 Hey everyone, welcome back to my channel. I hope you're all good and welcome to another episode of Wrapped Up where underwrapping folks decides what I read. So I have had mixed luck with Wrapped Up in the past few months. I'll leave a link to the whole playlist down below. We haven't actually got many books left. Like I feel like we're dwindling down with how many books we started with and how many we've got left. I have had like some of my worst reads of the year from Wrapped Up. I will just say that I sabotage a lot of things in it, yeah. And I have had some five stars. So it's anyone's game basically. The past couple of months, something I have been allowing myself to do is unwrap two and then pick which one I prefer to read. We'll do that again today if we want, but if say I unwrap something I'm really in the mood for, we'll just read that as well. So we'll just see how it goes. So I'm gonna go for this first. If I speak I am in big trouble, in big trouble. So this is Where the Cordads Sing by Delia Owens. I think it's like a murder mystery, but it's not written like that. It's written like literary fiction. This has been a super popular book in kind of like the world. Not necessarily like the book community, but like everyone and their mom has read this. My mom's read this. My boyfriend's mom has read this. Everyone's read this. I don't know if I wanna read this right now. Like I am a bit scared off by it because I think it's a bit serious. It's a bit like not necessarily what I'm kind of reaching for at the moment, but at the same time, I kind of feel like if I don't read it now, I won't read it at all. You know what? We're gonna unwrap something else. Now that I'm back home, I have some of this wrapping paper left and this is wrapping paper is recyclable. By the way, if anyone worries about this, this is recyclable wrapping paper. So if I don't read this, if I don't pick this now, which I might, like the second one might not be something I wanna read, I will rewrap this up so I have the possibility of getting it again. Can I go for this? Okay, I think I'm gonna go for this. Oh my God, I don't think I want to. Don't be closed minded because you will not get anywhere in life. Let's go for this one. Oh my God. What's this? Okay, okay, okay. This is The Fair Fight by Anna Freeman. This is a historical fiction. Oh my God, I forgot I owned this book. This is so exciting. I'm gonna read this. Spoiler alert, I'm gonna read this everyone. So this is about a girl who I think is fighting in like Bristol brothel fighting. No, she's born in a brothel and she's like a fighter. It's basically about underground fighting, boxing ring and storming in Victorian, Bristol, England, whatever. But I'm really excited to give this a go. A bit of historical fiction, which I haven't read in a while. Like I haven't read historical fiction in a hot minute. I'm really intrigued. This was one that I was really excited to get to when I bought it. I think, was I right in that? I think I bought this on Riley Marie's recommendation but I could be wrong. We're gonna read this in this video and okay, I'm really excited now. Woo, I'm not reading where the crowd dancing. That is a bit too much for me today if I'm honest. Okay, so hi. I'm at my boyfriend's house now again. A few of you, by the way, someone's doing work in the garden. I hope the mic isn't gonna pick up too much. So I'm at my boyfriend's house now. A few of you have asked like how it's gonna work because a lot of you know that we live together in leads but now we've come back and we're basically just moving between each other's houses. So I'm here for this couple of days. I am about 115 pages into the fair fight and I'm enjoying it but it's like different to what I expected. Firstly, I thought Riley recommended this to me but I asked her in a live the other day, like have you read this? And she was like, I've never read that book. So God knows who I got this recommendation from. I have no idea. I can't remember who recommended this book to me. I don't remember love, I don't remember at all. I really don't, I know for a long time ago. So they obviously sold it to me and maybe wanna read it. I could have sworn it was Riley. I have no idea who it was. So basically it's set at the end of the 18th century. So it's set in like 1799, I think like around that like right at the end. So it's not Victorian. I said it was Victorian, it's not Victorian. I got that wrong. It's different than what I expected because basically we have three perspectives that we're gonna switch between. I've only read from two so far. We're spending like 50 pages in each perspective or maybe even a bit more. So I'm getting older. I don't know if I can, if I want all this drama all the time, if I'm being honest. Some of us, we may know how I feel about like multiple perspective stories. I am not a big fan of it. When they don't follow the same storyline, I do like to keep the pace going to follow a storyline. Do you know what I mean? Like I like to follow like this is our path. So I don't know if I'm currently the biggest fan of that element of it, but I do like the perspectives we've read from so far, but it feels like short stories that way. Do you know what I mean? So one of the girls, Ruth, she was born in like her brothel and her mom was like the head of the brothel that everyone's like afraid of. And she turns to fighting, like in the boxing ring, she turns to fighting. One thing I do like about having these multiple perspectives is there's very clear character voices. So Ruth's perspective was written in I guess more like a common dialect. She comes from poverty. And so that's the way she