 So it's time for the final episode of this edition of wrapped up, wrapped up risk. If you don't know I did a series on my channel this year where I wrapped up 25 books I was most excited to read and 25 books I was least excited to read and I done wrapped one and vlog it. And it's time the last episode we put wrapped up on hold for a couple months before December when we bring it back in a new edition. But I was thinking how can I truly make this last episode worth it? Like what could be amazing? What could be a make wrapped up deserve something amazing for a last episode? And then I remembered those kinds of videos everyone's been doing. I did run myself a couple months ago where I can't stop reading until I find a five star. So I'm going to do that again. But this time I can't stop unwrapping books until I find a five star. The difference with those videos is you can choose what you read. You can choose the books that you pick that you think are going to be a five star. I can't do that in this. I just have to unwrap books and see where life takes me. I don't mean to make you nervous that much. So that's what we're going to do is the final episode of wrapped up I cannot stop unwrapping books until I find a five star. I'm scared what if there's not a five star left? There's like I don't know 30 books left wrapped up. What if none of them are a five star? What would we do then? I could end up reading 30 books in this vlog. Anyways let's go unwrap our first one and see what it is. Okay it's time to unwrap the first book that we're going to be reading for this vlog. And you know what I'm not feeling the same nerves that I think I usually feel with unwrapping a book wrapped up because usually it's like this is the book I'm reading locked in ready to go. But I feel like we're going to be reading more than one book in this vlog. I actually hope so. I hope that this first book isn't a five star because it's kind of anticlimactic. I mean of course you're always hoping for a five star but like you know it would kind of be I've been building this up in my head like I'm going to read like so many books. If the first one's a five star it's like well what did we what did we do here? So I'm just going to dive in and unwrap one. What color do I want to go for? I'm going I feel like this red or this green. Why am I nervous? Go for this green. We're going for it. I feel like it's quite short. No we're going for it. We're locked in. Okay let's open. Okay okay this was one of the books I was least excited to read. This is The Unsinkable Greta James by Jennifer E Smith an indie musician reading from tragedy in a public breakdown reconnects with her father on a week-long cruise and this pitch-perfect story about the way we recover love in the strangest of places. So I think it's kind of a romance kind of like finding herself again on this cruise kind of gives me Daisy Jones vibes just because you're a musician. I don't know. I've connected the two dots. You didn't connect shit but I've connected them. But yeah this is one that I just got from Book of the Month a while ago. This is March 2022 this came and it was just one of the picks I wasn't sure that I was like as excited to read but we'll give it a go. I don't think this is going to be five stars. This would not be a five star prediction for me but I guess we'll just see and find out. But yeah interesting first pick okay and it's not too long how long is it? It is just 300 pages so I think it should be a quick read however you know I find it. So a couple of people have asked me for some of the stats surrounding wrapped up because you can just skip this bit if you're not interested in it. But these here are the nine books. Oh the nine... I didn't deserve that. Oh my god. And I nearly scratched my head and I wonder where's God when you need him? These are the nine books I have... don't do it again I swear to God. These are the nine books I have read in wrapped up this year or last year. This series, this season. What is that sort of word? Series. My brain was trying to figure out if I said we should say series or season. Anyways so the books I've been in wrapped up risk are The Inogami Curse by Sashiyokamizo, When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill, The Restless Dark by Erika Waters, The Year of the Reeperbomber Kea Lucia, The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green, Yerba Buena by Nina Lacor, The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker, Girls of Fate and Fury by Natasha Nyang, and Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan. Now of that stack seven were ones I was most excited for and two or three now I suppose with Greta James. Three were ones that I was least excited for so I got pretty lucky with that split so far but it does mean going into this video that I've got more books still wrapped up that I was least excited for which the chances of getting a fire star with them aren't as good so you know swings and roundabouts but yeah that's the split we've had in terms of that. In terms of genres I've had one horror, one romance or two if you count Greta James, four fantasy, one historical, one non-fiction