 Hey everyone, welcome back to my channel. I hope you're well. Here's the thing. I don't read a lot of romance. I think I've already read two like straight-up romance books that needs to change. I really want romance to be a genre I pick up more this year. It's one of my reading goals of the year to pick up more romance. I feel like I'm gonna be really busy this year or at least for the first half of it who knows what's gonna happen after that. Let's see what happens. I just like romance is gonna be something that's gonna be much more easy for me to pick up and just digest and just kind of fall into. And because Valentine's Day is coming up I thought we should just start that ball rolling. We should just start that ball going. So this week I'm just gonna be reading romance books and we're gonna see if I like them. We're gonna try and be a romance reader for a week. I'm really excited for this. I'm really excited to get into romance. These are all books I've been really excited to read and so I just feel, I feel good vibes. I feel like this is gonna go well. Does that sound like something you want? It is. But let me tell you, you'll never get it. So first I'm gonna read Love is a Revolution by Renee Watson. This is brand new, not brand new. It came out like a couple days ago I think. I love Renee Watson stuff so I feel like this is a good like starting place for me. And this is about a girl who meets this girl that she really likes but she feels the need to lie to impress him and listen we've all been there. I think everyone in that early stage you tell a few white lies. But she gets into some very sticky situations I've heard and it's like the story of self-love alongside this romance. Renee Watson's books always deal with activism a lot as well so I'm excited for that element of it and listen as soon as a new Renee Watson came out I just was so excited to read it. So that's our first one. The next is gonna be I think it's called His Beauty by Jack Harbin. I have an e-arc of this. Oh okay so Jack Harbin is the author of one of the other romance books I've read and the only romance book I've ever actually enjoyed which was Meat Cute Club. This ain't gonna be cute in the way that Meat Cute Club was. This is the Beauty and the Beast retelling and I've heard it's like it goes there with the sex. Like I've heard. It's really short. I don't think it'll take me that long to read but I am a bit intimidated because I've never really read like a book like that. I mean we were all on Tumblr back in the day so I don't need to like go into that but you know but I've never read a book like that and then the last book I'm going to be reading is A Get A Life Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert so oh my god I can't wait to read this. I feel like Talia Hibbert is the most popular romance author out there right now. The Brown Sister series is so popular everyone loves it and this is the first one. I don't know much about it other than that to be honest but I knew that if I was gonna get into romance this was gonna be like where I wanted to start because I feel like people talk about how it's quite an easy way into romance quite often. I've heard also this is surprisingly smutty as well so we'll see. I don't think this is gonna have any smut in it like it's YA. We're not expecting that. We're gonna go read this first like ease ourselves in and then we're gonna like shock ourselves with his beauty and then this will probably I feel like be like a halfway house between the two. So that's my TBR this week. I'm super excited to get into it. Let's go start Love is a Revolution. I have high hopes because I love Renee Watson. I don't know how many times I can say I love Renee Watson but I love Renee Watson. A few moments later. I'm halfway through Love is a Revolution now on page 142. I am enjoying it but I'm not enjoying it as much as I was hoping that I would. I think it reads quite young particularly with okay there's too many things I need to explain. Wait I'm not thinking this is the right order. Like literally the dumbest person I know. Like why don't you like go fucking back to high school or some shit. Nala has met Ty and when I said she lies and we've all been there like she lies about herself and she lies. Like she lies. She lies that she's a vegetarian when she's not. She lies that she works an old people's home when she doesn't. Like she goes in on these lies to make him like her and it's certainly already getting a bit sticky but also I don't think I necessarily like that trope like miscommunication in a certain way because I'm like girl just tell him like he likes her enough like just own up now. If you're not now he either accepts you for it and he's like okay fine or you're done and then you don't get more invested. Like I'm like girl please let's just cut it now you know. I really like Nala as a character. I think her voice in the book is really fun but Ty and Nala's like cousin that's how that she meets him they are part of this like