 Genre. Now, this is surprising to me. This is surprising. Surprise, bitch. I bet you thought you'd seen the last to me. Hi, everyone. Welcome back to my channel. I hope you are well. Today we're doing a very exciting video. We're going to be doing my quarterly wrap-up. So I don't do monthly wrap-ups just because I feel like I vlog pretty much every week, doing themed vlogs. And so, like, you've seen everything I've read. So why would you care? I'm here to tell you right now. We don't care. Let me tell you. Let me tell you. We don't care. I like the idea of doing quarterly wrap-ups where we go through, like, the statistics of what I've read, particularly, and then kind of go through maybe the worst and best books I've read. So this is what I'm going to be doing every quarter. Sadly, I don't have the books I've read with me because they're all back at home on my bookshelves. So this is my TBR instead. I think I probably should have, like, bulked them up a bit, you know, put them on something that they reached here because there's all this wasted space. And I gotta confess something. I let the slide down a bit. I didn't properly track my reading this month. Like I said, in my Girls of the Year I was going to. But yeah, I want to track my reading. I've never tracked my reading before. I want to track how many pages I'm reading, how many five stars, four stars, three stars I'm giving out. I want to track the kinds of authors I'm reading. I don't really have a reason. A future quarter of the wrap-ups will have loads more steps to go through. But in this, we kind of just got the basic ones. For those of you that watched my end of year video last year, you'll know that I do kind of like an award where I go through loads of categories and, like, say which book fits that category. But in this wrap-up, we're only going to be doing most disappointing, most surprising, worst, and, like, my top three books. I may be cheating on the top three books, maybe. You can probably guess what I'm going to do already. In the month of January to March, I read a total of 35 books, which is the most I've ever read in three months. Considering I read 80 books last year, and that was like a crazy number to me, to have read almost half of that in just three months is pretty crazy. I would have hit half. I would have hit 40 if I hadn't had, like, a mini reading slump for about, like, two or three weeks in March. I still managed to read quite a lot in March. I think I read loads at the beginning. It would have been my best reading month if I hadn't have had that slump. I'm hoping to make it even more this next quarter because, like, we don't, you know, go backwards. We go forwards in this house. I'll get over your self-love, silly car. Let's get into the star ratings first. So I gave out two one-star books, four two-star books, eight three-star books, 13 four-star books, and nine five-star books. I would say it was a pretty good reading period. I gave out a lot of four stars. Four stars were my biggest, you know, rating. I'd say usually it is going to be like four or three stars, but I tend to rate quite positively, I think. I'm trying to, you know, not rate as positively. I'm trying to be a bit harsh sometimes and be a bit more critical because sometimes I think I just give out the four stars way too easily. Six of those five stars are from two different series. So if I hadn't, did you see how I had to stop myself saying series is there? I always say series is, and then I hate myself for it. Six of those nine are from two different series. If I hadn't have read those series, I feel like it wouldn't have been as great a reading month. I only gave out one one-star, I think, last year and I've already given out two in the first three months. So I think that shows I'm trying to be more critical. Genre. Now this is surprising to me. This is surprising. Surprise, bitch. I bet you thought you'd seen the last to me. I read three sci-fi books, five graphic novels, seven mystery books, two historical fiction, one horror, four nonfiction, seven fantasy, four contemporary, one poetry, and one romance. Here, what surprises me is mystery. So I read quite a lot of thrillers, typically, and I haven't read anything I would class as a thriller in these three months. I know mystery and thriller often group together and it can be a bit like the lines of blood, but literally all of those seven are murder mysteries, agatha Christie style, and so I don't see them as thrillers. I see them as mysteries. I think that number is so high because A, I did a video where I read just murder mystery books and I think I read four books in that video so like that's going to really skew the results and I also listened to quite a few agatha Christie audiobooks. I would say fantasy is probably the genre I read the most. Just because I'm trying to keep up on like what's popular on booktube, I'm pretty eclectic. I think this shows in the genres that I read. I don't typically stick to one genre. The surprise for me there is no thrillers, but all those mysteries. Yeah, I'm just really into murder mysteries at the moment. So