me long to read the first chapters or these. So let's begin. What one should we start with? Oh my God. I don't think you guys know. It's the fourth of January. I haven't read anything. A, because I wanted to give myself a few days to like really get so excited to read. I feel like end of year content, November, December. I can be reading a lot because I have to read and I wanted to just chill out until I have this deep desire to read, which is what I've got now. And also I've been scared to do this video because like it has to be five stars. It has to be five stars. What should we start with? Let's start with Nettlin' Bone by T. Kingfisher and see what we think. Okay, first chapter of Nettlin' Bone done. This, from what I know, is about a princess whose princess sister is in this abusive marriage to this prince and a protagonist wants to... him. That would make a really great meme. Wouldn't it just? There's this witch, I think, who says, I'll give you the tools to do that if you complete these three impossible tasks. And when we open in the first chapter, she is trying to complete one of those impossible tasks. This is my first time reading T. Kingfisher and I'm very excited. I feel like we're going to begin my T. Kingfisher era. I feel like I'm behind. All of my favorite booktubers have been loving T. Kingfisher this year. But I feel like T. Kingfisher's writing is just like something that would take me more than one chapter to get used to. So I don't know if this is a great judge because I feel like I was only starting to vibe and get into the flow and the way the words are written towards the end of the chapter. The first couple pages I was like, you know, when you're really just having to make yourself read and get into a book. So I don't know. I like the premise, but like, did that first chapter give me five star energy? No. But do I think T. Kingfisher is the type of author? I've just read all these authors, authors I've never read from before. Oh, well, maybe I should have gone with an author. I have given a little five stars to but apparently that's not how my brain works. We're trying new authors for this first book of the year. Yeah, I just like T. Kingfisher's writing is something that's going to take me a little while to get used to. So I don't know. I don't know if this is a contender. I don't know how to feel about this. OK, what should we read next? Let's read the first chapter of Legends on Lattes next because I feel like that might be it. That's the one that I'm I'm having certain feelings about. I just read the prologue and the first chapter of Legends on Lattes because the prologue was only really two pages. So I didn't feel like that was a fair chance. And oh, my gosh, I love it already. So basically we're following this orc who it seems has kind of been a kill our all. It says decades of adventuring. So going around killing creatures. And she decides that after many years of doing that, I think is her job. She decides that she wants to retire to this small town and open a coffee shop. And that's what we've really seen in the first chapter. And I just love the writing. I love it. Like the way that places and settings and feelings and like everything is being described is everything that I love in a book. Like it's everything this is what I came here to do. I know this is just everything that I feel like I love in a book and everyone's told me it's going to be everything I love in a book. And I feel like this is the one that a lot of you want to see me read the most. I don't know. Sometimes you just encounter a new writer and you just for me that I would say the writing is the most important thing and you read it and the writing it just like immediately like grabs you. And I'm just I loved it. You know, she's walking around this town or city that she's decided to kind of make her home in and the way that the places and that she's seen for the first time are being described. I just love I just loved it. It will take a lot for our wives under the sea to top this. But let's go see if it can. Oh, OK, hi. Apologies if I look a bit. Hang on, I'm going to raise your up a bit. We apologies if I look a bit rough. It's much later. I had a doctor's appointment and I came back and had dinner, did some more work. And then I read the first chapter of our wives under the sea. And I have to say I really enjoyed it. So this was the shortest chapter I've read so far. This is only about five or six pages. It was really short. But basically the synopsis of this is that our main character, her wife, has recently come back from a deep sea mission and she has come back changed, very much changed, like a different person entirely kind of detached, it seems like, from the first chapter. And I guess it's going to be her trying to figure out what happened on this mission that I think went wrong. And I just loved the writing of this, like in the first chapter, it already felt like this close, quiet, haunting, mysterious book. I don't know. I really loved the writing of this. And I think I was going to say I'd like to be in my water era. I'm really interested in reading books about the sea and about water because I think like the ocean is fricking terrifying, right? And so like a horror that kind of has that subject matter is something I'm super interested in. But I think because it was so short, it can't win the battle. So I think we're going to end up reading legends. And I'll say this is my first book of the year. How exciting. All of these, I would say that I would say this was my ranking of the first chapters. But I'd say all of them were really good first chapters and I'm still super intrigued and excited for both of these. It wasn't like I've done this before where I read the first chapter of a book I'm really excited for. And I'm like, I don't enjoy that. But these were both really good first chapters, I thought. But we're going to go with legends and lattes, cozy fantasy, low stakes, coffee shop. I'm so excited. So I'll be reading this over the next couple of days. And yeah, I will go read a better chunk of it. And I'll check in with you when I have some thoughts. But before we get into the rest of the video and reading legends and lattes, I want to say such a big thank you to the sponsor of