 I will say it's already made me cry. It's already made me cry. Is that too much to ask? Apparently so. But I'm like struggling to view this as canon. Like it feels like fanfic. It's crazy. It's crazy. Um, I was like, this is crazy. Um, oh that was horrible. I hated that. So today's vlog is so exciting because we're doing the favorite author qualifiers, baby. It's the fucking Olympics. It's the fucking Commonwealth Games. Are you ready? Today we are going to be reading three books where if that book gets five stars, these authors will join the Hall of Fame of my favorite authors. So I have adopted a rule which I've seen some people do on Booktube which I think is a great idea that if you get three five stars. Wow, crazy. You're crazy. If you get three five stars from an author, they qualify as a favorite author. And these three I've had two five stars from and we're going to read one more book from them and see if they qualify to be a favorite author. So let's just talk about the Hall of Fame that they're going to be joining. It's a pretty small hall, you know? It's a pretty like tight knit group. The authors that have qualified to be one of my favorite authors so far are Taylor Jenkins Reid, Theodorragos, Seanan McGuire, Ruth Ware, Alice Oseman, and Catherine Arden. That is it. That is the only authors that I have given three five stars to. The rule doesn't have to be that all the books I've read from them have been five stars, but that's like the ultra, ultra, ultra Hall of Fame, which I think at the moment only Taylor Jenkins Reid and Theodorragos have. Yeah, they're the only two that have that. So that's like the like all stars of the Hall of Fame. But yeah, we're going to be reading three books from three authors who I've given two five stars to in the past. And if this book gets a five star, they qualify. Isn't this exciting? So exciting. So let's quickly talk through the books that we're going to be reading first. Probably my most anticipated book of the year. I'm the girl by Courtney Summers. Courtney Summers is fighting tooth and nail to get into that all-stars Hall of Fame because I've read two books from Courtney Summers. They've both been five stars. One was Sadie, which I still don't own. I need to get it because I do want to reread it physically, but I just read the audio book back in the day. And of course, the project by Courtney Summers, which I absolutely love. She sent me this Barnes and Noble exclusive edition. I mean, Courtney Summers I just think is one of the loveliest authors I've ever had an interaction with. I mean, like, I look at this quite often. I'm going to be honest. I really feel so positive about I and the Girl because it feels very similar to the other books I've given five stars from Courtney Summers. So this is inspired by the Jeffrey Epstein case. A 13 year old girl is found dead. Her sister and another girl team up to bring the killer to justice before he strikes again. But the investigation throws them into a world of unimaginable privilege and wealth without conscience or consequence. And as Ashley's killer closes in, they will discover when money, power, and beauty rule, it might not be a matter of who is guilty but who is guilty-ist. I'm just very excited. I'm just very, very excited. Courtney Summers also says this is a spiritual successor to Sadie in the same universe with a reference that ties both books together thematically. Oh my God, I haven't read that author letter yet. Oh my God, get out. Oh my God, let's, let's deep breaths. So I'm just so excited to read this. I don't think I'm going to read it first because I don't feel quite ready. I think we'll read this second. What we will read first is Switch by A.S. King. This is pretty short, so I'm hoping to start it today and maybe get halfway through. A.S. King is an interesting author because I've always said I either give A.S. King five stars or 2.5. That, I've literally read four books and they've been half and half. Half five stars, half 2.5. But the 2.5s I'm just willing to ignore because the five stars are so five stars. They're so five stars slay. They're so five stars energy, so I'm just like willing to ignore it. Do you know what I mean? So the five stars that I have had from A.S. King, Dick, which I mean is one of the best books ever in my opinion, and please ignore Vena Deets, which is actually another audiobook. How interesting. I don't own that physically. This is about a world where time has stopped and it's kind of intimated that maybe the switch that relates to time is in our protagonist's house, which her dad has been covering up by progressively larger boxes. It's very strange. I think this is going to be some of the strangest A.S. King I've read so far. It's one of the lower rated books on my TBR when I did my lowest rated vlog. Recently it was like, I think the fifth or sixth lowest rated. So this could go either way. I mean, if anyone's going to love Weird from A.S. King, it's me, but we'll see. I mean, we'll see. And then the final book we're going to be reading, which I'm so excited to get to, is King of Scars by Lee Bardugo. So Lee Bardugo is another one I've read a lot of books from. I've read, obviously, the Shadow and Bone trilogy, which I did not love, but it's early days. I'm willing to forgive. Six of Crows, I gave