 Hello cuties! How's everyone doing? It's time for my March wrap up and I am so excited for this one. I'm really looking forward to chatting back to you because I had such a good reading month in March both in terms of ratings and in terms of how many books I read so shall we just dive straight into it? We're only in any preamble. Let's just get into it. I'm very excited to chat about this. If you're new here I do- I don't know why I'm- Hey! This is awkward. This is already off to a chaotic start. If you don't know how usually my wrap ups usually do all my reading statistics at first then we'll go through every book I read with just their rating because like I always say every single book I read this month is in a reading vlog somewhere on my channel apart from one book that I read for my Patreon book club where there's a reading vlog on my Patreon for it. So everything is vlogged. Everything I read is vlogged and then we'll go through my disappointment surprise and hits really focusing on on the highlights and the low lights of the month but shall we just dive into it because I think I did really well in March in terms of my reading. So in March I read 15 books which I think my highest ever let's let's check shall we? I thought the highest amount of books I've ever read a month was 16 but it could be 18. Let's have a look because Goodreads will see my entire history. Oh no 17. 17 books is the most I've ever read in a month so 15 is definitely up there it kind of the oh there's a piece of fluff in there oh it's a very chaotic start. Usually I'd say 13 books a month is my average so it's a little bit higher than average for me. Pages read was 4,069 pages that is an average pages per day of 131 or an average pages per book of 271. I did read quite a few novellas in my last video of the month as you guys were seeing where I was reading 10 books to buy one. I did prioritize some of the smaller books on my TBR so that's why that number's a bit smaller. My average writing this month was a 3.8. A lot of you all know one of my goals this year is to have at least an average rating for the year of a 3.8 or higher because that would be my highest average rating for a year ever. Every year I average 3.7. Every year I average 3.7. And so far in February and March my average rating has been 3.8 or higher. It's only January that's bringing us down because our year average rating so far is still a 3.6 so it's standard but we're bringing it up we're really like trying to hold it up with us um because generally I don't even know what my average rating in January was. Shall I see? I can't remember. My average rating in January was a 3. Holy shit. Okay so just in February and March we've managed to take that from a 3 to a 3.6 so I feel like with the rest of the year if we keep trying to read books that I'm gonna love we can we can bring it up. Listen we've taken it 3 or 3.3.6 that's pretty impressive. The average time a book spent on my TBR was 15 months that's pretty high for me. I read a lot of books this month that have been on my TBR for quite a long time. I read you know a book from Wrapped Up Retro it's always going to be a book that's been on my TBR for a long time. I read two of the Forgotten Women books were some of the oldest books on my TBR so I really ticked off quite a few that had been on my TBR for quite a while and in terms of the amount I spent on books I spent 43 pounds this month on books which I say is probably a bad average for me but but but your honor but 24 pounds of that was in cash which doesn't really count and it was birthday cash which doesn't really count that's like a birthday gift to myself so really I spent 19 pounds on books this month everyone would be pedantic it's not adding up but um no I spent 43 pounds but 24 rows of cash it doesn't really count you know okay let's get into the pie charts in terms of the ratings I gave out I had two 2.5 stars two three stars three 3.5 stars three four stars three 3.5 stars and two five stars pretty equal there in terms of how many books each rating got in terms of genres I read four fantasy two magical realism three mystery three non-fiction guys I've read five non-fiction so far this year oh my god it's 12 let's all go ahead of ourselves because it could like I could not read any for a couple months but I'm doing so well on that goal let's just take that in I read one romance and two thriller in terms of the format I read one anthology two graphic novels nine novels and three novellas in terms of author status three were debuts three were authors that were new to me and nine were authors I've read from before that's probably why I had a better reading month I'd said previously this year I hadn't read a ton of books from authors I'd read from before I was reading a lot of new authors and I think I really like it to be 50 50 authors I've read from before and authors are new to me or a debut because with authors you've read from before you know what to expect you know you're more likely to enjoy them so I'm glad that I've switched that round finally this month in terms of how I read them one was an audiobook five were physical and nine were a mixture meaning I had the physical and the audio in terms of how I acquired the books three were books I bought myself 10 were gifted and two were sent to me by the publisher I read a lot of books this month but I think I got gifted either at Christmas or my birthday because I remember when I was filling in my spreadsheet a lot had been on my tbr for three or two months meaning they were either from Christmas or my birthday because that's how long ago they's so yeah I read a lot of books that I'd gathered during Christmas on my birthday in terms of audience I read 13 adult one YA and one middle grade and then in terms of series stats are we ready are we ready are we ready I'm ready okay whenever you're ready I'm ready okay I'm ready whenever you're ready I'm ready okay whenever I'm ready okay I read five that were partway through a series two that were last in the series and eight that were standalone oh my god guys 50% of my reading this month was series up 50% of my reading this month was part of a series and I finished two series also in those like five that were partway through a series I think at least two of them were books where I got up to date in a series but I finished two series because I've only started one series this year let's all just take that in so yeah I'm really really happy with my series goals this month I think I really did a