UNWRAPPING BOOKS PICKS WHAT I READ! 🎁wrapped up revamped - episode 6! april reading vlog

Besties, it's time for another episode of Wrapped Up! Are we? It's time for another episode of Wrapped Up where I've unwrapped all of my 2021... I've unwrapped? I've wrapped? What did I say? I've wrapped all of my 2021 releases and I unwrapped one and I read it. So excited! Now, here's the thing. We are still in some... not a reading slump in terms of like pure numbers, right? And in terms of how I feel about my reading, I feel like I'm not where I want to be in terms of my like attitude and excitement towards reading. So we're gonna try and rectify that. Well, I mean, we have no choice but like we'll attempt it. I am tempted because of that. I think we are... yeah, I think we're gonna unwrap two in this video, unless the first one is one that I'm like desperate to read. We're gonna unwrap two and pick one of them, which is something I used to do like last year at this point in the series. I feel like giving myself the choice, especially when I'm like not reading much at the moment, is the correct and moral thing to do. So where should we begin? Um, okay. I am drawn to this one for some reason. Let's see what this is. Okay, I always get so nervous. Oh, okay. So this is Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead, which... is this the book to get me out of my slump? Don't think so. Don't ever call me again, you are a low-budget bitch. Don't think so. I still really want to read it. It's not that long, it's only just 300 pages, but I've never read any Colson Whitehead and I just view his books as kind of intimidating and stuff to read when I'm really on my ----. And am I really on my ---- right now? Definitely not. Absolutely not. So let's unwrap another one. And if I don't want to read the other one, we will read this because it's something that I feel like I should read and I will enjoy. Um, this one? Where would you be? I don't know. Oh, this is horrible. Yeah, we're gonna go for this one. I don't know what this is. It's a paperback. Oh my god, I feel sick. Let me into these. Oh my god. Oh. No. It was a mistake. Okay, so then we've got The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna, which is a fantasy that I have been really excited to read, but I don't, I don't know if either of these are, like, the thing to get me out of my slump. I mean, I don't know what I was hoping for with what is left here. I don't know what to go for you guys. Let's go with The Gilded Ones. I think I'm feeling this more. It's a beautiful spreader edition. It's YA, so it's going to be easier to read. Yeah, I've been really excited to read this. So let's get into this. Let's read The Gilded Ones. Is this a series or is it a standalone? I don't know. We'll find out in the next clip. We'll read this. Okay. Oh my god, I feel sick. Okay, everyone, let's chat. I come to you as a woman with something to confess. I filmed that unwrapping clip in March. In March, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was supposed to be for March's episode of Wrapped Up, which you may have noticed never, never came. Or you may not have noticed. Either's fine. Either's fine. Just because of the videos I was doing, I didn't end up getting around to doing a Wrapped Up in March. And so it's obviously April now, and I'm supposed to read this. And part of me, part of me, part of me was like, no one has to know. I don't really feel it. Let's just film something. Let's film it again. Film me unwrapping something else and we'll pretend this never happened. But I did tell a bit of a lie there. But I... It's getting a bit dark in here. Hang on. It's making me look even iller than I am. I'm a bit ill. I'm sick. I almost just pretended that I didn't need to read this, but then I remembered I didn't do it out of, you know, goodness of my heart and my truthful honestness. I did it because I'd put it on a and I want to finish all those off. So we are reading it. We're reading it. I am on page 92. I wanted to get to page 100, but I feel really sick. I feel like I need to, like, go sleep or something. I feel ill. So I was like, let me check in right now. That's something I can do. I've... So I just finished The Raven Boys, right? Which was like, no. Um, okay. No. No. Didn't really... Didn't love them. Yeah, The Raven Boys was a bit of a disappointment for me. And like, it's not getting much better. I'm not loving it. So basically, our main character we're following in the town that she lives is like a test for purity. And then these monsters arrive on the day of the test of purity, and she gets them to, like, stand down and turn around. This special being with, like, gold running through her veins that they fear and, like, say is a demon. And they try to, like, cast the demon out of her and kill her, essentially. And then she's recruited. This all in the synopsis on Goodreads, so I think it's all okay to say. She's recruited to be, like, a soldier. Like, the nation is recruiting all the girls like this to be soldiers because they're very... Because they're very difficult to kill. And that's what I've read so far. And I'm just gonna be honest. The writing... We've gone from writing that was giving too much at times in Maggie Stevewater. She was giving, you know, it was a lot. To writing that isn't giving enough. Just feels like really simple YA. And so I was kind of thinking to myself, okay, so maybe it's just, you know, it's just meant to be for younger audiences. But this book is quite gory. Like, when it goes there in terms of death or whatever, like, it goes there. And so it sits in a strange place in the YA market. And I'm not saying younger readers. Like, when I was, like, 13, 14, I probably would have read something like this. But, like, being able to read something and it being targeted towards those people is two different things. So I'm like, who is this targeted towards? I'm not sure. It reminds me a lot of when I read Cinderella is Dead. And I didn't really like the writing in that because it felt so simple. And it felt, like, very heavy on YA tropes we've seen a billion times before. But also there is, like, there is a discussion that needs to be had around how... I'm not stating that as a