activist group. They're annoying. Sorry. At least that like you mean it. It's interesting because activism has always been like a big part of Renee Watson's books but I feel like this is a bit of a critique. Almost of some of those people are not critiqued. Like it's it's balanced I would say. These young kids are so passionate about making change but they can be some of them judgmental like if you drink out of a plastic water bottle or if you eat meat or if you listen certain types of music or whatever and they're just getting on my nerves a bit. Those characters and it just feels a bit on the nose like the way that they're acting feels a bit like okay I get it like I get it. The romance is cute but also I don't feel fully invested in the romance yet. Like the romance almost feels like a subplot to enhance the rest of the story. Like the lying feels more of a plot than the romance. If that makes sense but it does feel younger a little bit than other Renee Watson's I've read. Like middle grade is for a younger audience right but it's not it's not me saying it reads as for a younger audience it's just that it reads there's a certain way that what some way it reads when I say readers young and I can't put it into words but just a bit immature for the age the characters are I guess is what I'd say. I'm hoping that we get even more into like the self-love aspect of it. The relationship between her and her cousin is very interesting the kind of like jealousy but love that is going on between them I think is my favorite part of the book the book the part I'm finding most interesting. I'm enjoying it but I'm not as in love with it as I was hoping to be it's probably like a three star right now. Okay morning I finished Love is a Revolution last night and I'm gonna give it three stars. I enjoyed it like I enjoyed the writing there was some really fun elements to it like there was a lot of lists that our main character wrote about her feelings and stuff and like song lyrics so that was all fun. Just gotta keep positive. But I was never attached to the romance there was no vibes there for me if I'm honest there was there was no vibes there. Sorry to this man. But I really liked Nala and like I feel like maybe the point of this is more so being in love with yourself but the plot was a bit convoluted in that because you had the romance and you had this self-love and I never felt like the storyline completely matched up. For me the highlight of this was more her relationship with her cousin was was really interesting and done so well and was so emotional but I could have cared less for the guy like I wasn't interested in him. The guy annoyed me I can't like he wasn't supposed to annoy me I don't think but he would just do things for himself rather than like her. It's the truth. I was just never fully there it just felt a bit meh to me and I'm sad about it because it was my first 2021 release that I read and it was one of my most like anticipated 2021 releases but alas. So I've got a really busy uni day basically for next five weeks well six including this week um I have super busy Thursdays and Fridays and Thursdays Friday I already had a really busy day yesterday but today I'm hoping in any breaks I have and then this evening I'm going to read his BC by Jack Carbon it's not very long it's like 200 pages or something so I'm hoping I can just kind of speed the rent so obviously that didn't happen. I was just so crazy busy yesterday and then as soon as I finished I just didn't want to read like I didn't want to do anything so I didn't end up reading anything yesterday so the rest of this vlog is basically going to be a 24 hour readathon because I need to read both these books today I'm going to go get ready for the day and I will check in with you once I've actually read maybe like half of his beauty I have got the audiobook for Get A Life Crow Brown now so I'm gonna start that whilst I get ready but I probably won't get that far in so I'm gonna focus on finishing his beauty first. I'm halfway through his beauty and okay I am enjoying it so it's a beauty and the beauty storytelling and Beauty and the Beast was my favorite Disney film growing up like I loved Belle I wanted to be her so it is fun to like imagine this story again in that castle and just like the setting however it has a lot of sex in the Beauty and the Beast. I don't think I like just the writing style this one as much as I enjoyed Meet Cute Club I mean they're like completely different things but I just don't think I'm enjoying the writing as much we've actually only had one sex scene so far and it was like fine but it wasn't I just don't know if I'm that gal I don't know if I'm that person. Haha this is not for me. No. Also I have started the audiobook for Get A Life Crow Brown and I'm loving it so I kind of just want to read that so I kind of want to finish this quick I mean it won't take me that long to read the rest but um it's fine it's basically what my current thinking is I don't have that