 It feels almost wrong. It feels like blasphemous but like I'm like why are we rating a horror one star because it was gory. Are we on the same page? I'm not sure. And I'm really enjoying this. So spooky season has begun. It's time for the spooky content. I am so excited. I'm just ready to read all the thrillers mystery and horror. Horror. Here's the thing with horror. I have been jealous of seeing a lot of people reading horror lately because I have never read a lot of horror. I've got one little square horror shelf here and I don't really know what my taste in horror is. I went back at previous years and last year I only read eight horror and I feel like I read my first real horror last year or maybe the year before. And I have only read four horror this year total of all the books I've read and two of those are middle grade. Two of them are middle grade the year before as well. So I just haven't read a lot of horror and I've just got back from holiday and I'm feeling like I'm not really in the swing of things. And so I want to read seven books in seven days. I did this a few months ago where I did seven readathons, reading seven books in seven days and it really like got me into reading. It really got me in a great swing of things in reading so I really feel like I need that at the moment. So I thought it'd be a good idea to read seven horror books and try and figure out what my taste is. What do I like in horror? Because at the moment I have no idea. Generally I don't have a clue because I don't think I've read enough of it to really know. You know fantasy, mystery, thrillers, even contemporaries. I pretty much know what my taste is, what I like to read. But with horror I see a lot of people talking about horror books and I'm like I don't know which ones I should read. So we're going to try and put it to the test this week. Something else we need to taste test. Something else we need to put to the test is can I like coffee, right? God what's going on guys? Where's the cheers man? You guys when I did my 24 hour reading vlog oh they clowned me. I actually found a bit attacked for how I made coffee and that. I don't think how I made coffee is very different to how many people make coffee at home in the UK. Instant coffee is a very common thing. I don't feel like a lot of people love coffee machines. You really attacked me. Like that's the most you know controversial thing I've ever done on booktube was make coffee. So I asked you guys on Instagram and on my community page on YouTube what coffee do you think I would like? What coffee do you think I would like? And each day we're going to be going and buying a coffee and trying it and seeing can I like coffee. And I feel like everyone on booktube loves coffee and I just feel like we need to put that to the test as well. So this week we're going to be doing two things. Finding out my taste in horror books and finding out my taste in coffee with your recommendations. I remember Kayla did this for like her week readathon she did one year. She like got people's recommendations for coffee to buy every day. Very similar thing. So let me just take you through quickly my potential TBR. I'm not going to go through the synopsis of these. We'll go through them when we read them. So two that I definitely want to read are the Final Girl Support Group by Granny Hendricks and Ring Shout by Peter Jenny Clark. This one's short. This one's not but we are going to be starting with this today I think. So we'll talk about that in a sec. Another one I definitely want to read is the House of Lost Horizons. This technically is a murder mystery but my dad has read this. It's a graphic novel and he says it could definitely class as horror as well particularly like in the letter parts. So I think this could be a good pick for a day that I'm busy and just need a quick graphic novel. I also went and purchased two like horror novellas that I've seen a lot of people reading. The first is Comfort Me with Apples. The second is arriving today. It's The Thing Between Us, That Thing Between Us. I can't remember what the title is. That one. So they're again good for like we're trying to read seven books in seven days. I can't read seven novels in seven days because I have to do other stuff. So that's good for days that I'm busy. I have two audiobooks again for days that I'm busy that are like novellas. I've got Yellow Jessamine by Caitlin Starlin and I've got Night the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones. I feel like it is. So those are options as well. And then two other novels that I would be interested in reading because we don't have a lot of like full length novels. I'd like to try and read one of these in this vlog as well. We have The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D Jackson and we have Horrid by Katrina Leno which for all of last year was one of the books I wanted to get to most and then I just didn't get to it and like you know the excitement dissipates. So there's like nine books there I think. We'll pick whatever seven fit the mood of the day. But we're going to be starting with the Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendricks. Today I don't really have any work that I have to do. I am going to see a film tonight. We'll talk about that later. But I feel like today is probably the best day where I don't have much to do. Every other day this week I'm probably going to have to like do stuff whereas this is quite long. So it has to be done on the day I don't have much to do. I mean it is already 12 o'clock. I haven't time managed very well this morning. I had a bath. You know I got ready. Now I mentioned this recently in my full TBR that I was going to read this and everyone was like oh girl I hated it. This is a concern and a worry. I'm so excited for it though. All I know is that we have this Final Girl Support Group. So you know in the horror movie trope you have the final girl who beats the killer in real life I guess in this book. We've got this group of final girls who support one another who talk through what they've gone through because they're the only ones that understand. And then they start getting killed off one by one. And I know it's got a lot of like mixed media in it which really excites me. It's got like a lot of letters. I think reviews, horror movie stuff and that really excites me and I've never read a Grady Hendrix. I've heard so many good things about Sony Grady Hendrix like my best friend's Exorcism, Horror Store. I want to read all of them. This is someone I own. I recognize it might not be the best one to start with but we're gonna give it a go. So my plan is how long is it? Yeah just under 400 pages. So my plan is let's read the first 100 pages and then I will go out and get some coffee but let's get 100 pages in and see what we think. But I'm really excited. I have the audiobook as well but I don't know how much I'm gonna use it because it didn't have great reviews on the script. Everyone had a problem with the narrator's voice and I was like okay. 100 pages into Final Girl Support Group and I'm really enjoying it. I'm really enjoying it. I know a lot