criticism necessarily. I'm saying it as a fact, not a criticism. Because that shouldn't be a criticism we levy at authors of colour writing YA. Because for so long they couldn't access being published on a wide scale, let's be honest. And it was white authors writing those, you know, YA tropes. Black authors or authors of colour should not be criticised for doing that when it's now their time to write. You get me? So that's not a criticism, but it's just something I'm noticing. For me, the problem is more the writing. I mean, we talk about this, we talked about it last week in fact. I'm a writing girl first, then a plot girl, then a character girl and, like, other ----. Do you know what I mean? The writing, I like... I just, I have to vibe with the writing. Me and the writing have to get along. It's not the vibe. Stop! Oh my god. Simple writing isn't bad. Like, I would say my favourite book of last year, The Thursday Murder Club, had pretty simple to ma- to the fa- to the fact- no, to the point. To the point writing. But something about this is rubbing me up the wrong way. I just think I need to be a lot more selective and I feel like I am being more selective now with the books I'm buying with the YA fantasy that I- that I read. I feel like me and YA fantasy are not besties right now. We're not besties. I haven't been loving a lot of YA fantasy that I've been reading. So I think I need to be more selective and I think I prefer older YA fantasy. So if there's any, like, older YA fantasy do you recommend? I'm thinking, like, The Gilded Wolves. The Gilded Ones? The Gilded Wolves. The Gilded Wolves. Is that older? Like, I feel like that's something I can enjoy. But yeah, a lot of the YA fantasy I've been reading lately I haven't been into. So anyway, I'm gonna go read a bit more. Hopefully I will feel a bit better and, like, look a bit better. Not giving corpse energy, excuse me. And I will check in with you. Not giving- come on. Come on. There we go. Well done, son. I'll chat with you when I'm a Right. I am 250 pages in. So I've read that much. Got that much left to read. And I'm still not feeling it. I'm not feeling it. I'm so sorry. I want to cry because I actually want to love a book. Is that too much to ask? Is that too much to ask right now? Like, I want to love a book. Does that sound like something you want? It is. Well, let me tell you, you'll never get it. Yeah. It's feeling like a two-star at the moment. Now, let's start with the positive, right? Let's start with probably the main positive for me, is that Namina Forna is absolutely incredible at describing scenes in ways that you can really visualise them. A problem I often have with, like, fantasy that I rate low pretty much all the time is that I can't picture it. Like, the world, the atmosphere, the settings that we're in, I'm like, what the f*** is going on? Or just, like, action scenes, I can't picture it at all. Usually that's, like, the number one thing that I struggle with when I'm not liking a book or the writing's not really vibing. But I think you can really, really visualise everything. And I looked at the back and Namina Forna is actually a screenwriter. The book is actually written as if it's a movie you can imagine in your head. Do you know what I mean? Like, you can really picture the settings. It's very cinematic settings. It's very, like, grand, you know, real aesthetic themed settings. And so I feel like that, you can really see that, you can really see that playing off well. Now that's my, that's my plus, guys. If you don't want to hear any bad news, walk on out right now. Get on it. No, it's get on up when you're down, baby. Take a good look around. And no, okay. I am very uncomfortable with the energy that we've created in the studio today. Other than just, like, I don't like the writing. And that's a personal thing, right? So, like, when I say I don't like the writing, that should be your sign that if I don't like that book, and I don't have many other big problems with it, that this is a personal thing. Other people could love this. But I feel like a lot of the character development is very shoehorned. Like, characters will come to, like, grand realisations and be like, I've changed so much. Oh my god, I've changed. Oh, I've changed. And it's like, but what, like, I haven't seen you for, like, 80 pages. Like, how has this, where has this realisation come from? Like, it doesn't really, they were like, oh, I'm a different person. I'm like, but what has caused you to become a different person? We haven't seen that journey. Characters, like, flip a switch, and they're like, ooh, ooh, new personalised trait, ooh. It doesn't feel realistic. It doesn't feel realistic in any way, shape, or form. And there is far too many side characters in this. Far too many side characters. Like, there's so many other girls and boys at this kind of, like, training school that they're at to fight these, like, demon death shriekers. There's so many of them, and we often won't see one of them for, like, 80 pages or, like, 100 pages, and then they just, like, say a random line. And I'm like, I have no idea who any of you are. Like, even the ones that we've had a introduction to and, like, had some backstory on, I get them all mixed up with one another. So I'm like, what? Like, there's far too many characters. We've got our main character, we've got her besie mate, we've got the love interest. Beyond that, I don't need many people. You can introduce me to them once, but then, like, continuing on in the story, I'm just getting confused as to who these people are. Like, I just, I don't remember any of them. So, they're my biggest negatives. And I, yeah, just the writing. I'm just not vibing with it. Like I said, it is quite gory. Like, there's a lot of death and a lot of war in this, but it reads as if it's for younger audiences. So I'm just struggling to figure out who this book is for and what its intention is, which I'm really sad about. I wanted to love this. I have a great edition. I thought I would really love it. I will hopefully check in with you later this afternoon or this evening, having finished this, because I'm just going to go finish it now. Please don't look at me. I hated it. I feel so bad. