 I have no idea how I'm gonna have done in this, so let's just find out together. Hey friends, so if you have been watching me lately, you've already seen a vlog I did a couple weeks ago where I read my remaining five-star predictions from two years ago that I still hadn't read yet. And today I just thought we would close the chapter on that five-star prediction from two years ago and watch the whole video and react to how many of those books were actually five stars. I got Tom to go back through the video and cross-reference from my good reads what books I had read and hadn't. That's how I knew that I had three left. So I don't know what other books were on the list. I have no clue. I have no idea how I've done. Also, let's go into the room. I feel like this is the lowest, the most revealing dress I've ever won on my channel. I don't know how I feel about it, but it's a new dress that I really like and it's all spring and summery. Okay, moving on, eyes up here. So shall we just begin? Let's just get into it. I really want to do this to see how well my predictions were. They could be amazing. My predictions could be spot-on. I have no idea. And also just to see I guess like an average rating of the books that I predicted like as a whole and how that compares to my usual average rating. On good reads, my average rating is a 3.7, but I think in recent years I've been averaging more consistently like a 3.9 average rating as I've got to know my reading taste better. So let's just get into it, shall we? How exciting. So the first book that came to mind when I knew I was going to do this video was The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune. So yeah, House in the Cerulean Sea. Pause, please Megan. She was very rude, weren't she? Yeah, House in the Cerulean Sea was absolute five star. Where is she? It's just such a cosy, comforting, heartwarming book. I loved it so much and I loved Under the Spring Door by T.J. Klune. I'm excited for In the Lives of Puppets which is his release this year, but I have heard of Mixed Things. But I loved House in the Cerulean Sea. This was like a safe five star pick for me. I feel like I'm like hiding myself. This was a safe five star pick for me. I feel like at the time everyone was just beginning to read this. The hype train had just began. I was like, let me hop on it. You know, people who I have very similar reading taste to had been giving it five stars. So I feel like this was a safe one to go with. But T.J. Klune's writing has become one of my favorite writing. If he gets one more five star, he's on my favorite author list. He only needs one more. This was in my top 10 books that I read. Was it that year? When did I read this? I don't remember love. I don't remember at all. I really don't. Was that an awful long time ago? That would have been 2021. I feel like I did read this in 2021. I feel like I read this just as I was moving back from uni because this video was shot when I was at uni. So yeah, this was in my, I think this was like my sixth favorite book that year. So a good five star prediction, not just a five star but in top 10 books of the year, five star. I like Soft Floating Fantasy. That's not a term anyone else uses. Like Soft Floating Fantasy. But like, I feel like you get what I mean. Soft Floating Fantasy. I was out here predicting cozy fantasy before cozy fantasy was a thing. I know. I know. I know. Soft Floating Fantasy. Maybe we should just start calling it Soft Floating Fantasy rather than cozy fantasy. Let's just do that. No. Listen, I knew I had my finger on the pulse. I knew what the girl is we're going to want. Okay. Next is one I'm so excited for. And this is one of my most anticipated releases is at the start of this year. We all know been in the reigning slum while you're at uni. Be kind to yourself. I'm hoping it's going to be one I get to pretty soon, like after uni is done. And it is the project by Courtney Summers. Megan. Absolutely another five star. Yes, the project absolutely a five star. If you've just seen very recently, oh my God, this is like full cycle. I did a video with Courtney Summers because she's one of my favorite authors where she picked what I read. The project was absolutely five star. It made me stop. I always say I could open the last page of this book right now and I would cry. I would cry. If you don't know this one, we're following two sisters. One who it seems has kind of been drawn into this cult and the other sister is trying to find her after many years of her being there. And she kind of gets sucked into the world of the cult and particularly the leader and like interviews him for her job. And I loved it. I thought it was incredible. I thought it really, you know, cult books are difficult to do well because I think you really have to keep in mind the people who have actually lived that experience rather than just sensationalizing it and using it as a quick, you know, age to a thriller. Like, oh my God, it's cult, whatever. I think you really have to write with compassion and I feel like that's what the project really did. I also feel like it had far cry vibes and Courtney Summers confirmed to me that she has far cry five, which, you know, this had the vibes of far cry five. So I'm not saying I'm psychic or I'm really intelligent, but you could infer that. You're so clever. Oh my God, you're so clever. So yeah, five stars. I loved it. I love the sister relationships. I love the story. I love Courtney Summers writing five stars. I've said it before, I have a great video plan for this, but I don't have any other books for the video, like for the theme, so I need to like figure out what they are. But Mexican Gothic by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia. Oh, okay, we just read that for the video. You've just seen me read this. This was not a five star, but it was so close. It was a 4.5. Kind of is a five star, but we'll say not a five star. Mexican