of people said they didn't like it but I think this is kind of what I want from horror. Like campy over the top, ridiculous like slasher film. Like I think this is kind of what I want. We're following Lynette who is one of the final girls who goes to the support group and it becomes clear very quickly that like someone's picking them off. One of them dies at the start then someone like tries to snipe her apartment when she and another one of the girls are in it and when she tries to escape, hang on let me move this over a bit. All of her like planned exit routes that she's had to kind of get her away have been tampered with. Her car tire has been slashed off like that. So she has like nowhere to go and she's on the run and we don't know who we can trust and I'm just really enjoying it. And there's mixed media elements after every chapter so as you can see they're black lines. They're pretty pretty often and that will be like a movie reviews, books like academic books written about this phenomena like stuff around that kind of commenting on the women and their cases and it's just very interesting. We don't really know what Lynette's event like where she became a final girl happened and that's something I'm very intrigued in. It's just like it's ridiculous like all the stuff that's happening is so over the top but I love it. I recently read from my book club Final Girls by Riley Sager and I actually really I didn't really like it. I think I gave it three stars. I found it really boring right? This is what I wanted from a final girls book like all of them being connected because in Final Girls you think they're connected but they're not really like all these women knowing each other relying on each other and then start getting picked off one by one. It's a good amount of them. I feel like there's six roughly of them and it's just like campy. I think I like campy horror. I think that's what I like because I can't actually get too scared because it's like ridiculous you know. It's just very readable very like quickly readable and I'm having a good time reading it. Is it like the greatest piece of literature I've ever read? No that's not what I want from this but let's go get our first coffee of the video. Are we nervous? I'm actually like shaking in my boots. I feel terrified. Okay so we're here. The first I have to brief you guys on some bad news because I know some of you are going to be really mad at me. It's going to be so mad. I'm not getting my coffee from Starbucks. How could you do this to me? Question mark. Basically it's not out of choice. There's just no Starbucks near to me. The closest one it would be like an hours round trip every day to get a cup of coffee which I might not even like so I'm just not about to do that. Like in the UK we have another chain called Costa and I have one that we hear now which is a drive-through which is like way better because I can like film and like I can try the coffee in the car. Everyone mad at me. I'm not getting from Starbucks and I know some of you are going to be really upset about that because you're Americans like adore Starbucks but I've always preferred Costa's hot chocolates because that's always my drink so that's what we're doing. People in the car next to me are looking at me. So I had a look through the suggestions and the one I've decided to go with today is a mocha. Am I saying that right? I googled it. I'm very insecure about my limited knowledge of like coffee culture and like what you do. Like if I was to get an iced one you know like ones that come with a gradient like from dark to light are you supposed to shake it or not shake it? I don't know these things but yeah we're going to get a mocha because it's a hot chocolate with coffee in it and I feel like that's my best bet because I love hot chocolate. I'm obsessed with hot chocolate. With this experiment with us trying a coffee every day what I want to examine is do I like the taste? Like is that possible? Can I ever like coffee and does it give me more energy? Because that's something I'm wondering I've always been most jealous of of people who like coffee is like having something you can have that gives you more energy that gives you a boost. I don't like energy drinks. I don't like coffee until now so I still always think I've always been jealous of. So will I suddenly have loads of energy read this book so fast? Like my reading speed suddenly quadruples? I don't know. So let me stop putting this off and let's go get our first coffee drink. Oh my god why am I nervous? How? I feel very nervous about this. Hi can I have a small mocha please? Small mocha? Yeah. And that's it thank you. It's mocha. Mocha. The thing I want to say mocha oh my god. Ah yes please. Thank you. Thank you. You too thank you. Right turned out I was saying it wrong. I can smell the coffee. That's fucking scary as fuck. What is that? Oh girl. Oh girl. Yeah that's vile. How do people drink this? It doesn't even taste like a hot chocolate it just tastes like the coffee I made. It's just so bitter. Like surely a hot chocolate version of it is supposed to be sweet? Like what? I don't like it. It's more drinkable than the one I made. I can drink this because I want to put the energy stuff to the test because it's just so bitter. I can't go over how bitter it is. Guys I don't know how we're gonna do this. Well I don't feel like that coffee gave me any more energy. This is a scam honestly. I don't know if I can do this for seven days. I can't do it. You can. You can do it. You can. You can. Anyway so I am now 230 pages into the final gas port group. I'm still really enjoying it. I went and I had a look on the Goodreads. I went the Goodreads because I was feeling guilty. I was like I shouldn't be loving this. Like I feel like everyone has not enjoyed this but Mara gave it 4.5 which like is like Mara never gives 5. Mara from Books Like Woe. She like like a 5 star I think for her is a favorite all time. 4.5 is a favorite of the year so this is like high praise. I'm like you and me Mara. You and me Mara. We're just like the same taste. I'm just loving how silly and like campy and over the top it is and I know there's a lot of horror references probably to other horror movies and final girls. I'm gonna be honest I don't get the references because I haven't watched a lot of horror movies. Like The Shining is pretty much all I've watched. I did watch The Exorcist when I was like five days old with my dad but I'm really loving this. There's been some twists that made me gasp. And like the the mark of a good twist is that like you gasp when it gets revealed but now it's like 80 pages later it's just another part of the story that I've gotten used to. Like a good twist is something that you you're shocked when it happens but then when it goes into the story you're like it's accepted as another piece of information. Does that make sense? I do feel like this book though is the kind of book you have to read in one day. It's so like ridiculous that you just have to like get it out of your system. You just have to read it in one day. I feel like if you were to not be able to read this book quickly