 Hi everyone, so I hope you're all good If you watch a lot of my videos, you'll know that I've been in a reading slump I've been in like one of the worst reading slumps ever. I've only read two books two books Two books in March. I'm ashamed. Oh I am supposed to reading House of Leaves for a literary dead book club, which I am co-hosting this month However, not happening I'm too terrified of it that I'm just not reading like I've literally haven't I've read maybe 20 pages in the past week And a half so I thought let's just do an episode of wrapped up What I'm gonna unwrap one book would do a little reading book for it and we'll have some fun I'm hoping this is gonna get me out of my reading slump like I'm praying I am praying I'm gonna get out of that Reading slump now. I cannot remember anymore. What books are wrapped up? I have no idea and I'm gonna be kind to myself and I'm gonna say if I want it I can unwrap to like if I'm not happy with the first one like totally happy I can unwrap a second one and then choose between them because I have to be kind to myself because I literally Haven't read in a week and a half. I'm drawn to like the shortest ones A tall book or that one looks kind of cool. Okay, I was drawn to this one initially, but I have no idea what it's gonna be But let's just unwrap it. Oh shit, I Was so not ready for that. I think this is like yeah, this is 440 pages. It's not quite as short as I was hoping this is an ember in the ashes, which is a Fantasy book, but you know what I could go for this It's not as short as I was hoping because I'm literally I've got like two and a half days to read whatever I pick Which isn't bad for me usually that's usually how long it would take me to read a book, but not me in a slump So I'm gonna unwrap another one I'm gonna unwrap this one and then choose between the two I wonder if I can get the audiobook for that on script. Oh, okay. The audiobook is on script How long is it? It's like 14 hours, which is A short audiobook, but we could give it a go. Let's unwrap one more and then choose between them The wife between us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Peckin and Okay, this is shorter. This is like 340 pages, but the font is tiny, so I don't know if it actually much of a difference Thrillers read very fast like they do read quick But this throw has been on my TBR It's one of the oldest books on my TBR if I'm honest, and I just don't know if I feel it So I think we're gonna go with an ember in the ashes Okay, but when I first opened this I was scared because it's not short But I actually feel like some really high immersive fantasy Might be what I need right now. This was very kindly gifted to me by Jasmine So thank you Jasmine and let's just get into it. A lot of people have told me they think I'm gonna absolutely love this Like it's gonna be a favorite series So let's just get into it. Oh my god. I don't know how to feel Okay, so I am about a quarter of the way through an ember in the ashes. I'm on page 112 My god, I don't I don't quite know how to feel yet So currently we have dual perspective between Leia and Elias Leia's brother has just been arrested and taken away for treason and She has kind of like come to Meet the resistance to try and get their help Elias is a soldier at the military academy And he was just about to graduate but he is having second thoughts and kind of wants to desert And that's kind of like where at the moment I imagine this really gonna come together at some point But it may be like in the second book or something But I just I don't know how into it. I am like I'm enjoying it, but I'm not in love with it Honey, you've got a big storm coming some of the writing feels just a bit average like a bit like okay Like there's nothing captivating me about it I'm not a fan of the audiobook like I tried it I listened to quite a bit of the start with the audiobook and like if I go and cook or do anything I probably still gonna listen to the audiobook just to make progress But I'm not listening to it whilst I read along physically anymore because the girl narrator was like I wasn't I wasn't I wasn't really a fan if I'm gonna be honest Like sometimes you just have audiobooks that you like and audiobooks you don't like there's nothing wrong Like other people love that audiobook. I just didn't it just readers quite young to me So maybe I'm just not the target audience this I'm hoping I'm gonna get into it a bit more I don't know. I don't know if anything's wrong with me I don't know if I'm a bit broken because I haven't had a book yet this year that I've loved Like that I think other than maybe this the sinister mystery of the men's more eyes and gale But that is like the third book in a series that I've loved like other than that There's nothing that is gonna be in my favorite books of the year like I guarantee you There's gonna be none of that it's gonna be my favorite books the year So I don't know if like I'm a bit broken and there's something wrong with me And I'm just not enjoying reading as much or if this just isn't quite it. It's not for main park I'm I feel terribly ill all of a sudden, but I'm gonna read on we've only read a quarter and I have listened to interviews with Sabah to here I've done courses on Skillshare that she's run and I've listened to like podcast interviews that she's been on I've always found it really interesting to hear from her I think she's like a great speaker and I love how she speaks about writing So like we should be having more success here than we actually are but anyway I'm gonna go read to halfway and then I'll check in with you again I said yesterday. I wanted to get about three quarters of the way into this I'm not sure if I did but I did I wanted to get about three quarters of the way into this yesterday That didn't happen. I would like to defend myself But sadly, that's the truth without like getting too much. Okay. I don't need to give excuses But like I didn't feel very well. I kind of fainted kind of for like two seconds So after that, I just stopped reading the rest of the day and just laid in bed and watched YouTube because I was not All there, but I'm feeling much better today. I'm halfway through now. I think I'm enjoying it Fuck off. And here's the thing. I went oh my god I went on Goodreads and everyone in their mom gives this book five stars and I just I actually don't understand it. I'm actually I'm not enjoying it and I feel really bad because it's like such a well-loved book, but I I don't get it I feel like the characters are very one-dimensional like it just feels so simple It feels so convenient the writing. I'm just not personally vibing with I don't think the writing is bad I'm just not connecting to the writing. It just you know when like writing you either vibe with or you don't like Erin Morgan says writing for example I vibe with a lot of people don't a lot of people like hate or write things style I just like that's the same thing with this for me, but the other way around. I'm just not into it but yeah, it just feels too convenient like things are happening and I'm just like okay and The way that characters are acting not necessarily our two main characters But like all the other characters who aren't flesh out at all is very Unrealistic I find I'm just very upset because I'm not enjoying it And I and I want to and it's so well-loved and I just