a 4.5. Crooked Kingdom, I gave a 5. And Ninth House, I gave a 5. So it seems to be the trend that the more recent a Lee Bardugo, the higher rating I give it. So that is a positive. But I am nervous because this follows some characters from Shadow and Bone. So again, this could go either way. I wanted to align more with Crooked Kingdom vibes than Shadow and Bone vibes. But I'm feeling positive. So these are the three authors who are fighting it. They're fighting to the nail. They're battling it out to become one of my favorite authors. I would love at least one of these to enter the Hall of Fame in this video. That's the aim. That's the aim of the game. I think the best bit is Caught in Summers. If I'm honest, these two are a little bit more risky. So we're going to leave Caught in Summers for a second. Because I'm just like, I'm not quite ready. Not quite ready to read that yet. But we're going to start Switch today and hopefully we're going to fall in love with it. Focus on me. Okay. I am halfway through Switch. This book is crazy. It's crazy. It's crazy. I'm like, this is crazy. This is one of the weirdest books I've ever read. AS King not saying something, right? Because AS King, you expect weird. But this is bizarre. Look forward to craziness, kookiness, outlandishness, hoopla, loud, weird, frantic. Everything crazy. Crazy, crazy, crazy. So time has stopped. Time like no longer exists. Clock watches no longer exist. Our main character Truda and her friends are like, you know, all the kids in school are tasked with trying to find a solution to time, essentially. That's one part of the story. Another part of the story is there's a switch in her house that her dad keeps building boxes around and they all live in the boxes. Like she lives in like box number nine or something. And like she's got a crowbar and she's trying to take all the nails out of the boxes that he makes, okay? Then, oh, what is it, what is it she throws? I can't remember what is it she throws, a javelin. Yeah, turns out she can like throw a javelin longer than anyone else in the world, right? She's like the best javelin thrower to ever exist. This is getting weird. And the book is told in this very strange way where there's like chapters, but then there's like short sections within the chapters. Let me find an example where there's quite a few on the page. So there'll be like little sections with headers on them. And the way that it's told is there's lots of slashes. So it'll be like makes no sense slash I'm fine slash usually wears big sweatshirts. Like it's very, it's very strange. But you know, that style of writing is not something I've ever read from before. There's lots of slashes where like the sentence will start and then there'll be lots of alternate endings to the sentence and that makes sense. And that's not something I've ever read from before, but I think I've gotten used to it fairly quickly, which is very strange. And I still, I mean, I'm halfway through it. I'm 115 pages in and I still don't really know what I think of it. I haven't made my mind up yet. I don't think it's going to keep the, if I had to put it now, the pattern of A.S. King's books, either being 2.5 stars or five stars. At the moment, I probably actually give it a four. But even then, I'm like, is it a two? It's such a strange reading experience. It's unlike anything I've read from before. Like you're kind of confused, you're detached from the characters, but it's like, you know, got a lot of interesting ideas about loneliness, about human connection, about human nature that I feel like a lot of these ideas have come from the pandemic and everyone going through the pandemic. I feel like time stopping is an analogy for what happened at the start of COVID. I feel like that's where this book has come from. I don't know how to describe this to you guys. It's not at all how I'm feeling about it. It's so weird. There's a lot of trauma, I would say. It's because, well, be careful. I think there's suggestions of child abuse, SA. There's a lot of different kind of hinting at stuff. Nothing is really said overtly, but it's doing something different and something exciting, and I like that. But definitely don't know what I think of it yet. So I'm going to go read the second half and I'll update you when I finished it. Okay, so I have finished Switch. And I'm going to give this four stars. I really enjoyed it, but I just feel like no one around me is experiencing this in the same way as me. For some reason- It's such a difficult book to talk about because it's weird, like it's crazy. It's a very strange book. This is an interesting four stars because it's broken the mold, A, of me giving AS King five stars or 2.5 stars. We've got a different rating, but this is interesting because I can't picture anyone giving this five stars. I really can't. Like I can't picture someone reading this and going, oh that's going to be a five star book. But I can picture someone reading it and it being a one star, which then makes no sense as to why I'm giving it a four star. But I enjoyed it. I really got used to the writing style very quickly. I almost just dropped the book. Reading AS King is always a wild time. I think this is the weirdest book I've read so far this year. I haven't read a lot of weird books this year, but