 Hello cuties, how is everyone? It is time for a new five star predictions. These are one of my favorite videos to make. I am so excited. I love positivity and happiness and joy. So I reacted to my most recent five star predictions a couple weeks ago where I'd finally read them all and that means it's time for a new one because we're always gonna have some five star predictions on the go. So I selected 10 bucks that I think are gonna be five star predictions. I did really well with my last predictions and so there's a pressure. There's a pressure going on to keep up with it. I have to keep doing well. But I think with the books I've selected, I think we've got a good shot. So the tactic that I've got, I feel so nervous about this. The tactic that I've gotten with is I've got five books from authors I've previously given five stars, right? So there's a good chance I'm gonna love something in the future from them. And then we've got five books from authors I've never read but the book just sounds really good because that's kind of a tactic I ended up going with last time but I just didn't realize it. Like it wasn't intentional but that's basically the split that I went with and I think that worked out really well for me. So I've done it on purpose this time and I guess let's talk about the five authors that I've given five stars before first and then we'll get into the more risky ones, perhaps. Yeah, I'm feeling very positive about this list so let me know by the end of the video how many do you think are gonna be five stars? I think I've done a smashing job if I do say so myself. It's a lot of fantasies and when I feel the fantasy, it is my reality. Okay, first up we have got The Warm Hands of Ghost by Catherine Motherfucking Arden, baby. I love going to Catherine Motherfucking Arden. I don't know why I do it. I just can't, I can't stop. This one is a World War I book, which is interesting but it's a little bit supernatural. There's something interesting going on. This is Catherine Arden's first adult debut since The Bear and the Nightingale series. If you don't know, she wrote The Rinterknight Trilogy which is some of my favorite books. There are my special editions of them. Let me show you one because they're so beautiful. Look at these, aren't they so gorgeous? I love them so much. So anyways, I'm getting off track. She wrote The Rinterknight Trilogy and then she wrote a middle grade horror series which I did really enjoy but this is her first adult book since that original trilogy. And I'm nervous about it that I'm very excited. So we're following a brother and sister in World War I and they're torn apart from each other. Freddie is a soldier who is trapped in an overturned pillbox with a German soldier and it's kind of this story of their meeting and then Laura is a nurse at a private hospital but her brother is missing and she's trying to get back in contact with him. The synopsis is kind of vague. I feel like it's gonna go off in a direction that we don't expect. And the early reviews that I've seen of this are people either saying it's like the greatest work of fiction they've ever read in their entire life or people just not quite getting it. And I just feel like I get Catherine Motherfucking Arden. I can't stop calling her that. I just, it's something about it on my tongue. It's very satisfying. I feel like we get each other and I feel like it's a lot. I'm so excited to read this. When am I gonna read this? I don't have any set plans to read it but I need to read it like right now. The reviews of people who love it say it's absolutely insane. Like what a craft of the book this is. And Catherine Arden's spoken about it and spoken about how difficult a book it was to write, how it took a lot out of her. And I just feel like, I feel like there's something special. I'm getting special vibes from this book. Everyone loves me. Well, your bastard hates me but they're just wrong. I think I'm just special, special. So I'm really looking forward to it. Me and Catherine, we are long. I feel like there are a lot to Catherine Arden. That series, that Winter Night Strategy, was really instrumental in me getting back into reading. If you don't know, I used to read a lot as a child. And then with school, I just stopped reading really when I did my GCSEs and A-levels. I was just so busy. I did not read for like a couple years, three years maybe. And then when I started back at uni, I did all this free time because my uni degree was not hard and I started reading again. And the Winter Night Strategy was one of those books that was one of the first books where I got back into reading and it's the reason I got this channel. It's the reason I do it as my job. You know me and Catherine Arden where we're cosmically linked. So I'm very, very excited to read this. Next we have got a book I will not shut up about and that is The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Tartan. Oh, look at that spine. Oh my God. Isn't this one of the most gorgeous books you've ever seen? I've spoken about this book a lot, but I am so excited. So we've got this island where the rest of the world was destroyed by this fog and the island is protected. I've given this to myself so many times. The island is protected by the scientists. There's 122 villages and three scientists living in peaceful harmony. But then one of the scientists is found brutally stabbed to death. I've got to just read you the synopsis. It's just so exciting. And then they land the murder has triggered a luring of the ultra-intelligent security system around the island. The only thing that was keeping the fog at bay. Oh, if the murder isn't solved within a hundred and seven hours, the fog will smother the