 Two episode two are wrapped up. I am so excited. It is late. I am tired, but your girl wants to read. So we need to unwrap whatever book we are going to be reading next wrapped up. If you don't know, this is a series where I have wrapped up this time all of my 2021 new releases that I haven't read yet and in each episode I unwrapped one and I read it. So I'm always so nervous at the start of these because I don't want to pick wrong. I don't want to pick wrong, but we just got to go for it, okay? Please do not. This is an intense request from my heart. Usually what I do with these episodes is I will take all of these books out. You can see them wrapped up. There's someone in the cart here and there's a lot of them here. I take them out and I stack them up and I pick one, right? But like, I think especially since they're newer books, I think when I hold them, I start to figure out what book they are, which is kind of worrying that I know that. But like, I start to think, oh yeah, you're this book or you're like, you're this book. So I just don't want to touch them. I don't want to touch them. I just want to pick one unwrap it. I don't want to pick. Oh my God, I hate it. I hate it. Okay, we're just going to go, this one is like sticking out. Can you see it was like sticking out above everything else? So we're going to go for this. I just find like, what if I regret my decision? Anyway, it feels like a paperback, but like a big paperback. See, this is the problem and I start to try and figure out what book this is. And I'm like, I don't want to read that. We're going to go for it. We're going to go for it. This is what I wanted to pick. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh God. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I know what it is. Okay. Right. If I speak, I am in big trouble. In big trouble. Oh, I don't want to This is Sisters of a Snake by Serena and Sasha N'Nua. This is like a YA fantasy book. Oh, it's fucking long. It's like 500 pages. This was very kindly sent to me by Harper360YA. Now the only problem is that I didn't actually request this book. I think I was like a mix up in like sending books. I got one that I did request, but I didn't request this one. So I wasn't actually that super interested in reading this book, but who knows? The whole point of this, wrapped up the original point of this series back in the day, like a year ago, was to get me to read the books I had been painting off reading. So like, that is what this is. Yeah, I don't know. I don't think I would have ever read this. I probably would have eventually unhauled this if not for this moment. So we're going to be reading this. Honey, you've got a big storm coming. On the back, it says, Twins separated at birth, one a princess, the other a street urchin, classic, classic plot, a dark puppeteer watching their every move to save their home, thief and royal must work together or watch it all fall to ruin. Okay, so here's the thing. This is another series. And I don't even want to talk about it. It's another series, but I think it's only a duology. I think the second one might even be out already. So listen, we're going to give it a go. I don't want to expect, at least it's a bit longer and like we'll have a lot to talk about, but like 500 pages. I think the audiobook for this is on script actually. So at least I can like listen to the audiobook whilst I do other things. We're going to be reading Sisters of the Snake in this vlog. Not a book I saw myself reading anytime soon, but you know what? This is actually good. I'm actually going to be happy about this. Okay, here's the thing. It's the next day. I've read the like first 20 pages of this and it's just not going to happen. It's just not going to happen. I can't do it. My heart is saying no. Listen, I know the whole point I've wrapped up is that it makes me read books, but like it's just not going to happen because I have no interest in reading it and spoiler that if you haven't seen the first episode yet, I've gone red. You're like slipping the big red dog. You're slipping the big red dog nowadays. But like I didn't love the book in the first episode and like I just know reading this, it's not going to get above a three. Like this is just not going to happen. It's just not for me. So we're going to unwrap something else. Can I have your, you know, can you, you've approved this decision? Say yeah loud enough so they can hear you. They can't hear you. Yes. Thank you. So we're going to unwrap something else. Okay, no one can be mad at me because I feel like it would have been a boring vlog otherwise because it literally just would have been another book I was going to give three stars or less. Okay, good. All right, we're going to read something else. What do I want to unwrap? I'm picking. You're going to pick? Well, I'm a big fan of the green one. I like the green too. I haven't unwrapped a green yet. You see on the second column? This one. That one. I don't want to read that. I was just singing to me. This. I was angry. I was angry. Big book. Big book. It's a big book. Show them one of