really good job on that I may be starting what am I reading in March maybe like one or two series that I'm reading the first in I always you know doesn't mean I'm going to continue them because it depends what I think of the first one but um you know I think I've put myself in a really good standing at the start of the year I only started one series I finished two so we're in that negative and I've made progress in a couple more where I'll be up to date for some of the year so yes let's get into all the books and what rating I gave them so I read death of a bookseller by Alice Stator which I gave 2.5 stars when the stars go dark by Paula McLean which I gave four stars these first two books I cannot believe I read them in March it feels like 10 years ago I think March was so busy and so much happened in my life I'm like what how how was this March anyways I read night film by Marisha Pestle which I gave 4.5 stars how to co your family by Bella Mackie which I gave 2.5 stars Merd isn't easy the forensics of Agatha Christie by Carla Valentine which I gave 3.5 stars Shark Heart by Emily Habeck which I gave five stars Into the Riverlands by Nevo which I gave three stars Rotten to the Core by T.E. Kinsey which I gave 4.5 stars Forgotten Woman the Artist by Zing Zing which I gave 4.5 stars Thorn Hedge by T. King Fisher which I gave four stars Before We Say Goodbye by Tosha Kazukawa Gucci which I gave three stars Heart Stopper by Alice Oesman which I gave five stars Mammoth at the Gate by Nevo which I gave four stars Island of Whispers by Francis Harding which I gave 3.5 stars And Forgotten Woman the Scientist by Zing Zing which I gave 3.5 stars Okay time to get into the disappointment let's talk about the worst of us before we get into the best Why I put a sweater dress on today like it's actually quite warm for some reason I felt like I was cold but now I'm really regretting this decision but we can't make a mid-video outfit change okay my first disappointment was the only book that isn't on a vlog on my channel and that is Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater this was my February Patreon Bookcopic I always tend to read them in the next month because I read them right before the live show so I've got everything really fresh in my brain this one oh it was so disappointing so in this we're following Roach who is this loner bookseller who's very into true crime she loves serial killers oh don't get me started on Roach don't get me started imagine saying someone I love serial killers very disturbing go see a counsellor and then we're following what's the other one Laura who's like you know everyone loves her she's a cute bookseller she's got a tote bag she's got a sunny demeanour oh my god it's Laura and Roach kind of becomes obsessed with her and like it's an examination of true crime it's a lot the good thing about this is a lot of like backstage of book selling which I enjoyed there's like discussions around where to sell books that I did enjoy that aspect of it and the response to this in the book club was kind of overwhelmingly negative a few people enjoyed it which is good but not a lot of people enjoyed it this just didn't do it for me it's a debut and I don't think this book really knew what it was wanting to say it didn't go into the book with like a clear direction it kind of went in thinking oh figure it out as I go along but then didn't like then in drafts like figure out a clearer direction the issue for this is nothing really happens and the examination of true crime is not an examination it's so surface level when you've read and a lot of people in the book club had just read Bright and Women a lot of them have been reading that and some of them read Bright and Women and then this straight after and that was I imagine such a junk experience because Bright and Women which I read for the most recent Goodreads Choice Awards it has such a nuanced examination of true crime and why are people into true crime and why do people develop a fascination towards serial killers and like simultaneously examining why someone would maybe be interested in that and like interested in true crime but also critiquing it is such a wonderful examination that and this is just like he she loves true crime oh my god we love serial killers and there's other people going oh you're weird for that she's like no I'm not weird and I kind of get into a lot of the problems I had with the ending in particular let's just say there's lies being told to you let me just say there's lies being told to you in the marketing aspect I'm just going to tell that because this ending oh it was so disappointing lies lies and more lies and lies on top of lies so just not a lot really happened it doesn't have a strong three line the writing was kind of annoying Roach is a very irritating main character his thing I am all for irritating you know unlikable main characters actually we're going to talk about another unlikable main character that I didn't like the book of in a second but I mean I do usually enjoy unlikable main characters but they've got to be interesting if you're doing a likeable main character they've got to have like a little something something about them a little something that makes me want to kind of root for them but like I'm like oh I shouldn't root for you but like you're kind of fun you're kind of camp you know I mean there has to be that interplay and in both of this this case in the next book there just wasn't Roach just got on my tits just so annoying so yes unfortunately a little bit of a disappointment because I love the cover that you can cover this so I was very excited for it but alas so not not great and my other disappointment was how to kill your family by Bellamacchi my disappointment is immeasurable because Richard Osmond says he loved this book Richard are we all right my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined did someone pull some strings was this a favor to your publisher like what's going on in this one we're following a girlie who endeavors to kill her father's entire side of the family he she never really knew him he abandoned her when she was young and she's like I'm gonna kill all of them and it's a story of her doing that now this is too repetitive it's told basically we just go from one merge to another and each time the former is the same she's like here's why I hate this person here's why they're such a bad person here's an imaginative way I'm going to kill them that is like perfect to their personality