 Welcome back to a new vlog, I hope you're all good. So today, lots of us use Goodreads, right? I feel like Goodreads for many years has had a monopoly over reading, tracking, but it's old. And kind of recognizing that Goodreads had this monopoly over the industry for kind of no reason. There's been a lot of book tracking websites and apps that have sprung up over the past couple years, and I have tried every single one of them. And I've never been able to make them stick, and I don't know why, but I want to change that. So a new app called Literal got in contact with me and wanted to know if I wanted to work together, and I was like, yes. Because I had a quick look at their website and app, and it's so like beautiful and aesthetic. And I was like, okay, this is the one I'm going to make work for me. Because when I've tried one before, and I haven't stuck with it, I'm like, okay, for some reason we don't gel. But I really want to make another like alternative book tracking app work for me. So in this video, Literal is going to be picking what I read. So I'm going to be using the app to kind of determine what I read in this reading blog, whilst also kind of exploring all of the different features and aspects of the app, and kind of reviewing it for you guys. And we're just going to go through it together. And I'm really excited, but it's obviously also going to be reviews of the books I'm reading, like a normal reading blog, but we're going to explore the app as well. I don't know what to expect, but I think let's just get into it. Okay, so it is time to choose what the first book I am going to read for this vlog is. I currently, on Literal, only follow three people. And that is Olivia from Olivia Rizalate, Genesis and Victoria, who is one of my patrons. So I only follow three people, but three people who I think I have pretty similar reading tastes to. So I want to do around, I don't want to follow any more people right now, I want to do around where one of them pretty much picks what I read. Whichever book we see first that I own, I'll read. Not, I've read Bunny already, so not going to be that. Don't own Kingdom of the Cursed. Okay, hold up. I own Defy the Night by Bridget Camera, but I want it to be, usually one of these kind of videos, it has to be a book someone's reviewed, not like I want to read when someone's like I want to read this book. It has to be a book someone's reviewed. So we're not going to pick that. Don't own one of us is like, oh, oh my god. Okay, that's so exciting. Oh my god. I own The Last of My Life by Riley Sager. So we're going to read that. And I am just, I am so excited. Oh my god, I have read two Riley Sagers. And I've always wanted to read The Last of My Life and I own it somewhere in this mess of books. Don't even talk to me right now. We don't, by the time this video comes out, hopefully I think it will be sorted. But as of filming this clip, no it is not. So Victoria gave it four stars, said it was intense, intense, intense. I love these little markers, these little descriptions for the books. Intense. Okay, am I ready for an intense book? I think I am. Oh, okay. Olivia read it also and gave it three stars. Interesting, interesting. Other people have described it as page turning, unforgettable, surprising, unpredictable. Oh my god, it's Zoe. Hi, Zoe. Wait, I need to follow Zoe. Okay, I am going to go ahead. I'm going to go find The Last of My Life and I am going to start reading it. And I'm excited. I don't even know what the plot is. So I'll chat to you about the plot when I come back next. So the days became weeks. It felt just like the night before. You were slowly fading in my mind. But I was soaked. You were some of the best of things Okay, currently I'm about halfway, I think just over halfway through The Last of My Life. I haven't really read The Last of My Life. Why is my chest red? Sometimes my chest just does that. Please ignore that. Sometimes I just go red. I've been struggling to read for the past week. Me on the inside. Right now. Life couldn't get any worse. I don't know. Sometimes I just go through stages like this where time just escapes me and I don't end up reading. But I started the audiobook for this yesterday because I was like, I need to actually read this book. I start the audiobook and I'm loving the audiobook. The narrator is amazing. She has kind of like an unusual accent. I'm struggling to place it. I don't know where it would be like. But the way that she sounds something, she's American. But the way she sounds something sounds kind of British. And I really like that accent. I find her accent quite relaxing, which isn't exactly what you want from thriller. But anyway, I'm really enjoying it though. I would say I'm enjoying it as much as Lock Every Door, which was like a four. I think Home Before Dark by Riley Sager was like a 3.5. That Lock Every Door was like a four. And this is what I'm feeling about this one. So in it, we are basically following this woman who was at this camp, I think about 15, 13, 15 years ago, and the girls that she was rooming with and was friends with at the summer camp went missing. They were never seen again. Their bodies were never found. And she feels a