today's video, which is Skillshare. You may know Skillshare for classes on photography, film and video editing, illustration. But did you know that Skillshare has a lot of career focus classes too? I would say Skillshare and its career focus classes, its creative classes as well, are really a big reason that I have been able to build my booktube channel. I think it is such a great place to go. If you're thinking of diversifying what you do as your career, thinking of trying to break into a creative industry. I think something that's been amazing in the past couple of years is that people are realizing that we don't need to buy into an idea that work has to be one size fits all or a certain model. We can subscribe to a new vision of work, something better. And I feel like I've been so lucky and that's what I've been able to do. So I really want to point you guys to some classes you can do on Skillshare that might enable you to do that. If you've been thinking, maybe I want to start a booktube channel, this could be the start of something new. So there's classes on time management, personal branding, freelance tips, marketing your videos, marketing yourself on social media. You know, I want to keep doing these classes because I want to keep learning how to push myself creatively, how to learn more freelance tips, how to kind of be my own boss, you know? It teaches you how to be freelance in a creative industry. It gives you all of the tips that you need. So there's a few classes that I've really been loving that I've kind of gone back to as a beginner's mindset and I think would be great for you guys if you're thinking of starting something like this. So I've been doing start your creative career, build a shop, smart online presence by Sonya Razula. This encourages you to think of yourself as a business. It helps you to understand analytics, which is honestly such an important part of doing something like booktube or YouTube. It teaches you to use social media, how to push yourself out there in the best way. And I've also been loving discovering success. Seven exercises to uncover your purpose, passion and path by Emma Gannon. This helps you to think about picking a career that might be unconventional, but is something that speaks to you. It talks about listening to what you love, tapping into what actually makes you happy and realizing that you don't have to adhere to the traditional definition of success or what the traditional work path is. So I have got a great deal. The first 1,000 people to use my link down in my bio will get one month free of Skillshare. I cannot recommend it enough. Skillshare has helped me undoubted amounts in building my booktube, helping me get to where I am. So if you're thinking about starting a booktube channel, if you're thinking about trying to grow and create industries, I would 100% recommend checking out Skillshare down below. Okay, hi. I am now 100 pages, intelligence on lattes, and I'm loving it. I'm loving it so much. I love that. There's just something about these fantastical creatures hearing them drink coffee and how happy it makes them. I don't know what it is, but I love it so much. I love it. So basically the plot is what I told you. It's an orc opening up a coffee shop, and that's really what the first 100 pages have been. She's only really just opened it, and now we're getting into her, trying to promote it and trying to get people to come, taste the coffee. It's just cosy and quaint and small and intimate, and I'm just loving it. I don't want to tell you. I really like her main character. I really love all the characters that are coming into her life and helping her with the coffee shop. There's two other storylines, I would say. There's one about these people in the town that she's moved to, who are trying to force her to pay money to them, like a gang almost, who rule the area. And there's also this stone that she got in her last conquest that seems to have some magical, lucky ability that we don't really know much about yet. So they're the two other storylines going on, but it's such low stakes and quaint. Like it's just, it's everything. I did, it turns out though, inadvertently start a series because I put this on my Goodreads, like currently reading, and then yesterday it turned into a series. We're getting a prequel, which is great. I'm already excited for it, but I have, I've already started another series without meaning to it. This just feels, it just feels like a hug. The book just feels like a hug. I don't even know what to say to you. I'm just loving it. Like I just, it feels like something I'm just reading and enjoying. So intimately that I don't really have thoughts about it. It's just like so relaxing. It's like drinking hot chocolate is the way I would describe it. I can see why everyone's loved it so much. It's wholesome. I'm just so excited to read more. I would say though, I'm not necessarily getting like the absolute five star feeling yet because my reading has been very broken up and bitty. So I'm hoping the rest of the book, I'm like, I might even try and finish it today. I'm not gonna lie to you. So I'm hoping the rest of my reading will be more like in bigger chunks. I've been reading like 20 pages here, 20 pages there. So it hasn't been as like, you know, I feel like once you get reading with this, it only took me like 20 minutes to read 40 pages. So it's a very quick read. So once you get reading, you read a lot. So that's why I'm hoping the rest of my reading will be. But we're about to pop out to London. Tom's getting a new suit and I, it's my birthday at the end of January. So I might pop into Space UK and choose some stuff that he can get me for my birthday. Cause I'm like, I'm just in a makeup era. So I'll take you along with me. But yeah, I'm hoping I will read some more of this on the train and then when we get back, I'm hoping I'll have read maybe another 100 pages and can let you know more of my thoughts. I am now 200 pages into legends and lattes. And I mean, what is there to say to you other than I'm obsessed with it and I'm ready to make it my whole personality and it's already in contention for my favorite book of the year. What is there to say? I am just in love with it. I got up to that point last night, but