Gothic is right at the bottom of my horror shelf here, so I'm not about to get it out. We're following Naomi as her cousin writes to her from her new marriage, marital home that she's staying out with his family, and she's like, my husband's trying to kill me, babes. Come get me. And Naomi goes there. She gets sucked into the family and not allowed to leave the house. It's weird. There's lots of weird stuff going on. And I loved this. Yes, let's say that. I can say I loved a 4.5. There was just a little something that wasn't quite a five for me, but it's so compulsively readable. I was so sucked in. I loved the writing. There were a few twists and turns which really gagged me. There was a few moments. Like, I feel like now that I read so many books, and if you guys, you might feel similar if you read a lot of books, where like it really takes a moment to shock me. Do you know what I mean? Like for me to go, I'm reading a book, it really takes a moment, and this had a moment. So yeah, I'm excited to read more Silvia Moreno Garcia. I have the daughter of Dr. Moreno still in my TBR, and you know, not a five star, but not a bad prediction. Next, we've got a book that I speak about in every video about books I want to read. Oh, we've probably read this one as well in the video. And it is Wild Beauty by Anna Marie Mackamore. Yes, we read that in the video as well. Again, I won't go into too much depth because you've just seen me read it, but not a five star. This was like a 3.5. I didn't love this as much as I wanted to. There was something about it where I just was disconnected from a book. A book to get a four or five. I said this actually in my most recent vlog as well. I can recognize that it's beautifully written, but there was just something about, like, if I can't, if there's moments that I can't picture, and I know this is like, I'm speaking from a privileged position. No, some people can't picture anything when they read. Some people can't picture stuff in their brain. But for me, reading experience is really visual in my brain. And so not being able to like picture or envisage or like figure out how certain scenes are laid out really detracts from a reading experience to me. And that was the case with this. So I thought the plot was great. The writing was great. The characters are great. But there was just, it felt very forgettable for me. You know, I reached, I originally rated this a four star and I reached the end of the week. And I was like, I can't remember a single thing. I've got to give it a 3.5. Next on this list is a murder mystery that I'm super excited to read. Okay. And it is The Islanders by SV Leonhard. Shut the front door. Oh, get that fire rickster door. I'm off. This was a two star. I really did not like The Islanders. The original is this is a murder mystery. And then there were none retelling based in Love Island. If you've seen the show Love Islander, people go and they like, it's romance. You got to pair up whatever. But and then there were none. They start getting killed off one by one. I hated this. I feel so bad. It was like a debut. It's like a fairly small author. But like, oh my gosh, I forgot about this book. As if, why did I put this on five stars? I think I was just really excited for it. I've just made a massive mistake and now I'm really annoyed. Yeah, no, this was not a five star. This was a two. Yeah, I just, I mean, I read this a long time ago. It was probably like two years ago at this point. But the writing I remember was and I found that I don't like and then there were none retellings. I didn't love and then there were none, but it's the best I've ever read do it. Like in terms of there's certain there were none retellings that don't do this. But if you're doing scheduled killings, oh my God, I hated this. In this book, there would like, there was this voice of like the evil person going, one of you is going to die in an hour. Where's the suspense? Where's the intrigue? Like if I know that someone's going to die, I'm just not interested. So yeah, unfortunately, this was a two star. It had that trope. And I thought the writing needed to go through some more rounds of edits. Let's just say that. Okay, this next one might some bit left field and it is Snow White Lens Witchcraft by Theodora Goss. Five stars, everyone. We're back half and half is not bad. Let's just say that Snow White Lens Witchcraft was the third book that I read in that vlog. And I loved it. I loved Theodora Goss. This is a fairy tale retelling short story and poetry collection. This has the best short stories I've ever read. Some of the short stories in this, they were incredible. The way that Theodora Goss, she does the same thing, but with different kind of original media in the strange case of the Alchemist daughter series, where she takes a property that we know so well, be that a fairy tale, or be that, you know, a classic Victorian literature and twists it and reimagines it and keeps the integrity of that original media somehow, whilst also modernizing it and like drawing new realizations from it that I just love. I love. So yeah, this was an incredible short story collection. The poetry I wasn't like obsessed with, but I chose to give the rating based on, I mean, I liked a lot of the poetry, but I wasn't like, oh, you know, but the short story is incredible, incredible. Let's talk about Horrid by Kachina Leno. What rating did I give Horrid? I feel like it could have been a 4.5 again. Let's go look on Goodreads. Oh, I gave it a 5. Okay. Wait, did I? Or did I round it up? Let's go on my review. Oh no, I gave it a 4.5, but I rounded it up to a 5. Do we say not a 5? I guess we say not a 5. But two of these being 4.5, I feel like is kind of a win. You know what I mean? Like, that's so close to a 5. Horrid is a really fun haunted house kind of book. That's all you really need to know. They're moving into her mother's, it's a girl and her mother, and