lot of responsibility for what happened. And she is invited back to the camp 15 years later to kind of be a mentor. It's reopening for the first time in all this time. And she's invited back. And I don't trust these rich bitches who are in the camp. I don't trust this family. It feels, it feels like there's something sour going on in this family. Rich people. I feel like there's always something sour going on. So I don't trust these bitches. Every character in this book. I felt it because I was letting you know what time it was. And what time it was. What time it was was I'm a very respect. And the reason it's called a lot of my life is because there's kind of like a theme of lying throughout it and we kind of learning that she was very close in particular to one of the girls who went missing. And she kind of taught her like how to manipulate truth and lie. It's not manipulate, it's not the right word. But like you know she taught her to view that in a different way to kind of get what she wanted is my understanding. But she feels a lot of guilt around the situation for a reason that we don't really know yet. So there's a lot of intrigue, a lot of mystery going on. And I'm really loving the setting of this kind of outside summer camp rural like you can feel like the the bugs buzzing around the lake. And like I feel like it's very atmospheric. And what you know I feel like all of Ryusei's books have kind of been like atmospheric. So it must be something that he does well because I'm really enjoying that aspect of it. I think our main character is very interesting. I'm really loving the flashbacks. It's like a good, they're not so far. I would really recommend the audiobook though because that's what like got me into it. I found the first like 20 pages not very like it didn't hit me. It didn't get me until we went to the camp and then I was like okay I'm in this. I'm in the shit. So I'm so happy that like this vlog has made me pick up this book because otherwise it would have taken me forever to read it. And now I'm actually really excited. I'm gonna try and finish it today. I just want to let you guys know we're going to be talking about literature obviously throughout this whole vlog. But you can't import your whole of your Goodreads library into literal so easily. It did it so well for me which I think often holds some people back from starting these new kind of apps because you're like well I've got this whole history over here. But it imports it all with all the dates, all the different shelves which is the best thing. That is the most important thing for me. So I'm just import like what book she's read but literal imports are your custom shelves which I think is amazing. So I'm gonna show you quickly. If I go on library and then I click on all books I can then see all my different shelves and it's kept them all. And I feel like literal shelving system is better than Goodreads. Goodreads like took me a while to figure out but I feel like making new shelves like it's literally create a shelf, give a name, add description, create a shelf. It's way easier. I feel like the Goodreads one was a bit complicated. Like it took me a while to figure it out. So now for instance like when I'm doing TBR Cludo I need to see what books I've got in specific genres. I can easily go to that and see all the different books I own in that genre and it's super helpful. So yeah I love the shelving system. It's super easy to use. 49 2021 releases owned. Besties that's that's actually that's actually a problem. We are going to pretend we didn't hear that. I also really like being able to see on how many other shelves the books are saved on. I think the design and the aesthetic and the kind of thought that's gone into the design of literal is amazing. So yeah if you're worried about importing Goodreads it's super easy to do. So that's like a great thing about it. So I'm gonna go do some more work today. I've got a few more things to do and then I'm gonna come back tonight and hopefully finish this. I'm really excited. I'm gonna listen to the audiobook now whilst I have I've got a little bit of work I can do while I listen to the audiobook but most of what I've got to do today I can't. But I feel like I'm excited for kind of shit to hit the fan of it. I'm excited for it to get a bit like crazier is what I'm wanting and in this last half. God, Jesus Christ. Check out their face man. Last night and I was listening to the audiobook and never do that and the thing is I listened to almost all of this via the audiobook. I pretty much almost read it exclusively via the audiobook and in that moment basically without spoiling anything you were kind of being led to think one thing was happening and then it turned out something else was happening. I think often my eyes stray around the page shall we say and I end up looking at other shit on the page right and if that had been the case if I'd been reading this physically I would have spoiled it for myself right. I would have spoiled it accidentally but like you see other words on the page but listening to your audiobook I had no idea until that final line was said and I was like and it was bold and I was like it was. It is brilliant