letting BOOKTUBERS pick what i read😱

So today we're going to be embarking on a vlog project that puts my entire fate in other booktubers' hands, which is never a good idea. This is a style of vlog that I did many times a couple of years ago and I've always wanted to bring back, but it's called Booktuber Scavenger Hunt because I'm being sent from one booktuber to another. The idea is I go to the first booktuber, they give me a reading prompt, and then based on what I think of that book they give me the next booktuber to go to for the next reading prompt. So booktubers are giving me reading prompts that decide what I read and I also have no control beyond the first booktuber what booktubers I'm going to see. I think this is always really fun, I like putting my fate in other people, so let's just get into it. Okay, hi. I don't know if I'm looking bedraggled, I'm feeling it. It's the end of a very hot day here in the UK, but more importantly it's time to find out what the first book we're going to be reading is and what the first prompt is going to be, because I'm so nervous. I was just on a zoom um with some of my patrons and I was saying like how nervous this makes me, like not knowing what I'm going to read. Past Megan will have already explained this whole situation, but we're going to have a reading prompt from a booktuber, then we'll read it back, then they'll give us the next booktuber to go to. And the first booktuber I've chosen is Gabby. Oh my god, I'm so excited. I love Gabby's videos, Gabby's one of the booktubers I watch the most. Gabby also runs Summerween, which like iconic and all the weens, ween readathons, and they always have really good reading prompts, but also like accessible reading prompts, which is part of the reason why I chose Gabby first, because I feel like I need someone to go a little bit easy on me, like I don't want someone- I feel like once Aaron gave me- Aaron from Booktube is busy- busy? Sorry, I'm like so hot I can't speak. I swear once Aaron gave me the prompt like read So I'm hoping Gabby's prompt will be like accessible and easy for me to do, kind of, but still a bit challenging? I don't know. In terms of the books we're going to be prioritising, these are the books I need- ----! Apart from this top one, these have all been on TBR Cluedo and I still haven't read them, so I really should prioritise those. And then this month I have got to read this book, so it'd be great if I could fit it into a reading vlog, because I'm a guest host on Kayla's Literary Dead Book Club, which I'm very excited for. So I'd like to vlog this book, The Devotional Suspect X, if I can. Other than that, I'm kind of fancying short books at the moment, like I feel like I'll be reading a lot of longer books, and I'm in a bit of a slump, and I just want good books to be honest, but I mean we can't- we can't choose that ahead of time. Let's just watch the video. I am so nervous. You guys don't understand how nervous doing these make me. Hey Meg, how's it going? I hope that you're doing well and thank you so much for asking me to be a part of this little experiment that you're doing. I think it sounds so much fun. I know you asked me for a book prompt and instead of being, you know, basic and just giving you one prompt, I thought it would be fun to give you six different prompts. And basically like the idea that I had behind this would be it would be a little bit more interactive for you, because I thought you could roll a dice and depending on which number out of the six that you get, that would be the prompt that you would have to complete. And if you don't have a dice, I figured you could just use like a random number generator to pick like one through six. But anyways, so- oh my god, okay, pause, pause, pause. I thought- I actually had a heart attack. Oh my god. Oh god, my heart hurts. I thought Gabby was gonna give me six book prompts. I was gonna have to find a book that fit all six. I was ready to leave. I was ready to say, sorry Gabby, I'm not making the video anymore. Thank you for your time, but it's not happening. We've got six. I think I'll just google roll a dice, because I can't- we've got loads of dice in the house. My dad is a big gamer. Big gamer. So we have a lot of dice in the house. And so does my brother has loads of dice, but I can't be bothered to go find them. So we'll just do roll a dice on here. Okay, so we have six prompts. This is heartbreaking, because there could be some prompts I really want and then I don't get it. Or there could be prompts I don't want and then I get that one. Okay, right. The six different prompts that I have, so if you do end up rolling a one, then your prompt would be to read a thriller with orange and black on the cover. If you roll a two, then you will be reading a horror book with red on the cover. If you roll a three, you will read the first book that you see on your shelf that has green on the spine. That's on your TBR, of course. And then if you roll a four, then your prompt will be to read a book from my 2022 favorites video that you have not yet read. And then if you roll a five, it'll be to read a thriller with black or white text on the cover. And then if you roll a six, it'll be to read a horror book with trees on the cover. And