 Hello friends, it's time for another episode of Wrapped Up. Are we excited? If you watched this month's TBR Cluedo, you'll know, I got forced into putting Daughter of the Moon Goddess on my TBR for this month, okay? And I wasn't trying on reading it. It is wrapped up. So I said in TBR Cluedo, I am determined. I have got a fire, as I say in Drag Race, got a fire under my ass to prove myself this week. I am determined. I'm gonna find Daughter of the Moon Goddess wrapped up. Delusion. Convince yourself. Usually they're wrapped up. I just pick a book. Like I don't even think about it. Just pick it and I unwrap it and I read it. We're on a hunt, right? I know it's a hardback. I know it's a fairly thick hardback. We're gonna try and find it. This is all the books that we've got left. There's a few over here, but they're just paperbacks. So it's not that. These three, no. Those three, oh look, this one looks a bit thick in my opinion. So does this one. I don't think it's that thick. Is it that thick? No, I don't think so. I don't think it's that thick. I think it's gonna be one of these three. I mean, like the difference, these could be like, could be the same book. I mean, look, they're like the same thickness. They are literally almost all like the same. I have no fucking clue, guys. Because some of these I know, like this one, I'm pretty sure is like, yeah, that's like slightly cropped. It's not that. I don't think it's that one. Or is it? I don't think it is. That looks like a cropped one as well to me. Like it doesn't look like a full size. Yeah, that's cropped, okay. I feel like I've got a 33% chance of picking the right one here. If I get it right, I don't want you guys thinking I've like, oh, she's cheated. Like I know my books. I feel like if I'm looking for it, I do have a 33% chance of getting it right here, okay? If I get it right, it's because I've tried, too. I feel like one of the green ones. The green ones are giving me the vibes. Niko, which one do I pick? The cat got the flu. The son that got the chicken box it up goes you. Okay, this one. This one. Apprehensive, nervous, bit scared, also weirdly calm, perhaps on the verge of hysteria. What is it? What got the flu? The cat got the flu. The dog got the chicken pox. Okay, are we ready? Wow. Did I really just let that pick quite a bit? Niko. Yes! Yes! Oh my God. It's almost like I'm a genius. You guys, I didn't think I'd actually do it. I was like chatting big shit. Like, yeah, I just know my books. Like I didn't think I was actually gonna do it. Okay. Redorged from being goddess. Okay, one of the most gorgeous books that I own. Look at her. Look at her. I'm obsessed, okay? It's happening. We're finally gonna redorged from being goddess. I adore this edition so much. I mean, look at her. Sorry, Niko. Okay, I gotta stop talking because Niko's about to leave because he's getting mad at me for talking. He's giving me that look. So I'm gonna go. I'm gonna start daughter of being goddess. I'll let you know. Oh my God, look at it. Where I'm a bit of the way through. Maybe like every hundred pages. I'll check in roughly. I don't know what to expect. So I'll check in with you and what the plot and what it's giving in our first check in. Okay, I'm in a rush and my room is a mess. I think I've hidden it all from you. But like if you can see anything, it's not my fault. So, hi. It's been ages since we filmed the video where we unwrapped this because things happened. Videos got switched around but we're finally reading daughter of the being goddess. And I don't know how to feel. Oh, shit, you guys. Can we not talk about that? Oh, are you all right? Yeah, oh, sorry darling. I don't have the time to collect my thoughts in a manner that like makes it this easy to talk about and like makes me speak in a diplomatic way. So we're just gonna go for it. Okay, speed run. I'm about a hundred pages in. The vague plot of this is that we're following the daughter of the moon goddess. She has to flee her home with her mother because her mother has been imprisoned and the people who imprisoned her could find out about her existence. And back on the land, she ends up learning alongside the emperor's son and the emperor was the one who imprisoned her mother. And she like through a series of events is now learning alongside him and like his study buddy basically. They held a competition. Okay, my first point in this is that I'm not sure all of the plot leaps make sense. Like for some reason the emperor and empress were holding like a competition to be a study buddy with the prince. Like what, is that like a cultural thing that we just don't have? Like I can't imagine like, I know, Will and Kate holding a competition to study with Prince George. Do you know what I mean? I just can't, there's questions there for me. And I hate to say this. You guys know this book has been one of my most anticipated books for a long time. It's a little bit cringe. You better f**king take that back right now. You better f**king stop right now. I'm not sure there's something about the narration style or maybe the audiobook narrator, but like I'm just gonna keep listening to it because I tried, I've just finished my Goodreads video where I read