 This stuff that you've done for me can never be overstated. I'm actually, I'm very angry. I've wasted my life on epic. It just shouldn't be here. It shouldn't be in this category. It shouldn't be on my reading list. It should get out of here. It was a beautiful piece of writing, a beautiful work of art. I'm gonna cry. Can I go put this on the internet? Everyone, it is the most wonderful time of the year. Reading the nominees for the Goodreads Choice Awards Mystery Thriller category. It's time. This is now a video I do every single year where I read the top 10 nominees for the Goodreads Mystery Thriller category of the Goodreads Choice Awards. And I see what I think about that. Because according to Goodreads, these are the top 10 best mystery thriller books of the year. And you know, I often have something to say about that. So I did a video predicting what I thought the top 20 were gonna be back in, I think, October. So we're gonna start the vlog finding out what the top 20 are, reacting to that. And then, yeah, it's pretty self-explanatory. We're gonna read all these books. Usually this video, I've already done it once before. I did it last year. It puts me through it a little bit. It's a lot reading the same genre all in one go. And these books are often choices. There's some choices. We can't trust Goodreads, okay? We all make choices, but that was a choice. They're gonna mess this up somehow, okay? So I'm not gonna talk for long. I'm gonna let you get into this video because I know this is already gonna be a very long vlog. So I'm just gonna shut up and send you back to past Megan finding out what the top 20 of the Goodreads choice was on these are. I'm trying to figure out what will be the top 10 because I don't want to mistakenly read something that only makes top 20. It doesn't make top 10. Okay, let's go. Okay, hi. I'm gonna be saying, Megan, your location looks a bit different than usual. I think I need to lower you a bit. Hang on. Yup, yup, you'd be correct. I'm in Costa Rica. I wasn't planning on filming my reaction to the top 20 of the mystery thriller until I got home, but I can't wait. I can't wait. And if you're wondering, Megan, how are you feeling? I feel absolutely terrible. I feel sick to my stomach. I'm gonna throw up. Like, I don't feel good. I feel sick. I've got migraine. I've got headache. Come on, love. No, forget it. The awards came out last night when I was at dinner. My trip ended yesterday. If you don't know, I had a cover trip here in Costa Rica. The vlog for that will be out. But I was with those two of my other travelers who are still here. We were having dinner and they were looking and they were making facial expressions. So we're gonna see what has been nominated for mystery thriller. Now, if you've been here a while, you will know that I did a predictions video. Here is my prediction for the top 20. I do not think I will be correct. I said this in the video. There's always some surprises. Good rules like to shock ya and put ones in that make absolutely zero sense. But I said in the video, I think I'll have definitely gotten 10 and I may have gotten 15. So I think my correct ratio will be somewhere between 10 and 15 is what we're aiming for. Probably for realistic closer to the 10. Right, let's start screen recording. This is, I'm not ready. I don't, I've never wanted to see anything less in my life. Right, mystery thriller. Oh, okay, okay. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, okay. Oh my God. I've never heard of that in my life. How have I not heard of that? It's got quite a lot of ratings, but I don't remember that being on anyone's predictions. Bloody hell. Maybe, okay, I think this is maybe kingdom limited because it's the fans of Frieda McFadden. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Moving on. All those bleed and all the dangerous things were on my prediction. So that's two we've got that are correct. They're on my predictions. The villa and kicking myself, I thought about it. I actually think I cut out of the video, the part where I'm even debating and putting it on. I should've just put it on because reckless girls wasn't nominated. And I felt like I'd heard more people talk about reckless girls. Okay, so we've got two that I was correct about and two that I did not predict. Who's that? Oh, we remember. Historical fiction, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out. Get out, get out. It's got a full point for my rating, but get out. Get out. Right, I don't think, I'm just gonna ignore that, I'm sure that doesn't exist, because I don't think that'll make a top 10. And I'm only trying to read the top 10. None of this is true by the sigil prediction. I think that might win. The leftover woman, I did not predict that. That's only got 4,000 ratings. This is what I'm talking about. Good reason I have to put ones on here that make zero cents. Like zero cents. There's like so many books with a higher average, higher rating than this with more rings than this. But also I'm glad they've put, you know, a non-white author on the list. Because mystery tonight is very white. And then I have some questions for you, I predicted. So again, we're getting 50-50 here, which was my initial goal. Was at least 50%. Okay, okay, okay, next one. Oh, okay, okay, okay, okay. That's, there's no Rich Rosman yet. Right, good or bad girl, they better not make top 10. It's not gonna make top 10. I'm not allowing it to make top 10. But that was predicted. What lies in the woods I predicted. The only one left I predicted. Happiness falls, I almost put on there. But I thought it was gonna go under fiction. I thought it lent more literary fiction from what I've heard about it. So I didn't put it on here. I thought it was gonna go under fiction. But okay, I can deal with that. I've heard the things. So we're doing all right. Next one. Okay, the maid's diary I predicted. The housemaid's secret I predicted. I hope it doesn't make top 10. I think it will though. I think I'm gonna have to read the housemaid and the housemaid's secret, bloody hell. Honey, you've got a big storm coming. Karen Slaughter after that night. I should have thought of that. I think of Karen Slaughter as more horror. But maybe, yeah, this seems like it's more of a mystery thriller. Number 11 in the series. Okay, we're hoping that doesn't make top 10. And then Vera wants this advice from her, just I predicted. And I'm happy about that. I think that should make top 10. Oh, you are having a big, oh, you are having a giggle. You're having a double giggle. You are having a double, okay. Homecoming I thought was gonna go on to historical fiction because I think of Kate Morton as more of a historical fiction author. It's a historical fiction, no, absolutely not. Richard Ellsman, last episode. Thank fuck, it's gonna happen. Sorry, my shit out the window. Okay, last episode I dominated. They've put another freedom McFadden. Now that could work in my favor because her vote will be split. So we've got two freedom McFaddens, but her vote being split may mean that neither makes it to the top 10. Now that might not be correct. I'm surprised they've wasted two spaces on freedom McFadden, if I'm honest. And bright young women I thought about, I own bright young women, but it only had 19,000 ratings, so I didn't think it'd be on there. Is that it? Oh, my God, okay. Oh my God, wait, okay. So on my top 10, zero days isn't nominated. Who's the where isn't nominated? Oh my God. Gagatrandra. Holly will probably be in horror. That was 50-50, that's fine. And Harlan Coban isn't nominated. And then my bottom ones, that was always more tricky. The only survivors isn't nominated. The last word isn't nominated. Why the fuck have they put two freedom McFaddens in and two historical fictions in? Furious. Why? Why, why, why, why, why? Why have they done that? Why have they done that? Why have they done that? The zombie isn't nominated. Everyone on this train as a suspect couldn't be because they got the dates wrong. It doesn't come out in America until next year. But everyone in my family has killed someone, whatever the correct title that is, could have been nominated. I can't believe that hasn't been nominated. Age of Vice hasn't been nominated and the Whispers, but Ashley O'Drayne hasn't been nominated. For me, it was the Whispers or Angie Kim. I kind of viewed them the same, was gonna be nominated. So how many did I get right? Okay, I got 11 right. That's not terrible. Almost none of the ones that are on here that I didn't predict do I want to read. Homecoming can get gone. The River River remember can get gone. Your historical fiction, get out of here. Don't let her stay, does not excite me in the slightest. The other, I'm not reading two freedomic fathoms, get gone. Brightening women, I'd be excited to read. Karen's thought I'd be excited to read. Happiness fools, I'd be excited to read. Why didn't predict. The leftover women, I'd be excited to read. The villa, I'd be excited to read. Okay, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's. I am gonna start with the ones that I know are definitely gonna make it like Richard Osman, that anyone left. In fact, I always cast my vote for the top 20 here. So we're voting for Richard Osman and the last ever to die. We've done that, okay? Cause I really want that to make top 10. It's not terrible, but it doesn't, it doesn't fill me with joy, you know? There's a few in here that I think the fucking two historical fictions, like you've got a historical fiction category, get out of here. You know what I mean? Get out of here. Anyways, let's go start reading, shall we? I feel like I'm gonna, okay, all right. Much excitement going through my body. I'm gonna go read. Take a deep breath, calm down. I'm halfway through. None of this is true by Lisa Jewell. I'm loving it. It's five star potential. I am, I'm having so much fun. I'm not gonna have as much excitement for every book. But guys, I'm loving it. Halfway through. Okay, let me talk to you about it. So all you need to know, I wanna keep these plots very simple in this vlog. So we've got two women born on the same day, at the same place, same me. One's a famous podcaster. The other is this woman who married her husband when he was very old and she was very young. They met when she was 14, 13. Started going out when she was 15 and he was 42. Let's sit with that, yep. That's what this, that's what's going on in this book. And basically that woman, Josie, proposes to the podcaster, Alex, that she wants Alex to do a podcast about her and like changing her life and telling her story. And obviously she's gonna leave her husband because she says that he's manipulative and a groomer and predatory and, you know, all these things and she's gonna leave him. But also, I have just realized the title is none of this is true. Her lives could kill you. You are dealing with that throughout the book. It's particularly now that we're reaching Halfway and Mark, I don't wanna support it too much but from the