like AS King, girl, let me just put you down a bit. You're a little bit high up. By the way, I had COVID about a month ago. I've spoken to my patrons about this, but I don't think I've spoken about it on here. It looks like it's given me like exercise induced asthma or like now I'm even getting wheezing, like not even just after exercise. It's been a past couple of weeks. It's been a whole thing. So I've gotten a halo now, but yeah, it's not fun. So if I'm sounding strange talking, that's why it's because I'm struggling to breathe as much. Yeah, AS King's always a wild ride, and I always find it difficult to talk about because honestly, what was this book? Like, I don't really know. You know, it's a book about trauma, about the trauma that this family's been through and how that manifests. It very much is about the pandemic. I can picture the writing style just being a complete turnoff. Like I can picture people DNFing just because of the writing, but just give it a go. Get used to it. You know, dip your tongue in. I feel like AS King always makes me think, and this book made me think in a way that I haven't thought. Like the year of just realizing stuff, and everyone around me were all just like realizing things. There's a lot of interesting familiar dynamics in this. The idea of time stopping, the boxes around the house, her being able to break the javelin world through, like being able, like a javelin genius. I don't know. There's a lot of interesting parts of it, and you know, it's not my favorite AS King ever. It perhaps is more like a 3.5, but I'm going to give it a 4, because you know what? I admire AS King for going out there and doing something. Do you know what I mean? Like doing something different. I've never read anything like this in my life. I admire her for doing that, you know? Much rather have this than like a bog stand in YA that's not interesting and like not original and not different, and I'm knocking the tripod boing. So I want to encourage the weirdness. I never want AS King to get less weird. I want it to keep getting more weird. Dig was the highlight, right? Dig is the best thing I've ever heard from AS King and was that outstanding? This was good. Perhaps more of a 3.5, but I'm going to give it a 4. I think it tackles some interesting topics, but AS King has not solidified herself as one of my favorite authors. Unfortunately AS King, you have not qualified out of the qualifiers. You're out. Ding, ding, ding. So yeah, I don't know who I'd recommend this to. If you've maybe enjoyed Dig, maybe, but even then I can picture someone giving Dig 5 stars and giving this one star. I think if you're going to pick this up, know you're taking a risk, right? Know that you kind of got a big chance of giving it one star. And just let yourself be taken along for the ride. So I wouldn't necessarily recommend this to everyone. If I was to recommend you to be introduced to AS King, it would either be please ignore Vera Dietz or Dig. I didn't like Ask the Passengers and I didn't like Reality Boy. So they're the two I gave 2.5. The other two I gave 5. This for maybe a 3.5, but I admire the difference. So let's go ahead and start Book 2. So Book 2, just I actually feel sick. I've been putting this off, right? This took me a week to read because I like don't want to read this. Because it feels so monumentous and at the same time there's nothing I want to do more in the world than read this. How does that co-exist? I don't know. Like I want to read it so bad and that you've been like fantasizing. I've been dreaming off of my hair like romanticizing my life reading this book. And at the same time I can't do it. I can't do it. My heart is saying no. Well I have no choice. I have no choice. But I'm very excited, you know. It's been pitched as like a sister book to Sadie, which a lot of people loved. So Corny Summers, I'm trusting you and I'm hoping it's going to be 5 stars. And Corny Summers is not only going to get into the favorite authors all of fame, but like Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame, all stars where I've read 3 books and they're all 5 stars. I'm reading another Corny Summers this weekend after this vlog. So I mean she's got another chance this weekend if this isn't a 5 stars to get another 5 stars. But I feel like she's going to get it with this. It honestly is my most anticipated book of the year. My most anticipated book of the year. So I'm going to hunker down, take my makeup off. I'm going to go do some yoga. I got crazy out of my life. I'm so happy. I swear. I swear. I've been doing yoga. And I will see you probably when I've read like the first 100 pages. I'll probably check in every 100 pages or so with this. It's too hot to close the windows. If you hear the cars driving past, it's ambient noise, girlies. Okay, I am 100 pages into I'm The Girl. And I don't want to talk to you. Here's the thing, right? I think I, did I mention yesterday about my chest? Yeah, it ain't fun. So today I've been anxious for no reason because my breathing has been difficult. And I feel like, like mentally, I know I'm getting a good place. I'm not anxious. But when you can't breathe and like you're wheezing, like it's made me think anxious stuff and feel very anxious all day. So we'll try and get out of that. And then