American literature and I don't care what anybody it is it's lit it should be taught in schools. I don't have any words. It was so good and that's when I think audiobooks are the best. They're really good for when like for the unexpectedness do you know what I mean? So needless to say I loved this. I ended up giving it a 4.5 stars now here's the thing this is my love about literature we're having half stars this is like genuinely like I just I feel like half stars are a necessity because when I'm writing a book on like Goodreads for example where there's not half stars I would have like listen it do take me a little moment to like you know think about whether it should be five stars or 4.5 but I would often think you know it's a 4.5 but I don't want to give it five stars like as the rating even if I'm going to say 4.5 stars because I want that to be like my exclusively my favorite books but then sometimes I may I may think like oh come on what a different what a match for difference is in it's better for the author if you can give five stars so sometimes I have just given five stars to books that arguably are a 4.5 and I feel like having the option to just give half stars completely changes the way I think about my ratings and what ratings I'm going to give I feel like it changes my mindset because even like on Goodreads if I'm writing a book I will type 3.5 stars whatever and rate it a 3 or a 4 in the function but I feel like having the the star system the half star system available makes me think differently and makes me maybe make sometimes a better decision in what I'm doing so anyway all that to say I really loved it I thought this had amazing twists and turns oh I didn't mention the end the end which you just saw me reading you guys I was thinking to myself as it was coming up to the end I was like okay we need a last like a page last page twist which I don't always love there's been a few books a few a few fronters where I'm like oh I hate when it does that I hate when it does that because I hate when a last page twist completely changes the context of everything everything that we've read without really explaining like what it actually means does that make sense like I hate when it makes everything we've read a lie without actually like explaining what this actually then means for everything that we've read whereas this didn't do that it the curve for the end was perfect I did not I did not see it coming I was ooing I was on I was wincing I was loling quite heartily it was like the perfect twist and I was gagged I was goop I was living I was living for it I was living for it this is my favorite righty say guy I've ever read and I don't feel like you hear about it spoken about as much like I feel like lock every door spoken about way more and that was good but this had better twist and it's so atmospheric the setting at this summer camp was so like magnetic and like electrified is how I would explain it the I can't get into it but all the different kind of settings we moved into as the book went on I just thought were incredible so I am so happy that because of this video I read this book otherwise like I said I would have read it like 10 years in the future so to pick the next book we're going to go explore literals book clubs which I'm very excited about so they have book clubs they have so many you can create your own book clubs with your friends or it can be like a big wide-scale thing so you open you go to clubs here explore clubs and there's loads of different types I had a little scroll through before cozy readers the queer quest books of horror cookbooks too many tears oh throw in a time oh students like academia so I don't know what I'm gonna pick because I'm gonna go into one of these and whichever book has been reviewed most recently I'm gonna read aesthetics oh it has to be a book I own so the most recent book has been reviewed that I own oh writing with us that's fun I don't think this I'm gonna join this club oh this sounds fun so like you create posts as well like in this one as you can see there's posts about like writing tips and stuff oh like writing advice wow this is so cool I didn't even know there was this one okay I'm gonna explore that one later but we need to find out what book I'm gonna be reading just read a thriller so I don't know if I want to go into thriller time there are more book clubs than just this by the way there's loads of other ones but this is kind of like the handpick recommendations let's go into the queer quest or I can go into the books I don't any only those three so they are the books that have been reviewed yeah for this club so I don't own any of those so we're not reading them do I want horror I don't think I do I don't think I do okay too many tears again oh me before you nope no there's none there that I own that I haven't already read um aesthetics let's go into this oh yeah maybe you find yourself cut up in your bed with warm beverage on your nightstand I want to read a book that feels just like that or matches the fresh air and chirpy birds outside during... girl you have sold me I am sold the inheritance games don't own it but I want to read it red, red or blue have read it, ninth