and one mystery and in terms of ratings I've given out one two star, one 2.5 star, one three star, one 3.5 star, three four stars, one 4.5 star and one five star so we've only had this series this season of Wrapped Up Risk. We've only had one five star so far and I'm asking for another ones. The chances are not the best but yeah that's all the stats I could really think of. There's not many stats surrounding this but you know my average rating is a 3.6 though which my average rating this year has been a 3.7 so you could say that I have as good a chance as any as getting a five star because my average rating is kind of the same. I have as usual chance of getting a five star but I feel like not being able to choose does lower my odds a little bit so anyways let's get into the reading. Okay it's time to start the reading portion of this vlog. I am halfway through an unthinkable Greta James. Basically all you need to know about this plot is a fine Greta James who's a famous musician, a famous singer and guitarist and her mother passed away a couple months ago and her parents and some of their friends were booked to go on this cruise to Alaska and she is most encouraged by her brother to go on this cruise with her dad and she has a very difficult relationship with her dad. They're kind of like they're butt heads a lot you know and there's also a romance with a guy that she's met on the cruise who's very different than her usual type of guy but I'd say it's not, I wouldn't call it a romance necessarily, it's like 50-50 contemporary and romance. Okay I'm enjoying this so much more than I expected to. I kind of went into this with no expectations. I thought I'd find it kind of boring I think this is kind of beautiful right? I wasn't expecting that at all. Here's the thing the aspects, the strongest part of this for me is the parts untackling grief and talking about her relationship with her mother, her grief now, how her grief has manifested, her father's grief, how she's trying to be there for her dad but they have such a a a frictionous relationship that it's really difficult to do so but I've almost cried many times when she's talking about her mother and like oh there was this section I just read where she was talking about how her mom used to always turn up to her shows with like a sign that said Greta's mom and just talking about kind of how her mom had been there for her over the years and I got like really emotional and then she had a chat with like one of her mom's best friends who's on the cruise and I found that really emotional as well. I think for someone to lose their mother is always a really like unmooring place for someone to be. I think that's one of the hardest relationships to lose and for your mom to pass away that can be such a for a lot of people talk about what a devastating kind of experience that is. It's one of the hardest people I think to lose because your mother's like your mother. You know what I mean? I don't know. I don't even want to think about that. I don't want to think about that and so I just think the way that that has been being tackled is beautiful. I think the writing is really nice. I'm surprised by how I'm enjoying the writing. It's a very very quick read like you just fly through it. It's a propulsive read. I mean it's not like loads is happening. It's quite a gentle and soft book. I don't know. I'm really enjoying it. I don't think it's going to be a five star in like a part of me like this video. Part of me doesn't want it to be because like this video part of the excitement was going to be I'd have to unwrap loads of books. I think it's going to be a very strong four. Maybe even a 4.5. Could it be? I don't know. Interesting. At the moment I'm not really into the romance element of it. She has met this guy on the cruise and I'm not buying into the romance. I'm not disliking it but it's not making me feel enough for it to be a five star considering it's like basically half of the book. I am enjoying it being set on a cruise. I've been on a cruise or two. Well two in my lifetime. I haven't been to one in Alaska but I did go to one last year in Norway which I've logged. I did like reading murder mysteries set on cruises on a cruise. So we're going to talk about glaciers and stuff like that. I'm remembering and picturing places I went to in Norway. But I'm surprised by how much I'm enjoying this. This was probably like a three star prediction for me and it's definitely a lot stronger than that. So I need to edit a video the rest of today but then I have got reading sprints later with my Patreon. So I'm hoping to definitely finish that tonight and start on another one. If this isn't five stars, if this is five stars you probably know already because this is going to be a short vlog. But I thought I would unwrap with you. Hang on I have to like cover everything. But I got a parcel and I think I know who it's from and I thought we'd open it together. I wanted to wait to open it with you. How do I get into this over there? Oh my goodness. Hold on. Wait what have I just seen? Oh no get out. Oh my god I'm overwhelmed. Oh so it's from my friend Lindsay. I met in London