because I've been feeling anxious, I've been trying to read this because I've literally scheduled the whole day for me to read this. And I'm like, oh, it's not the perfect time. It's not the perfect time to read this. I'm doing the book of disservice and I'm getting more and more stressed out. Take a deep breath, calm down. So frankly, I think I'm just placing too much pressure on it. And I need to chill the fuck out. I'm going out in like an hour, 45 minutes. So I'm going to do some work until then, go out and then come back and read. And hopefully we'll be a better vibe. I'm going to just take you up a bit. Okay. So 100 pages in, let's tell you the plot. We've got our main character called Georgia who at the opening of a book is having what seems like nude photographs of herself taken by this much older man. And it seems very strange and abusive and terrible and whatever. But she's like happy, happy this is happening. You know, like this is, she believes her decision. We don't really know what's happening or why this is happening or whatever. But she's then cycling to this place and she gets hit by a car and afterwards finds the body of a young 13-year-old girl from the town. It's a lot about her wanting to work at this place called Aspera, which is like this big holiday vacation spot for the rich, rich, rich, rich. And she wants to be an Aspera girl who are basically beautiful girls who are hired to care to the every whim of the people at this resort. And like, I'm not sure if it's gonna be, if it's gonna go down that route. The rule of thinking is it's being framed that they're like waitresses, you know, beautiful girls to have around the place. I don't know if it's gonna go down that route. I imagine it is, but the moment it's being suggested that that's not it, but it's kind of being suggested that it is that as well. And at the same time, we've got the sister of the girl who was murdered trying to get Georgia to help her to find out what's going on. And the body was found near this place called Aspera, was found like on the road there. That Georgia's an interesting main character to read from because she's keeping a lot of secrets from us, right? And stuff has happened with her mum who is now dead with Aspera. She used to work there as a cleaner. The true nature of Aspera, the true nature of what was happening with the photographs, the what we believe has happened to the young girl who was killed. And everything just feels like it feels really different to Sadie or the main character, I can't remember her name, from the project as a perspective to read from because she's kind of, she keeps her cards close to her chest. I don't know if I'm 100% into it yet. It's really good. I'm enjoying it. It's gonna be heavy. I know it's gonna be very difficult to talk about and discuss like all of Courtney Summers books are. I get the sense this is gonna be like one of the, in terms of stuff happening on page, I mean awful stuff happened in Sadie and the project too, but in terms of stuff happening on page, one of the heaviest ones to read. If it like is a five star, you know, it's gonna be a five star that's difficult to talk about and to just widely recommend to everyone because it is gonna be about difficult subject matters. Georgia like wants to be seen as beautiful and she like really enjoys being seen as perfect and beautiful. And it's just, there's a lot of interesting layers to her character that I haven't quite figured out yet and haven't quite figured out how to like view it myself. Like what's my opinion on her as a character and the things that she believes. And like I said, like Sadie, I feel like a lot of awful stuff happens, but it's kind of, you know, suggested that and there's the podcast element and a lot of stuff is filtered through that. So you're kind of hearing stuff through the podcast which is removes, you know, it's a degree of separation. Whereas I think this one is gonna be an even more uncomfortable read and stuff happening on page to children essentially. And you know, I think it's a necessary book to kind of bring stuff. I mean, I don't even, nothing has really happened on page yet. It's just where I'm anticipating the book's gonna go. It says it's inspired by the Jeffrey Epstein case. And I think it's important books are written about this to make this stuff a reality, not just like some foreign concept that is easy for people to, with a lot of stuff in life, if it's not put in front of your face, people can ignore stuff that's important. But it's gonna be a heavy read. I know that already. So I'm terribly fearful of where this book is gonna go and what's gonna happen to these characters. And I already feel this level of protection to them. Like I feel with a lot of Courtney Summers books. I don't know how I feel about it yet completely. Not bad. Like it's not gonna be bad. It's gonna be like a four star at least, but thematically and prediction-wise of what's gonna happen. I def, I don't know how I feel. I am now on page 224. I got to the end of part one and just began part two. I'm definitely more into it now. It's a difficult read. Like I don't really want to think it's not a difficult read. I think the project was class and adult book. This is YA or following, you know, 16, 13 year old girls in some cases. It's more