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I hated it. I hated it so much. The most hideous experience for me to go I hated it. I hated it. I really need to, like, figure out what YA fantasy I actually want to read. I feel like I actually don't have that much left on my TBR, but like, uh-uh, this wasn't it. I should have read Cubs and Wyatt. Just the writing was so overdramatic. Like, so unnecessarily overdramatic. I hate, like, writing that is just so, like, characters reacting and such. Everyone's like, do you know what I mean? That's what every moment is. It's just like, oh my god. It's like one note. We have no light and shade. Everyone's just like, um, yeah, I hated it. The magic system was so confusing. So confusing. Like, I didn't really understand the world or the magic system. The big twist at the end, oh my god, saw it a mile off. Excuse me, it is so obvious, like, what the twist is and what the whole reveal of the book is. It was so obvious. Everything just, and this is like my number one bugbear with books, is like, conveniency. Like, everything was so convenient. Like, everyone's plans were carried out as exactly as they were planning, and everything happened in exactly the right way, and I was just infuriated. I can't even talk about it. I can't even talk about it. Get the camera out of my face. Get turned. Get the cameras off. It's like having a job 24-7 for two days on the trot. I went through a lot of accidents there. Don't know what was happening. It's late. Get that fire exit door. I'm off. This book, I need, I wanted to live my life today. Do you know what I mean? I didn't even fill up the money b-roll between this clip and the last one, even though I just, like, sat there reading the whole time, because I was fuming. I was fuming. Do you know what I mean? Like, I just want my life back. I just want my life. I hated it, and I think I would have DNF'd this if this was in a vlog with other books. I would have just DNF'd it. I disliked it that much. Like, a 1.5 is the lowest rating I've given out. Is that harsh? I don't think it's harsh. Let me go with my feelings. Let me go with my gut. It's the lowest rating I've given out this year, apart from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which I DNF'd at, like, 120 pages. So this is, like, the lowest rated book I've ever read this year, which, you know, it feels right. I hate it. I think I disliked it even more than, say, Cinderella is Dead, which was another low two star for me. And, like, I think back to- we had an episode of this where we read Survive the Night by Riley Sager, which I gave two stars, but at least that gave us something. Like, it gave us something, like, fun to hate. It was a fun reading experience. This was just annoying. I really hope none of these authors ever- I live in fear. I live in fear that one day I actually write a novel, which doesn't- I mean, that won't materialize. I write a novel, and authors see my videos and they ******* hate me. And I'm like, please, like, don't get mad at me for what I say. I'm so sorry. Because this is someone's- this is someone's life, right? Let's never forget that when we're reviewing books. Like, this is someone's, like, livelihood. They've poured their life into it. And a lot of people love this book. So me disliking it isn't the be-all end-all, right? But, like, I'm a book reviewer. Like, it's my job to, like, be honest with you. And so I never want to, like, temper what I'm saying for fear of, like, upsetting authors. I would still- if you're interested in this book, go ******* read it. Sometimes, a lot of the time, when I watch someone hate a book, it can make me more interested in the book. So, like, let's remember all of those factors whenever I'm, like, hating a book. I will say I liked the message of the books. Like, it reminded me a lot of Girls of Paper and Fire. But this one in particular, talking about, like, in it, obviously they go from being girls who are very controlled, having to be very meek, subservient, to girls being made into warriors. But in both of those equations, even though the expectations of them are, like, drastically different and opposite, they're still people trying to mold them into what they want to be, rather than the girls choosing what they want to be. But I feel like we could have gone a bit of a step further. Like, the girls, like, really figuring out what they want, not what people are telling them they should want, I would have liked. And my number- like, my last- not my number one, my last complaint is there's a character in this book that our main character kind of, like, looks up to a lot, right? And she'll ask her questions and she'll be like, I'll tell you that later. I'll tell you that later. Don't concern yourself with that right now. You're not ready for that. You'll find that out when the time is ready. Like, bitch, like, give me a few, like, little snippets. Like, she can't- it happened so many times. So many times. Like, I'll tell you- I'll tell you that when the time is right. Prepare yourself. Like, girl, there's only- then it ends up being a big tell-all of everything at the end. Like, I'm angry. What did she say? Just talking ----! Also, this is very- I mean, this is- I was just annoyed at this point. But her- she let out a breath she didn't even know was holding in, whooshed out of her, and then, like, a paragraph later, a sound whooshed by me. Why have we got two whooshed in that close proximity? Okay, I'm getting petty now, but I don't care. Whooshed. Two whooshed. Two whooshed in close proximity. I didn't love it. And I think for how gory it is, the writing needed to be older. I don't think it straddles that line. It's written for younger readers, but I think the gore will prevent it getting into the hands of some of those younger readers. So, one and a half stars. Let's all go cry, because I'm very upset. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you thought of this if you have read it. I feel like I've just been a Debbie Downer lately, and I don't like it. So yeah, if you've gotten to the end, comment the green or yellow heart emoji. I love you very much. Thank you for sitting through my suffering with me, and I will see you soon in another video. Bye!