you wouldn't enjoy it as much. You just have to like consume it fast. It's like McDonald's. Do you know what I mean? You just have to like get it over with and you love it while you're doing it but if I had to like eat a McDonald's meal over the course of the day it would get stale. It would get like once it's cooled down the fries aren't good. Do you know what I mean? Like I feel like you have to wow go a great analogy. You have to get out of the way quickly. And I'm really enjoying older characters particularly our protagonists. I'm not quite sure how old she is because I'm struggling to place when her like Final Girl's moment happened. What year it was? Was it the 80s? But I was saying actually you can see the sequel just arrived for The Thursday Murder Club. The Bullet That Miss. Look at those sprayed edges. You know I've been saying when reading that series how much I'm loving reading older characters and how I want to read it in more genres. And I'm really enjoying it in this and more of like horror. I'd love to see it in fantasy. Like I really like this perspective. Now you guys we're going to the cinema. This is my first time going to the cinema since pre-COVID. Crazy huh? I am not going to see Don't Worry Darling although I do want to see that. We're going to go meet my parents. I'm going to go see how they run which is starring Sir Charonan. Oh my god I've just realised. The last film I went to see in the cinema. What time is it? How long have I got? Okay I've got 10 minutes for her to go. Last film I went to see the cinema before COVID was Little Women. Because I remember that was just like I think that was maybe in February, January February of 2020. And I remember being like I think the news was just breaking of it happening in China. And I remember like the guy sickness me started coughing and I was like you know I've had issues with health anxiety so that was like I was fucking out here. But anyways I love this woman. A lot of my favorite films. And see how they run Sir Charonan in. And Don't Worry Darling has a foreign experience. I'm obviously just obsessed with the cast of Little Women. And it's a murder mystery. It's set like at this theatre. It's like actors getting killed. I am so excited. It looks very like campy fun murder mystery. And I'm just so happy with you know knives out like all this murder mystery content getting into the mainstream being made. So yeah we're gonna go see see how they run. And I will luckily I'm not driving because my my parents are taking me and paying. I am going to continue reading this in the car on the way there and back. And then when we get back I will finish it. But yeah super quick read. I'm having a lot of fun. What a great start to the seven books. I feel kind of like I shouldn't like it though. I feel like I'm going to be like Megan coffee and death in one day. Hi. Hi. The craziest things happened to me. I can't believe it. I went to the cinema we'll talk about that in a second to see the film. And then me and my parents went out for dinner. And we had our meal or whatever. And then the waitress stops us and says I'm a big fan of your channel. I don't know how to react. I have never met one of you before. I have never met one of you before. And hi Bethany if you're watching Bethany was just the kindest person ever. It was just amazing to me Bethany if you're watching. I can't believe how lovely you were and kind. Yeah I've never met one of you guys before. So it was pretty it was pretty great. I did not expect the first time I met one of you guys to be in a prezzo. I wasn't expecting that at all. If you're in UK and you know prezzo it's like an Italian restaurant. I thought you know bookshop maybe. I don't know but so yeah Bethany thank you for being so lovely. You completely made not just my day like my month this is like a life highlight. I'm like a bit shocked like I wasn't expecting it. I was just like I just watched a film. I was churning out eating my carbonara. A lovely person to be my first my first person to meet my first subscriber to meet. So yeah wow wow I just I've never met someone before who watched my videos. So like I never I kind of forgot like it's easy to forget those people behind behind the screen sometimes. So um wow I don't feel like I can read now. I feel like I need to go for a run or something to get I'm like amped up. Let's talk about the film. The film however was not the highlight of my day. Okay my initial reaction because it's a murder mystery right? You don't know it's like this 1950s murder mystery. I thought this would be one of my favourite films of all time. Um it wasn't. I thought it'd be a five star. My initial reaction was to give it a 3.5 but I think that's similar to when I gave the appeal a 3.5 just because I was so disappointed because it was like beyond a five star prediction and it wasn't that. So I think like a four. I still enjoyed it. It just wasn't like as amazing as I thought it would be. Like for example Knives Out for me is a five star murder mystery film and it's not as good as that. But it does cross the end it does go an interesting direction. Oh also this thing between us arrived it's a little bit longer than I thought it would be. I don't know the font isn't why am I supposed to point it's not too big. I thought you know comfortably with apple I mean that's quite a vast difference. I'm going to try and finish it's like half nine I think. I'm going to try and finish this tonight. If not I'll finish off tomorrow. I've only read 30 pages since I last spoke to you so I've got like 140 pages left but yeah okay let's go read. I feel like everyone watching is going to be like okay go we get it like you had a nice go read but I'm like wow this is a moment a moment in here. Ah that's history. That's history. Morning okay hey I finished Final Girl Support Group this morning. I read some more last night and then finish off this morning and I'm going to give it four stars. I didn't I really enjoyed it but I did not enjoy the end third as much. I really didn't. I feel like it got a bit repetitive. A bit like obvious in what it's trying to say. No I don't know if I say that. I don't know if I say that if I'm just chatting shit. I think I'm just chatting shit I don't think I believe that. You know I didn't feel the same excitement the same drama you know that I did in the first part but I still enjoyed it. I can understand why people hate this because it is like very on the nose you know it's trying to say something and I think it does bring up some interesting points but it's like slash go ridiculous you know you know when you read a book and by the end people should not be alive like this like this should not be happening this is just ridiculous like it reaches that point but I like that. I think where I may have trouble with horror and is when it's more I have trouble when it's more like try to be intelligent you know when like this represents this and this means this and like and I think that's when I start to struggle because I'm like just give me the ridiculous gore. I think I might be wrong and this still had something to say and they still had