and their interests and what their life is like and then I go and kill them that that's basically it and I said in the vlog also miss girly hates everyone on this main character she she hates everyone in the course of this book I read out like a list in the vlog someone done on a good reason for you of like every single type of person that this book hated and it's everyone like if you breathe this all this character hates you I think this is trying to go for like quirky funny you know oh I you know critique of humanity but I said this then and I said it now there's a reason Richard Osman is blurbed on this the publisher wants you to see that and think oh I enjoyed the Thursday murder club so I want to pick this up this has to do with murder like that did also the Thursday murder club like I always say really distills down human nature really I think is one of the best books of series I've ever read that really holds a lens up to human nature and there's weird little quirks we have and there's little things that really make people tick and that people love I think sometimes books like to create a narrative of what people should love and what people should enjoy and Richard Osman is like no this is actually what they do enjoy like he talks about this a lot on his podcast as well if you haven't listened to it the rest is entertainment which is kind of about tv and movies and stuff because he worked in that for a long time and he's saying like people like to think that everyone's watching I don't know some highbrow show in reality everyone's watching bargain hunt me included I love bargain hunts do I mean that there's a perception of what our country is like and what what it actually is like or in general what humanity is like so we pick up this book thinking oh this is gonna have like a real examination of humanity whereas Thursday murder club is positive about humanity this is overwhelmingly negative just everything bad you could ever say about humanity this book has so yeah unfortunately this was quite the disappointment and I would not recommend let's get into surprises let's be positive now for the rest of the video my first surprise was forgotten woman the artist by zing sing I had previously read two in this series this is a non-fiction series all about women women throughout history and we have about three pages on each and an illustration a little tale about who the woman is and what her life was and in this case it's the artist so we have painters we have photographers we have experimental kind of live theater artists this surprised me so much having read others in the series my reading experience this was so wonderful because I looked up every woman's art on google just like a quick look but it gave me such I felt like a wonderful reading experience and really I want to get to know all of these women even more because it was just so fascinating and I always say this series to me is really a five-star concept I love the idea of us really uplifting women from history that time has forgotten history is so masculine history is so masculine I remember I still vividly remember when I went to the opening thing for the sixth form I ended up moving to I ended up moving to an all boys grandma school sixth form so in the UK I don't know if it's similar if you even have all girls I don't know I don't know but when we have like an all-girls school an all-boys school here in the UK often at sixth form which is the last two years before university it becomes mixed so I went to an all-girls secondary school but in sixth form boys could join and if you go to an all-boys secondary school in sixth form girls can join so I went there and I was looking around and one of the subjects I was maybe considering doing was history and whereas at my school if I'd done history at my old school it would have had a lot of like interesting world topics you know that like you know maybe focus on women because it's a girl's school we went to the boys school it was like war war men men war war men men in terms of the history still of us and I remember my mom saying to the history teacher like this is a very masculine presentation of history it's only really talking about men he went well yes I'm being honest I'm a bit pissed off about it he was like because this is a boys school and I'm like well you got girls here in the in the sixth form anyway so I need to say I did not take history but it just irritates me how a male history is and I think this book is wonderful this series is wonderful at uplifting the women that time has forgotten so I cannot recommend these enough my favorites in the series are by far the artists and the leaders I did not love the writers and the scientists as much I think the leaders and the artists are the best ones so I cannot recommend it enough they may be a little bit hard to get your hands on now I don't know if they've stopped printing them because they are a little bit old but I loved it and my other surprise again this feels like it was 10 years ago so forgive me this will be a brief this will be a brief synopsis but this is when the stars go dark by Paul McClean this was the uh book for wrapped up retro in March and we're following this woman who's a seasoned missing persons detective but from the beginning we know something has gone wrong in her personal life and she's kind of moved back to her town where she grew up in to kind of lick her wounds and figure out what her next move is when a series of girls go missing and she's helping out her old friend who is now the sheriff in finding out what happened and I did not expect really anything going into this but I think this is a wonderful I would say literary thriller it is a thriller or mystery I guess you know you have got this true crime element of trying to find these girls but it the writing in this was beautiful I always say I actually think this cover usually I'm not a big fan of like picture covers but I think this cover would like the fog and the airiness really paints a good picture of this book the atmosphere this book created was wonderful I had a really great time reading this and I really was not expecting it this was like a three star prediction if I'd ever if I'd ever had one you know I mean I really was not expecting anything going into it but it was really engrossing and I think this is I think Paul McClean typically writes more literary fiction and this was kind of her first mystery thriller and I think you can see that it's it's playing with some of the tropes