can't understand it at the moment It's maybe like a 2.5 I don't know you guys I really don't know I'm just not interested I kind of want to DNF it but otherwise this vlog won't exist So we're gonna we're gonna carry on and I'm gonna go read to three quarters of the way in and hopefully Hopefully I will have had a change of heart So you guys I'm really not I'm so bored. I'm so Bored I'm so bored A little bit of space please today I've come to the realization that it has split storylines like so we've got Leia And we've got Elias and we're following their two storylines and I don't typically like that I don't always dislike books that in like the strange case of the Alchemist order series the second and third books Kind of had that but if I dislike a book chances are we had split Storylines, you know multiple POVs with split storylines, and I just don't think I vibe with it I like to have like a linear story with perhaps some like branches come on coming off of it Like I I think I find it a I don't get attached to either one as much as I want You know I don't get attached to either storyline as much as I would with one storyline and also it begins to feel a bit Formuleic like we go to one we go to the other we go to one we go together Where I want to be surprised in the structure of the story like I don't want to always be able to predict what's going to happen and I don't feel like Either chapter like either perspective the chapters are ending in a way that particularly Leaves me wanting to read on and excited to read on which is what it needs to do But I'm really sad because this was I believe in my list of the 21 books I want to read in 2021 and it's just so disappointing like it's really really disappointing That's so upsetting Another thing I would say is I'm not typically someone who takes issue with mention of sexual assault and rape in in books particularly when it makes sense in the context of the book So this is very military inspired, you know, it's all about these characters in the military And so I think it makes sense because there is that toxic culture around women Um and consent and stuff in those settings like typically as well in like a lot of historical books You hear this criticism where people complain about it. And I can't say I I've ever Felt that way, but it is making me a little bit uncomfortable in this one I don't want to say it's done like poorly or wrongly because I don't think it is There's just something about the frequency of it. They's making me uncomfortable personally in this one Like the constant mention of rape There's kind of like one of the villains in this his main personality trait is how he wants to rape women you know and uh Just like kind of the discussions around prostitution as well and stuff like that in this book I think it makes sense in the context and I'm not out here saying it's done wrong But it's making me uncomfortable and I'm kind of like Okay, I don't want to hear about that anymore, you know, because it's it's mentioned quite a lot Yeah, I would say if that's something that you know triggers you then be very wary of this because it is a very frequent mention But yeah, like I said the characters Sis the characters The characters are so one dimensional all of them I'm not gagging Let me know what you thought this book if you've read it because I feel like I'm really alone in this like I feel like Everyone else loves this book unless something crazy happens in this last quarter I really don't think I'm gonna continue on with this series Yeah, I'm gonna go watch the football now and take a bit of a break and then I'm gonna finish it this evening It's not been reading not been putting myself. Yeah, I did say that earlier. I said it could just be a me thing Because I haven't loved a book this year Like loved loved loved a book Like I haven't I've already had like two five stars three five stars and even then I don't know I feel like if it was just me I would at least be giving it like a three Because everyone when I go on goodreads everyone is out here giving us five stars and I just don't understand It's not our main focus Do we decided it's time for football now? No, it's not filming. Okay, right. We're gonna go watch the football. Bye I finished an ember in the ashes and I'm gonna give it two stars. I'm gonna give it two stars. No It didn't go anywhere It just didn't go anywhere and I didn't feel like the ending was like its own ending It was just setting up the rest of the series Do you know what I mean? Like I want a satisfying arc to the story and maybe in some ways it was But maybe I was just so dissatisfied with the book on on the whole that I was never gonna be happy with the ending I will say my favorite scene in the book did happen in this last quarter There was a battle scene which was really interesting and made me wish in a way that this book had been Adult an adult book and of course I understand why it's not there was like a hint of What could have been if it wasn't adult book in that battle scene and it just made me long for it I just have to accept that this wasn't for me And that a lot of people love it. Maybe something's wrong with me right now We can all accept that but there's just for whatever reason wasn't for me and I'm very upset about it I don't particularly I don't want to talk about it anymore because I'm I'm just really sad It was like one of my most anticipated books and I will put in I will put in for you a picture Oh my look at how good the ratings for this are Look at look at how many people give it five stars then four then three no one out here No one is out here giving it two stars apart from me. Like I'm really upset And I really scratched my head and I wonder where's god when you need him and I feel bad and you're all You're all allowed to chime off in the comments about why I'm wrong I just thought our main characters were so predictable I don't like it when a character is stuck in the same inner monologue The whole book I probably would give seba to his books. I know she only just finished this series But whatever she writes in the future, I probably will give a go because Like I said, I really want to love her stuff I felt like we could have hurried stuff up a lot more and Almost had like the second book in this but of course, it's not gonna happen because YA and like I understand or my critiques Like I understand why it's not the way it is But it doesn't change the fact that I wanted it that way one positive is that I do feel like it's kicked me back into reading again I feel like so accomplished having finished this book And I feel excited to read again and like I was just sitting here looking at the books on my book card And I was like, okay. Oh my god. I'm so excited to read you So I feel like it has accomplished that aim, which is a good thing because I now need to read this Um I'm hoping that this will be next weekend's reading vlog, but we shall see if I can like Do that. I don't know if I have it in me. Thank you for watching this video Let me know what you thought of this if you have read it I'm sure you'll be saying how much you loved it and how wrong I am and that's okay I can accept that I can accept it. Um, if you've gotten to the end comment a fire emoji because of Ashes and bring the ashes Yeah, comment a fire emoji if you've gotten to the end and I will see you very soon in another video. Bye