a message but it was much more like open and transparent about what it was trying to say. I didn't have to think too hard about it. I liked how referential it was I mean I didn't even I enjoyed this not even knowing which films the girls are supposed to represent I really don't know if someone could tell me in the comments which films all the different girls represent I would love to know because I have no idea. I read some of you I was like reading through some of the bad reviews and some were like this made me feel sick it was so gory and I'm like why are we here do you know what I mean? I'm a wimp right I'm a bit of a baby I do not watch much horror films like I think if I had to watch this I would find it harder reading it is a certain degree of separation but like I'm like why are we rating a horror one start because it was gory? Are we on the same page? I'm not sure. So question is which of these bad boys or the audiobooks do we read today? That's what we decide oh actually you know first point of call I'm not getting a coffee today. I really don't want to I'm so sorry. I'm still gonna title this video seven coffees in seven days because that's what the like goal was and I'm not letting you know before you click on the video that the failure has become. The idea of getting coffee makes me involuntarily feel sick like my body's initial response is to feel sick so I'm not getting coffee. I might get one tomorrow I might try again. I'm very disappointed I'm very sad I'm almost heartbroken. Okay so today I don't have a super busy day I'm not filming and editing a video which I will be doing tomorrow and the day after so we're gonna have to have quick books then. Yeah today I have got a busy evening which is typically when I get the most of my reading done so I've got a zoom call with my top tier patrons. We have one every month from six till seven and then at eight o'clock I have the quiz night that I do with my patrons which I'm so excited for and then today I'm doing the quiz night questions this morning. I don't know how long it will take me probably a couple hours depending on how many rounds I do. I don't really I can't really listen to an audiobook whilst I work. I'm not really good at that although I do anything that requires my so what one do we pick? I don't know. Let's go for this thing between us. I kind of want to do ring shout but I feel a bit like my chest is playing up today and I really want to read ring shout when I'm like in a good mood but let's try this thing between us I don't really know what this is about do we want to know or do we want to go in not knowing anything. This couple was bought the world's most advanced smart speaker and then the wife is killed or the girlie is killed that's all we need to know I'll tell you more about it once I'm a bit of the way through it but yeah the audiobook for this is five hours long so that should only take me like two hours of reading overall so I think let's go for that let's read this this thing between us today Laura I need to sit there you gotta move can you move please I literally just moved her and I leave the room for two seconds she's back on the chair come on back on the bed please come on good girl so she knows she just wonders if she can get away with it okay same place much later in the day I'm just about to have my zoom call with my rora oh my god ironic she wants to be here for the call she's like bitch it's named after me you need to let me man it but with my team rora patrons we're about to have our zoom call but I am about 100 pages into this thing between us it's like 250 pages long and I am enjoying it so far it hasn't gotten really scary yet I feel like the horror hasn't begun yet so I feel like I shouldn't even really be talking to you yet but now's a good time in my life to talk to you basically we're following this guy whose wife has died and there's a lot of grief surrounding him we open up kind of in the first part which is most of what I've read him saying you do this you do that talking to his wife like when you used to do this when you used to do that or something like that and so I think that is quite an impactful way to open the story anytime an author uses you it definitely like draws me in and like and stares me my eyebrows looking a bit crazy today anyways be careful of your tongue I don't need to be careful of my tongue be careful of your tongue when you're talking about women's looks I am enjoying it I'm enjoying the writing I think the writing of it is really really good it's got a really good like tone of voice this kind of despair but like joking us to it as well but the horror hasn't started yet so I feel like I can't really tell you other than like a bit of like a ghost vibe or spirit vibe or something like that as if there's like a haunting happening I'm being careful to say too much as well because I feel like this is the kind of book you shouldn't go into knowing too much because obviously I didn't really know anything going into it um so yeah other than that it hasn't been scary yet but I feel like now that we've gotten the context out of the way with what happened to his wife and how he's feeling and the kind of despair he's in now the horror is gonna begin so I'm gonna try and finish this tonight but I don't think I'm gonna be able to especially Tom's now coming around I didn't think he'd be able to make it tonight but he's gonna be coming around tonight and I haven't seen him in quite a few days so I feel like we're not finished this today but as long as we reach seven books in seven days it doesn't have to be one book each day but I feel like I made the wrong decision with what book I was supposed to reach today but I am enjoying it I'm enjoying it I'm ready for it to get scary I feel like this is gonna get like psychological fucked up scary is what I'm kind of expecting so we shall see also the cover is just kind of like creepy look at that even on the the camera does not like it it's like what the fuck so yeah me and Laura now in my clothes but me and Laura we're gonna we're gonna have our zoom call she's here to chair it okay hey Monday it's the case of the Mondays so it's Monday and I have only just finished this thing between us I had a busy day editing today so yes we are we are two books in three days but it's fine we'll just read two books in one day it'll be fine there's no problem I finished this I gotta be honest with you just like over my head over my head I'm nodding like I understand but I'm not so sure I do I've got to say I enjoyed the first 100 pages of this then the next 50 pages I was like okay fine let's see what this goes and the last 100 pages I kind of had to force myself through I was just kind of bored I don't know I like what this book says about grief I liked you know reading from this perspective of this guy who's experiencing this deep deep grief he's in this deep deep depression and the writing and the tone of voice definitely reflects that there's not really chapters there's like five or four parts they're sorry four parts and there's no chapters it's just like him talking about everything he's experiencing and