if you've got any recommendations for murder mystery books, particularly like modern ones, agatha Christie style, then I'm ready. Format, I read 12 audiobooks, 21 physical books, and two ebooks. So the two ebooks were for my girl of fire and thorns read along that I was participating in. The covers for that, the UK covers are ugly. I was like, I'm not going to buy them. I'm not going to buy them. I could just have them on ebook. And actually the experience of reading it on ebook has been great. I really enjoy reading ebooks. So I'm going to try and do more. Some of those audiobooks, some of those 12 audiobooks, I did have the ebook accessible as well, maybe three of them. But I mainly read them on audiobooks, so I decided to count them there. I do like the majority of my reading to be physical. 60% of my books I read this quarter were physical. I see my physical books as my main TBR and then kind of like audiobooks I usually pick up on a whim, ebooks I usually pick up on a whim. So for me, I see these books as like my main books to get to. And then lastly, we have got kind of like the age group. I read 18 YA, 13 adult and 4 middle grade. So that actually surprised me. I thought I read a much more even split of YA and adult fiction, but over half of the books I read this quarter were YA. I guess a lot of the series that I'm reading at the moment are YA. It does surprise me, but I suppose it makes sense. But I definitely want to read more adult fiction, but again YA is a stuff that I think is more hyped up on Booktube. And so I feel more of a duty to read it. Now let's get into talking about some of the books that I read this quarter. So first, I want to go with the most disappointing book. And I think that would have to be Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. This is obviously one of the most hyped up books. Everyone loves it. And I gave it two stars. I thought I was gonna love it. And then I read it and I didn't like it at all. It was actually kind of the first proper romance book I've read. I want to do a video soon where I read loads of romance books and try and like actually get into the genre because for some reason I just never read romance. Sometimes even when I read fantasy books or you know whatever type of book where there is a romance in it, I'm like not bothered with the romance. Sometimes I am. But most of the time I could take it or leave it. It's not what I'm there for. So if you have any romance recommendations you think I would like, let me know. With this book, and I've seen a few treats about it like recently the past couple of days kind of critiquing this view. This story is a romance between Alex who is the son of the president of the United States and Henry who is the prince of England. And they kind of, it's kind of enemies to lovers but that part really doesn't last very long which was another thing I didn't like. I wanted them to be enemies and have that kind of like frictious, is that a word? Difficult relationship for much longer. It kind of got blown under the carpet very fast. But I also felt like Henry wasn't a real person. And I get that it's meant to be satire and listen, the British ain't shit. Like I am not a big fan of the British royal family. This is from Architect. Would love to see Princess Diana. Like currently, I think that's what they mean. They would love to meet Princess Diana. And I got to say she was the people's princess and I would love to see her too. Probably pick her brain about a lot of things. Hear her, you know, thoughts on things. Unfortunately, I don't know if you have kept up with the news but she did pass quite a while ago. But he was such a caricature that to me he didn't feel like a real person. And I think if the story is entirely a romance where the whole story is depending on the relationship between these two people and one of those people doesn't feel like a real person to me then I can't connect to your romance at all because it feels like you are dating a robot. Do you know what I mean? I think it would have been way more fun for Henry to be kind of like Prince Harry was back in the day, like a party animal rebelling against the royal family. I think that would have been such a cool storyline but instead he was just like talking as if he was from the 18th century which I just don't think is realistic. And I've seen some people say like, oh, you know, that is what the royal family is like. Like don't ignore your colonialist roots. And listen, I ain't ignoring that. At a government and politics A level, I'm very aware. Let me bring up my A level receipts. Excuse me. I'm a genius. But I'm very aware of the kind of awful role the British royal family has played throughout history. But still, if you want me to care about your romance, you have to seem like real people. Yeah, I'm feeling good now, big brother. You can hear my voice. It's a little husky, bit sexy. I would say the most surprising book for me was The Strange Case of the Alchemist Daughter by Theodora Goss. I picked this up in that murder mystery video completely on a whim. I was, you know, scribble