 But this just felt a bit like, okay, like why should I care? But I don't like the man. Don't like the man. Don't care if he's running this amazing circus or whatever. I'm like, it literally tells you. And I'm like, that's what the whole conflict is. 50 pages on the head. Yes, I am superficial when it comes to books. Hey everyone, welcome back to my channel. I hope you're all good. Today, we're going to start a brand new channel, a brand new channel. That's too much work. I don't want to go nine to five job. I just want to focus on my inner peace and just have a good mind. A brand new series on my channel called Judge a Cover. So I have always been so obsessed with book covers, book cover design. And so in this series, we're going to see whether you can really judge a book by its cover. I've just been becoming increasingly interested in how book cover design works and what makes me pick up a book. Because I think I'm becoming increasingly superficial and materialistic and being really into like book covers and special editions. And part of me wants to see like, does that actually have any bearing on how much I enjoy a book? And in this first episode, we're going to start by reading my most beautiful books. These are the books that I think beautiful is a very specific thing. These are not just necessarily my favorite covers that I own, but these are the books that I think are like ornate or aesthetically gorgeous and beautiful. Not necessarily the core list, the most original, most unique, but the most beautiful to me. This is all subjective, right? First we have got, I absolutely love this cover, Fat Chance Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado. Now I feel like this doesn't really do it justice unless it's in person. It's got this gorgeous like peachy design. It's got this gold lettering. And I think it's absolutely gorgeous. And then the hard cover itself is like this lovely like pale, pale pink off white. I feel like this book looks just so gorgeous in person. I just love it. I think it's so gorgeous. It's probably why I have prioritized picking this up over a lot of like other YA contemporaries that come out. I don't read a lot of YA contemporaries. And when I do, I typically read the audiobook. So that's probably why I have prioritized this. So we're going to see whether I enjoy this more than like other YA contemporaries. Then we've got another 2021 new release. 2021 had so many gorgeous books. Thank you. We have got Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth McNeil. Now tell me you're not obsessed with this cover. Like I love the embossing. I love the gold on here. Like how shiny it is. I love the circus design. I've shown this before. I love the end pages. And then I, oh my god, I'm going to cry. I love the hardback itself with this dainty, dainty design. I think it is absolutely stunning. This is like one of my favorite books that I own. So we're going to see, do I actually love the inside as much? I've never read from this author before. I really don't want to expect. And probably my favorite edition of a book I own. I want to collect this whole series. This is The Mystery of the Blue Chain by Agatha Christie. Look at the blues and the oranges. So this is like a special hardback edition that Harper Collins have done of like quite a few of Agatha Christie's books. This is one of them. And I'm reading the Urquiparo books in order. So it just works out really well that this is the next book in the series. This is the sixth in the Urquiparo series. I know we've got Mystery on a Chain. I did love Murder on the Urn Express. That was the first one I read and then I've read them in order since. So I'm hoping that I will really enjoy this. I love a like isolated murder mystery as many of you know. Like an isolated closed circle murder mystery. So I feel like that's what we're going to get with this. I'm really excited. So what do we think? What do we think? What do we think? Do we think that I'm going to love these books more because I love the covers? Or do we think it's going to be like some three stars? Like I don't know. I don't know what to expect but like I am so excited to read these books because of the covers. I'm not going to lie to you. It's what makes me like really really want to pick them up. I think I'm going to start with Fat Chance Charlie Vega. I am on my way to London to go and meet Emma and Tasman for the first time. I am so excited. I can't believe we're finally going to meet in person. And I have bought Fat Chance Charlie Vega with me to read on the train. So I am halfway through Fat Chance Charlie Vega. Oh, firstly, hang on. I haven't spoken about this. It was so lovely to see Emma and Tasman in the flesh. I still can't really believe it happened. I'm kind of in shock but it was so lovely. I was so much fun and it was just like the best time. But I am halfway through Fat Chance Charlie Vega and you guys, I'm really enjoying it. I think it's already on my favorite like straight up contemporaries. Like looking at my other contemporaries, a lot of them maybe are like told in verse or like have some kind of like other unusual element to them. But this is like your traditional YA contemporary romance and it's one of my favorite of those. So in this we have Charlie Vega who is Fat. One thing I think this book does so well and this is something that I have struggled with myself. You know, I don't know whether body image on YouTube. I find a strange