many opinions on it you are reading a human and a beast so like there's a lot of like pause and claws. That's concerning. It's not gonna be like a five star like it's like a three again in a minute so I'm hoping that Get A Life Crow Brown is like a five so that we can conclusively find out that I can be a romance reader because if they're like both three stars it's kind of like you know what I mean so I'm hoping for better things but maybe I'll love this even more as it goes on. I didn't like it in the end at all. Like I'm giving it two stars. I'm so fucking angry. I feel so bad. I feel so bad. I feel really really bad. I just didn't enjoy it and I feel so bad because I loved Meet Cute Club but this just wasn't for me. Similarly to Love is a Revolution I never bought into the romance like I was never there for it like I didn't like the beast. I could never get past him just not being very nice. Here's the thing it's very short like it's super duper short. It tries to tell like a complete story. I feel like if a book is short like this it needs to be more slice of life but it it felt like there were so many scenes that we were just racing ahead and trying to get through everything. We never fully got into it. We never like got into the meat of what I wanted you know. I didn't like the main character. I really didn't like the main character either like Ravel. I didn't like being in her head. I didn't like her thought process. I didn't like what she prioritized and how she thought and all this stuff. Like I just didn't I didn't vibe. This just further makes me question whether romance can be for me because I think if you like romance you'll like it. Like that kind of like short quick romance books. I think you'll like it. Like I think many people people will love this. So if you're into romance I would still recommend it but it just makes me think it's not for me. I just don't know if I'm that girl and I don't understand why because like in real life I love romance and like romance in TV shows and movies and like I love romance movies. Like I don't understand. I don't understand. I'm gonna go read Get a Life Co Brown now and I still have so much hope for this. I really have enjoyed the first 50 pages of this and it's been so funny so far. So I'm gonna read to like the first third and then I'll give you some actual thoughts. I am now a third of the way through Get a Life Chloe Brown. I'm on page like 120 and I'm really enjoying it. It's about time! It's going well. Chloe Brown her family seemed to be quite well off so she I think she feels like she hasn't kind of lived and experienced things in many ways but she also lives with chronic pain and so that she finds has limited her in certain ways and I really love the exploration of chronic pain. I can't remember actually the last time I read A Protagonist Who Had Chronic Pain so I really like that aspect of it. She meets Red at her new apartment because she gets like inspired to move out fun from this near-death experience and he is like the... I can't remember the word is... supervisor at the apartment complex? I can't remember what he is but he like lives there and helps out the residents etc. They kind of like hate each other a bit at the start but they just find each other annoying in the way that when you like someone you find them annoying and then they're starting to like fall for one another and I'm really enjoying it. Sorry, I am buzzing. The British humor in this is spot-on. I love when in books that are read widely, British humor is done well. Like I love Heart Stopper because it's so British. This is so British. Like some of the stuff people say it's just like spot-on just the way particularly Red talks. He's very like a sarcastic British guy. The other problem with the other two of the chemistry ain't a problem. It ain't a problem. Their dynamic is so fun like the awkwardness. Chloe's quite awkward. They're both quite awkward around each other. They're in that like awkward stage and I don't know I feel like unlike the other two I'm just getting enough time to like fully explore these characters and get to know them and root for their relationship and they're just like slowly getting to know each other and slowly start to fall for each other. So this is a success so far. Like at the moment it's sitting probably at like a higher four star. I think maybe the way to success for me with romance may be audiobooks. I'm really loving the audiobook for this. I'm not reading it without the audiobook. Even when I have the book open physically I've got the audiobook on. The audiobook's great. Like the narrator does a really good job of like adding a great amount of like character and personality to these characters. So maybe because I like maybe I'd like to hear my romance rather than read it. I'm really enjoying it. I'm like shook. This is going really well. This one. So I've got about four hours left of the audiobook so I think I'm gonna almost finish the book tonight but maybe not quite. I need to start