over than Sadie was. And it's like, it's very difficult to read. And I feel very worried for where it's gonna go the last bit. There's even just something about like, looking at the Courtney Summers font. Do you know what I mean? Like looking at this, I'm like, oh yeah, I'm back to Courtney Summers. We're back and we're ready for it all over again. There is crossovers with Sadie in this. There's already been one. I feel like there may be like another one, but there is a crossover with Sadie already that makes Sadie even sadder. And if you've read Sadie, you're like, how is that possible? But it turns out it's even more depressing. So these exist in the same world as one another. So I think if you did love Sadie, give this a go. If you didn't love the project, give this a go. I don't think I'm loving it quite as much. I don't think it's gonna be a five star. The thing with this video, of course I was hoping for them all to be five stars, but I felt the best about this one. And I kind of didn't think Switch and King of Skulls would be or were like way less likely to be. Of course I was hoping for it. And of course they're like, part of me thinks it's likely because they're authors that I love. But this was one that I was most certain on that it was gonna be a five star. And unless, I mean, it could like pull out the stops and like I have given five stars to books when they've really like the last third has been, you know. So it's not at their own possibility about the moment it is a four. And I don't want it to sound like I'm disappointed. Well, I am a bit disappointed, but it is a great book. Callie Time is such an interesting author. Ah, such an interesting author. Something that's so interesting about this book and her writing is she often writes in ways where like characters' emotions aren't always opaque. We often read, in all of her books, read the lies that the characters tell themselves without necessarily always being told what's a lie and what's not. Like we read their internal reassurances and monologues that they give themselves. And we don't know what's really the core until we read on a bit and kind of pill back like an onion, the layers of the character. Very strange. You know, I think this book is a... If you're going to write a book inspired by Jeffrey Epstein and the abuse of power and the abuse of young girls, something that I think this book does well, right, is when you're 16, you think you know it all, right? You think you're an adult. You think you are on the same level as the adults around you, but you're not. And this book is doing a good job of showing that where Georgia thinks like, I'm in control of this situation. I am in control of what is happening to me. But she's surrounded by adults who are doing things who they shouldn't be doing. And thus, the path that... It really shows the power imbalance in a very interesting way. And a way that I think is realistic to some people's stories who have gone through some of the things. Not to everyone's. I don't think that's... I'm not saying that's the same for everyone. But, you know, as someone who was 16 and thought she knew everything and thought she was an adult and now looks back on that and goes, you were a kid, you know? You don't necessarily realise that when you're in that situation. And so I feel like I can relate to the characters in that regard. So, yeah, I'm hoping I'm going to finish this tonight. I've got like 110 pages left and I'm reading this so fast. I've read all of this pretty much today. It's really readable even though it's unsettling and painful at the same time. Right, morning. It is morning. I haven't gotten ready for the day yet or anything. But I just finished this maybe 15 minutes ago and I wanted to speak to you straight away with my thoughts straight away. Immediately when I finished this, like the moment I finished it, I was like, oh, that was horrible. I hated that. I hated that. Like my initial reaction, finishing it. Because I think I read the last 80 pages in like one go was like, I hated it. I hated it. Get that fire ricksector. I'm off. You know, I didn't hate the book. I hated the experience of reading that. But I mean, that is the reaction that I think Courtney Summers wants. So once I had like a few minutes sit in my thoughts, you know, I do respect this book for how bold and unflinching and a brave story it is to tell. But like I don't think anyone ever is going to read this book and say, well, that was fun. I enjoyed that. Like I can't imagine people saying they enjoyed it. Like it's not, it's not an enjoyable reading experience. I mean, of course for me, it's enjoyable in terms of I love Courtney Summers writing. But this for me was by far the most difficult to read out of all of her books so far. I mean, I was hooked. I read it literally yesterday and this morning. I couldn't put it down, right? But I didn't enjoy it. Which is the point. But I feel like at least initially maybe over time I will give it a five star, but right now I'm giving it a four star. Now I feel like in what it, in how bold it is and brave and how like I said, unflinching it is like holding this magnifying glass up to the shit that happens in our world and does happen. And there's a line at the end that I won't spoil anything, but it's like every night is