thing to talk about because I'm fine being fully open about like my body and like what I think of myself or whatever. But I never want to like make anyone think something about themselves. And I think like social media is such a big comparison is a big problem. Like people and I look so different in camera. Like I have makeup on half the time. Even when I don't, you look different on camera. I struggle knowing to talk about like maybe my fitness journey that I'm on at the moment or stuff like that because I don't want to like upset anyone. But anyway, there's definitely parts of this book that I can relate to, especially as well for my childhood. Basically when I was a kid, I was a whole head taller than everyone else. I was this high when I was about 10. I'm five, six, five, seven. When I was about 12, I remember I was wearing an adult size 18. So my weight is definitely something I struggled with in high school. I mean, I went to an old girls secondary school, so it wasn't that bad. But I can definitely relate to a lot of the feelings that this character is having. So one thing, getting back to my original point, just get to the point. One thing that I think this book does so well is examining the contrast that you can have as a fat person or, you know, a person who doesn't fit into society's norms. Being fat positive for other people, but struggling to apply that narrative to yourself. Sometimes being proud of your body and like who you are, but like not all the time. And I think that's done that so well. And basically Charlie, she has his best friend and she is used to her best friend like being the one that everyone loves. And she has this crush on this boy. This happens all fairly early on. It's not a spoiler, but he like asks Charlie to prom, but he only asks her to get her friend there, and then is upset when her friend doesn't turn up. And it's just really heartbreaking. But she's starting to have this kind of like romance with this boy that she works with, Brian, and it's a really sweet relationship. It hasn't really started yet. I think it's gonna be quite slow build. And I feel like the characters are acting like teenagers, like they're swearing. I hate in YA when like you can tell the author wanted to swear, but they were scared. And I'm like, girl, come on. Just give me the F word a couple of times. But I love the discussions that are happening around the complexity of being fat. I would say maybe if you struggle, it's hard because I think people who want fat rep should read this. But also I can see elements of it that may be triggering. Like her mum is always trying to push weight loss shakes onto her and they have a very fractured relationship or you know, when it comes to like shopping for clothes and just bought self-body image. I think like make that judgment call yourself over whether you think it may trigger you or whether you think it could be a really helpful thing to read. But it's such an easy read. I'm absolutely flying through it. And that's my favorite type of contemporary when you have the joyous moments and the romantic moments with also a journey that the character is going on in their attitudes for themselves or something in their life. That's my favorite combo. Really, really loving it. Okay, so it's very late at night. So I loved it, you guys. I loved it. It almost made me cry. No, in fact, it did make me cry. You know, when you get like tears in your eyes and they congregate and they spill over the lash on a bit and you get witness here, not a tear roll, but like throat hurting kind of like crying. You know what I mean? I don't know why because I very rarely get like attached to romances, but maybe in some ways I could relate to the character and like what she was feeling. The conflict in this made me cry. It made me cry. And like, if you told me that, I would have said no. That's not happening. But it did. It was like, oh my God. That shit took me, caught me off guard. I did not expect it. This was just so much fun. Their relationship, the romance in this, I got so into it. I loved all of the characters in it. I loved like the complex relationship she has with her mom, the friendship that she has. I thought it was just such a well-written YA and I think I would have loved to read this when I was like 16. It took me back to when I was 16. That was my first relationship. Well, I've never been in one relationship, but that was my first relationship. And just that feeling of like being 16 and being in love. Because she's 16 turning 17 in this and I was 16 turning 17 in my, when we started going out. So like, it took me back to how that feels to be that age and to like, be in love. Maybe like, read my show. The journey that Charlie Vega goes on throughout this book is just impeccable. The fact that it's a debut, we love to see it. Now, one thing I would say, if you want to read this, don't look up the synopsis. Don't look up the synopsis. I have never seen such a bad case of this. Legit? I actually can't. I actually can't. Something that's in the synopsis doesn't happen until 50 pages from the end. It tells you the big conflict, Corsa. In the synopsis, why would you do that? Why would you do that? Why would anyone do that? Why do you think that's a good idea? Then we don't do that in this household. You don't do that. Surely someone who writes synopsis would know you don't do that. I can see you're getting angry. Angry? No, I'm not angry. I'm livid. There's no