island and everyone on it. And also, this is the most exciting thing. The security system has also wiped everyone's memories of exactly what happened the night before, which means that someone on the island is a murderer and they don't even know it. Oh, it's just like, in my opinion, it's just the best synopsis to ever exist. I don't know, it always brings the tears. I'm gonna cry. I'm gonna cry over a book synopsis. It's so amazing and I would play it again and again and again and again. There has never been a better book synopsis than that. And a few people of you, my patrons have been reading this already and saying, it's insane. Stuart Tartan is a tricky one because I did not love the Seven Deaths at Everland Hardcastle, but I loved Devon in the Dark Water. And the thing that I've noticed with Stuart Tartan is his books are high concept. He's doing it like no one else. You know, his books are very different. But his endings, his endings so far have been like that shit crazy. Like it almost makes it impossible for me to write a book because the endings are just like, I feel like I've been spun around 20 times when they're like a rollercoaster or some shit. It really is an interesting experience. So there is a risk with this one, but that synopsis is like, I just have the pure genius. It takes to come up with this. I'm so, I'm so excited to read this. So I think it's going to be crazy. I think it's going to be a lot of twists. I think it's going to be very unusual, but I'm very excited. Next we have a safe bet that I feel like I had to go with and that is Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood. She has never let me down. I was toying between this and Bride. I knew I wanted to put an Ali on here and I just feel like this may be the less risky option. Bride has got that whole poor normal, you know, there's some omega versus, I don't know what omega versus guys. I don't know if I'm ready for this shit. So I feel like this is a safer option. This is your more quintessential pookie. This is quintessential, Ali Hazelwood, contemporary romance, scientists. We've got two characters where one, she is like a professional fake data. She'll like, it's fake dating for hire and she's fake dating his brother. And I read the first chapter there at the start of the year. I should have picked this as my first book of the year. In all honesty, I should have done that. It would have been the safe option. The chemistry? In that first scene when she's fake dating his brother and they meet for the first time, I think it's the first time they meet. And he's like sussing her out and the chemistry they have in the first chapter. Excuse me. Me and Ali, we just, we, she just gets me. She just gets me. She's my romance girlie and I love her. So yeah, I think this is definitely gonna be five star. Next we have a book. I actually have set plans to read next. This is actually the next book I'm gonna be reading. And I realized I was like, oh shit, should I put it on here? But I'm like, no, I, you know, it's not a bad thing to have set plans to read it. We're gonna find out soon. We're gonna find out this weekend in the next video and it's a five star. And the book I'm gonna be reading, I am so excited is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. A lot of you all know that Emma by Jane Austen made it on my best books the year last year. It was my first Jane Austen I've read in a while. I've only read Emma Persuasion, which I didn't love, but I felt like I just read it at the wrong moment. And I have read Pride and Prejudice when I was younger, but much like when I was like 10 or some shit, I read it. I can't see a universe in which it isn't a five star. I am obsessed with Jane Austen now. I love her, I watch documentaries about her. I've got nonfiction I wanna read about her. I love Janey, I love her so much. The obsession that I got with it was borderline unhealthy. I don't know how I'm gonna integrate in society after this. And I've spoken about this a tonne, but Pride and Prejudice is a very influential story for me. I feel like it's why now my favourite romance trope is always Grump Sunshine because excuse me, the originator. The BBC Pride and Prejudice adaptation raised me. It raised me. That is like my second mother, the show. This is a potential mother. I love it so much. And so the characters, the story are so familiar to me, but I just haven't read the book since I was like 10. Like I can't remember reading it. So I am so excited. I think it's gonna be such a wonderful reading experience. I need to finish the book I'm currently reading so I can start this today. I'm literally like, I can't wait to start it. So you must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you. Like look where I'm like, Jane, Jane. Jane, the thing you should do for me. I am so, I cannot wait. I think it's gonna be a five star. And I just think it's also gonna be a five star because of the reading experience because I love the show. Oh, I love it so much. It's gonna be five star. And then the final book from an author I've previously given five stars. There was two in contention. Let me show you the one I didn't pick. So the other option was gonna be The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson because I love obviously The Good Girls Grad Tomato Series but this didn't eventually get in there because of five to five. Let's be honest with ourselves. Five to five, this pretend it doesn't exist. So I felt like that was a bit too risky. This one is risky because I've only read one book from this author. It was beyond a five star and I'm just worried that this won't quite live up to it. So they both have pros and cons but in the end I have gone with Bookshops