 Do we have faith in me? It's debatable. It's debatable. Hello friends! How are we doing? Today we're going to be reacting to my summer book haul from a year ago and seeing how many of those books have I actually read. This is something I like to do or you guys ask me to do sometimes like react to a haul from a year ago, see how many of those books I have read in a year. And I was saying to my patrons I always do like a post where I say what the videos this week are gonna be and I was saying to them like half of me is filled with just utter faith in myself like yeah I'm gonna have read loads of these and then the other half of me is like utter doubt like no Megan you're gonna have read none. So I don't know I just think this is a fun thing to see to see how many of these books have I actually read. Am I reading the books when I get them or are they languishing on my TBR? Which is entirely possible because there is like 230 books on my TBR. Dear god it's a problem. It's a problem. That's not normal and I think you know you should maybe get some help or something. For me over half is positive. If I've read over half the books I hauled in a year that's not a terrible turn around. So shall we just get into it? Let's see. Place your bets in the comments now and then see how right or wrong you were. The first two my grandparents gifted me out of the balloon they just decided to get me some books which are so kind of them. Oh I do have to say we have got I'm not going to try and pick them up now. We've got three fairly boxes to unbox. What lipstick am I wearing now because I feel like I quite like that but I don't know what that is. What am I wearing? Anyways anyway yeah my grandparents gifted me two books about the blue which was just so kind and they're new releases that I'm super excited about. So first we have Only on the Weekends by Dean Atta which I haven't read Only on the Weekends by Dean Atta. I haven't read it. I really want to love the Black Flamingo by Dean Atta. I think I'm scared off by how chunky it is but like I know it'll be a quick read because it's told in verse. This one's about like a guy who's like he only gets to see his boyfriend on the weekends but he starts like catching feelings for this other guy. Messy, mess, mess, mess. And then the other one is one of my most anticipated books of the year and it is Siren Queen by Neva. Isn't she so gorgeous? Oh let's not talk about it! Haven't read Siren Queen by Neva. Another one, another book I would love to read. Am I doing that? Apparently I'm not. I wish that I could just disappear. I haven't read Chosen the Beautiful. I haven't read Siren Queen. I haven't read Into the Riverlands. I'm behind on my Nevo like reading. I love everything I read from Nevo. Like I just, I think her writing is so special. But I have not read Siren Queen. It's a book I look at a lot. It's a book I look at a lot and think oh yeah I should read that. Yeah I should read that. But like I don't even know if I'll be reading that this year to be honest. Why are there so many books and so little time? I wish I could be the kind of person that reads 30 books a month. I've never done that. I think what's the most I've ever read a month? Maybe like 18? No. I don't know. I'll pop on the screen the most amount of books every one a month. I wish I could read even more. I average about let's say 13 I think a month usually. It's kind of my average. Come on this video's got to get better. And then one of my lovely subscribers and patrons, Rachel gifted me two books. I did a book at which I love called No one knows what's coming. What I read and I discovered this book by Francis Harding which turned out to be one of my favourite books. Skin for the Shadow. It's one of my favourite books I've read so far this year. And Rachel gifted me the other two Francis Hardings that I put on my wish list after I read that book. No! We're off to the most terrible of terribleist starts. I haven't read either of those. I'm so sorry Rachel. I haven't read any more Francis Harding yet. I now own on Ravella as well. Is that it? Or do I own another one? I feel like I've accumulated so many Francis Hardings and then I haven't read any more since The Skin for the Shadows and I feel terrible about it. I'm guilty. The guilt is eating away at me. I love The Skin for the Shadows when I read it. Francis Harding has a very fairy tale like whimsical, beautiful writing and I know I'm probably going to love some of her books. She could become a favourite author for me but I haven't read any more. Oh Jesus Mary and Joseph. Jesus Mary and Joseph. So I have four books here that publishers have sent me. What should we talk about first? Oh, I know what to talk about first. Arguably my most anticipated release of the year. Of the rest of the year. Which I need to read but I want it to be in a vlog that does well. I want as many of you to see my opinion on it as possible because I know I'm gonna love it so I want to promote it. So I'm trying to think of a vlog idea that will get a lot of views so that I can promote this book a lot and I haven't thought of it yet. And it is I'm The Girl by Courtney Summers. Thank...fuck okay. I have read one book. I have read I'm The Girl. Listen, I don't need to talk about my love for Courtney Summers because you already