hints towards it or there's very few hints towards it. And I only picked them up because I knew it was coming. But like, it literally tells you. And I'm like, that's what the whole conflict is. 50 pages from the end. Like why? Why? Why? It doesn't make any sense to me. So I just think go into it blind because I don't think you should know that. That shouldn't be in the synopsis. That angers me. It angers me. I was very angry. I was very angry. I was angry. I was angry. Obviously other than that, it was a success. So this gives a point towards beautiful covers, beautiful insides. So I'm going to read fact of wonders now. I'm so excited to read this. Oh my god. I'm so excited. I really hope I'm going to love it. Victorian circus. It's everything I've ever wanted. Can we just talk about how gorgeous it is even without the dust jacket? I just keep looking at this and I'm obsessed. Like the daintiness of these lines. Oh my god, it makes me want to cry. I am about a hundred pages in to Circus of Wonders and I am enjoying it. Not much has happened yet. It's been a bit of a slow start. So Nell has been born, I think it's like a birthmarks. By the way, if I sound locked up, I have had like an attack of hay fever today and like I am struggling to breathe. Like talking is hard. Yeah, Nell was born with like birthmarks on her body. So the circus people have kind of been referring to as leopard girl, which is obviously like a fence. Like you wouldn't call someone that today. And her father, when he was drunk, sells her to the circus and she's going to be like dressed up to be like an icon in the circus basically. And we are following three perspectives so far. We follow Nell's perspective. We follow Jasper, who is the owner of the circus and we follow Toby, his brother. I really like Toby and Nell. I don't like Jasper, but I don't think Jasper is there to be liked. These white men are dangerous. My guess is that over the course of the novel, he's gonna like abuse his power and he does so already maybe, it's kind of suggested. I'm not like 100% sure, but I don't like the man. Don't like the man. Don't care if he's running this amazing circus, whatever. Toby is very soft and caring and he obviously cares for Nell. So I'm really enjoying like their dynamic and Nell is a really like headstrong, interesting character, but it's very slow. I am enjoying the way it's told though. I can't put my finger on it, but I feel like you'll understand what I'm talking about. Books written for this particular audience, like historical, I don't know whether it's literary fiction, not really, but like adult historical fiction that always like big up in Waterstones. Like Think the Nightingale by Kristen Hannah. Do you know what I mean? Do you know the kind of books I mean? No! It's in your head! It's in your head! But they're all told in this way that like feels like I'm only supposed to read these kind of books if I want to read this book. Does that make any kind of sense or do I sound crazy? I feel like you know what I'm talking about. I feel like we're on the same wavelength, even if I'm chatting shit. So I was hoping the writing would be a bit more whimsical, a bit more like magical, but it's not really. But nothing has really happened yet. I'm enjoying the start of it, but like nothing has really happened. Nothing's really happened. Nothing has really happened. I'm gonna go read some more. Hopefully when I see you in the morning I will, uh, I'll be able to breathe. And yeah, I don't know. I'm enjoying it, but it's not like everything I want it to be yet, but it like nothing has gone bad. Nothing has annoyed me. That means it can't become that. That means it can't become what I want it to be. We love each other so much. I have just read like another 130 pages-ish of Circus of Wonders. And I'm enjoying it, but like I don't know, here's the thing, it's a very pleasant read. I'm enjoying the reading experience and having fun reading it. I feel very absorbed in the world, but like I don't think I'm gonna give this like five stars. Like I don't think I'm that girl. I don't think I'm necessarily the girl that this book has written for. And that's okay. I feel like the atmosphere of the circus is really well created. I love a lot of like the characters we've got the circus. One thing I think this does super well is showing the truth of like these you know circus owners at the time, like curiosities, circuses like Pete Barnum, which if you don't know, the movie The Greatest Showman is about him. And like it's about all the awful shit he did. And I feel like that's why this book was written. I feel like this book is a response to the success of The Greatest Showman. Because it kind of, it makes sense timeline wise that the idea would have been spurred by that because obviously that film paints him as like like just like this lovely guy. We all love Hugh Jackman. I mean like he's like the person we love the most. Is that true? It's very true. But that guy was actually a shit in real life. He was not good. He like prayed, you know, on these people who society cast out and made a lot of money off of them. So I feel like this this book is doing a really good job of showing the truth of these men and how cutthroat and like cynical and like abusive of their power they were. So that is probably one of my favorite aspects of it. Although I hate the character Jasper. I just find him incredibly annoying. I'm much more interested in Toby and