and Boundas by Travis Baldy. I feel like at the very least this is gonna be a four point five which is still a win, right? The only reason they would get a four point five is if it didn't quite live up to Legends and Lattes for me but everyone has said, yeah, it's not necessarily quite Legend Lattes. No, few people prefer this but everyone says, you know, but it's still incredible. It's still incredible. So Innes is a prequel to Legends and Lattes and Vivamangirlie, she's in like her old job but she spends hours at a struggling bookshop in the company of its foul mouth proprietor and there's a little mouse, there's a little dog owl and very excited. There is something so special about Travis Baldy's writing that I just don't know if anyone else is doing it. Like I read on the coast of fantasy and I'm like, this is just a cheap imitation of Legends and Lattes. Like the comfort I felt when reading that book and how happy I was just reading descriptions of coffee and little pastries, I could read a thousand pages of Thimble making those fucking pastries. I... If I could go into any fictional book, I think I'd go to the Legends and Lattes coffee bookshop. Generally. The love I feel, the comfort, oh my God. I don't think anyone else is doing it. Everything else is being told to me is cosy fantasy and it's not, it's not. So I think this is gonna be a very much like a welcome home. I think it's gonna be a lovely reading experience. Yes, I'm worried about whether it will compare to Legends and Lattes but I think I've probably just gotta let go of that. So yes, very excited to read it. Okay, now we're gonna get into the books with authors I have not yet read ever in my life. It's a bit of a risk. The first one is another one where it was between two books. Let me show you the options. So these are both murder mysteries, probably a little bit similar to Thursday, Madden Cup in that same kind of coziness comfort level but like fun, but still like murdery, you know what I mean? You know, so the one I have not gone with is How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin. The only reason I have not gone with this one is because I think this is gonna be a really solid four star, probably. I have seen Marvel from books like Where a Review Written gave it four star, Ashley from Ashley's Old Library gave it a 4.5 so there's still promise, but I just don't know if this will quite be a five star for me. If I had to give you a prediction, I think it would be a solid four. So the other one I've gone with is Miss Austin Investigates by Jessica Ball and other Jane Austen related books. I just got away. Oh, literally obsessive me. But like I'm saying, I just love her. I love Jane Austen. I almost put Jane Austen at home by Lucy Worsley on this list and I would have been three Jane Austen related books. That would have been too far. But this one is basically about Jane Austen for your murder mystery. She's the detective. I think it's like a milliner that she knows is killed and her brother is accused of the murder. This one is risky because I haven't had anyone review it and the writing could not be it. You know what I mean? But I feel like if anything, the shtick of it being Jane Austen is gonna do it for me. When it comes to like murder mysteries and it's got a bit of a shtick, I can sometimes fall victim to that. I don't fall victim, but I do enjoy that, you know? There's certain books where I can look over certain things if it's got a great viewpoint to it. It's got a great point of view. It's got a great, you know, something that's just fun. This is just fun, right? Jane Austen's solving a murder mystery. That's so fun. So I decided to go with this one. It's risky. It's risky. I mean, both of these could not be it. But by the way, what a Thursday Metacup ripoff is this cover? It's so bad. It's like the border. Sorry, this bookshelf is so... I'm gonna regret taking this book out because that shelf is so tightly packed. Look at that. That's bad. That's bad. But I mean, I know why I publish this, do I? Richard Osmond has spoken many times with podcasts about how the design of the Thursday Metacup was then just stolen for all murder mysteries and they've gone with a different style of cover for We Solve Murders. So that it's like, then everyone's gonna copy that one. But that is quite the close comparison. Next, we've got another book that I almost read as my first book of the year and that is Monstrillo. Another one that I read the first chapter of and the first chapter, this was wild. This is about a woman whose son dies and she's so distraught that she wants to keep a piece of him so she cuts a piece of his lung off right after he's died and the husband walks in and he's like, what's going on? And then that lung grows into this little monster and I just for some reason keep being drawn back to this book again and again and again. I think it's gonna be a very effective horror but it's also gonna be a book that's just seeping out with grief and longing and depth of sadness and family. And I just think this is gonna say a lot as well. But I don't know why I think I'm gonna love this so much. Have I heard anyone like love this, love this? I feel like I have, but I can't remember who. But there's just something that's pulling me towards this book. Also, I love the cover. I think the cover is so gorgeous. I think this is a bit different than anything else I've given five stars before. I can't, you know, there's some books on this list that I'm like, that is a five star prediction because it's like this or because it's like that, right? This is a little bit different for me but I just have a feeling that I'm gonna give this book five stars and that it's gonna hit me