my wrappings. Oh, where's the one? Is it this one? This is one of them. I always tried to hide it in the thumbnail. This one? Because I'm drawn to that one. Which one? This one? I really hope it's something I want to read. The thing is with this one, it's another one that I didn't pick. Like this is from a book box. Do you know what I mean? Let me just go in the bush and weep. Let me just go in the bush and weep. I've been feeling very picky at the moment. Tom says I gotta tell you. Okay, we'll read it. We'll read it. Oh. I think as I do want to read this book, I'm just not in the mood for it. Nothing. I'm not in the mood for anything. I think the problem is I want to read an adult book and when we're unwrapping a YA. Can I unwrap one more? Do you know what? They might start fighting in a minute. They're gonna start rebelling. Can I block somebody on this thing? This is gonna be fun. Pitchfork emoji. If you're angry with Megan, leave a pitchfork emoji down below. This one, the one I wanted and then we have to pick one of these two to read and then I, whichever one I don't read, I'm gonna wrap up again. I didn't know what it was. Success. Yeah, I'll read this. Oh, this is so exciting. This is about an apothecary in 18th century London that sold women things to kill their husbands. I'm gonna read this. I'm more in the mood for this. I do like Victorian murder. Okay. It was 100% the right decision. I'm standing by it. I'm standing by all my decisions and you can't tell me I'm wrong. You can't tell me anything. I'm only about 80 pages in. I've only really read the start but I'm really enjoying it. I'm having a lot of fun reading it. Essentially we're following, well is that a spoiler now? We're following three different perspectives. Oh, it's not a spoiler. It says it's in the synopsis. Let me tell you. Anyway, a profound silence has entered the chat. We're following the story of this apothecary in 1791. Yeah, we're following the story of this apothecary who basically gave women medicines, poison, for shitty men in their lives, basically. Doing the Lord's work. Doing the Lord's work. And so we're following that story. Then we're also following the story of Caroline in present day who's just found out that her husband of like forever who she sacrificed her entire life for is doing the dirty on her. Not what you want to hear. Right before their anniversary when they're trying for a baby, honestly, honestly, I hate men. So yeah, she has come to London on their like 10 year anniversary trip without him. Girl boss moves. She said, okay, okay, I'm gonna get in that airplane and girl boss a little too close to the sun. And she is kind of discovering about the apothecary. And we're also following the story of Eliza, who is a young girl who goes to get poisoned on behalf of her mistress from the apothecary back in the day. And I'm really enjoying them. Here's the thing, I sometimes struggle with multi perspective stories where we've got lots of different story lines, because I often feel like you prefer one, right? And then you just want to read that one. And the other ones aren't done as good. It's kind of done to like fill out a story and mask something. But I don't feel like that with this. No, I'm not talking like multiple perspectives where you're following the same storyline. Like these are kind of three separate stories that are happening. That's what I'm talking about. Not when it's like multiple perspectives on the same storyline like in the guest list, for example. But I'm enjoying it in this. It took me a moment. I found Caroline's story like a little bit like we read it all before at the beginning, but I'm kind of coming around to it. It does seem like it's the main storyline. And I would prefer the main storyline to be in the past. Like I feel like that would be more fun for me. But I understand why this is done the way that it is. I am just so captivated by the writing. I'm really, really loving the writing in this. I think that it's got some really like gorgeous, beautiful writing. It's really, really well written. I'm really loving a lot of the characters, well, especially Eliza. I really like Eliza's characters. I'm a bit of a sucker for like a 12 year old girl in Victorian England. Don't know why that's my niche, but like apparently I like that. It's very strange. But I feel like something is gonna go wrong soon in some of the storylines. I feel like it has to go wrong. So I don't know, I'm intrigued to see what that's gonna be. I love the Victorian setting. Victorian London is apparently my shit. I remember, listen, at at primary school I loved history. Victorian and Tudors, I knew everything. I was an expert, especially Victorian. So I'm just having a time of my life reading this. Like I feel like this is exactly my kind of thing. It has it has a potential to be disappointing, though I feel like it has a potential to like not do much, like to not reach its full potential in the story. So I'm just going to go ahead and read a lot. I want to just go sleep. Like I will not go sleep, but I don't really want to talk to you again tonight. So