beginning you are questioning how much you believe Josie. And I feel like I've told you all that and it would be very easy for that to be a stop to the book and for it to be handled terribly, right? A woman who is saying she has been groomed her whole life and is now saying I wanna make a change and the reader sitting there saying, oh, I don't know if I believe her. That could be, that's a tricky and sensitive topic to handle. But I feel like this book is going about it in the right way. I don't know how to explain that but I'm really enjoying it. Now, the podcast, the podcast, the podcast, the podcast, we have to talk about it because the audiobook is mixed media. We've got a full cast, we've got sound effects. Well, guess what people? I get excited about small things. I hate, I hate, I hate when there is a podcast in a book and the audiobook does not give me podcasts. Why in this day and age would you have a podcast in a book and not give me a full cast in the audiobook? Give me the budget. If you're gonna write that book, give me the budget. I know it's all the authors for, I know it's the publisher's decision, but like, you know, the one thing I would say in the physical book, I didn't realize it at first because the first 100 pages I listened to exclusively by the audiobook, I'm loving the audiobook. But in the book, it's like, it's not quite the same as the audiobook. It's set up as like a Netflix adaptation of the podcast with recordings in the podcast, but it'll have like a little description of the scene from the Netflix show that isn't in the book. And like, I have the UK edition of both. So it's obviously a different, a formatting difference, which I think why? Because you're perfectly primed to just have the podcast. I don't see why in the physical book there's the need to have those descriptions. Like, I just felt like the place should be the same. Anyways, I was reading the back and it says this is Lisa, Lisa Jewell first published her first book in 1999. And I just feel like this is the work of an accomplished author. You know, you read a debut sometimes and like, oh, that's very debut-y. You know, you read an author who has maybe written a lot of books, but is getting a bit big for their boots and like not letting, not letting an editor edit their books. Yeah, we know that. This to me feels like a very accomplished author, but who is still striving to like, be at the top of her craft, but not getting like big headed about it. Like Lisa Jewell, this is the culmination of 18 books of your life. I'm loving it. I think the interpersonal, what's I'm looking for? The relationships between these characters is very interesting. I think the pacing is perfect. It's moving us along at such a brisk pace. I'm hoping the second half is gonna get a bit cray-cray. I think it's, I think she should hit the fan. I want it to go crazy. And I want, yeah, I don't know. I think it's been perfectly set up for it to go off the rails a little bit, but I'm loving this. I mean, we're not gonna love every book on this, on this list. And you may be looking at the date. You're thinking, Megan, it's been quite a while since the top 20 came out. Yeah, you'd be right. I've been reading stuff for the videos. Moving, Megan, you've got seven days. If you wanna read all the books by the time the voting closes, you have seven days to read nine books. Yeah, that would be correct also. But I think for these videos, part of the excitement is the chase. It's the thrill. It's the tension of when I read the books. It'll stay the time. So that's what we're doing. I'm gonna at least almost finish this tonight, but I'm very excited. And I don't know who to trust. You know, it's doing a good job of like pitting us as the reader against everyone in the story. It's just a good thriller, you know? It's back to basics, the core of what a thriller should be. But we are off to a hit for the first one. And I've already been speaking way too long for how long this vlog is gonna be. So let me shut up and I'll see you once I finish this book. I'm just too excited. This is the first time. Can you shut up? This is the first time in years, years, years, that I, how stayed up past midnight to finish a book. I stayed up. I could not put it down. I gave myself, I gave myself like half 11. I was like, okay, you wanna go bed now, Megan? You can go bed. I don't wanna go bed. I want to finish this book. And I stayed up to like half past midnight to finish this book. And I'm giving it five stars. Now, it does feel a little bit like a fever dream. Do I think I'm gonna like remember that in five years? Am I gonna be like, is this one of my favorite thrillers of all time? Probably not. But did I have the best time reading this yesterday? Yes I did. Yes I did. Yes, absolutely I did. I'm having fun, you have no idea. I have so much fun. I loved it. I'm gonna say this now. I would be happy if this one. I think this would be a deserving winner. I think it's doing some fun stuff. I mean, I wanna call like the topic of this book fun. But like thrillers of mysteries are fun at the end of the day. Even if they're talking about murder, they're fun, you know? And the podcast element is just chef kits. Get the audiobook guys. If you're gonna read this, it's one of my audiobook recommendations. Don't just read it physically. Get the audiobook. I'm kind of obsessed. And I think it's just Lisa Jewell being like I said, an accomplished author and doing shit. Well, you know, if you wanna know anything about endings, even vague talking about endings, skip ahead 30 seconds. But this does something which is very tricky to do. And she did the exact same thing in The Stranger Upstairs which is the only other Lisa Jewell I've read. But there's like a last page twist, right? Like a, you think you know everything and then there's a twist on the last page, right? It's like, it's kind of unresolved. And I do think in this case it was done well because it's been leaving me thinking a lot about the book and like the layers by the end that are like layered throughout the book. So this is my ranking so far. This I do think if I get another five star, it could top, it could top this. I still think the last one which I is probably gonna be my number one. You know, we know I love Richard Osman. But this was really, really fun. I started this at 6 p.m. last night. I finished it a half past midnight. I could not put it down. I just, I just read it. I just read it and I had a great time doing it. So first book read of the vlog. Now the top 10 have been announced. So I think we should go find out what's in the top 10 because that kind of determines my fate and determines what I pick up next. How am I feeling? I'm feeling sick to my stomach because there's gonna be some surprises in there. There's gonna be books that I definitely thought were gonna be on the list that aren't. There's gonna be books that I thought I'd know. And suddenly appear. But let's go see what the top 10 are. I feel absolutely, I think I'm gonna throw up. Guys, there's just a few. I don't want either the historical fiction books on there because one of them sounds very boring and one's not interesting. And if Freedom McFarland's vote could be cancelled out and neither of them make the top 10, that would be wonderful. Anyways, let's go see. You all know my fate by now. You all know what I have to read, but I don't. Okay, bye. Okay, why do I feel so nervous? Oh my God. It's just books, but it's not. It's more than just books. Goodreads Final Round. Right, right, right. I'm not looking at anything else. I'm not looking at anything else. And I'm gonna zoom, I'm gonna zoom, I'm gonna zoom, I'm gonna zoom. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. First of all, all the dangerous things, which I have read, the only one left, which I thought would be that, homecoming. Homecoming made it. I didn't want that to be that because it's a long ass historical fiction mystery thriller thing. Well, I guess I'll be in the audiobook for that one. Right, young women. I didn't expect to make top 10, but I own it and I am excited to read it. So I'm down for that one. I didn't expect that to make top 10, though. Here's the thing, when like books that you really didn't think were gonna make top 10, start making top 10, you start thinking what has not made top 10. Anyways, next row. Okay, I'm feeling tense because I know that I need to do all this. Okay. None of this is true, it's made it good. I've read that. One Freedom McFadden made it. I don't think a second one will have. I'm not gonna look, but I don't think a second one made it. Last time I made it, we knew that was gonna make it and all the sinners bleed made it, which is exciting. I'm excited to, I've never had SA Cosby. So I'm excited to be there. I'm happy with that. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Final two. There's so many. I want Vera Wong to be there. I want what lies in the woods to be there. They're the two that I can think of at the top of my head. Let's scroll down. Oh, shit. No fucking way. I, I, okay. Firstly, what lies in the woods hasn't made it, which I thought definitely would. And I put that on TBR Clido this week. Okay, just forget that that was on TBR. Vera Wong's was there and said, I was more sure that what lies in the woods was gonna make it than Vera Wong's was gonna make it. I really did not think I have some questions for you. Was gonna make it, cause it's so lowly rated. How, what's its rating? A 3.64. How did that make it? Okay, I own it, so I don't care. That's fine. I can read it. I'm actually intrigued to read it cause I was one of the first books I bought this year. I was very excited for it. Then I just heard very mixed things. Okay, that is not terrible. It's not terrible. It could be worse. It could be worse. It's not amazing if we're honest with ourselves. I think that I'm gonna start the only one left today. I think we need to start that. Not a ton of surprises. The four that I think have a chance of winning are still here. I mean, Rich Los Men, it's a bit of a pipe dream. But listen, it came third last year and there is no Lucy Farley and there's no Ruth Ware. That's what I'm gonna say. I can't believe I have some questions for you Mayudix. It's so lowly rated. How did, oh God, how did that make it over what lies in the woods? But I'm excited Vera Wong's made it. I'm very excited to read that. Excited to say Cosby made it. Very excited to read that. Just wish Homecoming and Freedom McFadden hadn't made it. But that was probably a pipe dream. I'm not reading, by the way, I'm not reading The Housemade because some of my patrons who have read the series told me I can just look up, I'm not that bothered. I can look up the synopsis for The Housemade. But The Housemade Secret follows like a new plot, a lot of new characters. So I'm just gonna read The Housemade Secret. I'm not gonna read The Housemade. Okay, okay, okay. I'm gonna go get some stuff done. And then on my reading spin, so my patrons, I