everything is going through and I liked that writing to the gym I just gotta be honest it lost me on the meaning and we said this would be the problem we said this would be the problem I said I don't think like literary fiction horror where there's like this deep meaning and I can't figure out what it is I don't think that's for me and I think that's what this book was if I'm honest so I'm gonna give it three stars I did think about a 3.5 because there is a lot of aspects of it that I enjoy I like the writing you know I liked the beginning I liked the grief the perspective I liked the idea of what was happening like what it said kind of about surveillance and you know where it began it began with this kind of Alexa like machine that a lot of the story seems to stem from I liked all of that but like I'm just lost I if you read this and you understand what the meaning of like the ending and all this is supposed to be please slide into my DMs I'm begging you because I would love to know I want to know I want to know what we're doing here I knew we were like with the ending of this I knew we were trying to get somewhere but I could not I could not figure out for life of me where so I think we've concluded we can say literary fiction horror where there's like a deep meaning but you're not gonna just tell me I don't know I don't have the same problem with like fantasy uh and I'm like I I always say I love clever books I love a clever book but there's something about horror and like the absurdism that comes with horror I just can't figure it out other genres I like books that are clever and have hidden meanings that you have to figure out but horror I think because I almost like I'm still a bit of a wimp so I turn a blind eye a bit to some of the gore and like the scary stuff I just like read it fast I struggled to then draw conclusions perhaps is the issue so we are at two books in three days but it's not the end of the world it's gonna be fine and we are at one coffee in three days I just don't want to do it I've decided I'm not gonna read The Weight of Blood in this video because when I put it in my TBR Cluedo for this month so a lot of you will tell me they loved the audiobook and the audiobook is on script but it's not available from me to the fourth so that leaves us with these four that we're definitely gonna read and then one of the audiobooks either yellow jessamine or neither mannequins that's gonna be our TBR tomorrow we'll end up being either the graphic novel or company with apples because tomorrow is my last super busy workday of the week I am I'm really excited to find that oh no oh no a woman can only be pushed so far and I'm right on the edge I'm gonna go to bed now bye oh my god that hurts okay hi so I'm getting ready this morning and I made the executive decision today is gonna be the day that I reach two weeks now you may say Megan that doesn't make any sense because today's like your most busy day so today I need to film the end of my holiday vlog because it just kind of ends I need like an ending to put a bit of context in so I need to film that edit the ending export that get that uploading make the thumbnail for that and I also need to film book haul which will be the last video I uploaded for you and that's got a sponsorship in it which I need to film some clips for take some pictures for so I need to do that and edit as much of that video as I can to definitely edit the start so I can send it to the sponsor but like edit as much of it as I can hopefully I should edit all of it that is the goal for today and I'm gonna read two books but I've decided I have I'm doing some stuff like making a thumbnail getting ready now where I can listen to an audiobook so I'm listening to night the mannequins because I only like I think the audiobook itself is three hours long I've been listening since I got back on holiday to audiobooks so usually when I'm not reading it physically I listen at 1.8 speed but I'm only imagining 1.5 at the moment so it's gonna take me about two hours worth of listening to read that throughout the day but I think I should be able to finish it I need to make dinner tonight as well because my mum's not very well so I think throughout the day I will finish night mannequins doing those things and then tonight I will read the graphic novel The House of Lost Horizons I think it is so that's the plan I'm gonna go do lots of work and I will see you later this evening who said I was gonna finish two books today that's definitely not me absolutely not that's not happening all right okay so I finished night the mannequin did not take me too long I really don't want to tell you what this is about because it's only two hours long the audiobook so it's probably something ridiculous like 60 pages long like it's probably tiny I don't know because I only read it by the audiobook just now we've got a group of friends they try to perform a prank the group tries to perform a prank on one of them using a mannequin and then the mannequin maybe comes alive does it we don't know I enjoyed this but I didn't love it I think novellas I always enjoy the reading experience but I never tend to really give them a five star I love the satisfaction of reading a quick book but like I think a lot of my favorite books tend to be longer ones I think I enjoy that journey so for what it was it was probably more a four star I'm gonna give it a 3.5 just compared to like I gave this a four star and I enjoyed this way more so like let's give it a 3.5 I feel like it's between the two that we've already read so far what can I say without spoiling anything it definitely didn't go where I expected it to there's like a twist maybe just before the halfway mark and I was because I was listening and I was doing other stuff while I work today by the way I had such a busy day today that's why we're not getting around to the graphic novel to be fair I could but I want to watch stuff with Tom now and like just chill out with him so it's not he's going home tomorrow so I can get way more reading done when he's not here I'm listening to it while so I'm like doing work making thumbnails or whatever and I was like hold on hold on a second what's going on what the heck is going on so yeah I appreciate the direction it went in I really liked the writing this is my second Stephen Graham Jones and I thought his books often have this dark humor to them especially this one this one was more funny I really liked the humor in it I mean I really enjoyed the book there's not much that I can critique it on just in terms of my enjoyment it was a 3.5 I think because it's so quick and short graphic novels I easily give five stars but yeah novellas I don't give a lot of five stars but the ones I give five stars tend to be ones where it's like a novella linked to a series or something that I already love anyways but it was another different type of horror whereas this is like campy slashery referential to 80s slasher movies this was more psychological clever hidden meanings this one was like a kind of a mix of the two I would say funny but with a psychological element to it so I think if you want a quick