I may try and read like quite a bit maybe to there, and then we'll read like another bit and check in again, because I just want to like read lots, but I want to take my makeup off and I want to like dim the lights. I don't want to be in front of these bright lights again. I'll speak to you in the morning with my thoughts. But yeah, I don't know. I'm really, really enjoying it, but I feel like it has a potential to like not actually do much. Do you know what I mean? So hopefully by next check in we'll have more of an idea of what route is going to go down. I wanted to, I'm on page 200-ish, and I want to talk to you about my thoughts, but before we do that I do want to thank the sponsor for today's video. I thought we could have like a more like chill chat about it because it's in the middle of a vlog. Boxu! A lot of you know I love boxu. I've worked with them a lot and I just really, I think their product is so, so cool. It's a Japanese snack box subscription if you don't know. Basically every month you get a selection. Hang on, I'll show you that in a sec. A selection of so many snacks. Like I always struggle to show you how much is in here. Like there is really just snacks upon snacks. Like I don't think you can understand how much is in here. Every month has a theme. This is Hokkaido holidays. You also get a culture guide that shows you where in Japan all the snacks are from. They're all like locally sourced, made with local family companies. And I do have a code you can use. You can use the code MEG with Berks to get 10% off your Japanese snack subscription. I just love them. I cannot tell you. I think it's so cool. There's something for everyone. Mix of sweet and savory. I had this box like the other week to show you guys. There was one snack in it I didn't try because I wanted to try it on camera with you. It is the Funmari Majin Mochi Puffs Hokkaido Milk. Light as air and snow white. These milky mochi puffs look like fluffy snowflakes. Slightly sweet and creamy. Okay. I'm very excited. I've been eyeing these up. Can you see? They're like these little balls, but they feel like air. Can you see? It's like this little ball. Oh wow. It's very airy inside. Oh my god. Sorry, this is incredible. Good. When you bite into it, it's so airy. It's like an explosion of a cloud. Oh my god. That's so cool. This is why I love Bokksu because you're like trying treats and sweets that you would never have tried otherwise. Like I would have never tried anything like that before. So I really love Bokksu. And the great thing about Bokksu at the moment is they're running this like Christmas holiday competition where one lucky winner is going to win tickets to Japan, which is so exciting. All you got to do is have your subscription by December 31st. So I'll leave the link down below for all the information about that. So yeah, I will leave the link down below to Bokksu. I'd really recommend you go and check them out. Okay, now let's talk about the book. I'm 200 pages into The Lost Apothecary and I'm still really loving it. It's the kind of book that's like a very easy read. So it's a bit difficult to like talk in depth about, but I've fallen in love with these characters. The three characters we have, Nella, Eliza, and Caroline, I've kind of fallen in love with them all in different ways. One thing that I will say that I'm really glad about is that I was worried that Caroline's story in the present day was going to be like the main focus because we had a lot of her at the start. But with the introduction of Eliza's perspective, you know, it's kind of like two in the past, one in the present. So it's much more weighted to the past, which I'm really glad about because that's kind of what I wanted from the story. I just love the whole premise of this. Nella is such an interesting character, kind of how she has come to be this woman who poisons men is a very interesting story. And I just think the book is flowing so well. I can see why it's been such a popular release of this year because it's so like readable. It's so like compulsively readable. The story keeps moving you on. The one thing I will say is like, I'm still not 100% sure if I will ever give a book five stars that has this kind of like split story-ish. Do you know what I mean? Like this is not for me. No. You know, with it being sometimes in the past, sometimes in the future, granted Nella and Eliza's stories are pretty much intertwined. I just don't think I like that. I think I'm... Well, no. It's not that I don't like it, but I don't love it. You know, I just think I'm a basic boring bitch. Like that is the truth of it. That is the truth that we need to accept. I'm fucking boring, okay? I want like a just a traditional story arc. I just want something that's like what the norm is. I love the Victorian setting. If you like any kind of historical books, I would 100% recommend this to you. I think it's just like a nice base, not basic. Basic is the wrong word, but like, you know, it's just a nice book. You know what I mean? It's just enjoyable to read, but I don't have like many thoughts about