will start the only one left. The plan is definitely to finish this today and possibly start the next one, which is kind of crazy. And I'm debating starting the last one which I let next, but I am not sure if I'm ready. I'm feeling nervous about that. Anyways, I will see you once I've read half of the only one left. I'm very excited for this. I love Riley Sager most of the time. I always have a good time. Okay, it is the evening. I'm not quite as far in as I'd like to be while it's pouring in the night. I am halfway through the only one left by Riley Sager. Guys, draw more please. I'm loving it. I'm loving it. What if I love all these books? I just think she's very delusional and maybe possibly insane. What are we gonna do then? No, I'm really, really, really, really, really enjoying this. So I don't wanna tell you much about this. It's doing that classic Riley Sager thing. I feel like it does this a lot where you've got twists from the beginning. Like page 60, we've got twists, you know? He's good at laying those little twists right from the beginning. So I'm not gonna tell you much. All you need to know is we're following Kit who is a caregiver, like a live-in or like a nine to five caregiver for people in need. She has recently been in trouble at work and has just got her job back but it's kind of under, you know, negative circumstances. And she is tasked with becoming a live-in caregiver for Lenora Hope, who everyone believes murdered her family when she was a teenager. And now she's an elderly woman who has had many strokes. She only has control of her left arm, really, of her body. There's a bit of control of her head, but that's it. So you've got a dual mystery going on. You've got the mystery of what happened to Lenora Hope's family. How were they murdered? Who murdered them? And then you've got some mysteries going on in the present day at this spooky house. And it's just Riley Sager gets his best. It's really good, guys. I'm really enjoying it. There's something about Riley Sager's writing that now that I've read all his books, it just feels so like comforting and familiar to me. I'm just like falling straight into it. Like you reached that point with an author, I think when you've read them a lot that there's no entry-level resistance, right? When you're reading an author for the first time or you haven't read a lot of their books or you haven't read them in a while, like you kind of got to get used to it. You kind of got to settle into the book. But with this, I was just immediately into it. Like 10 pages in, I was like, okay, let's go, you know? I just think it's doing this like spooky house with is there a paranormal element to it? Who can we trust at this house? I think it's just doing it so well. The album's amazing, song to song. I can't stress it enough. She could release every song off here in a career single. The setting is so vivid and picturesque. And it's interesting that this, he does a lot of house books when you think of it. You've got Home Before Dark, which is a haunted house book. You've got the house across the lake before this, which is like a more modern house. But again, you know, well, I guess it's kind of the lake is a setting in that as well. But you've got the houses. You've got Lock Every Door, which is an apartment block. He likes books focused on like a house setting, which is interesting. But I just think he's doing it so well. I actually would say I prefer the imagery and the setting of this to Home Before Dark. This isn't quite the same. It's not really like, there is an element of, is there a supernatural element that I've rarely say has been doing a lot in his recent books. But I wouldn't say it's not haunted house book, whereas that one is. But I just prefer, I think the house has got such character and like, ugh, to it. It's so easily readable. And then we're reading also Lenora's typing her story. So we've got, it's not every other chapter which I enjoy. Because again, like, I don't like dual timeline when it, they're competing for dominance. The present day is obviously the predominant timeline, but also Lenora's typing her story and it's just, what if we have loads of five stars in this video? So I'm gonna definitely finish it tonight. And then I do, the aim was to start bright on women tonight. It's about seven o'clock. So I don't know, either I'll just finish this tonight and I'll have to read two books tomorrow in order to, I wrote my schedule out today. What I need to read when. Anyways, I'm feeling very hopeful about this. Guys, I cannot believe our luck so far. Last year there was a little bit of struggle. Also, hang on, I didn't mention this. One of my patrons, cause I did a little reaction with them today at lunchtime going through the awards. One of them mentioned Alice Feeney didn't make it to the top 10. I just, I just, she's so irrelevant to me. So I don't mean that. I don't mean that to Alice Feeney. You know, if you've watched all my videos, you know, I don't get along with Alice Feeney's books. The evil has been defeated. Evil, evil. I didn't realize in the moment, but thank God, I do not have to read Alice Feeney's book. Thank God. Alice Feeney, if you're out there, no offense, your books just do not, we don't get along. We don't get along. But, well, what a moment. Anyways, I'm gonna go finish this. I'm feeling good. I'm feeling for, I'm looking good and I'm feeling gorgeous. I'll check on you once I've finished it. But yeah, this is just, again, I feel like Riley Sager is best. Riley and Lisa, you're really pulling out all the stops. Wowza. Okay, I'll see you in a bit. Look at these cats. Oh, you're poor. Good morning. It's time to put some skincare on and I figured me and the cats, oh my God, I love them. We would chat about that anyone left because I just finished it. Final thoughts about anyone left. I'm gonna give it a four star. I really enjoyed it. I think this is a much safer book from Riley Sager. Like, I was thinking about The House Across the Lake. I was thinking about the ending of that and I think I preferred the ending of that, but it's crazy. If everyone says this book goes crazy at the end, it does, but I kind of saw a lot of it coming, if I'm honest with you. I don't know, I think it's a safer book from him. I think it's got much wider appeal than any of his recent ones have, but I just didn't love it as much as some of his other ones. For me, The House Across the Lake and The Last Time I Lied, I'd say are probably my favorites from him. There was a few surprises, right? But there's one big twist that I just, I do feel like was predictable. I feel like I saw it coming almost the whole book. I don't know, but like, I mean, it's just like a personal thing. Like you just see certain things coming and you don't see other things coming and that really affects your personal view of a book. But like, in another day, you wouldn't have seen that coming. Do you know what I mean? I've said seen that coming a lot. But giving us four stars made me wanna like qualify my five stars. I don't know if this is true. How do I explain it? Because I don't think they're that far away from each other in quality. In fact, in some ways, this might be a better book. I just read, now this is true so quickly and I couldn't put it down. And part of that is to do with the audio book. I didn't have the audio book for this. You know, I wanna qualify some of my thoughts about, and this is true. And it's just that like, what I was talking about with the handling of abusive relationships in it, I just wanna say that like, multiple people did multiple bad things in that book. And one person being bad does not absolve the other people of the bad stuff they did. I'm trying not to spoil anything, but I could, if someone reads it and feels like that wasn't handled well, I would still say that's a valid response to the book. You know what I mean? So I'm saying I feel like it was handled well in a thriller context. If it was like a contemporary, I would have issues with the handling of it. But it's a thriller, right? And like, certain things go out the window a little bit when it's a thriller and like everything's a lot more dramatic and heightened. If it was like a contemporary conversation, I think I'd have more problems. But yeah, one, I'm trying not to spoil anything, but one person being bad does not absolve the other people of the bad stuff they've done. It's what I'm gonna say, you know? That's my personal opinion towards that book. In terms of the ranking, I would definitely put the only one left above all the dangerous things. That's more of like a 3.5 for me. I'll have to review that at some point, but you don't know what that's gonna be. And I think this is like a very easily, widely recommendable thriller. I feel like most people would read this and have a good time with it. I'm gonna start with Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll. I was just watching some of Mara's reaction to the top 10. And this is her favorite she's read so far. So that makes me a lot more hopeful for this. And I have the audiobook. I'm gonna go get some stuff done. I need to put a clothes wash on. So if you see me wearing any clothes, I've already won the vlog. I've washed them, okay? I'm looking forward to reading it now. I wasn't as excited about it before, but now I'm feeling hopeful. If Mara loves it, that probably means I'm gonna love it. So I'm gonna crack the audiobook out, do some stuff and then sit down and do more focused reading of it. And we shall see. And hopefully the cats will love it too. Oh my God, I just love them. Look at them. I'm obsessed. There's something in the water. I don't know what's going on, but I'm really enjoying this. Thank you. I don't know what else to say. Thank you. It's amazing. It's so amazing to me. This is just mind blowing. Don't, what is going on? This is like four possibility of being a five. What is happening? Last year I was like, fuck this, fuck this. Maybe it's just cause I'm reading the good ones first. The ones I'm nervous about are I have questions for you cause I've heard really bad reviews. Homecoming cause it's long and could drag. And how's my secret? Cause I'm not sure I'm afraid of McFadden girly. Anyways, let's talk about bright young women. So I'm really glad this made the top 10. What this is, is it is a kind of novelization of Ted Bundy's victims. But one thing that I really love about it is that he's never named. He's, she's like, I'm not gonna name that man. He's, you know, he killed a fucking best friend. If you know the story of what happened, you kind of gather that it's him. And we're following two different kind of incidences or people affected by two different instances, kind of years apart of stuff that he had done. So our main character I'd say is the head of the sorority that he attacked at one point. And then she meets a woman whose best friend was also attacked and murdered. And it really is one of those books that is trying to shine a light on the victims of