so I figured this would be a little bit more fun and, you know, kind of like raise the stakes to see if you'll have to like roll a dice and just figure it out. I think it would be fun for you. And thank you so much again. I hope you have fun with these prompts. I'm scared. I'm gonna record my screen. Don't judge me that my phone's on like 8% battery, okay? We'll just ignore that. I don't even know which of those prompts I want. I don't want the one that's Gabby's, like a book from Gabby's favorites. Not that I don't trust Gabby, but like that's specific, right? The other books we can work around, we can figure this ---- out. That's so specific. I just want 10 books and I could like own none of them. Okay, I'm ready. So if I just say roll a dice, Google will do it. Two. My god, that was so fast. There's like no suspense there. Oh, Jesus Christ. Okay, what is prompt two? What is prompt two? Read a horror book with red on the cover. Oh, no. No, no, no, no. Okay, let me record my screen. I don't have a ton of horror on my TBR. I think it'll be easier to go, because I sort my own TBR into all the genres as well for TBR Cluedo. When I get a prompt on TBR Cluedo, it's easier for me to go and look. So I have all the horror books listed. Let's record my screen and go see. I think this will be an easier way to look at it versus searching through my TBR. Horror. I only have like 24 books. Right, I had the audiobook for Last Final Girl. A lot of these are going to be audiobooks. White Horse by Erica T. Worth has like red as the text. Okay, none of those are really red. Plain Bad Heroes is an audiobook. Oh, wait. What color is my copy of The Drift? And is that classed as a horror? Because if so, maybe we'll read that. Yeah, okay. Goodreads. The first genre is horror. Oh my god. Oh, ----. I put my drink there. Mary and Joseph. The Drift. The Drift. The Drift. The Drift. Okay, we're gonna read. I'm so excited. Firstly, this is a 2023 release, which I have not been getting around to enough. So we've got a 2023 release. There was no horror with red on the cover over there in that stack that I showed you. Was there? No, there wasn't. So we're gonna read The Drift. The Drift. The Drift. The Drift by CG Tudor. I've been so excited to read this. I've heard such great things. I think it'll be a really fun quick read. Gabby, you've done me well. Okay, let's begin it. I am so excited. Okay, my friends. I am halfway through The Drift. I'm just using the dust jacket as a bookmark. I don't know why. I, when I was adding this to Goodreads the other day, I noticed that Gabby gave this one star. This is awkward. The irony that I am reading it for her prompt. I feel like I vaguely remember watching the vlog, maybe, where Gabby read this, but I've like, I forgot about it. But yeah, I picked a book that she gave one star. But I am really enjoying this. So this is like a dystopian thriller-horror-mystery hybrid. We're actually, it's set after slash during a pandemic. We've got three different storylines happening. We've got an overturned coach full of students, all of them are trapped. A stranded cable car full of strangers, one of them is dead. An isolated chalet full of friends, soon there'll be enemies. And it's all through this lens of this pandemic. So they're like, is someone ill? There's these thing called whistlers, who are people who have been infected with this disease, are still alive, because it's named after the sound they make when they're breathing or whatever. And yeah, three different storylines, which you may be thinking, Megan, you usually don't like split timelines. But actually, I'm enjoying this, because my problem is when there's two, I really don't like two, where they're supposed to be equal, but one is obviously better, right? Whereas all three of these are actually intriguing me, which is hard to do. Seriously, just out here doing the impossible. All of them are probably intriguing me equally, or there's like phases where maybe one of them is intriguing me more, but they're kind of all each taking a turn in that. And I'm really enjoying it. I think CJ Tudor is just a great writer, like a fun thriller. This isn't going to be a five star, I don't think, for me. But I really love the pandemic setting. I think it's very interesting. It's so hot in the UK at the moment. And this book is set in the snow, which, I mean, it would be fun to read this in the winter. But also I think sometimes it's fun to read a book in like the opposite setting than what you're in. So when it's really hot, reading a cold, wintry book, and when it's really cold, reading a summery book. I think that can be fun as well, like the juxtaposition and really putting you in that world. If it can do that, it's really fun. We're halfway through, but I feel like we're just starting to find out answers about the different timelines and like more mysteries are being opened up. I'm wondering how they're going to come together, because they've got to somehow, right? Part of me is wondering, this isn't a spoiler, because there's been nothing that suggests this. I've just read a lot of thrillers. But part of me is wondering. I'm a little bit suspicious. I've got my magnifying glass out. But yeah, I'm reading it really fast as well. It's a very