a couple weeks of not weeks ago months ago while she was over here. She's got a little bracelet. A lovely little note and a bookmark but she has very kindly sent me copies. A finished copy of her book The Glass Witch which came out last year and then an arc of the odds which comes out later this year. I think oh yeah September 19th this comes out. I am so excited. These have been a little bit difficult the first one which is already out. It has been difficult to get my hands on in the UK. So when she offered me an arc of the odds I was like could you spin me the glass for me please because I can't. I haven't been able to get it in the UK. I am so excited. These are both like spooky cosy middle grade that Lindsay writes and I'm just oh I'll link Lindsay's author tube channel down below as well. Lindsay has an author tube channel probably my favorite authortuber to watch. I love her videos. I've loved her videos for so long before we were friends. Oh my god this is so exciting. I'm so happy. Yeah the glass which is the one that's already out. The odds is coming out in September so hopefully I'll get round to these soon. These are perfect for like spooky seasons as well. How exciting. The odds which is the new one is about a girl who I think has grown up at a retirement home that she's been at since she was a baby and she's waiting for like her oddity to arrive because everyone there has like a special power and if she doesn't her oddity doesn't appear then she has to leave the retirement home and like all of her family that she's been with. Oh my gosh I am so excited. Thank you Lindsay so much for sending me these and the little bracelet and the note it's so kind. So yeah I'll leave Lindsay's channel link down below but how exciting is this? I just like want to read these both right now. This is so exciting. Thank you Lindsay. Anyways I'm gonna go edit. I've been editing a lot of videos because I'm going camping next week so I've been like furiously editing every single day and it's I'm starting to burn out but I've got to do it again tomorrow and then hopefully I will have a good chunk of time to read this today because I definitely want to finish this and make some progress in another book if we unwrap another one later. No no I'm not. Absolutely not. We have a problem because this might end up being five stars. It's making me feel things very strongly. This vlog was supposed to be like oh my god I'm unwrapping all these books like we're unwrapping so many books. I've unwrapped one. I've unwrapped one and it might be a five star. This is not how the finale unwrapped up was supposed to go. Okay we definitely have a problem because I'm giving this five stars. I'm there's a war of emotions going on with me because of course I'm happy. I'm giving a book five stars. I never could have imagined years I've been expected to. But also this video was supposed to be um like a behemoth. It was supposed to be an incredible video where I'm like unwrapping eight books. It's like oh run on a course of emotions and I've given a five star to the first book. The first book which if when I sat down with this edition of unwrapped up where it was half books I was most excited for, half books I was least excited for and I had to think of what books I was least excited for. This was pretty much first on there. Pretty much first on there. I'm giving it five stars. It hit me. It got me. It hit me. It hit me. The part that I credit the most on the live is a discussion she has with her dad around you know the first half is more her dealing with losing her mother and what it's like to lose her mother. But then there's this discussion about what it's like to lose your person. I'm not gonna cry again. What it's like to lose your person that you've lived your whole life with. Like how'd you even go on after that? No I'm not gonna cry. Maybe I'll cry. I wept. Like I was groaning. It got me. It got me. And what this says about like life and not everything always going as it should and perseverance and how feeling things deeply is okay. Also what it says about art. Here's the thing. I don't want you guys to think she just wanted this video to be done quickly so she just is giving it five stars. I promise you if I was gonna fake giving a book five stars it wouldn't be with this book because I don't want you to read it. You guys are gonna read it and be like she gave up first on. She gave up first on. She gave up first on. Because it's not. It's like a cute little beach read right. One of the reviews I went and looked at was could it be. It's a lovely little book. I think it's beautiful. I think it's poignant. I love what it said. But what it's saying is fairly on the nose. Okay. It's not hiding anything. It's not making you think about anything. It is fairly on the nose. But that's okay. I loved it. It's five stars. It made me stop multiple times. There's a romance in it. I could have done without the romance but I did like at the end the way that it factored into the story. But to be honest like it's not about the romance. The romance is not 50 percent of this book. I'd say it's like 30 percent. The bulk of it is her dealing with