Nell and their relationship and their storylines. I think Toby might be my favorite. He's like this soft gentle giant. Both him and Jasper, their brothers, I think I mentioned that. They served in the Crimean war together. Toby was a photographer actually. He wasn't a soldier. He was a photographer there. And he's obviously got like some dark secret that keeps being hinted at. But he's very like affected and scarred and suffering from PTSD from the war, which I don't think was very well understood back then. And like he's just so soft. And he's got this storyline. I don't want to spoil it obviously because it's a spoiler. Oh, okay, move away from me then. I don't know. He's just trying to get closer to her. Can you see how obsessed he is with her? He's her son. Yeah, he's got this storyline, which I'm not going to spoil, but it's like making my heart break a little. Like there's something, he's got my friend done something and it's just like heartbreaking. I love the like Victorian setting. I, listen, we all know I'm a hoe for Victoriana. Like forever and always a hoe for Victoriana. So yeah, I'm enjoying it, but it's not like a new favourite. But I would recommend it so far, especially if you like Victorian settings like me. But it's not boring, but do you know what I mean when these books always written a bit like, oh, I'm clever. Like I'm a great book. You know what I mean? It's like, this book is saying to me, I'm a great book. Do you know what I mean? Do anyone know what I mean? Anyway, I'm going to finish it. I'm just hoping it goes somewhere like a bit unpredictable in this last 120 pages. So I finished Circus of Wonders last night and I think I'm going to give it like a 3.5. So I am a bit disappointed because this was like my favourite cover, like in the world, my favourite cover. It's sad, it's sad, you know? It's, it's a shame. The ending of this for me just didn't 100% hit the mark. I just, yeah, it just, I was just a bit bored. I was just a bit bored. It didn't quite give me like, I don't know, I don't know. And the writing never fully got me. I will say, I think this book did such a good job of like trying to give a voice to the performers of this day in these Circuses who were so mistreated, had so little agency, how they were just seen as a means to an end, a means of a profit. I thought it's such a good job of that and of like, I guess dispelling some of the romanticism of these, of these Circuses that has been dreamt up by films such as The Greatest Showmen. So I think it did such a great job of that. It's obviously such a well-researched book and I would recommend it just for that, like just for like the history aspect of it. But in terms of like, how much I loved it, I just feel like it's going to be a book I forget. You know, I think at the end of the year, when I'm looking back on the books I've read, this will be a really forgettable book. Like I don't think I'll think about it that much. But I just felt like it was always just a step more removed from me than I wanted it to be. I always struggled a little bit to like visualise some things. I would say there's a relationship in this between Nell and like a young girl that like comes and joins the Circus and that was one of my favourite aspects of it as well. Like the love that she feels for that child and how protective she is of her. So yeah, I don't know. I just feel like it's a bit forgettable and I don't, I didn't have like very strong feelings upon finishing it. The epilogue was heartbreaking. I did have strong feelings upon finishing that, but just like on the because a whole, it just felt like a step removed from where I wanted it to be. Now I have actually already read half of the Mr. LaBou train. I'm going to be honest, the whole time I was reading this, I was kind of looking forward to reading this. Boy, did I cheat like mud. It's been about like nine months, I think since I've read Agatha Christie and I just really enjoy them. They're like short, they're quick reads and I just, you know me, I love a murder mystery. I love a murder mystery, what can I say? I think we all need to be reading more murder mysteries. I've spoken about this in another video the other day, but this is basically the book that was the next book that Agatha really wrote after she went missing and her husband had a cheat on her and she kind of had a breakdown because her husband was cheating on her. And this book is about this woman whose husband is cheating on her. Is it a coincidence? Is it a coincidence? I ask you, is it a coincidence? And she gets murdered on this train. And like I feel like, girl, this is a bit of a self-insert. Like I really hope you're okay. I hope you're fine. And like because I know stuff about the story, basically Agatha's mom really warned her off marrying the guy she married. And in this, the girl's dad is like, I told you not to marry him. And there's just so many things on like, girl, I hope you're okay. I mean, I know she's dead. And this was like, you know, 100 years ago, when did this even come out? I could not tell you. This was a long time ago, but I'm just like, girl, I hope you're okay. I hope you're good. We spent the first 60 pages meeting a lot of our different players in the story. The girl, her dad, her husband, this other woman who's a bit mysterious. And then they got on the train and then the murder happened and then everyone's off the train. So it's not like murder on the Oregon Express where