quick, fast-paced read. So I'm really enjoying it. I'm going to go ahead. I need to edit a video today, but then the aim is to probably finish this tonight. And it's a pretty quick read, so I'm hoping I will be. I'm going to edit my video as quickly as I can, because I want to finish this. I'm enjoying it. At the moment, I would say it's a solid four star, you know? That's what I would say it is at the moment. So yeah, I'm going to go ahead, finish this, and I'll check in with you probably this evening, maybe at home. I'm hoping to finish it before I go to bed tonight, so probably late this evening, with my thoughts. Okay. So in the last clip, you would have seen, there was a moment. I've had to bleep out, because I basically tell you the whole plot of this book. I tell you the big reveal. I had it, like, completely down. And I thought to myself, like, should I just include it? Because, I mean, I hadn't read the book. I'd already read half of it. But I can't spoil the book for you. So turns out, the big twist in this, like, I knew it. I knew the, I knew the big twist. I didn't quite figure out how all the different characters played into that twist, but I knew the big twist. And here's the thing, I think it's a fairly obvious direction for this story to go, once you start it. Like, once you've kind of got the initial, uh, plots of each of these scenarios, you kind of go, okay, I can see where this might go. Like, it's fairly natural, I'd say, within the first, like, 50 pages to think this. But I basically told you the whole plot of the thing. So, I had to bleep that bit out. I like the twist, but I feel like the ending, like, the end scenes, because the twist happens, I would say, like, maybe 100 pages? 80 pages? Like, we start to get an inkling of it, um, from the end. But then, like, obviously the ending is, like, its whole thing. And I'm not sure the ending completely worked, slash was satisfying, slash all the dots were joined up by the end, you know? And I don't think it was necessarily trying to leave dots open, like, for fun? I just think maybe certain dots were left in the wind. I don't know what the **** she's saying, but girl, I am living. So I finished this last night, and I've been really debating what to rate it, because I had a great time reading it. It's such a compulsively readable thriller. I feel like I haven't read one like this in a long time, where it's just so easy. It's so easy to read it and get through it, and, like, you're turning the pages. So I had a great reading experience, but the ending didn't quite do it for me. So I was hovering between a 3.5 and a 4, and by the end I was like, it's like maybe a 3.75, like a 3.8, if we're being picky. So I'm just gonna go ahead and give this a 4. I think it's fun, you know? I can't believe I read the most wintry book ever in summer. But like I said, I think that's fun sometimes. And I just want you to be warned, there is some strong body horror in this. Like, strong-ass body horror. If you're squeamish, here's the thing, right? When I get to those scenes, I kind of just, like, read it really fast, so I know vaguely what's going on, but I don't, like, pour it everywhere. Like, then the blood gushed, or whatever, like, I don't want to know that. But those scenes, they were strong. There was a few moments in this book, with body horror, that made my jaw hang open. Hang open. Hang open. Yeah, I enjoyed it. I think it's fun. I'm not necessarily gonna, like, remember it for years to come, but I think Sea of Judah just gives me that quick, fun, like, good vibe. What I want, you know? So, I asked Gabbie which booktuber I should go to for my next reading prompt. Plomped. Plomped. My next reading prompt, and she said Katie Coulson. So I have messaged Katie, um, and I'm hopefully gonna get that maybe later today or tomorrow. So we'll just wait in suspense. Nervousness now. Um, I don't know what to expect. I don't know what prompt Katie's gonna give me, but I'm excited to find out. I do like getting reading prompts, guys. I think it makes reading fun. Like, I'm such a planned reader. Yes, it gives me anxiety, but there's something fun about just being like, oh, I have to read this book now. Let's go with it. So, anyways, I'll check in with you once I've got Katie's video. Hi. This is, like, chaotic. I just, oh my god, I just was out. It's my mum's birthday. It's my mum's birthday, and we were out at my grandparents, and I got a notification come through saying Katie's sent me the prompt, and I, it took all my willpower not to read it right there and then. So I rushed home. No, I didn't leave early just to find out the prompt, but it's time to find out what Katie's prompt is. And Katie, you said something to me when we were talking on, like, DMs. Sorry, this is crooked. Oh my god. Um, like, you might not want to do what I've chosen. Don't make me nervous, Katie. Okay, right, I've got it right here in front of me. We're gonna watch it. I'm so excited. I just love getting reading prompts, guys. Hey, Meg. Hey. Katie Coulson here. Oh my god. Thanks for including me in this video, and also thank you, Gabby, for pushing Meg in my direction because I'm here to promote my agenda. I want you to take the Enneagram. I want you to share the pie chart with the