horror novella the audiobook is great the audiobook narrator is really really good at like bringing everything to life so tomorrow we will definitely read the house of lost horizons with either ring shout or come for me with apples I haven't decided which one I mean we'll read the other one another day but depends on what I'm in the mood for tomorrow then probably Friday we'll read the other one on Thursday and then Friday I will probably read horrid because I have some sprints with my patrons that I can read it on so yeah that's the plan we're gonna get to seven guys it's fine we'll read two tomorrow I definitely need to go to sleep because it was a long ass day let's go get some sleep and I'll see you in the morning and I'm gonna try another coffee tomorrow because I'm driving oh I could go Starbucks actually tomorrow because I have to go to where the Starbucks is because I have an orthodontist appointment so exciting to get a new retainer fitted yeah I'll get a Starbucks I have to ask my patrons what can I get from Starbucks I can't get from Costa because we'll have to take full advantage of that and then we'll maybe try one more from Costa but like the thought of having coffee does make me feel a little bit sick just a little bit just a little bit nauseous I'm like going to not do that okay so I've come into town for a dentist or orthodontist appointment today and I've decided today we're gonna read comfortably with apples and the graphic novel because I've got reading sprints tonight but I haven't got a lot of time to read before that but I feel like I could actually just read both of these probably in the sprints but anyway I'm gonna go to the dentist now I'm running late so I've got to go but afterwards there is a Starbucks right here how convenient so I'm gonna try and get something that you guys said oh I don't really know something you can only get in Starbucks is that Frappuccino I don't know I'm gonna look through the Instagram suggestions whilst I'm waiting in the orthodontist because they're usually late and see yeah see what we're gonna get okay right this is it the moment of truth I got a caramel frappuccino oh my god I just dropped my straw I don't know if any of you actually recommended a caramel frappuccino but like I didn't want to like they only had caramel strawberries and cream or double chocolate on the board and I didn't want to like I don't know what I'm doing I don't want to like specialize it so I just got this and I love caramel I mean obviously this is probably like one part coffee 10 part sugar she asked me I said caramel frappuccino she went is that with coffee I was like I must stink of someone who doesn't drink coffee oh my goodness right moment of truth everyone if I speak I am in big trouble in big trouble see I know even that it's like 20 parts caramel one part coffee but that coffee ruins it I mean it's so sweet it's like I'm just having the whipped cream at this point the whipped cream and caramel on top is lovely it was gonna go cost or tomorrow regardless and get a caramel latte but like if I don't like this what can save it do you know what I mean I think some people just didn't genetically don't like coffee because that's the only explanation at this point it's so bitter even with everything sweet I just paid four pound 20 for this it's extortion it what is wrong with you people my goodness okay it's much later and I'm on sprints of my patrons hey and I just finished comfort me with apples and I'm gonna give it five stars we did it we did it gel I'm giving comfort with apples five stars what is going on I don't want to tell you much about this because I liked going into it like almost completely blind I knew very little going into it it's only a hundred pages of novella so I really don't think you should know much going into it we're following Sophia who the first like line that she says was I was made for him she's talking about how she just feels this deep love for her husband everything in her life is perfect she lives in this perfect community why everyone loves one another I was just so captivated by this the whole time I read 84 pages in the first split we did which was a 40 minute sprint I just could not stop reading it and then I thought I loved it then but then I read the last couple pages just now and wow the twist A you wanted a twist like just the direction that this book goes in I thought is incredible I love I can't say anything but I love the direction that this goes in I've never really seen a book going that direction before and it just touched on themes I don't think we see touched on a lot but that themes that I think can be really like haunting and interesting for a horror novel and like what can I say without giving anything away the writing in this was beautiful as well like beautifully haunting it was like very writing that captured just how much she lived in this dream world everything is made for her and everything is perfect and I yeah I really didn't expect the direction it went in though but it makes total sense and I just I mean you start seeing where all the clues that have been laid throughout and I loved it I loved it I think this is another aspect of horror that I like like eerie creepiness everything seems perfect on the surface but then everything starts to fall apart I don't know I really enjoyed this if you've been thinking of picking this up like it literally took me maybe 40 minutes what 45 minutes to read it was so good and I I loved the ending I loved it so much I love also when a scene there's like a creepiness to it and unsettling this to it but it seems fairly normal and then at the end there's like a paragraph that is so out of the blue and out of like what is expected and what is correct that gets me that gets me like a little a little paragraph makes you go huh I don't recommend it this is the most successful book that we've done so far so I am now going to go ahead and read The House of Lost Horizons this is a murder mystery graphic novel but my dad said it also has horror elements this may be more murder mystery but we know that that's my taste so I feel like perhaps a murder mystery with horror elements could be also another route of success for like stuff that I will enjoy so yeah gonna go ahead and read this tonight as well I will probably give you my thoughts in the morning just because I will be really tired I'm gonna go get in bed now yeah super excited to read a graphic novel what a treat it's really late but I have to check in with you otherwise we miss the day I'm so tired I didn't even I'm wearing the rustle sprout shirt I can't even be bothered to like set up a tripod so I'm holding you in the palm of my hand see this is the reason that I mean I was gonna say every time I do these videos this is only my second time but like why I realized I shouldn't do it because there's always a day and though in the series where I'm like it's just not the vibe babes it is just not the vibe it is just not the vibe like get me out of here get me out of here get that fire ricksey door I'm off because you know I don't read every day there's some days where I'm busier when