limits your reading choices after a certain amount of books you've read. And I was out of all books, like I could not find any murder mystery other than this. And so I just picked it up on a whim. I hadn't heard anything about it. And I loved it. I gave it five stars. We essentially follow Jacqueline Hyde's daughters and the female Frankenstein and loads of women from kind of 18th century literature reimagined with Sherlock and Holmes, trying to solve murder mysteries. And it's just a great time. My favorite thing about this book was that the girls are writing it. And throughout the story, it will break the fourth wall and they'll cut in. And it will be like almost like a scripted dialogue between them trying to change maybe what one of them is writing in the story or reacting to what someone has said in the story. And it just added a whole other layer to these characters and made you feel like you knew them even more. And I just loved it. I thought it was just such a fun book. The audiobook was incredible. I would really recommend the audiobooks for these. I think going forward, I want to own the physical book and listen to the audiobook at the same time just because I love these covers and I want to own them. I might even rebuy the first one. I don't know. I just was not expecting anything. I thought I was going to be a three star. I'm just going to read it for the video, but it was great. And I haven't heard anyone talk about it. Oh, and another thing was that to me, I've read Stalking Jack the Ripper. I haven't read any of the other series, rest of the series. But for me, this was like everything I wanted Stalking Jack the Ripper to be, you know, like having that reference in pop culture set in Victorian England. But this was so much better because you had a full cast of females with so many different attributes, so many different talents. Whereas in Stalking Jack the Ripper would often feel like the main character was like shaming girls that weren't like her or girls that wanted to be really feminine. Whereas in this one, you've kind of got, you know, some girls Mary, Mary Jekyll really wants to kind of adhere to the idea of what a woman should be. Whereas Hyde's daughter is really kind of like all over the place, like like to get in the dirt with the boys kind of thing. And I just like the mix of women that we had on show and how they became like a found family. I just think it's a great book and I can't wait to read the rest of the series. So in terms of the worst book I read this man, I don't think any of us are surprised. It has to be Rebel City of Indra by Kylie and Kendall Jenner. I read this for a video and it was just so bad. It's one of my favourite videos I've ever done. I feel like the video just perfectly captures me wanting to die. So I'll link the video down below if you want to go check it out. It's one of my favourite ones I've ever done. In this we follow, oh god, I don't even want to tell you. I've learned it from my memory but basically twins who are separated birth, one goes and lives like the princess life, one goes and lives underground. The plot is all over the place. And also you only get half the plot because it's like they've split the book in half and there's a sequel. I'm never reading that sequel but this book does not have a beginning, middle and end. It has a beginning and a middle, half a middle. It is one of the worst books I've ever read. It is terrible and I didn't go into that video like ready to hate because I'm not gonna lie. Some part of me, like I still keep up with the Kardashians occasionally. I'm not gonna lie. Not proud of it but it happens. Has anyone got anything to say? And so for my top three books of the year, I did tell you I was gonna cheat. This is technically my top seven books of the year. Of the year? Year so far I guess. We're talking about two series in this because I just couldn't separate them. Don't ask me to. Like, we're just gonna talk about it. I make the rules. I make the rules. The first one I want to mention is the Illuminae series by Amy Coffman and Jay Kristoff. Illuminae was the first book I read this year and I tried to always pick the first book very carefully. Last year The Seek for History, which is actually... Can you see that? Yeah you can. The Seek, why is that on my TV? Last year The Seek for History was the first book I read and it was my favorite book of the year. So I want to keep this trend going and Illuminae was the first book I read this year and I adored it. I just thought this book is incredible. I wish I had vlogged it. I didn't vlog it and I feel like it's such a missed opportunity because that book was so good. I've read all books in series Gemina and Obsidio, other second and third book and I have just loved them all. This is basically a sci-fi series told through mixed media format. So we have drawings, we have diary entries, we have surveillance camera videos, we have online chats and it is just incredible. Like, the pacing of these books is unparalleled. They're like over 600 pages each but you'll read them like they're 200 pages. Like you just fly through