class once you're done taking it, and then you can do one of two things. You can either look up book recommendations based on that Enneagram, but what I would suggest more than that is looking up book characters that are blank Enneagram and finding a book that's on your TBR that has a character that people think is that Enneagram type and reading that book. Or you can send me a picture of your TBR and I can tell you which books I think you should read based on your Enneagram. I just love the Enneagram, and I'm here to force everybody to take the test, and the amount of people that I have gathered into this army is vast, okay? But I will say that if that's too difficult, then do you remember in BookTuber Battle when you made me find a book that had all the letters of my first name? Yeah. Everybody's gonna be screaming like, Katie, there's one right there! Oh, how the tanned tables, Megan! M and a G and an N all in the same title. Tricky. Enneagram's looking easy now, isn't it? But that would be my second prompt if the first one is too complex. So thank you for letting me be in this video, and I hope to hear from you very soon. Okay. How long? I've done it before, I feel like, the Enneagram thing. I'm not down with this kind of stuff, and I found out what I was. Do I screen record this, or do I just go away and do it? I think it's gonna take, like, 15 minutes, right? You don't need to see all my answers, you don't need to know my deepest thoughts and feelings. Okay, I will- oh, there's a lot. Okay, I'm gonna go away, I'm gonna do the test, I found one on Truity, I don't know if that's the best one, and I'll be back, and then we'll find a book together. My problem with this, right, is for a book to be on, like, Enneagram lists, it's gonna be a popular book, right? It's gonna be a popular book. Okay, right, I'll be back in two minutes. Five minutes later. Okay, this says I'm a three. Okay, that means- I feel like I've done this before, then I've gotten a one. Maybe? I don't know, I don't know if this- this quiz didn't feel like the best, but I want to keep going on and doing other ones and getting different- but this is what this says, this is a three. But, okay, threes are defined by their desire to achieve. They want to advance in the world and will sacrifice almost anything for success. See, I don't think that necessarily is me. Yes, succeeding is a very important part of my life, and, like, achieving my goals. I always have very strict goals for what I want to achieve, but I don't know if I am a three. What is one? I don't know, but let's go with three. Apparently I'm a three. Apparently I like to stand out and have a burning need to be admired, and see, life is a game where winning is- see, I don't think that is me. Should I do another quiz? I'm just gonna keep doing quizzes until I get one that I trust. That's because all of the questions were like, do you have goals? Do you succeed? I'm like, do you want to succeed? I'm like, well, yeah. But, like, let me go do another one. Hang on. Right, I did another one. It turns out I'm a three. It didn't think I was a three, but I'm a three. This one says I'm a three as well. Okay. I can't believe that. I do like to accomplish goals, and I plan things out far into the future. So I'm like, I'm a big planner. I like thinking about what I'm gonna achieve in years to come, you know? I guess. Okay, right, right, right. Let's google book recommendations for Enneagram type three. Let's start- let's find some lists. Oh my god, I'm nervous. What if there's no book that's on my TBR? Best books for type- these are all gonna be- I don't trust this list. We're not- this is- oh, Book Riot, Book Riot. I know I have good ones. Okay, okay, okay. Severance by Ling Ma, I don't own. Burnout, I don't- that's it. Okay, well. This is all gonna be non-fiction though. I will read a non-fiction if I have it, but it will be like, burnout. I have to prevent burnout. Oh my god. Oh my god. Wait, let's do what Katie said. Characters who are Enneagram three. All right, number three. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh, my greatest fears of being worthless. Oh dear. We're getting deep tonight, guys. Okay, let's try another Book Riot one. This is- this is- this is crazy. The Achiever. Oh, okay, okay. I've read Apes of Spades. I've read Haven't read Percy- oh. Oh, Poppy War. Jade- god. Yeah, I could see that. Oh ----. Oh ----. Oh ----. Oh, we have to do that then. Wait here. Guys. Guys. It's time to read The Song of Achilles. I was gonna put this in another video I've got coming up, but let's just read it now. Why not? Oh, look at my- I love this edition. Isn't it the most gorgeous thing you've ever seen? I enjoyed Cersei. Cersei was a four star, but everyone's told me I'm gonna love The Song of Achilles even more. Oh, my god. We're reading The Song of Achilles. And here's the thing. It says threes are very- I'm more jealous and competitive. The lies! There you go. I don't feel like I'm a three. There's certain parts of this that aren't meshing with my idea of myself. But here we go. I'm a three over one, and we're reading- oh, my god. We're reading The Song of Achilles. Thank you, Katie, I guess. I'll read like a hundred pages, maybe, and then I'll check in with you. Oh, my