serial killers versus idolizing the serial killers or putting the, you know, focusing on the serial killers. You know, I love, one of my favorite on fictions to this day is The Five by Hallie Rubinhold that focuses on the lives, that is nonfiction granted, but focuses on the lives of the victims of Jack the Ripper and really tells you so much about them that had previously been unknown. And this is kind of doing that in a fiction sense. I'm not sure if these are the real names of women that had been affected. I'm not sure if Pamela really was the head of the sorority, but I just think it's doing such a wonderful job at highlighting the effects of these women and police incompetency and sexism and like how little care there was for these victims afterwards, but like so much sensualism. Fucking hell, of the man who perpetrated these horrible, horrible crimes. So I really love the way it's written. I've fallen straight into the writing style. I will say this is like a serious mystery thriller. I feel like the first two books we've read, you know, at least a Jordan Rennie Sager, they're gonna be more fun. I never want you guys to make what I call mystery, mystery good as fun and like, all murders fun, but you get what I mean, right? There's certain like twisty thrillers and mysteries that are fun, right? This isn't fun. This is more serious. It's not twisty. It's more of a intimate look at what is going on in these girls' lives, but I'm loving it. What is going on? Which will go downhill from here? Well, it can't go downhill because we've got last day or today, tomorrow. I'm gonna read that one tomorrow. Oh, one thing I did wanna say is this is an arc. I very kindly got sent by the publisher, but I'm listening to the audiobook. There is a lot of changes, not like massive changes, but there'll be a paragraph that's changed or added or taken away or a line that's written differently. So I am preferring to listen to the audiobook, but I think because of time I am gonna really have to like read along. Now if I wanna get some of I have questions for you read today as well. But yeah, I just think that's interesting because I've done that many times before, right? I have the arc. I don't read it till after it comes out and I read along with the audiobook. And I often feel like you don't notice a lot of changes, but there's a lot of changes. And I always feel like the changes in the final version, the audiobook, are for the better, which is interesting. I just think that's interesting. Anyways, I don't know what that means. I'm gonna go finish it, but I cannot believe the luck we're having in this vlog. What is going on? It's all gonna go wrong from now on, but like we can enjoy this moment. I don't even know what to do with myself. I don't... I'm gonna give it five stars. What is going on? Now the question is, I just need to get this out of the way. Where do I put it on the ranking? I think this is objectively a better book than none of this is true. Hang on, I'm gonna have to think about this. I'm gonna put it above and this is true. I'm putting it above and this is true. Oh my God. Guys, what is going on? This is, this can't continue. What the fuck? I think this is an incredible book. And I just wanna tell you guys, this wasn't one of the ones I was excited to read going into this. I wasn't, I mean, I owned this, but I wasn't super excited. Like I was way more excited for Riley Sager or like some of the other ones, but this, it's so good. It's such a wonderful fresh take on a story that we've heard again and again and again and again, that really centers the victims of not just this incident, but incidents all over. And it felt so real, guys. It felt so real. Like I don't think that even the names are correct. I think the circumstances are, but I don't think the names of any of the women named and the victims named are correct. But you could have tricked me that this was like a survivor narrating her story. It felt so authentic and done with such care and love. I just think it's incredible. I loved it. I loved it. There was a moment where I was debating giving it a 4.5, kind of like a hundred pages from the end. There is this dual perspective. We're mainly with Pamela, but we do follow Ruth, whose partner believes that she was one of the victims. You know, Ruth's perspective, you know, is kind of like, I'd say a third of the book, right? And there's a point, a hundred pages from the end where you're like, I'm just really, it's my problem with dual timelines where like you feel like you're much more interested in what's happening in Pamela's storyline and Ruth isn't quiet, like coming together ever and like making it worthwhile for that part to be part of the story. But it is so worthwhile to be part of the story and the ending of Ruth's timeline, I mean, spoilers. I'm not gonna spoil anything, but like, you kind of, you can predict where it's going throughout the whole book. And my God, my God, it was so well done. I almost cried. It was a beautiful piece of writing. That chapter or two at the end of Ruth's story was a beautiful work of art. I'm gonna cry, fuck. I'm sorry, and it was just really beautiful. Oh, how ridiculous. Oh, okay, so it was just, oh, so amazing. Wow, wow, guys. Wow, this was so good. This was so good. I cannot believe what good luck I'm having so far. We've only had, on the list, it's only four styles in the buff. Granted, all the dangerous things is maybe like a 3.5, but I think I kind of had a good time reading it. So I gave it a four. So the general synopsis of this is we're following a woman, Isabel, whose son was stolen from his crib like a year ago and since then she hasn't been able to sleep. She's been searching for him. Her marriage has broken down and it's kind of the mystery of her trying to figure out what's happened to him. Oh, and she gets into the most true crime podcaster. This was pitched a lot, I think, on its podcast and the podcast is like a tiny amount. You don't need to know about the podcast. A lot of deceiving going on. A lot of deceiving, hm? Here's the thing, I think Stacey Winningham does good basic thrillers for people who read like 10 books a year and that's not a bad thing. That is not a bad thing. I think for people who don't read a lot, these accessible, easy entries, simple thrillers, I think her writing is pretty good. You know, it's not doing anything crazy. It's not pushing the boat out. It's not pushing the envelope, shall we say. But it's fine, that's what it's doing. So yeah, I did give us a four star. I would say now I probably lower that to a 3.5 just because I can't remember anything. I was been watching while I've been getting ready my live show because this was my patron book club one month. So I've been watching the live show back and I really enjoyed this, you know, at the time. I really enjoyed the audiobook. I think I listened to this entirely by the audiobook and I think the audiobook really did make a big difference to me because I think the narrator was amazing. And I think it did have some interesting issues around motherhood in particular about the pressures on mothers, about what mothers go through. It's kind of like a thriller fictionalizing and kind of extrapolating on what women go through when they've recently had a baby and there's multiple different representations of that. The husband ate him. I hated him, but I think he was an interesting, I don't want to spoil anything, but he was an interesting portrayal of the stereotypical shitty thriller husband, right? I don't want to go into too much detail because I could chat shit about this guy. I could, but it'll be a spoiler. You know, I think he had certain nuance to him that I sometimes struggle with shitty men in thrillers when I feel like they're just caricatures, like evil villains twilling their moustaches that has no nuance to it. Whereas I feel like he did have nuance and it was interesting sides of shittiness. Now, I think when I read this, I'd been watching it all through as far as Beverly Hills, like the first two seasons. And there was certain men, mm, yeah, in that he reminded me a lot of. And so I feel like that connected. The writing was fine and this is good, all right? I think it's a good thriller. I think you're gonna have mostly a fun time if you read it. It's a quick read. It's a fast pace read. The pacing is really good. So yeah, that's my overall feeling of this one. I enjoyed it. It is incredibly forgettable, but both of Stacey Willingham's thrillers, I've given a round of four. And I do think that she's doing a good job of what she's trying to do, but she's not trying to do anything imaginative or fun. Like, I can't ever, she'll never get five stars for me, carrying on at the route that she is now. It's just not for me in that regard. But, you know, it's not bad. So I'm gonna put it here on the leaderboard. I can see why they're so widely read because I think they will appeal to a lot of different people. Guys, I'm so bored. I am so bored. I'm like beyond bored. Boring. Darling. Next. Right, let's talk about it. I'm halfway through. I have some questions for you. Author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist. So, Vakes from this book, it's about a woman whose roommate was murdered when they were at school together. And years on, she's returned to the school and she's like, oh, maybe the wrong guy was imprisoned, right? My biggest problem with this book is it doesn't know what it's trying to do. Is it about centering victims of a murder rather than the killers? Is it about wrongful imprisonment or like racial biases within the criminal justice system? Is it about abuse of power and power dynamics between relationships with older men and younger women? The list goes on. There's so much that this could be about. And it's trying to be about everything and in doing so, it's about nothing. I really think, Rebecca thinks she's doing that in this book. Like, she thinks she is, they, people think, oh my God, you like, you know, you make so many great points, you really go into, there is no depth. There's no depth. There's no depth. It feels so surface level. It feels like, you know, arguments and critiques that I have heard before, but better. And yeah, I just think all the characters feel completely one-dimensional, even our main characters. There's no character in this. I could point to and say, I know what they're like, right? I don't know what the victim or the merger is like. I don't know what the possibly wrongfully imprisoned perpetrator is like. I don't know what any of these people are like, right? I'm gonna finish it because why not? I mean, let's just stick it out. Let's just finish it. I do wanna get to some of the last levels I say though. So I'm just gonna make myself sit down and really, really read this and finish it, but it's just, it, and can I just say it's incredibly written. It's not, I'm not saying it's well written. I'm saying it's like really, really written. Weird books I don't like. I often don't