that we see a lot but in a very interesting soft haunting way so if you're looking for a thriller mystery with a little bit of like a different edge to it I would recommend this I was very much surprised by how much I enjoyed it and finally we are on to the hits so first my probably biggest hit of the month was Shark Heart by Emily Habeck I don't want to tell you anything about this book I think you should just go into it not really knowing a lot we are following a couple who have just been married and they find out that he the guy the couple is slowly turning into a great white shark and it's a story of their love and then kind of this rapid diagnosis and rapid kind of deterioration or transformation that he has and them dealing with that now something I love about this book it's told through a lot of really short paragraphs often like a chapter would just be a couple of pages or maybe even a paragraph and I thought that that pacing worked really well with the book I thought the writing was beautiful that was beautiful you did such a good job of expressing yourself for a debut I think you can see where this writing could improve right it is it kind of knows it's beautiful and I feel like to be truly like a hundred a hundred percent it has to like kind of let go of the knowing you can feel that it knows it's beautiful however I love it I get five stars I loved the writing style I loved the quietness of this book and the the exploration of what it means to love and what it means to lose and what it means to grieve I I loved it I loved it I loved it I loved it I thought it was so wonderful we do end up following a few different other stories as well but I think you should kind of go into it not really knowing much of that I I adore this I can see why it not be for everyone but it made me sob I could not stop crying reading this I think it was a really beautiful story and I just loved yeah I loved the way it was told so I felt like not often do you encounter a book and these are really five stars that like take you in and hold your hand and grab you and like hold up a light and you know I mean we're burning books you just feel that magic right when it's a five star you're like this book is really saying something and doing something I'm really excited to see what Emily Hebeck comes out with next because I just thought this was absolutely wonderful I love the quietness I love the smallness I love the allegory that this had for certain things so yeah absolutely loved it and then of course a hit for me was House of a Volume 5 by Alice Osweard I give it five stars I'm always going to give these five stars probably not my favorite in the series but I think it does a really good job of like taking us from where this book started to then putting us in a really good place for the final book which is going to come out maybe next year I think or the year after in this Nick and Charlie are very much in love but Nick needs to go away to uni he's a school year older than Charlie so he's going to move away first and he's going around and visiting unis and then they're also thinking about having sex for the first time so it's those kind of two very big teenage experiences that they're navigating on this would come with a lot of really big feelings and I just think Alice Osweard portrays it in just like the most wonderful way the way she portrays these topics in all these books is there's a lot of things that Charlie struggles with mentally in the previous books in the series I think they take these these experiences that teenagers go through and just portrays them in the most wonderful way I imagine if I was a teenager reading these I'd feel so comforted so if I was a young teenager I think it's different maybe when you're a little bit older and you're living through these experiences but I think it's something you think about a lot when you're a bit younger and like how will I navigate that and I think it tells these these books tell you like everything's gonna be okay like you will get through this you're living some of the greatest experience of your life well some of the worst experience being a teenager is fucking awful in many ways and I just think these books are such a lovely lovely thing to exist in the world for teenagers today I cannot recommend them enough I just love them so much love them so much over eight million copies sold go Alice Osweard I am so proud of you I am so proud of her I could cry and then I just want to give a quick shout out to a 4.5 this month but it was a hit and that is my film by Marisha Pessil I feel like I've spoken about this book a lot lately oh yeah because it's on five-star predictions reaction video as well so we'll just we'll just talk about this very quickly if you want to go watch the vlog this in you can a girl is murdered an investigative journalist who done a lot of research into her director controversial director father decides to look into what has happened it's long it's long but it's so worth it I absolutely adored this the final quarter for me just wasn't as strong but I think this book was trying to do so much it was so ambitious with the one I was trying to do that I think it would have been very difficult to like pull it off 100% so in my mind this is maybe like it's almost a five star you know just didn't quite get there but it has mixed media it has photographs it has emails this was just such a fun reading experience I love when reading is fun reading should be fun right sometimes I think oh this is why I don't just read like serious books because yes serious books are important and like amazing whatever but I also love reading a book that's like I'm gonna I'm gonna do something I always say I love a performance I love a moment I love a book that does something different I love a book that's like I'm gonna go out there and I'm gonna do this shit you know what I mean that's what this book is doing I don't know how much sense that makes but I absolutely loved this I really really did and I thought it was so ambitious I really admired what it was trying to do so there we have it everyone that is my March wrap up let me know how your March went down below did you have a good reading month did you not have a good reading month let me know your disappointment surprises and hits if you got to the end of the video comment what should we comment comment a shark emoji for shark art comment shark emoji if you got to the end thank you guys so much for watching and I'll see you very soon in another video bye