god. Oh, my god. Hey. So, I started The Song of Achilles yesterday. I didn't get, like, super into it. I was supposed to read loads yesterday. I read 50 pages, and then I read another 50 pages. I'm a hundred pages in. I love- I freaking love it when a book has a ribbon. Oh, my god. Can we just talk about- I think this is one of the most beautiful books I own. Like, I am slightly obsessed with it. I think it's just so gorgeous. Okay, so if you don't know what this is about, which I'm sure most of you do, we are following Achilles and his relationship, friendship, relationship with Patroclus. I shouldn't say friendship. They're gay. It's like when there's, like, women in history, and the historian's like, they were really good friends. Like, Pompeii, like, two women in an embrace. They were really good. They were besties. And they were roommates. Yeah, it's their love story, basically. I don't know if I've said Patroclus. Listen, I can barely speak English, guys, as we know. My pronunciation is terrible. It is their love story, and so at the point I'm at, they are both about 16, so we've kind of had them meeting and have them growing into kind of young men together so far. I've got to be honest, there's a lot of pressure riding on this. Like, I rarely, when I post I'm reading a book on Goodreads, have people going, oh my god, yeah, wow, you know, in the comments. But this got that, and that got me feeling a little bit, like, ----. A little bit riding on this. I didn't immediately feel grabbed by it, but I'm enjoying it more now that I'm 100 pages in. I got a bit rattled. The first 50 pages, I was kind of bored. I was, like, nodding off a little bit. I was like, oh my god, I don't know. But I feel like I'm slowly growing into it. This is gonna be this slow epic story of their love, I feel like, and I'm here for it. I'm growing into it. But it got me thinking, right, there's certain styles of writing that accompany, like, styles of books. So, like, fairy tale-esque stories that draw their inspiration from, I feel like, English folklore or, like, Russian folklore. Or, like, they often mirror perhaps some of the writing style of the original, you know? If it's a book set in Victorian times, I feel like often they can have similar writing styles, because you're mirroring stuff that was written in that time, right? And so this is obviously a Greek myth retelling. And I do feel like, having now read, I've read Circe and I read Silence of the Girls. I'm sure I've read more, but those are two that I've read recently. I'm not sure the writing is entirely for me, because I love fairy tale, right, like, writing, you know? I love Russian folklore-like writing. You know, think of The Bear and the Nightingale. But I'm not sure Greek myth, I think Greek myth retelling has some of that fairy tale likeness to it. But it also has, like, a hardness and a sharpness and a roughness to it. It mirrors the cutthroatness of what often happens in these books. And it's quite almost, it's somehow fairy tale-like and to the point at the same time. And I don't dislike it, but I'm not sure that writing style is ever going to be my favourite. I'm not sure I'm ever going to have a favourite book of all time that's a Greek myth retelling at this point. Okay, this is the bottom line. Everybody was thinking it, I just said it. I feel like they're always kind of a four star, but there's something about them that isn't quite a five star for me. That's my initial observation. I almost wish I hadn't read The Silence of the Girls before I read this, because if you don't know The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker, you follow Achilles and Patroclus in it, and so I know what happens before that. I didn't know what happens in their kind of myth, and I feel like the direction this book goes in would perhaps have been more emotionally impactful had I not known that. And they're not, they're like kind of focuses of the book, but also like the, it's called The Silence of the Girls, like the women are more focused in that book. So I kind of wish I'd read this first, and I think that would have been the better order to read them. I feel like it's perhaps taken away a little bit from this, but obviously the events of this have not yet caught up with events of The Silence of the Girls. Yeah, I feel like it's only going to be right at the end. Yeah, I'm enjoying it. I'm going to try and get up to page like 200 at least, but maybe like 220 tonight I feel like might be reasonable. So I'll either check in with you tonight before I go to bed or first thing in the morning. But yeah, I'm slowly getting more into it, but I wasn't initially in love with it. Okay, hi! Here's the thing, the lights in my kitchen, the window's over here, so we're kind of like half lit, but let's chat. I'm making lunch. I'm gonna roast some potatoes and bell pepper. I know it sounds kind of weird, but I love it with some eggs all chopped up in a bowl together with some ketchup. It's so good for lunch. I have just gotten to page 220, so I'm not far off the end. I'm about 130 pages from the end, so I thought two birds, one stone, I would chat to you whilst I chop food. Potatoes. I love potatoes, guys. Aren't potatoes the best food ever? So the section that