speaks. But then our next perspective, George, is like privately educated, you know, one of like the upper, upper class. So he speaks in this very like well-to-do way and that's super clear in the way the perspectives have written. And then we're gonna follow Charlotte in the next perspective. And we've seen quite a bit of her in George's perspective. They're very much linked. So I'm excited because she's kind of like seen but not heard in George's perspective. So I'm excited to read from her point of view. This is LGBTQ, which I wasn't expecting going into it. And I do appreciate when historical fiction shows like queer relationships in history because they did exist. So I like that aspect of it. But if you pick it up based on that, be aware that it's not necessarily like, the relationship isn't necessarily like a positive relationship entirely. It's more nuanced than that. So it's not like, oh, here's this great relationship we have that was queer like in this time period. The relationship is messy. Like any relationship could be messy in this book, if that makes sense. And yeah, I'm enjoying it, but I'm not in love with it. Like it's a fun read. I'm enjoying reading historical fiction for the first time in a while. But like, it's not gonna, it's currently not a favorite book. But I am enjoying it. I am enjoying it. I'm a loner. I can't shake the simplest feeling beyond the ghost. We stand on the opposite shore. Hello, Mona. I reach through mysterious ceilings. My only hope. I look for the things I don't know. Quite decent for me to film. Don't care, don't care. Don't care, still don't care. I don't care. So I am about halfway through the fair fight now. And I am just constantly torn between really enjoying it and being really bored. How do I explain it? I can get really into it and then I can get really bored and it's taking me far too long to read it. I need to try and finish it today. I don't know if that mixed perspective thing works for me. I don't. Like we meet Ruth, who is our first perspective, page one, right? She's who we read from first and then we don't get her perspective again until page 200. So I'm like, why did I spend, it's just hard for me to stay connected to the characters. I think that is the number one fault with it at the moment is that I'm not connected to any of the characters. None of the perspectives, none of the minor characters. The stories are all beginning now at the halfway mark to fully interweave and we're seeing all of them in each other's stories. But I'm just not connected to any of them because of the way it's told and we'll get told events three times from each of the characters' perspective, which is interesting. Like, yeah, getting told the story again and again from how each of them are viewing it is interesting, but it can also get a bit repetitive. No, it's true. No, it's true. I think something this one is doing so well is showing the divide between the rich and poor at this time and are you okay? Yeah, okay. And showing how the rich could so easily take advantage of the poor and use them to their own benefit. I do like how, you know, two of the characters on this are very well off and then Ruth as a character and the whole situation she's in is poverty and the contrast between them is something I'm enjoying. I think Ruth is probably my favorite perspective. I just enjoy her relationship with her husband in this. And yeah, so Ruth is the fighter. Ruth is like a boxing gal. Oh, that was one thing. Charlotte was so interesting to read from her perspective. Having seen so much of her and George's perspective, George is the private schoolboy, best friends with Charlotte's brother and Charlotte is so quiet in his perspective. And then in hers, there's this like simmering rage underneath everything at the situation she finds herself in as a well-to-do woman in this time. You know, she has so little freedom. You know, like she almost has less freedom in terms of like autonomy than Ruth, but of course she has like monetary, monetary, monetary. It's almost hurtful to me to watch her be so dumb. She has monetary autonomy, whereas Ruth doesn't. But Ruth has more choice of what she does. Charlotte has no choice and control over her life. It was so interesting to see her be so quiet in George's perspective. And then in her perspective, be so angry at the world that she is in and her situation. So I am enjoying it, but I'm struggling to read it. And I need to read the whole thing today. I need to finish it today because this video goes up tomorrow. So I need to do it. Rory, you have to help me. You're like eating your pork. I want the whole boxing thing, like women's boxing to go further. I feel like we haven't really seen much of that because this isn't really a spoiler, but like it's kind of momentarily stopped for Ruth at the point I'm in the story. And obviously we only really had the boxing stuff in the first 70 pages. And then we haven't really had it since because we haven't had Ruth's perspective. So I want more of that. I don't know if the book is actually about what I thought it was about. Where did I find this book recommendation? Who knows? It was a long time ago. 