like this, right? This happens everywhere in our world all the time. The stuff that this book is talking about. But it's like every other five star I've ever read, I've been like, oh, I'm loving this, right? I'm loving the experience reading this. I did not love reading this. Usually with Courtney Summers, I'm like trying to force everyone to read it. I don't think I can widely recommend this because I think it's such a difficult book to read. You know, if you think you're able to read it, I would recommend you read it, but it's hard. It's really, really hard and it's depressing and it's difficult. I mean, I know Courtney Summers just does this to me all the time, but yeah, you know, be warned. There's triggers for essay, child essay, basically anything that you could imagine there being a trigger warning for in a book that is pitched as being inspired by the case of Jeffrey Epstein. Oh, I don't want to spoil anything, right? But it's such a hard look at innocence being lost. I've read some reviews that don't like George as a character and she's a, I mean, it's a difficult, it's so difficult to read her perspective when she has a dream and she has this perception of the world that is wrong and you know it's wrong and it's so, like it's so hard to read it. I didn't cry with this book. I've cried with all the other Courtney Summers like a lot. Like they've made me sob, sob, sob. I didn't cry with this. I just felt like hollow. I just felt very depressed. But yeah, getting back, I don't think the critiques of Georgia are valid because she's a child and that's the whole point of this book. It's queer. I haven't mentioned that. It's queer. She has a romance with another girl in it, but her relationship with like the male gaze and her deep desire to feel beautiful and what she'll do to feel validated in her beauty is just like, Courtney Summers really makes me think. See the more I'm talking about it, I'm like, I should give it five star, but I never had that feeling when reading it because I found it so hard. And I will say I wish the ending had happened a bit earlier, the kind of reveal of what is happening. That happened in the like last, just 20 pages, 20 to 30 pages and I would have liked that to happen a bit earlier. I understand why it happens at the end, but it made me feel a little bit unresolved. So we're giving it four stars, but even if, say Leigh Bardugo, our last one, gets the five star and gets to qualify as a favorite author, which obviously Courtney Summers hasn't gotten, I still view Courtney Summers as a favorite author with this. I could become a five-year-old time, but it was just like horrible. It was like, I hated it. I hated reading it, but I admire everything about it and I can, you know, I've done nothing but compliment it, but like the reading experience was not something I enjoyed necessarily. But yeah, even if Leigh Bardugo gets a five star and like gets inducted into the Hall of Fame, I've given Leigh Bardugo two five stars at this point, a four star, a three star, a two star, and then I think a 1.5 star. So like, Courtney Summers average rating is still gonna be higher with a five star, a five star and a four star, you know? And Courtney Summers has another, another chance actually. The next vlog you're gonna see from me is my 24 hour readathon, which I'm doing this weekend with my patrons. I'm gonna read Cracked Up to Be this weekend. So she has another chance lined up to qualify for a favourite author. So watch that vlog next when it comes out to see if she does it. I don't know if I really wanna do this myself and read to Courtney Summers so close to another. That my soul can take that. They put me through purgatory. They put me through hell on this earth. I'm gonna go get ready. I've got the King of Scars audiobook. I tend to like the Grouchoverse audiobooks a lot. So I am gonna go start that and I will check in with you once I've got a fair way into it. Okay. This is our last chance. This is our last shot at an author getting to be one of my favourite authors of all time. I am about 140 pages into King of Scars. And I'm really enjoying it. I'm really enjoying it. I love good news. Love good news. I just love good news. Now this is a difficult one to talk about. It's basically just gonna be just vibes what we're discussing. Because obviously we're following some characters in the Shadow and Bone trilogy, a character from Six of Crows. So yeah, I can't really discuss what's happening in terms of the plot at all. I'll just tell you because I feel like everyone knows we're following Nikolai and Zoya, Zoya's perspectives from The Shadow and Bone trilogy and we're following Nina from Six of Crows. I'm not gonna say anything I didn't know before reading Shadow and Bone. Like I knew that before I read that trilogy. Do you know what I mean? Here's the thing. I am enjoying it. I am really, really enjoying it, but I have a lot of thoughts. I didn't love the Shadow and Bone trilogy. I think I gave it three stars, maybe another three and then like a two. I can't remember. They're two and a 1.5? I don't know. But I didn't love it. Whereas obviously Six of Crows and Quick Kingdom, I gave a four and a five. So I have a much bigger affinity towards Nina and her storyline. I really care, that's what I care about. I don't care as