this loss and her dad dealing with this loss and I'm trying to figure out how to deal with it together and I loved it. And bear in mind I have given the last two books already two stars on 2.5 and I feel like a bit of a struggle and then this comes along and it's just what I needed in this moment and that's beautiful. Wrapped up. I have just decided the universe blessed me. It blessed me. It bestowed a gift upon me. Because I was like should I, I don't know, read until I find another five stars because this video is going to be so short. Like what do I do? And do you know what? No. The universe said you need a five star straight away Megan. You need a five star straight away and I'm going to give it to you. And I could not put it down. I read this in like two hours. It was beautiful. It was amazing. I loved it. I loved it. But it's, it's, it's service level. I recognize that. Okay. I'm not telling you all to put this up. Oh god. Oh no. We're just so many moments where it knows it's trying to make me cry. It's not. It's intention is to make me cry. But I don't care. You did it. You made me cry. Are you happy Jennifer? Yeah. This vlog isn't over though. Let's, let's, let's regroup in the morning. We'll unwrap some more books and see if I think any of them could have been a five star and see what I would have unwrapped next. Oh god. Dear lord. I have not cried in a book like that in a long time. And I think I do like books about musicians. It kind of gave, you know, Daisy Jones vibes. Greta James, Daisy Jones, like they're supposed to sound similar. Like, you know, I'm not interested in fame, but I'm interested in an artist's perspective on art, whatever form of art that will be, anything creative. I think I do like creative characters, but really at the core of it, I love beautiful relationships between loved ones. And this had that, and you could feel her mother's love oozing out of the page even though she wasn't there. Okay, I'll see you tomorrow and we'll end the end of this edition of Wrapped Up. Oh my goodness. I fucking gave the first book five star. I like, I'm not done. I'm not done. One more thing. I was so sure this wasn't going to be a five star. I checked in with you halfway. I was like, usually with Wrapped Up, if I'm reading one book in a vlog, I'll check with you like every hundred pages or less. I only checked in with you halfway. I was so convinced it wasn't going to be a five star, but I was in denial. I was in denial because every the past couple days I've had to do work stuff, right? So I haven't been able to read this as quickly as I could have. And I've been so pissed off. Every time I've looked at this book, I've just wanted to read it, but I've had to do other things. I've been so annoyed when I'm doing other things. All I've been thinking about is reading this book. I'm so excited I'm to pick the book up again. Who do I think I was? Who do I think I was if it wasn't five star energy? Who do I think I was if that wasn't five star energy? Anyways, now that was enough. I just had to say that. Okay, now I will see you in the morning and we'll unwrap what is left of Wrapped Up. Okay, so it is time to say goodbye to Wrapped Up Risk. It has ended. I still am kind of in denial that I got a five star. It's a very like, I'll talk about it in a second. It's a very different kind of five star for me, but it's still a five star. I'm not gonna lie. I'm not gonna lie and say it's a 4.5 when it's a five, just so the vlog goes on longer. But yeah, this vlog wasn't what I pictured it to be. Obviously, I thought I'd read like eight books and it would be a struggle to find a five star. It really was a curveball. When life gives you lemons, no, that's not the right thing. When you make plans, God laughs. So I thought it'd just be fun to maybe unwrap five books and see whether I think any of them would have been five stars. Obviously, we have no idea because I didn't think in a million years that would be a five star. No way, no how. I never would have put money on that. But let's give it a go, shall we? So I think what I would have unwrapped next, had I not given that a five star, would have been like a little paperback. This is just the top one. But yeah, probably like a shorter book would have been what I would have unwrapped next. So let's see what this is. Oh, okay. I don't think this is, this would be a five star. This is every line of view, which was another one that I was least excited for. It's about like an AI that becomes real. I, you know, I still own it. So I still think I would enjoy it, but I don't think it's like YA. I don't think that would have been a five star. You've been very, very harsh. Nice to meet you, Kelly. Let's go for this one next, this yellow one here. Do I think this would have been a five star? Can you imagine if I like read 20 books while it just didn't happen? Maybe I'll have to do this again next year for the end of that year's wrapped up. Who knows? Oh, okay. This is interesting. This is Girl in the Sweet God books at the moment. Me and books just aren't working out. This is Girl in the Walls by AJ Genuse. This is one, I pre-ordered this. I still haven't read