I just got up to, we have just met Briseus. Briseus has just turned up. And Briseus, I feel like she's not going to play maybe a massive role, I don't know, in this one. But she is who the Science of the Girls follows and is told from the perspective of. So it's just interesting to see different interpretations of the same character. I would say there's already quite a different interpretation between the two characters already. I'm really enjoying it. I'm really enjoying it. But I'm not like, it's not five stars. And I feel like that's sacrilegious. Like, I feel like people are going to be mad at me. You better f***ing take that back right now. You better f***ing stop right now. Patroclus, if that's not his name, I'm really bad at pronouncing his. If that's not his name, like that's really bad because like half the book is him telling people like how to say his name. He's a very interesting character to follow. He's kind of very introspective. And just the way that he kind of, you know, looks at Achilles and looks at everything in the world. I don't know, it's very interesting. So I like reading from his perspective. I have come to the conclusion with what my problem is with Greek myth retellings. The problem is, right, any Greek myth retelling that is like, is saying pretty true to the Greek myth in terms of the events that are happening. It has certain plot beats that it has to reach. This myth surrounding Achilles, like these are predestined plot points. And so it kind of just feels, I don't want to say unoriginal. It kind of feels predestined. Like the book, I'm never feeling surprised at where a plot goes. That's not because I know the plot. I don't really, other than having read Silence of the Girls, like pre this, I knew nothing of this story basically. But I feel there's no surprise. I feel like there's no, because it's not something the author has necessarily come up with themselves, it just feels like we know what we've got to reach. We're filling in the blanks and we're doing it in our own writing style. The writing style in this is beautiful, right? But I think I would perhaps prefer Greek myth retellings that like re-imagine and go on a different plot beat or like whatever, because it just feels constrained by its past and like what has already been written. Does that make sense? It feels constrained and that's why it can't be a five star. It can be a four star. I can recognise that this is incredibly written, that I really like the reading experience, that it's a great quality book. But for me, I don't feel like it can be a five star because it just feels constrained by what it's retelling. So that's how I'm currently feeling. I'm going to go ahead and finish it. If I cry, I'll show you. If I don't cry, I don't cry. But I will see you. Hopefully I'll finish this. I'm going to finish it this afternoon. Oh, I think that's the first book that's made me properly cry this year. Okay. Okay, hi. Oh, the ice cream man's here. So, finished Song of Achilles. I cried a lot, but I'm still gonna give this four stars. No one be mad at me! I'm very sad that I read Silence of the Girls before this. I still think Silence of the Girls is a great book, but it's serving a different purpose and I think it's not going for that emotional impact as much. And I think the emotional impact of this would have been greater had I not read that book and I didn't know what was gonna happen. Because I would have been, whew, gagged, you know? But I knew what was gonna happen. It's the same story. A lot of people probably go into this knowing what's gonna happen just because they have like knowledge of Greek myths, but that's not me. I have no knowledge of anything. So listen, I really enjoyed it. It made me cry. I think it's the first, like I said, I think it's the first book that's properly made me cry this year, which like, it feels good, you know? It feels good to get that emotional release because it's been lacking a little bit this year. I love a good cry to a book. I'm easy pickings and nothing has been making me cry. I really enjoyed it. I'm really excited to read more that Madeleine Miller puts out in the future, but I am yet to read a Greek myth retelling book that is five stars to me. And I think it is those conventions of the genre and of the style that kind of prevent me. I'm giving them five stars. Maybe would have given it five stars had I not read Silence of the Girls first. But I still think Silence of the Girls is a great book. But like I said, they're going for different things. They're telling this story in completely different ways, but with the same plot points. So like, I know what's gonna happen. So I need to now message Katie to find out who our last booktuber is gonna be to get the prompt from. Sometimes I do four booktubers in this video, sometimes I do three. I was aiming to do four, but I don't think I've got time. With the amount of time it takes me to like get the prompt from the booktuber, usually it's like a couple days till someone's free or whatever, I don't think I think we're gonna fit four in. Because it's currently Wednesday afternoon and I want to get this video up by Sunday. I just feel like it won't happen. We won't quite fit two in. Unless the next prompt I end up reading a