like because the writing is shit. I don't think it's shit, right? I don't think this is poor writing. I just think it's, we should have gone back to drawing board. I mean, all I can do is be honest with my feelings. To me, it feels like an author who's written well before and is kind of just a little bit like, it's a project that hasn't worked, you know? And I'm not saying you're a bad author. I just don't think this one has worked. It's my current feeling. So I'm gonna go finish it. But yeah, it's just, I don't know what it's trying to say. I don't know what it's trying to say. I don't know what it's trying to do. It's trying to do too much at once. And maybe that will come together in the second half by the moment. It's really not coming together for me. And I doubt, I'm gonna read the whole thing. I'm gonna spend like two, three hours reading the rest of this. And at the end of it, I'm not gonna have much more to say to you. I can just tell. It's just giving me nothing, you know? But I'm gonna do it because at the end of the day, I'm a scientist and the Goodreads Choice Awards is my speciality. See you in a bit. Okay, I finished it and I actually do have a lot more thoughts to discuss. So there's a part one and a part two to this. Let me show you where part two begins. So part two begins on page 288. So this is part two here. So it's less than half, right? I enjoyed part two. Part two is set like three years after part one. And I'll just say we're following a court case, right? It's similar to Bright Young Woman. Actually, the ending is following a court case. And I much preferred that. I do quite like the drama of like a court setting. Even though we're not really in the court, we're more following stuff that's happening as an outside observer. But here's the thing. In order to enjoy that, I just had to accept that whatever this was trying to say, whatever this was trying to do, whatever points this was trying to make, it weren't making them. And at any time that it was trying to do that, I just ignored it. I was just like, Rebecca, you do you, but I mean, I'm not listening. I ain't listening. Just trying to pace my time and make sure that my sanity is protected. Make sure I'm not losing my mind on anyone like I did. And so I just viewed it more as like a fun, you know, again, I'm saying fun, we all know what I mean by that. I'm not saying death is fun and whatever, but like as a fun thriller, right? I just viewed it as like a fun time, you know, didn't look too much into, this is like, you know, it's marketed as a literary masterpiece. You know, this is like, this is an author, you know? This is perhaps one of the more seriously taken authors on this list, like Pulitzer Prize finalist. And I just had to not view it as that. I just had to view it as like shits and giggles a bit of a fun time. And then I really enjoyed it. So part one, which is more than half, right? Part one was a two, two star for me. Part two was a four star for me. You say that average out to three, I think I am gonna give it to a 3.5. I'm gonna round it down to a three on Goodreads, but I think I am gonna set a lot of 3.5. So it doesn't mean it's the lowest on our ranking so far. It doesn't mean it's the lowest, but I can see this is low rated because I think a lot of people just do an effort because I think that part one, it ain't good, you know? But I really did enjoy part two. I had a lot of fun reading it and as the kind of twists came and reveals came and I felt a little more connected to the setting. I really enjoyed part two, but I think also reading this straight after Bright Young Women, it just can't compare, right? That book says so much of surrounding this topic of true crime and victims and the justice system and all of these things. It says it was such nuance and depth and reality. This is basically violence against women exists. The criminal justice system is shit and racist, you know, and some other stuff that it's trying to throw in there. Again, it didn't be this long. It could have been cut down quite a bit and it just never gets past the initial point it's trying to make. But I did have a fun time in part two. I liked the drama of a court setting. I don't think I like a whole book set in like a court case, but I like popping in, you know? It felt like just a matter of that amount of time and that part felt paced well. This start bit, it's just too long. It's just too long. So that is, I'll be halfway through the books. Oh my God, we've read five. I am now going to start. I'm like, doubting myself because I want to read this at the perfect time. I'm starting the last day of the day. It's on the schedule for today. Starting the last day of the day. I love Thursday Meta Club. This is what I'm predicting to be my favorite in this vlog and I know I'm probably gonna cry a lot. But I don't wanna go into it with too high expectations but like, I'm foaming at the mouth to read this. I'm so excited. Rich Dozman, this stuff that you've done for me can never be overstated. Anyways, let's, yeah. I probably won't see you tonight because I doubt I'll get halfway through tonight. I feel sick at the thought of starting this. I'm not ready. Okay. See ya. Okay. Guys, I'm aware I might look a little bit of a mess. I've already been crying, crap it. I honestly, I just procrastinated from this clip with you for like 15, 20 minutes because I don't wanna talk to you. I just wanna read the book and yes, I know it's counter-intuitive because I've just wasted 20 minutes but I really have to motivate myself to get out of bed. Well, I'm still kind of, I'm staying on the bed. This is the fourth on Thursday Meta Club series. One of my favorite series ever. I've been very nervous to start this. More than any other book in this video, I feel like there's a lot of pressure and I'm loving it. And depending on how the second half goes, it could be my favorite book of the year. So I don't wanna tell you too much about this because obviously it's the fourth book but we're following the gang, this elderly cast of characters, this group of friends who live in this retirement village and they solve murder mysteries basically. And the murder, I'll just say the murder is like a character that we've met briefly that they know in one of the past books. Sorry. When people said, it's just gonna make me cry a lot. Now I've cried like three times so far but just a little cries, you know? I'm getting the feeling the worst is still to come. Here's the thing, these chapters are very short. They're like really quick chapters. Which also meant, well, one of the characters, basically there's this one storyline that's particularly emotionally heart-hitting in this book. And one of the characters will say something that is so earth-shatteringly devastating. And then the chapter ends and we move on to a different topic. Because often you'll have like three different scenes maybe going on at the same time that we're like flipping back and forth between. So pacing-wise it's great because you wanna keep track of what's happened in all the previous scenes but dear God, like, it was one scene, one of the worst things to ever be said was said. And I'm just like, how am I supposed to fucking read about Chris and Donna, the police officer's breaking in somewhere now? Like, how am I supposed to go on living? Can you check my depression level? And just the thing I love so much about this series is it just hits human nature on its head in a way that I don't feel like I much else that I read does. I feel like I should write down examples but just like what we as humans, particularly I worry about recommending this so widely because I think a lot of it is also British reference and humor and anecdotes but just what we find funny or what we like to watch. I don't know, just really there's so many moments that are just like, oh, fucking hell. This series is quite simply, the writing style is quite simple but dear God, does it like cut to the core of what it means to be a human? Also I have to say that as the books have gone on, we veered more into kind of crime, espionage, flavored things versus like your classic murder mystery. I don't, it's not really a classic murder mystery but we veered into espionage-esque kind of stuff but whilst keeping it at its core, this cozy mystery feel and I think that's just such a triumph because I've read stuff before, even series where that kind of the world gets bigger, the crimes wanna get more dramatic and larger scale and so it loses some of that smallness and that coziness and that like tightness to the story but I don't feel like this is. I'm supposed to be washing my hair tonight. I am not going to be washing my hair today because I'm just gonna get in bed and finish this. I adore it. Okay, I'm gonna go finish it. I'll see you in a bit. Oh, I don't even wanna look at it. I don't even wanna look at it. I just love these characters. I was so nervous to read it, right? And I get to like the third page and I'm in it. I'm in the story, I'm with the characters, I'm in the writing style, I'm in the humor and I'm just obsessed. Okay, I'll see you later. I cannot promise what state I will be in. What happened? Is it all right? No, I'm not gonna cry. Maybe I'll cry. Can I go put this on the internet? Okay, I finished it but I'm not ready to talk about it because it is 20 to two morning. I couldn't put it down. But just now I'm emotionally devastated and I'm never going to recover. I'm never forgiving Rich Osmond for that, ever, ever. I'll talk to you about it in the morning. Oh my fucking god. I gotta think about it. I gotta like ponder, but it might be my favorite book of the year. Guys, I went through it last night. I actually don't know how to talk about this book to you. It was incredible. It is my favorite book I've read so far this year. Or what? Serves Ian Fitzgerald, KC Musgraves and Daniel Ta... So obviously it's going to number one of our list. I doubt anything else is gonna top it because it's quite, you know, a high bar. I don't wanna spoil what this is about. I knew what the emotional element of this was about before going into it because I read interviews that Rich Osmond had done and he mentioned that. And so it's obviously not a massive spoiler because he's fine, you know, letting people know that that's an element of the book. But dear god, oh my god. I don't know how this man does it. Like he'll have me sobbing and bawling. And then he just switches up when I'm laughing in the next chapter. Like what is going on? There's such joyful humor to these books, but my god, does it lay bare? Like the sadness that comes with aging but also the life that comes with aging. Like, you know, that's the whole point of these books. But my fucking god. I cried a lot at the first book. There's some emotional stuff in the first book. And I don't think I cried in the second or the third. I feel like we take a little bit of a break. Maybe I cried a little bit, but not. Last night I have not cried like that at a book in a