much about Nikolai and Zoya's storylines. Their storyline is taking very much, taking place very much in locations from the original trilogy with characters from the original trilogy who I like. You know, I like them fine, but I don't feel any emotional connection to them like I would if like we had Six of Crows back again. But as much as Nina's storyline is the one that I'm most interested in, is the one that I care about, I almost think her story should have been left where it was. Well, here's the tea. Her ending, her ending to Crows and Quick Kingdom, the way that her storyline wrapped up, I think it's better for the emotional impact to leave it there. I don't know. I mean, I'm enjoying reading about it, but I'm like, and the thing is, this is like Nikolai's story, but I just kind of care more about Nina's stuff. I don't care as much about Nikolai's story. But yeah, I'm enjoying it. All I have to say, I'm having a really fun time. The audiobook is great. The first 40 pages in like, I thought we were five star. Now it's like kind of a four star. I almost don't want it to be a four star because then we've had all four stars. I like a bit of light and shade in vlogs and it's all in four stars. I mean, I'd rather like these books or not like them, but give me a bit of something different. Yeah, it's fitting more like a four star now, but the start was five star. I really loved the way that it's open. I was just listening to audiobook. It was great. I will say it's already made me cry. It's already made me cry. The last chapter before I'm checking in with you, whoa, I would have been sobbing if I hadn't just put on my makeup. Like, I'm like, we've literally just done this. We can't cry. But I would have been sobbing. Oh my God. Liberty Girl is good at making me cry. Wow. I found that very emotionally manipulative. I'm very intrigued reading this. Although I am excited to read this geology. I'm like, you know, I know it's not going to be as good as Six of Crows in Crick Kingdom. I don't think, but this makes me so excited to see where Liberty Girl is going to go next. I can't predict where she'll go next with the Grishaverse. I'm like thinking, would she go back to old characters where we follow some of the Six of Crows gang or would it be entirely new characters? Very interesting. Anyway, I'm going to read some more and I'll check in with you in a bit. Morning. Good morning. Let's chat and do our skincare together. It's going to be pages in. I think like three, two, five. Yeah, three, two, five pages in. Read that. Got that enough to read. And... Tell you what, they quite... Okay, I'm feeling weird right now. I'm feeling like so weird. I don't want it to come across like I'm not enjoying the reading experience. I am. Like I... I am. But I'm like struggling to view this as canon. Like it feels like fanfic. Do you know what I, I don't, I don't get it. Like it doesn't feel, I don't feel like this is where the Grishaverse, I don't know, should have gone. I don't know. I'm kind of like, let's leave the past in the past. Which I know it's tough to do because obviously the characters, like especially Nicoline, people like that, very important in this world. But I'm like, I want us to go explore somewhere else, you know, with new characters. You know, I've realized I came to this realization when I finished, I finished reading, I got to that point last night. And I was like, huh. It's still, it's still storyline. It's still timeline. This is where my blood starts to boil. Boil. So it's two different stories that are happening. And I'm not the biggest fan of that. I just feel like, right, she wanted to write a book about Nicolai. Miss Leigh Bardugo wanted to write a book about Nicolai. I don't feel any kind of attachment to Nicolai. Like I think a lot of people do because I just didn't love the books that he was in. But he's a fun character. Like I get it. She wanted to write a book about Nicolai but the Nicolai storyline is not strong enough to hold a book on its own. So she added in this Nina storyline, which is not strong enough to hold a book on its own. So this is what happens with dual storylines. If you're going to have these two different stories going on, they both have to be interesting enough to hold a whole book, to act as if they're the entire book. So that when I'm going back and forth between them, I can't wait to get back to the other one. Barely anyone who does dual storyline achieves this, like for me. There's only a few like The Broken Girls by Simone St. James. I felt like each held their own. I can't think of many others. This is why I don't like it. I like dual perspective, like Six of Crows and Cookie Kingdom, but where we're following the same story, you know? I feel like dual storylines are to cover up the fact that they're both not strong enough to hold a story on their own. It's a conspiracy theory that I'm actually interested in. And I do feel like I wish... I wish this wasn't how we were continuing Nina's story. Again, it's the thing I find most interesting, but I don't know. This just doesn't feel right to me. This just doesn't feel... I mean, I'm enjoying it, right? I'm having a good time reading it, but like I'm... Where are the other two books? I read them really fast and I was like into it. I am kind of having to make