know. I'm The Girl's a very, very, very, very, very difficult read. I feel like lately I've been like recommending Sadie to people without fully preparing them for like how painful and horrible it is. But like arguably I think I'm The Girl is even worse. And you really need to be in like a good place to read this book. So look up Trigger Warnings. Really look up what the book's about. But I feel like you have been making a lot of people read Sadie and they're like, this is the most emotionally crushed I've ever been by a book. Like multiple people have said this to me. They're via DMs or on my Patreon Discord. One of my patrons read it and I'm like, oh shit, I'm sorry. Maybe I haven't been like preparing everyone for like how horrible this book is. I think I'm The Girl is even worse. But listen, I will let Courtney Summers put me through anything in her books. Then we have When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill. This is already out. I have read When Women Were Dragons. I read that last year. Well, we're looking up guys, we're gonna do great. We're gonna do great. This first four book is gonna be the only book I haven't read in this whole thing. Sure, Jan. When Women Were Dragons, I really enjoyed it. I think I gave that like a 4.5. I really enjoyed When Women Were Dragons. It's just set in the 1950s and like all the housewives just rise up and become fucking dragons and like all these women become dragons and like slay queen dragon, you know, that's so really bad. But I really enjoyed that. So far the books that I have read, I have enjoyed from this haul. Then, oh my god, I love this arc so, so much. We have Book of Night by Holly Black. Yeah, I haven't read it guys. Well, I have read it, but whatever I just said about having enjoying all the books I have read from this vlog ends here. Because Book of Night, hot track, I think I gave that a 1.5. That's a bad book. That like some books I rate low, right? I give a two star and I'm like say Daughter of the Mingonis, right? I was very disappointed by Daughter of the Mingonis. I think I gave that 2.5 though. But like I can rate low and I can recognize other people can love this. I'm really sad I didn't love this. I'm sad it didn't work for me but I can understand how this book could work for other people. Book of Night. She's not going to go there. The plot, the characters, the writing, it was my first Holly Black and I'm not rushing to read again. Here's the thing, there are two books on my TBR. I've been thinking about this a lot for some reason that I have owned for a very, very long time. They're now some of the oldest books on my TBR. The Crawl Prince by Holly Black and of course Osiris by Sarah J Mass. And I bought them when I first joined Booktube and everyone loved them and I was like okay these are the books I should buy, right? I still haven't read them and I don't feel a deep desire to read them. I don't feel a deep desire to ever read Sarah J Mass. Crawl Prince doesn't necessarily you know call out to me but like I don't want to unhaul them in case like I have to read them one day. So they're just kind of sitting there like semi unhauled. Like I don't think I'm ever going to voluntarily read them but I just hold on to them in case I have to. Yeah Book of Night wasn't it but I've read it so who gives a fuck. And then finally we have got The Comfort Book by Matt Hague. There's an interesting story behind this. I don't care what the interesting story is Megan. Have I? Have I read that? I think I've read that. I think I. I don't remember love. I don't remember at all. I really don't because I know for a long time ago. Did I read that? Well I gave it four stars. Yeah I've read that. I don't remember that at all. I'm so sorry Matt Hague. It's quite forgotten. I think it's like oh these are things to it's like it's not a proper book. It's like quotes and phrases and little excerpts of like thoughts about how life is wonderful. Yeah I don't remember it but I've read it guys. We're four for four now. Gosh. So I went to Waterstones and I bought quite a few books. The first one I picked up was Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May. Well I've read it. I've read it but one of the worst books I've read this year. This was a book club pick for my Patreon book club and as much as I hate reading the book this was such a fun live show because we have a discussion live show for all of our book club picks and we were all like sitting there and we were just trying to make sense of what this book is. It's pitched as 1920s great Gatsby-esque sapphic witches on an island. That's like what it's pitched as. It was bad and the plot ew it's meow it's like it's the plot is all over the place. It's great description. The plot oh my gosh people like people would keep reminding us on the live show like someone would mention something and the rest of us would be like oh my god yeah that did happen. Who let that happen? It's so bad but I've read it so I don't care. Okay then I picked up a mystery which I have been I've been really tempted by for a long time and I was like you know what Megan let's be friends. I picked up death and croissants by Ian Morse. This is another Patreon book club this one was a bit of a little bit better received but like we're quite picky customers