dinner in a sec. We're having snack bowls. I'm in my pajamas now for the evening. I hope no one cares. You're gonna see me in my pajama bottoms. By the way also I feel so awkward about like you saw me in these clothes this morning and like Megan did you sleep and then they were fresh on this morning like I see naked. I wasn't gonna like wake up and like film naked. So I put on clothes then I put on nice clothes and I'm back in the comfy clothes. Like these are fresh on. I've worn them for like an hour today so like no judgment please. Alexa tell me I'm stunning. Alexa tell me I'm stunning. Very stunning. I'm gonna read a little bit in bed and then I'm gonna go make a start on dinner and carry on listening to the audiobook while I make dinner. Now two thirds all the way through so I just have this left. It's hot. Like it's hot. I didn't get into the scenes and his beauty but this is hot. It's really pulling me out of the reading slump that I've been in. Like I've been in a reading slump I feel like this whole year and I think it's more just like a situational slump. Like if I had the time to read I would but I just I don't right now. Like today I've been able to take the day off and read and I cannot remember the last time I had a day off. Like the weekend is not a concept anyway. Dear Lord what a sad little life Jane. I love these two characters. They both feel so complex. It's romance but with like real life problems and people with baggage and like insecurities and issues and oh my god there was this one scene that like oh my god oh my god I'm obsessed. I could not wait to read. I need to read everything in this series now. I know the last one comes out next month. I'm not going to read them that fast but I do want to get my hands on the other Brown Sisters books because I I'm like obsessed. So obviously I can love romance. I know I can but I just don't have the best success rate. This and Meet Cute Club are the only things I've liked. They're such a cute couple like they're grumpy and sarcastic. They listen to each other and it's just like so good. It's so good. I don't want there to be a whole like we break up and get back together thing. Like I don't want I don't want that to happen. Like I don't feel it. I don't feel like it needs that because they're still getting to know each other and like understand each other and figuring each other out. So I feel like you can just continue with that. Like it doesn't it doesn't need to be part where they break up to come back together because I feel like the ending should be them having learned about each other and like kind of figured each other out. Tanya Hibbit is a great writer. Like I I need to read the other ones in this series. If you are a romance beginner like me this is a great place to start. It's fun, light. I want to go finish it but I will probably I'm not probably I will check in with you about in the morning because I want to take my makeup off. By the way I'm embarrassed at how many times I've changed my shirt today. Like I think this is my fourth shirt change. I feel like in every type I've been in a different shirt this isn't normal. Like this has all been in one day. I've just obviously I've just worn a lot of shirts today. I don't know what's up with that. Anyway I'm gonna go finish it and then I'll see you in the morning with my final thoughts. I finished Get a Life Co Brown last night. It's actually the next evening but I've been editing this video all day. I'm giving it four stars. I really really enjoyed it. Success! So this proves I can be a romance reader. I feel like I've summed up a lot of what my thoughts about it are. Like how cute it is, how funny it is, how it's the perfect mix of everything you want in a romance book, how connected I felt to these characters, how good their chemistry was. Like it was such a great book. I think it's probably my favorite romance book I've read yet but I'm still yet to give a romance book five stars. But I'm very like I'm very harsh with my five stars. Like I can love a book like this and it can be a four star because to get a five star has to be a special feeling. But yeah so cute, so lovely and I love these characters. And if you are a romance beginner like me, you haven't read a lot of romance, read this. Like I think it's perfect for that. It would be like my top recommendation. So this proves I can be a romance reader. I can. I can be a romance reader but I don't have the best conversion rate and I need to like better figure out what I enjoy and why I enjoy it. But the only way I can do that is by reading more. I feel like audiobooks are a way to go for me in reading romance in the future because I loved the audiobook for this and I loved hearing the story rather than like reading it. So maybe that's the way to go in the future. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you have watched up until the end, leave a rose emoji in the comments. If you've watched up until the end, I will see you very soon in another video. Bye!