it. Lovely spray edges. It's about a girl who lives in the walls of this house. I've heard not the best things about this, but it is still a book I'm really excited to read and think I would enjoy. I don't think it's gonna be a five star. This is maybe a four star, but I think this is the kind of book that if anyone is gonna give this a five star, it might be me, you know? That's an interesting one. I would have liked to have read that in this vlog. What next? I guess let's go for a red one. I'm gonna go... let's go for this red one. It's a bit thicker. Oh, I'm so sad I didn't unwrap this. But I can still read it. These books aren't leaving my collection. In fact, I'm gonna unwrap them all now. But The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead is one of the books, if I could read anything right now, probably one of the books I'd like to read the most. I've heard such good things about this. I think it's about friends who kind of end up in this cult, and they escape, and then one of them dies, and there's a podcast. I really enjoyed In My Dream's Old Knife by Ashley Winstead, and I just think there's something about her writing that really excites me. So I don't know what video I've got coming up that I'm gonna read this for, but I really do want to get to this before the end of the year. This, I think I would have given five stars. This is a five star prediction. I think it's a strong chance if I had picked this, I would have given it five stars. And it would have been a five star I could more, you know, unanimously recommend to you guys. But I don't, yeah, Greta James is not that, but I still loved it. I felt insecure about my love for it, because it is kind of like Chick-Lit-esque book. I mean, we don't use that term anymore, but it would have been that. Let's see what this one is. This is our fourth one. Oh, okay, We Have Educated by Tara Westover. So many people have told me that I'm gonna love this. I need to read it ASAP. I've heard such good things about this memoir. It's now one of the oldest books on my TBR. So we've got to get to reading it soon. This is another one I think could have been a five star. Yeah. And this is the last housewife or our best bet so far. Let's unwrap one more. What should we unwrap? I'm gonna go for this one here. It's quite a big one again. Oh, come on. Oh, this would have been another great one to unwrap. It's Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dorson. This is one of the series I want to start the most. I have the sequel already. I bought the sequel already, even though I never do that for books I haven't read. Wow, crazy. You're crazy girl. This is one of the books I would like to read the most right now again. This is the last housewife up there for me. I think they're both on my 2023 TBR, so like realistically I should get around to them soon. But I have had such good things about this. It's like a witchy coven in Her Majesty's Government in the UK and I just had such good things. So that's interesting. I don't know if they would have been the next five that I would have unwrapped but I think these two, and educated to be honest, would have been really good chances of five stars. These were definitely ones I was most excited to read and then I think these other three were ones I was least excited to read just because I find them daunting for whatever reason. Oh gosh, I'm excited to unwrap all these books because the thing with wrapped up is when these books are wrapped up for so long I kind of like forget about them because I don't visually see them every day like I do with all my other books. So like just visually seeing these again feels like I have new books. I feel like this is gonna feel like I've hauled like 30 new books again. So there we have it. Wrapped up is done. It will be back in a new iteration in December. I already know what it is and I'm really excited. It's gonna make me read books. Let's just say that I've been avoiding. I've evidently been avoiding. So that's what we're going to go with next year or this year in December. But it'll be on hold for a couple months and I still can't believe I got a five star on the Unthinkable Greta James. Like I said, it's not a book that I'm going to recommend you all go out and read. It's a lovely little book, right? It does what it needs to do. It talks about grief and loss and how we move through that as humans, right? And for me it was a five star. It just hit me where I needed it. So I don't know. I really enjoyed it. If it sounds intriguing to you, I'd pick it up. But it's not a book that I'm like, oh my god, you all have to go read this now. I just loved it. I found it's quiet, really lovely. I think because I've been on cruises before, I found the setting and the imagery really vivid. You know, even though I went to Norway, the fjords is similar kind of setting I guess to Alaska. And so I found that element really vivid. So there was just a lot I loved about this. And I can't believe we got a five star one. What are the chances? Quite low. So anyway, I hope you enjoyed this video, even if it was a little bit enctochromatic. And I will see you guys soon in another one. Bye.