house have read it, red or blue have read it okay so Blake reviewed the ones and future witches gave it four stars remarkable page turning powerful intelligent deep okay we're gonna read this I don't know much about the plot other than it's about witches and sisters okay here's the thing one of my patrons Charlie I know you're watching loves this book and has been telling me to read it for ages so this is for you um oh my god hang on it's right here isn't it yes it's right here listen I'm hoping this is a quick read we are going to be reading the ones and future witches by Alexi Harrow I have this gorgeous a lumacrate edition of it and yeah I'm excited we're going to learn about what it's about together I have got patron live sprints in a few hours so I'll probably start it in that but oh my god oh my god I can't believe it okay we're reading this besties no no no no no no no no no no no no screwing crying going up screwing crying I cannot take it I actually can't take it I can't take it I refuse I'm abdicating I'm not God what's going on guys where's the chairs man that fix though the hell's going on I don't think I was prepared to love it this much I'm I'm flying through it right I've only been reading it today and I'm halfway through I'm on page 250 it is currently five o'clock in the afternoon and I'm hoping to like get through pretty much the rest of the book tonight besties I am crying I am crying so listen it's amazing basically we're following these three sisters in 1893 in New Salem as they get reunited after seven years apart and it's basically them discovering their witchy powers and using it to bring justice for women that is very tied up in like trying to get the vote for women as well and but it's it's more just about the magic coursing through this story as I actually can't explain it to you it feels a bit like a fever dream it reminds me very much of like some of my favorite authors like Laney Taylor Aaron Morgan said it's very Aaron Morgan said I mean Laney Taylor blubs in the front so it's like oh come down come down it's like ferocious and like you know one of our main characters has so much anger and our characters have so much hurt but they use that to fuel the magic it's like incredible I immediately went and put all of Alexi Harris other books like on my wish list and want to read everywhere because I was like listen listen it's definitely reminding me a lot of strange case the alchemist daughter as well like um uh I would say almost the main character although all the three sisters are kind of main characters but the younger sister Juniper definitely reminds me of Diana from the strange case the alchemist daughter in kind of like the roughness and the anger and the like bullshiness of of them so they definitely remind me of each other but I don't know discussions on women's rights and what it meant to be a woman at this time and the the tough choices that you had to make and how difficult it was I'm just absolutely loving it I cannot tell you how happy I am that I have read this all of a sudden like it would have taken me years to read this otherwise just like last to my life so that's obviously what this video is proving to be good for I don't think I can convey to you how beautifully written it all is like oh it just it just paints the most wonderful images with words sometimes these books they're they're heavy right this is why I don't know when I'm gonna reread the salicy because it's so heavy with this beautiful lyrical writing that I feel like it can be a bit intimidating so there's moments where I'm having to be like okay make sure you're understanding all this Megan and not just letting like the beautiful words wash over you but yeah I'm loving it I'm halfway through I already know I'm gonna read all of Alexie Harrow's other stuff it's just like tied up in childhood and nursery rhymes and and family and oh I feel like today the future starts so it's a good day I want to show you another super cool feature that literal has tied into how many beautiful quotes there are on this book so basically if you go on to highlight here you can add a quote that you really love so I typed out one earlier so it would be quicker here so I can copy and paste it this is one of my favorite quotes I actually got chills when I read this or perhaps for all of them for the little girls thrown in cellars and the grown woman sent to work houses the mothers who shouldn't have died and the witches who shouldn't have banned for all the women punished merely for wanting what they shouldn't are you gagged are you gagged I love this feature so look how cute it is with a little line next to it I don't know I'm in love with this book excuse me I can't remember what page it's on I'm gonna publish that oh look at my little highlight and then if I want can share it to Twitter which I'm gonna do firstly I just love how they look on the app I think they look so cute oh look oh I just love I just love it I just love it I think it's such a cute feature oh I love how I love how it appears on Twitter doesn't it look so cute oh it looks so cute so people scrolling through Twitter see it like that so yeah I absolutely love the highlight feature on this