all those thrillers and like I am incapable of reading without an audiobook at the moment. There's something about the narration, either that be the narrative voice or the audiobook narrator that is cringe. It's that age old problem of Oya Burke cringing me out because I'm not loving it. And I've already bought the sequel, the special edition of the sequel, that like is beautiful. Shit. I was gonna check in every hundred pages but I'm starting to feel like I won't have enough to say to you. I'm liking some of the imagery. I'm liking those moments where I'm like I get really into it and then I just get sucked out of it. So that's my kind of initial feeling. I don't have many other thoughts for you other than that right now. I want to love this so bad, like so bad, but I don't know. Anyways, this evening, I'm going to an event. I'm going to Aruquan doing a talk in London about Yellowface and I'm so excited. So I'm just about to leave. That's why I'm in a rush. So I'm gonna continue reading this on the train. I'm taking this and I have the audiobook. So hopefully I'll make good progress with this whilst I'm in London but I am so excited. Oh my God. I watched Aruquan when she did a talk for Babel. I watched it online but I'm so excited to go in person and meet her. I'm so excited. So I'll take you along with me and just wish me luck that this ends up becoming better on the way there, because we need it. Oh my God, amazing. The talk was amazing. The whole experience was amazing. I cannot wait to read Yellowface because I think it's a really important book in terms of what it's saying about the publishing industry and stuff. So I'm so excited. Anyway, this is not a Yellowface vlog. But also I'm Elle, if you can hear. I've had like a throat. Basically, I had an ear infection. There's become like a throat infection kind of thing. I'm not sure, but this is like good. This is me after a couple of days of it being better. But I'm about 350 pages into Dorche of the Moon Goddess. Now, there's multiple feelings at the moment. Number one, I said it was cringe, right? I think the better way to actually describe this is cheesy. I just accepted that I'm kind of a cheesy bitch that loves pop music. Yeah. Right? And with cheesy, you've got to lean in if you're going to enjoy it. And I've decided to lean in. So everything that was kind of cringing me out before I'm now leaning into is like cheese and I'm enjoying it. So there's that. That's the positive. There is elements that I'm enjoying. There's also elements to it that I'm really not enjoying. Oh my God. I think this has made me ill. This book has made me ill. Whenever like a book was really disappointing to me, I feel like I get ill because my body's in denial. Okay. Number one, there's a love triangle on this. I don't like love triangles at the best of times, but especially when it's so obvious who the main love triangle is, like in the main pair is. And like, what's the point? And also the romance is not romancing for me. It's not, my part is not going pitter-patter. Like with both of the romances, the love triangle, it's like she's like, ooh, do we have feelings for one another? Is there something there? And then suddenly they're in the deepest love to ever exist with like no, nothing to make us feel that. We're just told like, oh, our undying, undefeated forever love. Like it feels so dramatic. There is no buildup to the romance. We're just supposed to be convinced that she's suddenly really in love with this guy or suddenly really in love with this guy. And I don't believe it. I actually don't believe it at all. Yeah, I don't feel anything in the romances. She's like, hmm, is there something? Oh my God, my heart is burning at the thought of it. I'll kiss moved worlds, moved planets. Like it's just not doing it for me. So that's number one. I feel like a lot of the characters in this feel very flat. I feel like the whole book feels very flat. Like the events that's happening feel very flat, simultaneously rushed. Like there's a lot that happens off page and stuff. And I also have a big problem with the fact that a lot of people are describing this as like, is it adult or is it YA? It's kind of new adult. It's somewhere in the middle. This to me reads as young YA. I'm not kidding you. There is something about the writing style that isn't for me. It is like over dramatic. Yes, I like, I always say give me camp, right? But this is like over dramatic. Do you know what? This isn't a read. I'm, some people love this. It perhaps is just not for me. Although I am gonna have to read the second in the series because I've bought it already. It reminds me of how I used to write when I was a kid. When I used to write like Jonas Brothers fan fiction where like I'd meet the Jonas Brothers and suddenly Nick could be in love with me and wanting to be like me to be his girlfriend. Like this is when I was like a, I was like writing out my computer on word. You know what I mean? Like living my author fantasy. It kind of reminds me of that. Like the narration, the narrative voice is so over dramatic. Everything is like over described and over felt. So I'm not loving it to say the least. You guys, I'm so sad. This is one of my most