 Hey, so I was actually supposed to film a completely different video today, but I'm already getting a little bit behind in my year of doing nothing, which isn't going so well, because I actually just asked my boss if we could extend my internship. I don't know why I did that, because I told myself I wasn't gonna do anything this year. I should just let it end, but I digress. If you click this video, you probably want to talk about the Bairini novel, which I'm really excited. Like, I thought, you know, it's been on my to-do list to start posting book reviews, and why not? So Bairini is a novel by Colleen Hoover. If you don't know, do you read books? Because she is like honestly one of the biggest like romance writers out there right now. And I've read her book. It starts with us and it ends with us, like the little pair, and I absolutely hated it. Like it was literally the worst thing I've ever read. It's not that it's terrible. It's just like not good. And by not good, I mean bad. It was a really bad book. If you like romance novels like me, the plot is just very like, it's giving predictable. It's giving, I see this coming. It's giving domestic violence, which I don't like for things to give. But thankfully in the end, she kind of gets out of the situation. But anyways, long story short, I did not like those novels. So when my friend recommended Bairini to me, I was like, I think I'll pass. You know, like I'm not really about that life. But he was like, no, like it is some white people shit because honestly one of the biggest points of feedback I had for it to start with us and it ends with us is that it was just so white. I was like, I honestly not a fan. And he goes, yes, it is some white people shit, but it's really good. And he was not lying. Like this book is a thriller from start to finish. Like in the end we'll have you gagged. Like I was like, oh, oh. And spoiler alert, like if you want to read the book, just go ahead and close the video now. But I really think she did it in the end. Like I really think she did it. Like her little excuse of like, oh, it was just a writing exercise. Girl, I don't believe that. That was not no writing exercise. Like you're a villain. Just own it, just be a villain. And this novel like also really makes me think about like perception and truth and like lies because it's like, what is the truth? Like you're getting so many different sides of like different versions of the same story. And it's just like, who do I believe? What do I really believe? And in the end, I feel like the main character chooses to believe what makes her life easiest. And in the end, aren't we all just doing that? I'm a huge like firm, huge believer and like you make your own reality. And this book really just kind of plays on that. And should we talk about the plot? I don't know. I honestly don't really read or I read a lot of books. I don't really watch a lot of booktube but I just thought I would join because I actually read a lot of books. And it was ironic because I wanted to get back into reading. I am a master's student at Columbia University. And so for the first year of my program, I honestly stopped reading as much because I just was reading so many like research papers and research articles and then writing so much that I just didn't have a lot of time to read for fun. So when I read, it starts with us and ends with us. It was a challenge to myself to start reading for pleasure again. And it was really funny because I read that in the beginning of 2022. Those are the first two books I read. And this was the last book I read or 2023. And then this was the last book I read in 2023. So I really, really liked it. Like it is a thriller. It is very white. But when I tell you like, I was staying up late reading this novel. Like I had to check my watch. I was like, oh, it's 2 a.m. Like let me close this book and go to sleep. But like I literally couldn't keep, like I couldn't stop reading. Like it was really, really good. So I don't know like what criteria I have for books. Maybe that's something we can kind of develop together. Like if you look out for something in particular in your books, I truly look for like people that look like me from being honest. And so this book, I don't really think there's any black people in it. So it kind of gives an F in my book for that. But honestly, my friend was right. Like Fonzie was right. It is some white people shit. So I do think it's worth the read. It is like, it's really good. It is really, really good. And I still like, oh my God, let me just read the last like little paragraph. No matter which way I look at it, it's clear that Verity was a master at manipulating the truth. The only question that remains is, which truth was she manipulating? It'll just, it's really good. I feel like half this video is just me being like, it's so good guys. It's really good. I'm not sure how long this video is gonna be because I don't really have like much else to say. I mean, if you don't know what it's about, basically Verity is a really famous like writer. She falls sick and her husband and publishing company are looking for someone to take over writing the rest of her series that she has on contract with her publishing agency. This girl accepts the contract, moves into their home already kind of crazy because it's like, oh girl, why are you, can't you do, aren't you a writer? Like, can't you write remote? Can't you write anywhere? But the moral, like the reason behind doing that was because Verity had so many notes and stuff in her office that would just be easier for her to be there, to be able to go through everything that Verity had left unwritten. So basically all of her notes of her manuscripts and stuff like that, she ends up finding this like secret manuscript and things kind of get a little bit crazy. Let me read you the first sentence because even that is kind of wild. Like, she took it from like page one, you are in it. Like, let me see. I hear the crack of his skull before the spattering of blood reaches me. That's page one, sentence one. I hear the crack of his skull before the spattering of blood reaches me. You just need to, you need to read this. Honestly, it's so good. And I, well honestly, you haven't watched a lot of my book review videos because I haven't been doing them. So this is actually the first one, but trust me, like I can read a book and be super critical of it and like not really like it. But this right here is a masterpiece. So let's just leave it at that. If you're thinking about getting this book, get it. If you want diversity, representation, inclusion, it's not that book. It's just not, it's not. It's not getting a 10 for that. But for the plot, for the storyline, the page turniness, the thrill of it all, like, uh, 10 out of 10. This book is really good. Like really well written, like I honestly had no notes, no feedback. Usually when I'm reading books, like certain things annoy me and I'll like earmark the page and like, uh, that was annoying. Or I like love it, so I bookmark it anyway. I didn't even do that because I couldn't stop. Like I literally was just so engulfed and just I kept turning the page, turning the page, turning the page. Yeah, so if you are looking for like a vacation book or just like a thriller to read before bed, I highly recommend this one. I'm gonna stop rambling now because I don't want this video to be like a million years long. Plus I still need to edit a vlog for Friday. And like I said, I thought I was gonna be recording a different video today and I didn't do that. So let me go edit some stuff. But I love you guys so, so much. If you're new here, please subscribe. My name is Nika. I'm 29 years old. I am a graduate student at Columbia University, studying clinical psychology and honestly should be graduating. I'm getting tongue-tied because I'm so excited because I'm actually graduating this year. How crazy is that? I'm gonna have my master's in clinical psych. Insane, but yes. So like, comment, subscribe. Let me know if you like these type of videos. I would love to do like a book club on YouTube. I think that'd be pretty fun if you guys are kind of into that. But yeah, I really wanna get to 5,000 subscribers by the end of 2024. We're barely at 1,000. So if you could subscribe, I'll love you forever. And I'll see you in the next video. Bye.