long time. I was bawling. I was my family were asleep. I'm like trying to muffle my, I'm like screaming. I'm screaming. The most, his experience for me to go through how I want to. Now this one scene that made my eyes like bulge. Like I saw it, I knew what it meant. And I just started like sobbing, sobbing, sobbing. I just think this is the perfect addition in the series. In my opinion, this is the best so far in the series. The mystery is a great mystery. I feel like mystery really holds up. But like this book is about, I think, the emotional side of it. And it, fuck it now. But I do think the mystery was a great mystery. I'm sad, we're taking a break now from this series on which we are. Me and Richard Osmond have agreed, no. This series is taking a break now and he's starting a new series that is like a daughter and father-in-law detective agency duo. And I need to read the acknowledgments. I haven't read the acknowledgments or I haven't read the exclusive Waterstones content. I feel like I'm doing a bad job of talking about this book because I just loved it so completely and utterly that there's nothing left to say. Guys, I don't know how to, I don't know how to live. And you'll know how to go on living because this was a triumph. And how is Richard Osmond such a good writer? Like what is going on? It is amazing. Just be prepared for the emotional turmoil. Oh my God, and there's stuff in the fox. There's a fox, I'm feeling something. I decided I'm gonna have to reread all the books with the audiobook because I, the audiobooks are great. I've heard so many people recommend the audiobooks particularly I think for like foreign, you know, non-UK audiences because I think there's so much about the UK humor and references, like I said, that might be difficult to get if you read it physically. So I've heard a lot of people recommend the audiobook for if you're from the US or something. But I just started reading these physically and you guys know me. If I, however I start reading a series I have to continue. If I started with the audiobook, I continue with the audiobooks. If I started it just physically, I continue just physically. And there's something I do like about reading this kind of dialogue in my own head but I'm gonna have to listen to the audiobooks and give them a go. Guys, this is gonna, I'm gonna vote for this. Like, we don't really need to read the rest of the books. But we have four books left to read. We have Homecoming, All the Sinner's Bleed, Vera Wong's Answer to the Device of Mergers and The Housemaid's Secret. It today is Saturday. The vote closes on eight AM on Monday, my time. My goal is to get all of these read this weekend. Now, I mean, you're looking at Homecoming and that may not be possible. We're gonna try our best. I think I'm gonna start The Housemaid's Secret now and just bash that out. I think this will be the quickest in the list. I have just watched a video that gave us an opposite of The Housemaid because like I said, I wasn't gonna read that. Okay. I mean, I know what happened now and, girl. This is a story that's been told time and time again. Is it creative and unique? I'm genuinely curious. No. So, I'm intrigued this sequel. From what I can understand, it's a very self-contained story and this is following mainly new characters and a new storyline. It does help me to know the context though, I guess. I'm not holding out great hopes The Housemaid's Secret. If I have to of what's left to predict what I'm gonna like the least, it's probably this. But I'm gonna give it a go. I've got the audio book. We're gonna make our way through it and we'll see what I think. Right, I'm in my favorite filming position once again. My brother's got some friends around. So, if you can hear them, apologies. But we need to talk. We need to talk. We've got our first. The Housemaid's Secret. Anyways, I really disliked The Housemaid's Secret. It's going at the bottom of our little leaderboard. I'm giving it two stars. This was just so boring. So boring. You can definitely read this if you haven't read the rest of the first in the series. Right, it's a completely different story. We just have one character who is in that, who's a guy that I think she's kind of like romantically linked with. I gotta say, in some of its tone in the mixing of a mystery with a romance and kind of it being like cheesy, it reminded me of when I read Smoking 17, which was one of the past winners of the mystery thriller category like back in the day. And it's like this awful series. Some people like it. Let me not, you know, but it's this awful series. You've been very, very harsh. Nice to meet you, Kelly. Of this woman in that one, it's like a comedy mystery romance where she's got these two guys for that whole series that she's sleeping with and like keeps changing her mind which of them she wants to be with. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, this was terrible. It wasn't terrible, but I was so bored. And basically in this one, girlie is a housemaid at this new house and she thinks that the wife there is being abused. And I've just gotta say, this is not a critique of this book because I don't think it's problematic. I don't think this is like, you know, I don't think on a singular level, it's necessarily a problem. But I have read so many thrillers where there is abusive husband and the woman can't leave because you don't know how powerful and connected he is. He'll find me straight away. And it just, like what I'm saying is an individual case of that in a book is not necessarily a bad thing. But when I read thriller and thriller and thriller where if there is an abusive relationship, the woman can't leave because of how powerful the man is. I just don't like the narrative that that sets that like the only reason a woman wouldn't be able to leave is if he was so powerfully chased her down. Like if your man isn't a powerful drug lord or whatever, you should be able to leave. I don't know, it just, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It's not a problem with a singular book, but when it's a trend that all the representations of abuse that you're seeing are women not being able to leave because of how powerful the men are, not just because of a myriad of reasons or just because of the fear of leaving, right? That exists within an abusive relationship. I just don't like that. That's, again, I'm not critiquing that this book solely for that. It's more of a trend. But I just found this so boring. I think it's poorly written. I think it's stories that we've seen 10,000 times. I don't think any of the characters were convincing. I think Millie was kind of annoying, the main character. I really didn't like it. I didn't like it. The reason I'm giving it a two, not a one is because I think, you know, I can see why it's at least a little bit popular, you know? I can see some, you know, I can see someone enjoying this, shall we say. But it wasn't for me. I just thought it was boring. I was so bored, guys. I was just bored, the whole thing. Bored, bored, bored. Hashtag, bored. Okay, I'm gonna try and tackle as much as I can of homecoming. Yes, it's 600 pages, but I've got the audiobook. And I'm just gonna get through it. I still have a DNF'd. If I'm not enjoying this by like maybe page 200, I might dip. I'm gonna be completely honest with you because like I feel like for me, certain expectations come with a long book that don't come with normal books. Like if you are going to write a 600 page book, it has to be for a reason. And I'm just getting increasingly fed up with books that are too long and just feels like, what's, why are you doing this? Why are you making yourself read this? Like you can edit. You can edit this down. You can edit this down. Yes, I'm gonna start this. I'll check with you on about halfway through it. I'm not expecting anything. I'm going into this with zero expectations. But who knows? I might love it. Okay, hi. I'm around Tom's now. We were gonna stay apart the whole weekend so I could get more reading done, but we caved and I came around here last night. So yeah, I'm gonna be around here just today, but I'm probably gonna try and get most of the rest of the reading done today. So we're gonna be here for most of the rest of the year. I don't know yet. I don't know how much really I'm gonna get done. Obviously, the vote closes. Well, 10 o'clock closes at 8 a.m. tomorrow. But like, I am gonna sleep tonight. So technically tonight is our cut off point. So I am gonna vote tonight. But listen, we've known a while long I was gonna vote for last level to die. We knew that before we even started the vlog. And especially now that I've read it, nothing else is gonna top it. Nothing is gonna beat the last level to die. So I feel safe vote for that. But obviously we're gonna still read all the books from the top 10. But I don't know. It's only like 11 o'clock and I'm halfway through homecoming. Here's the thing. My life would probably be better if I just DNF this. I'm not disliking it, but it's not a mystery thriller. Get it out of my category. Get it out of here. Get into historical where you belong. Look at that. That's a historical book. That's a historical book. It's infuriating. I hate when they put something in the category. It's not the category. I was angry. I was angry. Because, you know, I was talking to Mara because like we're about to, she's doing a vlog. I'll link her vlog. I think hers would be out already. She's reading the top 20. I was saying how I think this made the top 10 because people vote whether they've read or not, right? And there'll be probably lots of people who are historical fiction readers who haven't read anything in the mystery thriller who wrote for this, right? It's the only book in the category of read and it shouldn't be here. Because at the end of the day, every book in the world has a mystery. Is that true? It's very true. In my opinion, I might be overstating it somewhat, but most books have some kind of mystery. Especially like a genre fiction book. Fantasy books often have a mystery at the center of them. Every book has a mystery. It has something for us to unpack throughout the book. Most books. There's probably some literary fiction that's just like, I'm existing and I'm sad. I don't know. Basically, the plot of this is that there was a family who died in Australia in 1959. And many years later, Jess, I'm trying to find out what is, it's not this. Jess, who lives in London, gets a call that her grandma has fallen ill back in Australia and she travels back to Australia. And perhaps there's some family ties to other families. I'm not gonna say specifically, but you know, you kind of know that there's some kind of relation going on. And she finds a book that details, there's like a nonfiction book about the family's death. So this is partly present day. Partly we had some chapters that are just like, you know, in the past, but from like the narrator's point of view. And then we've got a lot now of this book that