rule I think it's such a cute feature and I love scrolling through and like seeing little quotes other people have highlighted so anyway I am gonna go read the second half of this I literally it's all I want to do this evening I was gonna try and edit some of this video but I'm like that is gonna be tomorrow's problem I am just going to read this back listen I'm giving it five stars I'm giving five stars it is one of my favorite books I've read so far this year but it feels like I didn't really experience it like I feel like I need to read this five times because there's so many words there's so many words in this book like I don't understand this how does alexie harrow know this many words how how are there this many words and it's alexie harrow's brain I don't understand but anyway I I loved it the ending I didn't believe certain things were gonna happen and then they did and I was like hang on hang on and then it just I almost cried I was doing my makeup as I listened to the end of it by the audiobook and I almost cried I was doing my eyeliner and I was like sis you gotta hold it in whatever you're gonna do you just can't cry even though I wanted to cry because I love crying at books and I love that like emotional release it's one of those books where I love it so much that I I don't have words like this book is beyond me I can't review it because it's beyond everything that I I know it was incredible why did it take me this long to read it why it bye I just the pros in this is incredible the familial relationships in this are incredible the storytelling the way that the story flows is incredible like oh some books you read and you feel the plot points right you feel you feel the plot beats but this is just like just a smooth journey of beautifulness and gorgeousness I just loved it I just thought it was absolutely incredible I need to reread it immediately because like I said it's such it again it's very similar to how I feel about the solacee like it's so beyond and everything else like it's so beyond everything else I've read like I generally can't review it for you like I listen I don't know when I'll be able to but this is like my guys my guys like this is hard it's a beautiful story it has so much to be learned about you know feminism and women's riots and the thoughts that it had about human humanness and like life in general went so beyond anything that I feel like other books come up with like I feel like it was so clever in the stuff that it was saying it was just gorgeous and beautiful and wonderful and you will need to read it like if you haven't read this yet you need to read it oh my god oh my god oh my god I you're gonna have to wait to my wrap up for me to form coherent words about this because I just can't I just can't I actually just can't I'm sorry to be a failure but I can't I actually I can't final thoughts on literal as an app I absolutely love it I feel like I have been using it so seamlessly and easily like I said with other apps like this I've struggled to use it like I've kind of imported my books in maybe or put some books in and then I've never used but I find the review section really really good on literal like it the reviews don't seem daunting I feel like on Goodreads you feel like you're expected to write like a fucking essay because everyone does I don't like that whereas on literal you know it's it feels smaller it feels more compact it feels just less intimidating to write a review for so I really love that aspect of it there are of course things I would love to see on the app that it doesn't currently have but it's very much in its infancy in its early stages on their website you can find a list of things that they could add to the app that people have suggested and you can suggest things that you may want added to the app and it shows you which ones are in progress or which ones they're planning to add so this app is constantly evolving and things are constantly being added for example I would love to have stats on there like reading statistics even though that is something I check myself um I like the website I use to have it as well that is something that has been suggested and upvoted lots so hopefully I'll add that at some point so go have a look at that I'll have put some on the screen because things are going to keep why am I holding the book up things are going to keep being added to the app but I really really loved it so I'm going to leave my link down below I'm going to leave a link where you can join I'll also leave my profile link down below I'm going to be following everyone back on there who joins to kind of grow my circle because it's a very small one at the moment so make sure you go down there and join and follow me and I'll follow you back on there and thank you again to literal for sponsoring this video it has been so kind of wonderful of them but obviously all my views were not affected by the fact that I'm sponsoring this video I just wanted to try the app out and give it a go so yes I hope you're all good if you've gone to the end of this video leave a flower emoji for this gorgeous cover leave any flower emoji if you've gotten to the end and I'll speak to you soon in a new video bye