it. It's just good. Do you know what I mean? I will say I think that for it, this doesn't feel like a debut, which is great because I feel like often with debuts, the problems are a book kind of getting stuck in itself, like having a great idea like this, but not having enough elements in it to feel like a buried enough book or being so over complicated that you're like, what the fuck is going on? Whereas this is in the middle, you know, it has enough that it doesn't feel sparse because some debut novels, I feel like I read them and it's like you had a great idea, but there wasn't enough, you know, minor plot points to build it out and it doesn't feel overcrowded in like, I'm confused as what's happening. It feels pretty perfectly plotted. So I'm actually quite surprised it's a debut because the writing is so, so good. But yeah, I'm really enjoying it still. I'm really, really enjoying it. I'm going to finish it today, probably this morning. I need to now go take Tom out somewhere and then I've got to go to the gym because of like timing. There's no point me coming home and then going out again like 10 minutes later. I might as well just go straight to the gym, but then I'm going to have to wait there for like an hour. So I'm going to sit in like the cafe space that they've got and hopefully finish this book. To the Lost Apothecary and I still really enjoyed it. I'm going to give it four stars. I think it was a really, really solid, enjoyable book. I think one of the things that's so good about this is that it's got like, you know, it's historical, but it's got like a tiny bit of fantasy. It still is very realistic. There's just like a little bit of like a little sprinkling of magic in this book. I think I'm just special, special. It's got mystery, it's got intrigue and that's why I think it's probably done so, so well throughout this year. So many people have enjoyed it because I think it hits a lot of different boxes for different people. For me, it's a four and not a five just because it kind of didn't have that special something for me. I think that the ending, it was good. Like it was a satisfying ending. There wasn't so anything wrong with it, but the plot twists, I was a bit like, they weren't even plot twists. In my head, I thought everything was like very obvious. I could have probably from the halfway mark like predicted a lot of what was going to happen. So yeah, I don't think this even had plot twists, which I wish it did. I wish there had been a few moments that surprised me or shocked me or like even made me like feel something, but it didn't really. It was kind of just a pleasant book to read. I still also much preferred the historical element of it to the present day Caroline's story. She felt a bit generic. I didn't really feel like she had much character. Sorry Caroline. The cheek, the nerve, the gall, the audacity and the gumption. That is my problem with dual perspective timeline stories is there's always a better one, right? Like if you're going to do it, they have to be equal and you can always pick which timeline you prefer. Like it's easy. So like then it doesn't become it can't be a five star because there's parts of it that are better than others. That's always my problem with it. I love it in theory, but I can it's never done equally. So I can never give it a five star. But I would honestly recommend this book to so many people. I think it's such like a simple enjoyable book. I just love anything that brings women from history to life. You know, I love anything about forgotten women or yeah just women's history is like totally my jam. So this was totally up my street. You know this woman fighting for not fighting for women but like you know committing criminal acts for women in the Victorian time. I just love because I love I love learning about things from history that have been submerged and have been hidden. And I feel like that's what this book is. So it was right up my street. I really enjoyed it. I'm so glad that I unwrapped this instead of reading Sisters of the Snake. I'm sorry, I just know it wouldn't be for me. I probably could have read After Love, but I was just in the mood for this and it came to us eventually three books in. Faith brought us together third time lucky. But yeah I really really enjoyed it and I feel like so many of you would probably enjoy it as well if you have like similar reading tastes to me in terms of history and stuff like that. So that is the end to episode two of Wrapped Up. I hope you have enjoyed it. Let me know if you've read that down below. I'm glad that this second episode was a bit more successful but I am holding out. We need a five star in like the last two episodes of it in December. We need a five star from Wrapped Up. It needs to deliver. Like it's not even a question. It would have to get a five star at some point. But yeah if you've gotten to the end of the video comment a flower or a bug emoji. There's like a lot of beetles and flowers on this cover. So comment one of them down below if you've gotten to the end and I will see you very soon in another video. Bye!