I want to watch stuff more so today I like ended up watching lots of strictly come dancing with my mum and now it's like half 11 when I usually go to sleep like half 10 like what the fuck so last night I did finish I read and finished in like one sprint the house of lost horizons I'm sad to report that like this wasn't bad I enjoyed it it's like it is definitely more murder mystery than it is horror it does have some horror elements to it no it's like a crossover of the two genres but it definitely is more murder mystery and I'm sorry to report I'm just a bit disappointed it wasn't bad I'm giving it like a 3.5 I enjoyed the experience but I already know like I'm gonna forget about this instantaneously so basically in this these two characters who are kind of like detectives in some ways I called to this house because her friend needed help with an auction she was having when they get there they find out that in the meantime there's been a murder there's lots of murders it's all to do with the auctioning off of these like occult items it kind of is like a love letter to like this the the English home murder mystery locked room there's a storm that's keeping them all stuck there if you enjoy that kind of stuff I think you will enjoy this it was fine there were a few fun elements to this I liked the illustration style I liked the twist at the end I like the horror elements but it was just fine and then today I have gotten about almost 70 pages through Ring Shall so I'm not doing terribly idiot but I was supposed to finish that today and it's not happened then tomorrow I'd film and edit a whole video edit some of another video read all of horror didn't read that is that even like humanly possible and I'm enjoying it but I feel like because I've been kind of forcing myself to read today I'm not enjoying it as much as I could do and I've kind of read it very broken up but basically we are following these characters who are fighting against the who-cluxes which are the basically like demons that stem from being people being in the clans basically I'm doing a very bad job of describing this because I'm horrific human appears as humans but they turn into demons and then these people are killing them and it's kind of like fantastical this is definitely the most fantastical one we've had so far even more so than company at apples my favorite part of it so far is probably the part of it that was really info dumpy because I could like understand what was happening but because I think I've been listening to audiobook and reading it really broken up and there's also something about the writing star I don't think I'm a hundred cent vibing with I have just been like struggling to follow it just a little bit not not struggling to follow it in the most basic sense of what's going on with the plot and like I can follow all of that fine but like the extra meaning behind everything because I feel like there's a lot of meaning packed into like every corner of this book you know so many people have given this five stars I feel like everyone gives this five stars I just feel like there's a lot of pressure pressure like a jerk jerk jerk so anyways I'm gonna go to sleep and then in the morning I'm gonna finish off ring shout and then I'll do some more reading sprints my patrons at 12 o'clock in which I will read horrid she's over there somewhere you can't see her okay night night sleep well don't let the bed bugs bite good morning um I don't know if you can see her can you see her queen roar is here those books are stacked up because I'm just about to film my September wrap up I feel like last night I didn't do a very good job of like explaining to you I did enjoy the house of lost horizons a graphic novel I just think perhaps like this is the only murder mystery-esque graphic novel I've ever seen and I think maybe murder mystery doesn't work in graphic novels and that's why maybe we haven't seen a lot of them because I think it's harder you know with like a romance or something you can kind of imagine the emotions people feel and like cute moments that might happen off page don't I mean but murder mysteries you kind of need to be given all of the information you need red herrings you need clues and because this was just a short graphic novel it didn't have time like we didn't really have many many clues other than kind of the premise so I had a lot of fun reading it 3.5 is not a bad rating I was just expecting like a five and so I think I was a bit disappointed I was also a little bit disappointed with ring shout now I gave this a 3.5 as well it feels almost wrong it feels like blasphemous I feel like I'm not allowed to give this 3.5 now I do want to you know state that me basically forcing myself to read like the first half of this yesterday when I didn't really want to read I think could have really hampered my reading enjoyment I did really enjoy this I really enjoyed the meaning behind this and the imagination and like this kind of reimagining of our history with this horror and fantastical edge the writing style I don't know if it was for me I know a lot of people love it I could tell it was beautiful but you know when you just vibe with certain writing styles and you don't vibe with others I mean it's just the way of life I think I could have preferred this as a longer novel I think there's certain elements and certain storylines that I wish could have been a bit longer I don't have body horrors for me I'm a little bit squeamish I think that might have turned me off of it as well I don't have body horror like I don't know I liked wilder girls and the body horror in that but I suppose that's like YA this is like adult and I'm like I don't know if I deal well with that I'm quite squeamish and stuff to the body like I have health anxiety well I used to more so but like it just makes me feel a bit sick so I now need to go film my September wrap up but I obviously need to read horrid today now I have to film and edit the September wrap up I've got reading sprints at 12 with my patrons so what my plan is is to film and edit the wrap up edit the wrap up quicker than I've edited a video in my entire life and then I will read half of horrid on the sprints but I need to edit some more of this video today I've only edited the first intro clip I haven't edited anything else and I have tomorrow to edit it but I need to leave the house at like three o'clock tomorrow because me and my brother are going to see AJR and concert so and then sundown going out with Tom's family so I need to edit that some of this today the audiobook for this is like seven hours long the audiobook for this was like five so even though it looks like a big difference I don't think it will take me that much longer to read that's the plan I'm gonna go ahead and go film this wrap up and I'll see you in a bit about six o'clock so I spent most of the day at filming editing that video I just made a real big noise are you so happy I think I've already started this about four o'clock and so I've read a bit and I've been with my family a bit and I'm really enjoying this I love it I love it and it gives me that buzz my history