anticipated books. And I feel like everyone else has loved it and I'm just really not loving it. I'm gonna go finish it now. I'm just gonna go ahead and finish it. It is still one of the most beautiful books I own. I'm still gonna read the second one at some point, but I'm very sad. Don't even talk to me. Yeah, I'm giving it 2.5 stars. What is wrong with this girl? What is wrong with this girl? I'm one like emotional wave and burst into tears right now. I don't even know what to tell you. I look through the good reads and everyone has given this five stars. All of my friends who I usually have similar reading tastes to five stars, five stars, five stars. Why are we still here late night? What? What? Daughter of the Moon Goddess, I'm giving 2.5 stars. Yeah, there was just something about the writing that really didn't work for me in this. I can't explain to you how every sentence is over the top. She'll be like, he looked at me and my heart soared like the sun rising in the early winter. Let me find examples. Cause it's like every second. Oh, here we go. A tenderness bloomed within me as precious and frail as the first sunshine after winter's frost. Like every, it's just over the top with like metaphors and shit. I don't even remember what metaphor is anymore, but it's like it's too much. A deep scent infiltrated my senses, opulent and sweet like a gilded forest. Sandalwood, my mind whispered, roused from the fog that enveloped it. Like it's just too much. It is just too much. It's too much. I can't. I'm shaking. I'm physically shaking. I don't like love and trust. The main character pretty much annoys me. I'm gonna choke. I don't understand. Like what, there's a book I read recently that was a popular book where I was like, guys, I just don't understand. I feel like I'm reading a different book to you. I feel like I'm reading an entire different book. Like I feel like we have not read the same book here because I don't get it. I don't understand why everyone loves this and I'm so sorry. This was a five-star prediction for me. A five-star prediction. Like listen, I fucking bought the special edition of the sequel. What do I do now? What do I do? I don't think I wanna read the sequel. I never do this. I would never, I barely even buy special editions of the books. I bought it because I loved this edition so much and I was so determined that this was gonna be five stars. It didn't even cross my mind that this could be less than four. Like I didn't even, I didn't see that as a possibility. And what do I do now? What do I do now? I think I'm just gonna put them both on my shelves, maybe with the spines out because the spread edges are gorgeous. Like I think, I mean, I own it now but like maybe one day I'll read it but I'm not editing it to my series spreadsheet. I don't think I will read it because I really, I just didn't like it. What? I can't, I actually can't wrap my head around it. What? I just, I don't know what to say. I don't know what to say. I disliked it, actively. And I don't get people saying that this is like an adult YA, like new adult. It's like young, I just don't, I don't get it. I don't like the love triangle because it's pointless. I don't like it. There we go, 2.5. I'm giving it like not a two because I do think there is quality there. And like if everyone else is loving it there must be something. I think it's just writing I didn't enjoy and a combination of lots of different things that I don't enjoy in my books. Right, when I give a two usually it's like I think that's a pretty bad book. 2.5, it gets a half because I guess I can see elements that if I didn't hate elements of the book which I, they're elements that I don't understand how everyone doesn't hate, but what have you? I can see maybe I would enjoy it. Maybe, I don't know, I'll change shit. Now I'm saddled with a sequel that I'm not even gonna read. I can't believe the one time I actually bought a special edition, fate clowns me. So there we have it. I'm probably just gonna put them, like I said, on the, on my bookshelf. So there we have it. What a day, what a moment. You guys, I don't even wanna talk to you anymore. I am so upset. I don't even know how to end this vlog. What a disappointment. I'm gonna have to go cry a little bit I think to get over this. But I hope you enjoyed this vlog even though I was ill and it was a little bit of a place. I met I have Kwang. So there we go. Listen, yellow face is gonna be a five star. I know it. I think that I have Kwang is gonna become one of my favorite authors all the time by the way because Babel is in my top five books of all time. And I just believe, I believe and I love how she's doing something different with each book. Like she's got like a literary thriller out now almost like it's so cool. Anyways, she was lovely. She was incredibly intelligent. She was the highlight of my week. But let's just pretend daughter of the moon goddess never happened. It was a five star prediction you guys and it's 2.5. Anyways, if you got to end the video comment the moon emoji for daughter of the moon goddess. I love you guys. I hope you're having better luck with your reading than I am at the moment and I'll see you soon in another video. Bye.