she's reading. So it's like a book within a book. I'm enjoying it, but you have made a decision for your book to be 600 page long. And I just feel like that carries with it higher standards and higher expectations. And I'm like, if you're gonna do that, you've gotta deliver. And I just feel like this is very long and very like, there's detail in the most, my new set of things. And the writing isn't special enough for me to feel like it's worth it. I don't think it's bad, but it's not incredible. I'm just kind of a bit bored because at the end of the day, it's historical fiction and it not sign up, but it's like the writing, the cover, the everything about it is a historical with a hint of mystery. But really it's about these characters in both timelines and the family interpersonal relationships, yada yada, it's fine. It's fine. It's fine. I don't know what you're going to say. It's okay. I think I could try and theorize about the resolution of the mystery, but I don't really care enough to do so. So I'm gonna finish it. I'll check on you once I've finished it, but it just shouldn't be here. It shouldn't be in this category. It shouldn't be on my reading list. It should get out of here because it's not a mystery thriller in the sense it should be in the historical category. Anyways, but we knew that all along and we knew they do it because they categorize the mystery through it all year and it pissed me off. In my prediction video I said they won't do that. They won't do that to us and they have and then it made it top 10. Anyways, see you later. I finished it. It took me so long. Well, no, to be fair, for a 600 page book, it didn't take me long. It's probably the quickest I've ever read a 600 page book in my life, but it felt, it dragged, girl, it dragged. I'm gonna give this three stars, right? Because am I? Yeah, I'm gonna give this three stars because at the end of the day it didn't need to be this long. Whoever, Kate Morton, I looked at, apparently all her books are quite long. Finally, Edited Girl, you need help cutting these books down because this is not an original enough book to warrant being this long. Not enough happened that was interesting. The writing wasn't good enough for it to be this long. However, I don't think it's a bad book, right? I don't, you know, I don't think the writing's bad. I think it captured the setting of the kind of small towns in Australia so, so well when you're reading it, it feels very vivid. Am I gonna give it a three? Maybe a 2.5 rounded up to a three on Goodreads feels more apt for how my enjoyment of this book was. Like it wasn't bad, but I felt nothing towards it. There's a lot of themes of like motherhood and motherhood, babies. Try not to say mother challenge, failed. And I just felt like it was a bit overdone and like, I don't know, a lot of it comes back to the length and if you're gonna write a book this long, it has to be worth it. There has to be a reason for you doing that. And frankly, there isn't. I felt like the resolution was tropes that we've seen again and again and again and at the end of the day, in my mystery fillers, not this is one, but in my mystery fillers now, I'm always looking for something different. And I feel like some of these books have had that. I've had a new take on something or whatever, but this just felt so just cookie cutter and I've read it 10,000 times before. I don't even, listen, historical stuff that's like, this flavor isn't my favorite. This is very, I can think of so many books from British publishing that are historical fiction. There's like 10,000 of these women that I confuse them like all of them. The right is kind of historical fiction books and there's just so many of them, you know? But I don't think it's bad, but I do think there's no reason for it to be this long. And I'm not sure. I mean, it was a dual timeline. We know how I feel. This I hate. You're regular here about dual timelines and it just meant that I, you know, this is if you haven't watched the rest of my videos, I have an issue with dual timelines because I'm gonna care about one more than the other but I try to counteract that. So in my brain, I kind of end up not caring about any in this case. And some dual timelines is one you really is really an interesting timeline. One's really not. So you just wanna read that one and you get annoyed every time the other timeline turns up. And this one, I just meant I kind of, I didn't attach myself to any of it because I didn't care because it was gonna go and we're gonna suck in the time. But anyways, it is obviously the evening of Sunday and the vote closes at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning. And I've decided I'm giving up on trying to read them all before the vote closes. But that's okay, because we know what I'm voting for. I didn't quite do it. I didn't quite succeed, but it's not the end of the world. I'm definitely gonna finish them all by the time the winners announced, at least. But I'm still gonna read All The Sins Bleed and Viral Wong's in the rest of this video. They're both kind of like a four star prediction for me. Maybe All The Sins Bleed is kind of like, I could see getting, well, actually, both of them are like four to five, but neither of them is gonna be last oversight or probably even bright young women. That one was so good as well that I, you know, my vote isn't gonna change. So let's go vote now. I'm so excited to see what's gonna win in every category because I'm not gonna say anything yet. I'm not gonna say anything yet. If I hadn't have read Mystery Duda, I think the top 10 I most would have wanted to read because I reacted to the top 10 of my patrons when they came out is probably horror. I feel like horror had a really strong top 10, lots of books I'm interested in reading. Anyways, Mystery Duda, I have not voted. Let's go cast our vote. So yeah, my vote would be for bright young women, but it's going to be the last devil to die. It's not a surprise. I could have done that before I'd read any of the books, if I'm honest with you. Loads of my patrons have been voting for the last I would say, because me and a few others who love the book have just been like, campaigning them. If you don't have an opinion, just vote for the last devil to die. Listen, I'm not saying it has a big chance, but it has a chance. I think the only things I have a chance of winning are all the dangerous things. None of this is true. The last devil to die and the only one left. I think they're the only ones I have a chance of winning. I don't think the house made a secret will because its voters didn't vote enough for the first book to get into the top 10 last year, which is bizarre. I will just say that I sabotage a lot of things. Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow probably when I've made some progress through All The Sinner's Bleed. But yeah, I'm very excited to read this. And it's my first essay Cosby. I've never read anything from essay Cosby. Oh, it's got a very high rating. Okay, I'm gonna try and keep this quick because I've started editing this vlog and it's so long, so I needed to tell you just shut up. These last two books I left to the end because they're one of the ones I was most excited for. And listen, I'm really enjoying All The Sinner's Bleed. I am halfway through. And basically the synopsis of this is we're following Titus, who is the first black sheriff in the small town. And a year to the day of him getting elected, a mass shooting occurs at a high school. And then through the kind of investigation of that, they uncover perhaps a serial killer or serial killers working in the area. So I'd definitely recommend looking into trigger warnings for this because there's some heavy stuff involved in that serial killer mystery that we're looking into. It's a lot to do with children and it's particularly dark and brutal and unflinching at what it's looking at. But I think the writing in this is really, really good. Compared to some of the other books we've read in this, Titus in particular is such a complex and well thought out and well detailed main character. I feel like he's got such depth to him. And you really, as a reader, connect to him and want to know not just about the mystery side of it, but him as a person and the trauma that he's gone through and kind of there's lots of details to his backstory with how his mother died, his relationship with his brother, the romantic relationship he's in. There's a lot of depth to him that I think is very unique. And I think this book has got a lot of themes layered on top of each other and it's handling them all really well. Like it's looking at racism within a small town. It's looking at white supremacy. It's looking at child abuse. And I feel like the pacing of this book is just amazing. Like I just, I don't know, it's this is a book that you can read and be like, okay, wow, this is really a really high quality book, similar to Bright Young Women. By the way, I also, I have decided to lower my rating of none of this true to a 4.5, just comparing it to Bright Young Women in a lot of style. Have I said that to you already? Oh my God, I'm losing it. Might have said it to you already. I don't remember love, I don't remember at all. I really don't, I know for a long time ago. But I feel like compared to those, it just, it's not staying as well. But yes, I think that was a fairly quick, not obsessed with the summary of my feelings so far. Well done Megan, keep it snappy. I'll check on you when I'm finished. But I'm really enjoying it. I'm really enjoying it. And it definitely makes me want to pick up more SA Cosby in the future because I've had so many good things about razor blade tears, for example. So yeah, hopefully I'll finish this in the next couple of hours and check in with you before I go to sleep tonight. Okay, no key. I finished all this in a split by SA Cosby. I have a ton more thoughts about this. This was just, I think, a really good book. However, I do have to say I didn't love the ending. I felt like the ending was a little bit rushed and this is more of a literary mystery thriller where I wouldn't say it's fair play, right? Other mysteries, other, more of genre mysteries or typical thrillers that we've had on this list have been ones that like, I feel like I could have figured out, not that I did. I love that I, you know. I don't try to do that, but I don't think anyone could really see where this book is going. It's not set up for you to figure out who the serial killer is. And so it just felt, I don't know, I like my mysteries to be fair play. I don't know. I don't really like a shock twist at the end. I also feel like there were a lot of characters in this, like in terms of the town, in terms of like miscellaneous characters that we meet maybe twice in the book and I was just forgetting who they were and that made some of the big moments a little less impactful for me. And also there was just elements I wish we had explored more. Like the man who commits the