on the book club like you know it takes a lot for us all to kind of agree that a book was like four stars or about. We haven't had many of those but yeah this is like a cozy mystery I'm not continuing on with this series it was like a three just about for me. I didn't love it I didn't think it was a great mystery. It's pretty blah to me gosh I wasn't buying very good books for myself. The next book I picked up particularly because of one of my patrons Shanice read it and really enjoyed it. We've got A Fatal Crossing by Tom Hindle. So guys I fucking read it. I've read it didn't love it but I read it. I am so proud of her I could cry. This one wasn't bad I read this on my video where I read murder mystery selling cruises on a cruise and and it was fine. Tom Hindle I'm not gonna read again because then since then I've read The Murder Game by him and I gave out one star. I just don't think he's my flavour of murder mystery which sucks because he's like one of the you know main authors coming out in the UK with like kind of Agatha Christie-esque style murder mysteries but I just found the character's pretty bland it's very forgettable so yeah I didn't love it but I've read it and then I have another book which I believe is set on a ship and it is Dangerous Women by Hope Adams. Okay yeah haven't read Dangerous Women I bought this for that vlog specifically reading murder mystery selling cruises on a cruise but I didn't end up reading it in time and I don't have a ton of interest in the book I just bought it because it was a book that fit the theme and then I didn't have time to read it because I was on holiday and I was busy so I didn't read it and I was just languishing on my TBR so this is another one I'm not like particularly looking forward to getting too many times soon I'm still you know I still own it I might love it but it's just kind of sitting there on my TBR. I have The Wind Trinket Mystery by Anthony Berkley I've spoken about this a lot so I won't go on about it too much. Oh Megan I have read it I really enjoyed The Wind Trinket Mystery actually I did a whole video solving it I love doing those videos it's so much fun I'm gonna do another one soon because if I chorus did it I'm not gonna say anything more but yeah I loved doing these videos and it was just a sun it was a really fun mystery to kind of like try and solve in that video but I'm interested in reading more classic crime classic murder mysteries I would like to branch out from just Agatha Christie I'd like to read some Draw With The Else Sayers I've never read anything from Draw With The Else Sayers you know what your mouth just like refuses to keep up with your brain never read anything from Draw With The Else Sayers but I would like to read more classic murder mysteries other than just Agatha Christie so I really enjoyed that one and then just some books I've already read I won't speak about these too long we have I'm gonna count it and The Rook by somebody say James and Daniel and Burley respectively well they're going on the counter they're in the book haul I have read them the rules don't apply oh it does sometimes happen with book hauls because I only do book hauls when I've hit like 20 30 books that I've hauled so we've got a substantial amount to talk about and sometimes you know I read a book before in between hauling it and doing the video but it counts yeah these were books are classic books that Mara recommended me in her episode of Book Two Twin Tests which I feel like goes down in history because she is my Book Two Twin she got three five stars and I would I really need to continue on with The Rook series that's the series I would really like to continue on with but I've read them they're both five stars to me oh so good so good Mara I feel like I'm gonna do another Book Two Twin Tests with Mara because I just need Mara to pick my TBR apart from our one biggest biggest I'm not sure I could ever like forgive her for this biggest difference is she gave Strange Case of the Alchemist daughter I was looking at the Goodreads she'd already told me that I didn't love it I went on Goodreads I was looking at the Strange Case you know Goodreads like I do sometimes I just look so what people are saying a profound silence has entered at the chat can we be Book Two Twins then I feel like that that prevents like maybe Mara she's doing it she's wrong on that one and then and then I did another video where I read seven books well that was a fun video that was my first doing like seven books and seven days thing in that yeah well I read it yeah I didn't love pet I liked it but I feel like everyone loves it and I didn't love it you know but I liked it I liked it my number one highlight that I have gotten is undoubtedly Yeba Buena in the past few months five stars five stars five stars five stars five stars five stars this is just amazing I loved Yeba Buena Brandy Nicole it's such an interesting romance it's between these two women one is a bartender one's a florist I guess it's a little bit similar to normal people by Sally Rooney and Kate in where they keep coming in and out of each other's life but like I hate normal people and they annoyed me in that like the miscommunication that like oh where is that I didn't have the same problem with Yeba Buena but um yeah read it I