of Katrina Leno first let me just say is that you must not miss was one of my favorite books I think 2020 I read that I love you must not miss and this has the same incredible writing like Katrina Leno I just love the way she writes so basically in this all I need to tell you really is that our protagonist her father has just passed away because of money issues her and her mother have had to move back into her mother's childhood home and it's kind of like a haunted house situation there's a lot of strange stuff going on with the house there's strange stuff going on with the roses out in the garden that her mum definitely knows something about and won't tell her about there's something to do with like a room that's closed off in the house if you own this book read it right now this is the perfect book to read just as you fall into the depths of winter I think so what I've read so far has been from the start of October to the end of October ish I think maybe mid October it's perfect for like today has been the first day that's really felt I mean it's been cold the past couple days but today it's been so like it was foggy this morning and then it's been raining loads this evening it really feels like autumn is here and this just feels like a treat to read right now the writing is so like atmospheric it like that's why I say it's so perfect to read right now because like because she's moved from Los Angeles to Maine that's a big difference in like weather and so she's really noticing and describing everything you see around her so that's a really interesting character choice because if it was a character who'd lived there all their lives they wouldn't that wouldn't be normal for them to notice everything but she's like pointing everything out and it just feels so autumnal so if you own this please read it right now I'm not not joking it reminds me a lot in in what's happening of white smoke by Tiffany D Jackson but I didn't love that but similar haunted house similar kind of things happening in the haunted house I'm intrigued to know what her mother knows because I don't know if I can trust her mother something that is strange about this is that she eats books she like to control her anger she's got anger issues she like eat a page of a book and it calms her down so that's happening I'm just having the best time reading it I'm really just so looking forward to just curling up with the rain and the darkness outside um and reading this book so I'm gonna go ahead and finish it and then I will come back to you with my final thoughts and to wrap up this whole video okay so it's pretty late but I just finished Horrid by Katrina Leno I'm gonna give this a 4.5 I loved the reading experience of this I would say this is the fastest I've read a like book of this length like a 300 page novel since the Wreckless Girls that was another very quick read and this I just I loved it I loved it it was so good just the atmosphere and the vibes and like the hauntingness of this I loved so much I just loved it I did not move whilst reading the second up I literally lay there in my bed in the same position didn't move my legs didn't I just read it and I don't often do that often you know if I'm not 100 fitting a book I have to kind of make myself read it like set timers and shit but this you cannot pay me to put it down I did like a lot of the reveals and how they were handled and like how you kind of go on inkling you go on inkling then something was confirmed you got an inkling something was confirmed like it was done well where I wouldn't say there were any particular shocks but it all like paced well the reasons are 4.5 not a 5 is I didn't love the ending you know I don't want to spoil anything but the ending is pretty like what's what I'm looking for unsatisfying and like you know books can have that that's not a problem like sometimes I love that in books for example Wilder Girls I think is pretty renowned for having like an abrupt strange ending but I love that Catherine House has a very unresolved ending and this does in a way too but I just didn't feel like it worked as well with the rest of the story I'd say like the setting up for that ending to be possible only really really really happens in the last like 20 pages where I would say with Wilder Girls and Catherine House it's like a longer kind of journey throughout the novel that is less like sudden but I really loved this I'm so glad I read it you know when you you don't read a book for ages it takes you ages to read a book like this last year was a book I wanted to read the most throughout most of the year and I didn't when I felt kind of guilty I was like you know the excitement has dissipated somewhat and that's my fault for not reading it quickly enough but I genuinely feel like I was supposed to read this book this evening just with the wind and the rain outside with autumn just settling in like I feel like this was the moment this was her moment to shine but wow what a moment I will never forget let me rank all the books we read in this video in order of what I liked okay so this would be my ranking with night of the mannequins probably I would say above ring shout so night of the mannequins in there so yeah we had three stars 3.5 3.5 3.5 night the mannequins four 4.5 5 so what do I like in my horror looking at like these three in particular this to me I feel like I do enjoy campy ridiculous slasher fun kind of horror this is eerie atmospheric creepy haunting fucked up and I say this is fucked up as well I don't know if I like my horror to have you know I think we knew this but like hidden meaning that I was supposed to decipher because if I'm reading horror oh shit if I'm reading horror I'm kind of reading you know when you're like you're kidding you watch a scary film and you're kind of like watching from between your fingers because I'm a baby I feel like that's how I read horror so that's not the best kind of horror for me I would love if anyone has any more recommendations like comfortably with apples I would absolutely love I feel like one similar to these two is easier for me to find but I can't think of many books that have been pitched to me that are similar to this so if you have any recommendations please let me know but yeah let me know what you think of my horror reading taste based on that ranking with night of the mannequins in there because I did really enjoy that as well so there we have it seven horror books in seven days I don't know how I did it I'm not usually one for reading a book every day but these videos I always find they're really difficult in the moment like filming I find it difficult to read that many books in one go but then straight afterwards I'm like let me add them like I'm so ready to continue on reading so I hope you enjoyed this video if you've gotten to the end comment the apple emoji we had to do it comment the apple emoji down below let me know what you think of my horror journey my foray into some more horror let me know your favorite horror books your favorite types of horror books to read thank you guys so much for watching and I'll see you very soon in another video bye