school shooting at the start and is involved somewhat in then what the investigation that continues. I feel like there could have been more discussion around why and what had happened to him and why he was in that position. I just felt like there was some avenues that were left unexplored. So I'm gonna give it a four star. I did really enjoy it. I loved the writing. I'm definitely gonna pick up stuff from S.A. Cosby in the future. But I just felt there was a few aspects of it that left me lacking. So I'm gonna put it here on my ranking. I did prefer that anyone left in terms of enjoyment, definitely. But it was good. And in terms of the writing, it was great. And in terms of a character portrayal, in terms of Titus, our main character, it was amazing. So there's pros and cons to it, but I just feel like it could have been better. That ended need to be workshopped for me. So everyone, it's time for our final book. Are we ready? The last book is Rhea Wong's Answers to Advice for Mergers. This is one of the ones I'm most excited to read. It's Bond that's been on my TBR for like forever. And I've been saving and saving and saving. I think I'm really gonna enjoy this. And I think this is the perfect one to end the vlog on because I think it's just gonna be fun and cozy and a bit silly. I'm his confidant, his best friend, his silly rabbit. I'm really excited. I'm really, really excited to give this a go. I'm thinking it'll be a strong four is what I kind of think of when I think of this book. But we'll see. Rens, I have some good news. We're ending on a high. I really enjoyed Rhea Wong's Answers. I always want to call it guide. Answers to Advice for Mergers by Jesse Satante. I really enjoyed it. I'm gonna give it a four star. Now we wanna know where it fits on the leaderboards so that we know what the rankings are. I think I'm gonna put it below the only one left in terms of four stars, but above all the sinners bleed. I've been getting the titles of everything. It's just, this video has been going on for too long. I really enjoyed this. So all you need to know is we're following Rhea Wong who runs a tea shop and she's an elderly little old lady and one day a dead body turns up in her tea shop and she's like, the police ain't gonna solve this. They suck ass. I'm gonna solve it myself. And it's the story of her basically coming into contact with people from the guy who's been murdered's life. So his widow, his daughter, his brother, people in his life and trying to solve the mystery but really it's also a story of found family with all these people and you know. The mystery of this is not, you know, it's not bad. I actually was quite, I was quite pleased with the resolution and how it was revealed but the real pro of this is the humor, is the joy, is the, you know, it's similar tone to Thursday Murder Club. I guess, I mean, it's not quite, not quite as good. But you know, it's funny. Vera is such a lovely character. My favorite scenes were, I don't wanna spoil anything but she develops quite a close relationship with the dead guy's young daughter. She's like a toddler. My favorite scenes by far were them interacting and their love growing and just really touched me. I loved those scenes. So my other one thing, this was good. I think this is a fun read. I think pretty much like, I feel like you'd be hard pressed to not enjoy this but I don't think it was incredible but I enjoyed myself. Do you know what I mean? You know, that's kind of how I feel. It's like a strong fought. You know, there's nothing wrong with it. I can't really say anything bad about it. It just wasn't, it didn't have that special feeling about it. But I'm definitely interested in reading more from this author. Let me know. I know this is also Darl El for aunties, for weddings and something, for aunties on a wedding, sorry, sorry. So I'm interested in reading that from this author. I assume I think it's kind of comedy mysteries as well. Maybe with a bit of romance in it. I don't know if my perception of this author's books have been correct because I don't know if there is romance in them. I really loved the writing of this. It was simple. It was to the point, it was fun. It was funny. I felt it had a lot of care and joy and humor to it. I really enjoyed this guys. I think it's just a fun little book, you know? It is, you know, there is this ongoing trend of old people and murder mysteries. But I'm here for it. I tend to enjoy most of them. So I really, I think this is a fun one to finish on. And this is like one of the more mystery ones we had in this top 10. And last year I felt like the top 10 really skewed towards mystery, but I don't feel like the top 10 this year really has. I feel like it's been much more skewed through that. But overall, we're gonna go see what the winner is because the winner's got announced this morning and I have resisted seeing them. But my overall feeling is that this list has been pretty good. I feel like the quality of this top 10 has been pretty on it. I've really, I've enjoyed most of these books. A bar at the house makes secret. Everything else I can see why someone would enjoy it. Homecoming isn't up there for me as well. And I can see why someone would really dislike I have some questions for you because I really didn't like the first two thirds that basically, but I did enjoy the last bit. For the most part though, I think this has been a really strong top 10. I think it's definitely stronger than last year's. Last year I had a DNF and a few in there that I did not enjoy. Whereas I feel like this year's quality has been really, really good. We were all so happy that day. It's actually hard to even imagine how terrible things would soon become. So let's go find out what the winner is. I still stand by, I think the winner is gonna be Lisa Drill, Riley Sager or Stacey Willingham. I think it'll be one of those three, but I don't know which. And then listen, I'm rooting for Rich Osmond, but it's Rich Osmond, it ain't gonna fall. So let's go see what the winner is. I'm so excited to find out. I feel like my whole life has been leading up to this moment for ages. Okay, it's time to find out what the winner is. Obviously, I think it should be the last ever to die. In terms of, I mean, bright young women, I think is equally as good. I guess out of what I think will win, I'd want Lisa Jolt to win because I don't think bright young women or lots of which I will win. But let's look. I'm gonna try spoiler alert. I may be filming a video to do with the other winners. So I'm gonna try not to see any of the others. I'm gonna shield my screen and I'm hoping I'll be able to look on the left-hand side to select mystery thriller. Okay, are we ready? I feel like I'm gonna throw up. Okay, okay, okay. Don't see, don't see, don't see, don't see. Oh, fucking hell, they've got one of the categories. A mystery thriller is there. Okay, it's usually the third one along. I think it's what I've picked. Okay. Okay, you've seen what it is. I mean, you've seen, you knew what it is before this, but I'm not ready to open my eyes. Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I need to take a moment. I need to take a moment to process this. You're having a laugh. No. No, no. No, no, no, no, no. Understand. I don't understand. Oh my God, I feel like I'm gonna throw up. The housemate secret one? Life could be worse. No, not really. This is the worst. This is the worst. This is the worst. Yeah. No, no, no, no. I just don't understand. I have a problem with this. How last year did the housemate get nominated and didn't make the top 10? And then this one wins. That makes zero sense. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. No! Okay, listen, Richard's been made fourth again, which for the fourth book in a series I'm so happy with. I just need to look at other stuff to get over this. How the fuck did that get so many votes? Oh, I thought that I would make it. I'm just looking at other things to put to like, thank fuck that didn't make top 10. I wouldn't want to read that. I generally don't know what I have to say to you. I do not understand how that's happened. How last year? And it wasn't like, I'm pretty sure the housemate has as many ratings then as this, I mean, as this had won the vote. Oh, it has a bit more now. I think it had like 200,000. So how did that not make top 10? I'm stressing out. I've any thought to you. Other than this is an incredible miscarriage of justice. This is an outrage. I, to say, what do you want me to say? Cause it's not going to be nice. I can see you're getting angry. Angry, no, I'm not angry. I'm livid. It was awful. Who, if you voted for it unsubscribe, I'm saying it right now. I don't give a fuck, unsubscribe. I'm being deadly serious. I'm not pleased. Well, you know, I didn't think it would be this dramatic. I just thought Lisa Jorr-Reilly was going to win, but you know, dear God, dear God. Well, there we go. What a horrible note to end this video on. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. That is not the correct decision. That book ain't good. That book ain't good. It ain't good. I'm not going to have a good reaction to this in this video. So I guess we just leave because of fucking, Richard Osman, you deserve better than that. You deserve better. Well, what a fun end to the video, everyone. I'm actually quite angry. I need a few moments to compose myself. There's not going to be, I'm not going to say anything more insightful than what I have. I haven't said anything insightful, but that's going to take me a few, that's going to take me five business days to process. Well, I'm sorry. I, there we have it. That's it. I'm furious. Honestly, you couldn't write it, the one I hated the most. My least favorite out of the top 10, one. I'm sorry. I'm actually, I'm very angry. I've wasted my life for nothing. I just, I want to know, I want to know who voted for it. I am sorry. I just don't like you. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this vlog, joining me and reading the top 10 nominees for the Good Rich Choice Awards in the mystery for the category of a lot of fun. And I actually think on the whole, the quality was pretty good, which makes all the more painful. And I don't want to talk about it. Let me know how many did you've read and what you thought of them. I'd love to know your thoughts. Did you also think like me that the last double to die should win? Cause I feel like if you read that, you agree. You agree. If you've read that, you know what that book has put us through the emotional damages infected issue one, oh God. This is so infuriating. It's like when that card or one X factor over one direction, like it's just not, it's not the vibe. Anyways, thank you guys so much for watching. Well, I'm sure it's a very long vlog. I won't keep any longer, but I really appreciate you watching until the end if you have. And thank you for being with me as I endured the pain of reading all these books. Okay, I'll see you soon in another video. Bye.