just mentioned Simone St. James and how much I love the broken girls I did get a copy of the book of cold cases which is her 2022 release I have read it I have read it we're doing so well that was a shaky start but like we're doing well now yeah I've read a book of cold cases read this in my Goodreads mistress driller awards reading the top 10 video I enjoyed it I mean it is those books I had to read so quickly and a lot of them were similar right so it is a little bit lost in the haze of that video I'm hoping I'm really going to try and give myself like as long as possible to read the books this time because I was kind of in a rush last time and I don't I didn't need to do that to myself but I did really enjoy it and I think Simone St. James is a is an author for me I love her speculative dash in all of her mysteries I really enjoy that that same month one that keeps interesting me is tell me everything which is non-fiction true story haven't read tell me everything I think that's on one of my tbrs this year either the 2023 tbr or the 24 book that I've read for 20 before I turn 24 which is like the end of January and 24 so it's like basically I have to read it this year or in January next year I haven't read tell me everything yeah I am still interested in this it's like a private investigator memoir it looks really good but haven't read it and I haven't really heard anyone speak about it so I'll just quickly mention them we have breathless by Amy McCulloch this is a thriller haven't read breathless it's a thriller I'll read it at one point it's like an isolated thriller I'll read it but I don't know I've been having some not a good luck with like snowy isolated thrillers when I should love them but like some of them haven't been my favorite like shiver didn't love shiver so I've been a bit scared off a little bit I think and then we have the hacienda which is a like horror I really enjoyed this one it's a gothic you know kind of similar to Mexican gothic you got like a woman moving into her new husband's home and the weird stuff going on it's a horror I really enjoyed it I really want to read more from this author Vampire Zabel Norte I think is the release this year and I'm like oh yeah I can't Isabel can't Isabel give me vamps give me I'm loving vamps I'm loving the resurgence of vamps give me more vamps give me give me vamps give me vamps give me give me vamps okay then I think the last section we have got three fairy loot boxes I'm gonna gonna chance me having read these books it's not great I'm not great at reading book box books oh it's the stardust I haven't read the stardust feet I know a lot of people have really enjoyed this it's a fan well of course it's a f***ing fantasy this is a fairy loot but I have heard really good things it is still on my radar but you know I don't really know what it's about an arrow to the moon by Emily XR fan I haven't heard of this yeah an arrow to the moon I decided I wasn't interested in this so it is unread but I have unhauled this one because it just was you know sometimes with book boxes I was lucky enough to receive fairy loot for a while sometimes you just get books you're not as interested in what's the other one oh blood I'm gonna mispronounce this blood scion no I haven't read that one either and I think I unhauled that one as well I think I gifted it to one of my patrons sorry I haven't read it what is the last book tell me I've read this one this is one of my most anticipated releases of the year it is the girl who fell beneath the sea by Axio it is beautiful haven't read it but that one is still on my tbr the girl who fell beneath the sea I still want to read that okay let's just talk about the number shall we because it's all I care about so I have read counting according to my calculations I have read 14 of the books are in the book court and I have not read 11 now we got let down by fairy loot a little bit at the end but listen I am happy with that split having read 14 and not read 11 is not bad considering I've also unhauled two of those I've unhauled two of those so I've only got nine of those books still on my tbr from uh from this initial book call so listen it's not bad is it it's not bad we did it that's better than I thought I would do that's better than I thought was it better than you thought I do or did you have faith and you knew I was doing that anyway I hope you had faith in me did you have faith in me it's always fun to go back and look at the books I hauled a year ago it reminds me of some that I really need to get to like Siren Queen only on the weekends are like some that like at the top of my list like need to get to god there's so many books so little time isn't it guys I'm just like looking at my books I'm like when am I gonna read all of you I just like wish I could read like I wish I could do nothing but read but alas I have to edit things and like do other things in life we should just read all the time anyways guys I hope you enjoyed this video it's always fun to look back on the books I was buying a year ago see how many of them have read see how many of them I actually enjoyed there was a little bad stretch there with wild wicked things book of night there was some rough ones anyways I hope you enjoyed the video and I will see you very soon in another one bye