I was already like tucked up in bed and I really wanted to continue. Part of me was like, do I just finish the book? I felt like I owed it to you to come and speak to you. It's a difficult book to like talk about because I just love all of it with every fiber of my being. It's my birthday, it's my birthday. Happy birthday to me. But it's so low stakes that really not a lot happens. It's not like it elicits different feelings for me at different points throughout the book. I'm just feeling increasingly like safe and comforted and just obsessed and loving it. Like I just love it. I love it so much. I can't describe to you what a wonderful reading experience I'm having. I already know I'm definitely gonna reread this at some point this year. This isn't gonna be the only time I read it this year. This is gonna be up there in my top 10 favorite books of the year. Unless I have like the most incredible reading year ever and we get shocked, I love it. I love it. I wanna go to this coffee shop. I wanna eat all the like cinnamon rolls they're making. They keep like discovering like different types of coffee they can make and different kind of pastries and stuff they can make. And I'm really hoping for the end of the book we discover hot chocolate because that would be a moment. I'm really hoping that happens before the end of the book. I love it. I don't know what you want me to say. I like to say I just love it. Like I struggle with books that I love so much to talk about them. When it's I hate a book, I'm like listen here. But when I love a book and listen it's fairly simple, it's short and it's just comforting. I don't have as much to say. I just wanna like me in the book just like go away from reality for a bit and just be best friends. I don't know. I'm really sad I only have 70 pages left. I love it. And I need like 20 more books set in this coffee shop. I don't care. Like just set me 20 more books at this coffee shop, Travis. It's all I'm asking for. So we're gonna go out for a walk in a sec but I'm hoping I can get close to finishing this before then if not I'll finish it when we get back from the walk. And I'll let you know my thoughts. Maybe I'll be back at mine by the time because I'm around Tom's at the moment if you don't know this is Tom's house. Maybe I'll be back at mine by the next time I check in with you. I don't know, but I love it. It's amazing. Best book ever. I'm so glad this is what I started my year with. This has given me amazing vibes this year. This being this book is giving me, this is about to be my best year of my life vibes. I just think she's very delusional and maybe possibly insane. I am gonna go ahead and finish the best book known to man. Bye. Excuse my hair. It's very puffy. I don't know what happened to her overnight. It was fine last night and then I wake up and it's like, hey. But I finished legends and lattes. Five stars. Hey, success. In contention to be my favorite book of the year already. I mean, it's the first book I've read so it currently is my favorite book of the year. I loved it. It was amazing. My life has been irreconably changed forever. Whoa, their hair is getting excited, girl. What happened to you? Who hurt you? I don't know what I can say that I haven't already said. It is the kind of book that I read and I'm so in awe of and I love so much that I don't really have much to say to you. I will say I need this to be a 20 book series. Like I don't care that that adds a series to my list that will probably never be finished. It's what I need. That's saying something because I get angry when series never end. But this one, I never wanted to end. I need like a 50 more. I loved it. I loved it so much. Like I can't describe to you how much I love it. Oh, the descriptions, like every time they would add something new to the recipe they'd update this chalkboard and just like imagining them to make the coffee and the pastries. Ah! I just like, this is what I need. I feel like 2023 apparently is gonna be my cozy fantasy era. Like I'm feeling it now. I think almost every cozy fantasy I've read I've given five stars, apart from very secrecy or regular witches. We don't need to talk about that. Let's not bring this video down with negativity. We're talking about a positive here. The hair. I really hope that the success of this will mean more of this, like more cozy fantasy. As we've seen stuff like murder mysteries grow, which is great for me, great for me personally over the past couple years. I hope that this is the start of a growth in cozy fantasy. Basically I'm just asking publishing to just make stuff for me and my tastes forever. I'm so excited this year to read more cozy fantasy now, reading more T. Kingfisher, you know, exploring more recommendations. I've literally been this morning watching loads of like cozy fantasy book recommendations. I'm like, I need it. I need it. Thimble. Let me just say Thimble. I would die for him. I don't often get this attached to characters. Thimble, I would die for you. I already want to reread this. I just, I actually realized that I had bought the audiobook. I think it was on sale for like two pounds or something. And I'd bought it. And I didn't realize until I was like halfway through the book, but I was enjoying reading it just physically so much that I just carried on just reading it physically. But I am going to probably reread it via the audiobook at some point this year. What a great start to the year. I am literally so assured that this is going to be one of the best years of my life now because I read this fast. That makes just total logic to me. Does it make logic to you? I genuinely believe this is what I needed to read at the start of the year. It was incredible. It was amazing. I need 50 more and you guys need to go read it if you haven't already. Just trust me, it's incredible. So thank you guys so, so much for watching this video. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you enjoyed coming on the journey of reading my first book of the year with me. It was just the best. I am so happy. I feel so lucky. So if you got to the end, comment a coffee or tea or croissant emoji, anything related to Viv's cafe. And yeah, thank you guys so much for watching. I'll see you very soon in another video. Bye.