it. The characters, the cast of characters that we meet are so good and the storyline is so good and basically it's one big overarching, arching, arching, arching, arching. I don't know. One big plot but we kind of follow different characters in each book because it make up different elements of that plot and it's just so good. Like it's just so good. Apologies if you can hear the bath running, that's Tom, he's having a bath. I always feel so jumped up on adrenaline after I read these books. By the end you're like oh my god, like heavy breathing. The endings these books, like the last 100 pages are always just crazy. Like they are just crazy. They're so fast paced and you feel like anything could happen because each book in the series follows different characters. There isn't that kind of thing where, you know, at the end of a normal series where you know the same characters flow throughout, you're like they're not gonna die, they're fine. Like when they're in peril but any of these characters could go. We could lose any of these characters because we can just kind of go and follow new ones. So the stakes always feel very very high, which is I think difficult to do in a series. And then next would have to be the Heart Stoppographic novel series. I'm so soft. So this is a series about Nick and Charlie meeting and falling in love and we're basically just following their relationship as it goes along. Just the way that Alice Oseman draws facial expressions is just like the cutest thing. I didn't expect to love this as much as I did. I did a video reading graphic novels for the first time. Before this year I'd never read any graphic novels and Heart Stopp is one of the video, one of the videos, one of the books I read in that video. And I just fell in love straight away and I'm now caught up in the series and I want the rest right now. I know she does publish it online before it gets published as a book but for me I just want to read them physically. I want to own them physically. This just relationship is so soft and they care for each other so much and it's just the nicest thing to watch but obviously it's dealing with some difficult topics like figuring out your sexuality, coming out and now in the third one we're starting to deal with topics like eating disorders. So it does cover serious topics but it does so in such a hopeful way and a positive way. Just nothing compares, like nothing compares. I don't know if a graphic novel, like I want to read more graphic novels this year but I don't know if a graphic novel will ever compare to this. Everyone always tells me off for mentioning Heart Stopp in every video but I honestly don't care. Like I honestly don't care. Like if you have not bought it at this point my job is non-existent. Oh shut up! And then my last favourite book, this is actually a single book, I promise, I'm not cheating on this one, would be The Guest List by Lucy Foley. So this is a murder mystery book, Agatha Christie style. It's set on a deserted remote island off the coast of Ireland, the country. The wedding is taking place and we find out on the first chapter that a body has been found at the wedding reception. We don't know who, we don't find out who for a large majority of the book. The book follows multiple perspectives, we follow the plus one, the bride, the bridesmaid, the maid of honour. Everyone has a lot of secrets, everyone has a lot of shit they ain't telling and we find out the secrets as it goes on and then we find out more secrets as it goes on and then ah it's so good and then we find out who's been murdered and then we find out who the killer is and it's just the best thing ever. I thought for a long time that the person who was killed was actually going to be the murderer, I was so off but the pacing in this book, the suspense, the atmosphere she creates on this remote island is just so good. I'm trying to get everyone I know to read this book and you know it's deep, you know it's deep when I saw, I saw it was a book of the month choice and I was like guys if anyone wants you know I'll pay, I'll pay so now I have the book of the month copy coming as well. The guest list, the guest list it's so good, it's so good, god I love this book. It actually hurts being separated by it, my mum is about to read it, she's just finishing off Obsidio, you can tell I should make her read all my five star rated books and then she's going to read the guest list and I just cannot wait, I just cannot wait. My brother's reading Illuminate, my dad's going to read Illuminate after him, my family the best. So there we have it, that was my quarterly wrap up, let me know if you enjoyed this and let me know if there's any specific stats you want me to track throughout the next three months just so I make sure I add them to my spreadsheet. I'm going to be tracking things like what topics are covered, author diversity, stuff like that so let me know if there's anything you want me to track and I will. Other than that thank you very much for watching this video, I hope you enjoyed it and I will see you very very soon with another one, bye!