myself read this. Listen, Miss Lee Bardugo's in her feminist era, it seems like, with some of the Nina storylines. She's like, let me give you, you know, feminism. Let me give you feminism. I... I don't know, guys. I don't know. I don't know, but it feels like fan fiction to me. Like, not in terms of the writing, it's Lee Bardugo writing, which I love, but it's very slow and it just feels like the plot doesn't feel real to me. Like, it doesn't... It doesn't... I'm not buying into the fantasy. You've got to buy... Like, you know, I've got to buy into your fantasy and I'm not buying into the fantasy. It feels like a plot that a fan would come up with and write versus Miss Lee Bardugo herself, but I mean, I'm still enjoying it. I'm going to finish it today. The audiobook's good, but I'm not in love. So I don't think we're going to get another author qualifying of this read. I really wanted to get at least one of these authors to qualify as new favourite, but it doesn't look like that's going to be happening. I think we'll have to wait for Hellbent to come out, which I think I probably would give a five-star love night to house so much. I think we'll have to wait for that to come out from Miss Lee Bardugo to join the ranks of favourite authors. Okay, last night I finished King of Scars and I'm giving it a 3.5. I'm giving it a 3.5. Sorry, everyone. I just tell a lot of this as much as I wanted to, right? Okay, so here's a couple of things. I don't have many more thoughts. I think the main problem is I just don't care for the Shadow and Bone trilogy world and characters like I think some people do and like the setting. I'm just like not really interested in it. And I'm like, Lee, either give me a lot of the crows back together, like not just one in a story or write something new. I will say I liked a few things that happened at the ending. There's a big reveal right at the end that I liked, but I think that's because I like a bit of drama and I don't love the original trilogy as much. I saw the drama, Mick. I just love it. I can see how people will be pissed off with the ending and like really not like it. I was like, you know, a little bit of drama. Makes me want to read the next book. Little bit of like high drama, you know? And I think as well is the thing that let us down for me was not caring as much about like Nikolai and Zoya. I will say I love Zoya a lot more now. Zoya I really root for, but I just don't care about that situation as much and the dual timeline, right? I still stand by my word. These two stories really that we follow not strong enough to hold a book on their own. So that's why they're plonked together with little or no correlation. If you're going to have a dual timeline as well, I want them to harken back to one another. I feel like this book does Nina a disservice. I don't like where Nina's story goes in this. Of course I enjoyed being with her, but I just like, I feel like, what can I say? That's one of the things. So much happened in Crooked Kingdom, right? And I just feel like Nina, if you're going to write about her, either never write about her again and just leave Crooked Kingdom where Crooked Kingdom ends or give her her own book. Like her character development that I want from her, I don't want to happen when she's sharing a book. And I feel like it meant that certain parts of her character development were very rushed towards the end of this book. And I'm not a fan of where it's going. So that kind of pissed me off. I will say I had an enjoyable reading experience. Like I had fun reading it and I love Li Bardugo's writing. She can write. The writing in this is a lot better than the Shadow of Boring trilogy. So it made me like that a bit more. It made me like it a bit more. So there are pros to it and I will read all of Wolves and I will like it and I will continue on with whatever the Grishaverse is. But Li, I really think we should write either new characters or give me more of the crows. I'm not, I don't care about a lot of these people. So there we have it. That is the end of this vlog. And unfortunately, none of our authors qualified to be my favorite authors, which is not the result I wanted from this vlog. I wanted at least one. I was like, is that too much to ask? Apparently so. So none of them have qualified. Courtney Summers has an extra go today for me. I'm going to read another Courtney Summers today. So she has another chance to be inducted into a Hall of Fame. But yeah, no new favorite authors from this list. Now I view them all as favorite authors in some sense of the word, but like you really qualify when you get the three five stars. And unfortunately, none of them have got there. So let me know what you thought of any of these books. Let me know what you thought of any of the other books I've read from these authors. I would love to know. Let me know who your favorite authors are. I would love to know who your favorite authors are, what authors you've given the most five stars to. And if you've gotten to the end of this video, is there a dragon emoji? I think we've done that recently. But if there is, comment the dragon emoji down below. Make sure you subscribe, like the video. All of that helps me out so, so much. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you very soon in the video. Bye.