they're moving into her mother's, like, childhood home, and it's haunted, basically. This book, be prepared if you're going to read it. It goes off the rails at the end, and it has a very interesting ending. I think that's why I couldn't give it quite a 5 star, but I love Kachina Leno's writing. I thought the writing in it was incredible, and I loved the, just the pacing of the story and the haunted house-ness of it. And I don't give me a haunted house book if it's not a haunted house. I hate it. I hate it. I don't want to tell you books that have had that trope because then it kind of spoils the book, but like, when a whole book is like, oh, the house is haunted, oh, you know, and then it turns out to be something else, I'm ready to fight. Like, I'm, you know, I'm squaring up. I'm not kidding. I'm just here to fight. So yeah, I just loved how the atmosphere built throughout this. Two 4.5s is kind of a win, but I've put them under wasn't five stars, but considering half of the wasn't five stars of 4.5s, I think that's kind of a win. Now, the next book may be a bit surprising because I don't think I've spoken about it in a long time, but it is Moon of the Crossed Snow by Wabishig Rice. Yep, five stars. Five stars. I loved Moon of the Crossed Snow. This is one of my favorite, like, dystopian horrors I've ever read. We're in this Indigenous community as, like, the world kind of ends, but they're kind of disconnected from the community. First it's just that electricity goes down, but then they're starting to realize that, like, everything around them is breaking down, and I loved it. This book is really interesting, because it's not, like, outright horror. It's class as horror, but it's just, like, insidious and, like, eerie, and, like, slowly this tension, just, like, not even, like, slowly building, just, like, creeping up. Oh, it was so good. This is actually going to be a series, which I don't know how that's going to work, considering I really liked the ending of Moon of the Crossed Snow. It was very, it's a very open ending where, like, multiple meanings could be taken from our ends, and I'm a bit nervous that, like, if the sequel answers some of those questions for us, that some of those, like, part of the beauty of that, when I read it, I thought it was a standalone, and part of the beauty of that ending is thinking, oh, I'm never gonna know what the truth behind that was, so I'm a bit nervous about that, but I loved this. It was such a good, solid dystopian book. So currently we're half and half, but it was five star and wasn't. Next is another book I've been speaking about for a long time and still haven't read, and it is The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. I don't know what I gave this. I think it may be a 3.5 or a 3. Yeah, I gave this a 3.5. This didn't really work for me. This is, like, a matter of mystery where Evelyn Hardcastle dies and our protagonist is waking up in the body of a different member of, uh, the people at the partner's party every single day and reliving the day again from a different perspective and trying to find out who did it. And I think this book just got a bit complicated for its own good. I remember the, like, resolution and I was like, this actually causes my brain to, like, spontaneously combust, like, what the hell? I did, after this, read The Devil on the Dark Quarter by Stuart Turton and I gave that a five star. I think that was good clever, but you can tell Stuart Turton has a lot of ideas and a lot of thoughts in his brain, and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. I just think, yeah, the writing on this, I didn't vibrate the plot. It had so much potential. It's like this incredibly themed murder mystery book that is so different, but I just did not love it, unfortunately. And then the last book that I have on this list is currently one of my books that is wrapped up for my Wrapped Up series and it is Library of the Unwritten. I'm pretty sure I gave Library of the Unwritten a four star. So this is, like, this fantasy book where we're at the Library in Hell and I actually have forgotten a lot of this book. Yeah, Library in Hell and these characters have to go on this, like, adventure to do with a book. I don't know how to sum this book up. I didn't even read this that long ago. This was a four. I enjoyed it. I'm willing to continue the rest of the series, but I'm gonna be honest, writing this now in this moment, I don't know what to tell you about it. It was good. It was enjoyable. The writing was fun, but I don't remember a lot of it, which is kind of telling. But yeah, I gave this a four, not a five. Anyways, I don't have much to say. So in the end, we were four, where a five star, six were not. But if you want me to count a 4.5 as a five star, because it kind of is, then we'd be six, where a five star and four were not. So, like, I'm okay with that. I'm okay without four solid five stars and two more being 4.5. I think is kind of a big brain energy for me. Let's see what the average rating was. My average rating was a 4.2, which I think is not bad. A 4.2 average rating, this class of books was much higher than my average 3.7 or 3.9, which whatever you want to call it, a 4.2 is pretty high. So I'm okay with that. That's, I thought I did pretty well there. So that was my reaction to my five star predictions from two years ago. I will be putting out a new five star prediction at some point in the next couple months. Finally, I have been waiting years to do another five star predictions video. I avoided so long. I'm very excited. So yeah, I hope you enjoyed this video. Let me know how you think I did. Should I class those 4.5s as fives, basically? And if you enjoyed the video, please leave a star emoji down below. Let me know some of your five star predictions, maybe books that you thought would be five stars that ended up not being. And I'll see you guys very soon in another video. Bye!