if you don't know, they're kind of like, they are trapped on the train. We don't really have that like claustrophobic atmosphere of the train that I was like expecting. Like you're trapped, you're isolated with the murderer. Like it's not that everyone's just gone off and is doing their own thing and the French Riviera like poodling about being rich. I thought this book, you want it to be the cheating husband because he was on the train too with his mistress. But I think it's a bit too obvious. I don't think it's going to be him. But yeah, it's strange because it's not what I was expecting in terms of how the storyline is playing out. I'm intrigued as to why this is one of the books that has got this special edition, like one of these, because there's not been many of them in this special edition. And I guess maybe this is one of her most popular ones. But I'm intrigued like why something, I feel like the murder of Roger Ackroyd, which is fifth in this series, is such a notorious book for how great it is. And that was a really good one. That's probably my favorite, that's my favorite Aki Parou one I've read so far other than murder on the Oregon Express. But in terms of like the ones I've read throughout this series chronologically, that is my favorite one. And that hasn't got one of these editions. So I'm intrigued as to why this has been chosen. I feel like it has to be great. I'm hoping for like really good things. I want something shocking. And I also want Agatha to like bunk off the cheating husband somehow because it's what she deserves. It's what she deserves. It's what she deserves. I just finished it. Didn't take me long. Like this took me maybe like three to four hours to read somewhere in that bracket. I am going to give it three stars. I'm going to give it three stars. My success with Agatha Christie is not good but I think I'm just very picky with her because I know what she can do. So my problem with this is that it felt a bit dispassionate. For me, Agatha Christie at her best is when there is a twist to the whole concept of the murder. Not just me not being able to predict who the killer was. It being something like I could never have predicted about like the reasoning or the context behind the murder if that makes sense. How the murder actually occurred. That's when I rated her highest. I think she does that so well when she does it but this just felt a bit like okay. Like why should I care? Clap if you care. Clap if you care. I could read that in like a thousand other books and I come to Miss Agatha for something a bit different. There's a thing. It's like wonderfully crafted especially for its time. Like I could never have predicted this was what was gonna have happened but at the same time I just wanted something more. I want something different because I know she can do it and I'm like why did this get the special edition when the murder of Roger Atcoyd is right there? Because now I have one of the most beautiful books I own and I didn't love the inside of it but I'm never too sad if I'm a disappointed and like Agatha Christie because there's so many more out there. I recognize that some of her books because of the context of the time I feel like some of them are kind of like filler books. Do you know what I mean? And then she has like the heavy hitters. There's something that is comforting and cozy about reading Agatha Christie book even if you don't love it. Like I still enjoyed the experience of sitting here today and like reading this whole book in barely any time at all. So in this video we started off very successfully. We had probably one of my favorite like YA contemporary YA contemporary romances of all time with Fat Chance Charlie Vega. Then we slipped down a little bit with Circus of Wonder and then we slipped down a bit with Mystery Libby Train. I was so confident after I read this I was like this video this video I'm about to prove beautiful covers equals beautiful insides but I have kind of done the opposite. I didn't like disc like any of these books but these two were definitely a bit disappointing when going into this. All of these were like 4.55 star predictions for me because they're so beautiful. I would still recommend this. I think it was still a lot of fun. I think I wouldn't recommend this unless you like want to read like a cuporo books in order. Like I am. I think you know Murder Roy Jackroyd Medal of the Express like kind of like her bigger name one are where I'm seeing a success so far. So this wasn't successful improving beautiful books equals beautiful insides but I hope you've enjoyed this vlog. I'm very happy with the books that I've read these ones I really wanted to read so I'm really glad to finally get them off my list. Let me know what some of the most beautiful covers you own are that maybe you want to read or you have read and if you're going to end the video comment a heart emoji. Comment a heart emoji because we love. We love love. And yeah I hope you're looking forward to the rest of this series. Obviously covers there's endless things we can talk about so there's endless videos I have got planned for this series that we're going to do over time and we're going to see can you ever judge a book by its cover? This third episode said no but we're going to test out some different things so we'll see as time goes on. And yeah thank you so much for watching I appreciate you all so so much and I'll see you very soon in another video. Bye.