emotionally. Next, we have a book that's been on my TBR for quite a long time. I bought this in Leeds, which is at least three years ago. Well, no, it is three, not at least. It could be a bit less than three years ago. It's not adding up. Around three years ago. And that is Fire Keeper's Daughter by Angeline Buley. I just know I need to read this because I also wanna really read, what is it, Warrior Girl on Earth, her most recent release. And I had just heard wonderful things about this. Courtney Summers blubs it. My fave, hello Courtney, you're watching. And this is about a young girl who I think is half indigenous, half not. And it's about her not belonging. And she witnesses a shocking murder and she reluctantly agrees to be part of a covert FBI operation into a series of drug related deaths. I've heard this is incredibly interesting, incredibly written, but incredibly emotional, incredibly heavy hitting. I think I'm gonna love this. And I was so excited. I think I bought the hardcover right after it came out. Like I went towards this. I remember going in and buying this and being so excited to buy it. And I have not read it. I think it's cause it's a little bit chunky and just always a little bit scared off by it. But I need to read it because I think it's gonna be a five star. I have just heard wonderful things about all of Angeline Buley's stuff. I'm ready for this kind of raw, emotional, heavy hitting YA, bit of a murder mystery element which also plays well for me. So I think this is a very strong contender. I'm very excited to read this one. This next one's a little bit of a risk. It's a little bit of an outlier. It's a little bit of a wild card, you know? But I am going to Reach for the Stars by Michael Craig. I should have read this a long time ago. This is an arc I got. Very kind of, he said ages ago. This is another one I don't read cause it's so long but it's like how long? Like 500 pages but I've also heard it reads very fast. So this is a bit of a niche one for me. This is a non-fiction book looking into the history of Britpop from like the mid 90s to mid-noughties and kind of thinks Spice Girls, Blue, Girls Allowed, you know, Five. I don't know very much how many of these people you guys all know. I think there's a little bit of Busted and McFly in there which was like My Era, Steps. Oh God, these bands, eh? Escop Seven and this is written and told through a series of interviews. So at the beginning there's like a long list of everyone who's interviewed and it's like editors of magazines, managers of groups, members of groups, all these different people from the industry kind of really talking about how it went. And I just think this is gonna be so interesting. Good luck, have fun, hope it works this time around. This is why I'm saying how it's a bit niche. Like this is kind of my, you know, I don't think everyone's necessarily, it's gonna be for everyone. But I think this is absolutely gonna be for me. I think it's gonna be fascinating. Like the amount of detail it seems to go into is absolutely fascinating. And the idea of it being kind of like an oral history, like it's all told just through literally paragraphs of interviews. Like it's obviously done in interviews, kind of like grouped them together into a narrative. It's very interesting. Like the author is kind of anonymous in this and it's all told through these people speaking for themselves. So I'm very excited to read this. It's another one I need to just like pick up. I think this could be a five star for me. I think it's gonna be the kind of nonfiction that I just find very, very interesting. And then the final book that we have on the five star predictions of this is another book I've owned for a long time. And for whatever reason, I felt a little bit intimidated by it. And that is A Lat's Away by Darcy Little Badger. This is one of those books that just, it's very heavy. It felt, oh please don't slide out. Oh, look at that. How gorgeous. It's a very heavy book. It feels like expensive. I like books that feel like weighty. I like a good weighty book. Anyway, so this one I don't super know the plot. I know we've got A Lat's Away who lives in this kind of like, she can see ghosts or she can raise animals and like dead animals ghosts back to life. Oh yeah. And then her cousin is murdered. And I think it goes on from there. I think this is semi middle grade where it's kind of the book that transcends age category. But this is a book I've been very excited to read for a long time. So many people over the years have told me this is gonna be a five star for me. I think the writing, for some reason, I just feel like the writing and me are gonna mesh really well. Yeah, it's a book I've been meaning to read for a very, very long time. So I just have a good feeling about this one. I think the plot, the cadence, the writing, the again, heavy hittingness of this is gonna be very effective for me. So I think it's gonna be five star. There we have it, everyone. That, can I hold the whole stack up? That is all of my five star predictions for this round of five star predictions. And we will react to this once I've read them all. How do you think I'm gonna do? How many of these do you think are gonna be five stars? Cause right now I'm feeling so positive about this list. I think they're all gonna be five stars. Listen, I've only had four, five stars this so far this year. So I'm looking for some more. So maybe I'll have to get around to some of these soon. Let me know which ones you think are gonna be five stars and which ones you're a little bit nervous about. If you got into the video, comment a star emoji. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you very soon in another video. Bye.