🎵 For all in this high stand alone 🎵 🎵 Show me where the ending goes 🎵 Okay, so mild spoiler, but it's not really a spoiler because we all know it was coming. But the two women have crossed paths and it's made it so much more interesting. I mean, it did take 280 pages for us to get to that point. It's been 84 years. And there was a fair bit just before it. I was like, this could have been cut. There's a few bits. And then it's where I'm like, just another round of editing would have served this so well because there are just some pages. It reminded me of Midnight Sun, not as badly. But where the main character is going on this monologue and you're like, let's get it moving. Should we speed it up a little bit? But it's so much more interesting now that these two women have crossed paths. These two women have such interesting dynamics together. One, this girl, the sheltered girl from high standing in society. And then this other girl who has been exposed to so many horrors in her life. It's such an interesting dynamic and I'm just loving it. Now here's the thing. I don't like the multiple perspective in this. I was not expecting that. I think sometimes multiple POVs can hide a multitude of sins. I think sometimes they can hide issues with the plot because this could have been boiled down a lot more. I think George's perspective, the guy is irrelevant. Like we do not need this dude up in here, get this masculine energy out, get him out. I only care about these two women now. George can get the fuck out. He's gone missing. He's like ignoring the story. I don't understand why we have this perspective. I only care about Ruth and Charlotte now. That being said, it is very interesting to see it from both Charlotte and Ruth's opposing perspectives, this situation. So like, I think maybe we just don't need George. Maybe we just don't need him. But the perspectives are really long as well which isn't my favorite. I do love the setting. I think if you read like classics, if you love a bit of Jane Austen, this is a bit pre-Jane Austen but it's similar vibes. If you love like reading Jane Austen, those kind of classics, I would recommend this. I think it'll be right up your street. The men are irrelevant to me. I don't even want them to, I don't want any of them to return because currently we don't have any of the men. Apart from the servant Henry, Henry has rights. Other men, not so much. Well, Ruth's husband, they do like as well but all of the rich men, I could care less if we ever saw them again. I hope we don't pay much attention to them now. I'm enjoying it a lot more now. I'm gonna go for a run now. So I will look rough after that. I'm gonna go for a run in the woods and then I will come back and hopefully finish the last like a hundred-ish pages of this tonight. 🎵 Honest, honest they don't 🎵 🎵 I should be the last to know 🎵 🎵 All in this, I stand alone 🎵 🎵 Show me where the ending goes 🎵 🎵 Honest... 🎵 We have two cats here today. I finished it and I think I'm gonna give it, it's like between a 3.5 and a 4. It's like a 3.75. Hang on, I've changed my mind. I'm just gonna give it a 4. I'm just gonna give it a 4. I feel like that's fair. I am so random. I can't believe I just did that. The second half was definitely my preferred half. I really enjoyed the ending, seeing how Ruth and Charlotte's stories ended up. There was some really touching things that happened between them at the end and I loved their relationship throughout the book and the way that they got to know each other. George, my good man, was irrelevant. We could have cut his whole storyline from the book. We didn't need it. We didn't need it. This guy, George, he was like half supposed to be Mr. Nice Guy, half the most scheming, horrible person you've ever met. And I don't feel like we explored those two opposites enough for his character to have any kind of like depth or realism to it. The way that his story ended was not interesting at all, like not imaginative at all. I just didn't thrive with it. We could have cut his whole story. This story only needs to be about the women. Women. Women. This story is not about female boxing necessarily. Like that's how it was sold to me. It's like, what about these women female boxing? But like that plays quite a small role in the book. It's a pivotal role, but it's quite a small role. And I would say this book is more about all these characters, all the different characters in this story, how they must navigate life due to what society expects of them. How they have to act or to survive, basically. That's what it's about. It's not really about the boxing. So if the boxing is what excites you in this book, like that's not it. Like I feel like that's miss selling the book a bit because that's what I thought it was. And I was like, when are we gonna get to the boxing? And of course it plays a big role, but that's not what the book is about. And yeah, I got much more attached to Ruth and Charlotte as characters and kind of their opposing ways of living towards the end. I actually, maybe even at the end, I maybe even preferred Charlotte. I don't know, I just really liked them both as characters, but I did not attach myself to like any of the men. The men were just, they all blur into one, these rich white men, like I don't give a shit. You're all the same to me. You are all the same. I would recommend it. If you like historical fiction, I would recommend it. It, maybe it's not quite a four, but listen, I'm feeling generous today, so we're gonna give it a four. I'm feeling kind. I'm feeling kind today, so we're gonna give it a four. Yeah, I hope you've enjoyed another episode of Wrapped Up. I love making these videos because like I said, I kind of even forgot I owned this, like a little bit. I kind of forgot for a moment. And so this series just forces me to read books that I probably wouldn't have read otherwise or wouldn't have read for a long time otherwise. So I really love that aspect of it. So I hope you enjoyed the video. If you've gotten to the end, comment a fist emoji. If you've gotten to the end and me and the cats. Do you wanna say bye? No, but we'll see you very soon in another video. Bye.