graphic novel, in which case we might consider it. So this will probably be the last booktuber, but like it might not be. Anyways, I'm gonna go message Katie and then I'll check in with you when I have the next prompt, whatever that may be. And actually I'm back. Just a quick comment. I actually haven't moved. It was like two seconds. Um, do I see myself in Achilles? No, absolutely not. Because the whole point, the whole reason I read this obviously is because apparently I'm the same type as Achilles. I don't think I'm type three on the Enneagram. I just don't. I don't see myself in there. Do you like me? Yes or no question. It's a yes or no question. Do you like me? So yeah, I didn't see myself in Achilles. Like his kind of cutthroat ambition. Here's the thing, I have ambition and this is something, okay, we're getting into this here, but I have ambition, but it's not through competition with others. I find that really like soul destroying. I remember when I moved to the school where I met Tom, it was like this all boys school from year seven to 11 and then the girls couldn't join for the last two years. So I was there for the last two years and I feel like they're like, the way that they were taught to like measure their self worth and like measure how good they are is like, am I beating everyone else? Like, where am I in the pack? Like, you know, what's my position in the pack? And like constantly measuring, am I doing better than this person? Or like, I mean, not saying Tom's like this, but it's what I saw in other boys at the school and like just the attitude of the school, you know? And I'm not like that. I think I only measure my ambition. Of course, sometimes I compare myself to others, but in terms of what motivates me, it's like comparing myself to myself, you know? Of course, sometimes I compare myself to others and go, I wish I was doing as well as them, yada yada. But in terms of what motivates me, it's only comparing myself to myself. And I think that's what differs from like the perception of a type three from what I've read because I don't, I don't identify with it. Anyways, that was a little, little bit of a segue. I'm going to go make some dinner, message Katie and see what prompt I'm going to get next. Okay, friends. Do you know why I did that? It's late. I've just washed my hair, but right before I washed my hair, I got the prompt from Yeah, I got the prompt through and I was like, okay, it's going to be late by the time I react to it, but I need to find out tonight what it is. So the next booktuber I'm going to get the prompt from is Isabella from Throne of Pages. I love Isabella. Isabella is one of the booktubers I watch the most. She's actually one of the booktubers I watched the most before I started my channel. So I've watched her for years and years and years and I'm excited to see what she's going to come up with. I kind of don't trust her though. I'm nervous. I'm feeling nervous. I'd rather, I'd like to have an easy book, please. Like I'd like something fun, quick, short. That's what I'm feeling at the moment. So let's see how we go. I'm like shaking. I'm shaking. I'm literally shaking. It's a shame I'm shaking. I'm physically shaking. Oh, it's too late to question Lisa Barlow and her iconic lines. I'm shaking. I'm physically shaking. Hi, how are you doing this fine evening? I hope you're doing well because that's about to end. You're legally required to not hate me for what I'm about to tell you, but for my reading prompt, I'm going to be taking you on a little scavenger hunt. I have gathered a couple of words that are based on my favorite books and you have to read a book or several books where you find these words. I know, I know, my mind. Here are the words that I want you to find for my little scavenger hunt. Picture, seven, sea, normal, and throne. Five words. It can't be that hard, right? So best of luck. I'm glad I'm not you and have fun. Does she mean the title? I'm just going to text her to clarify what she means because if it's the title, I have to read five different books. Okay, I just got clarification. So it's not in the title. It's whilst I'm reading the book. Okay, so like I have to read a book and it has to have all those words in it. Now, here's the thing. Let me, oh my god, this prompt. Look at, look at what she just sent me. She's laughing at my pain. I can't take this. Okay, here's the thing. I need to read The Deflation of Suspect X this weekend, like over the next couple of days for Kaylin's Literature Book Club. So I have to read this. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to go with this. But like, I don't think this is going to have throne in it. Like, it's a detective Japanese thriller. Like, I don't think it's going to have throne. I feel like I'm going to read these words and then just like forget that Okay, we're going to read this because I have to read it this weekend. And then hopefully we'll take off most of the words. Holy ----. Hopefully we'll take off most of them with this book. And I just like want to skim it and see how many of them are in here. I haven't seen any of them yet. We could get none of them from this. I mean, right, I'm gonna go start this. Guys, I literally haven't moved from when I told you. But I just, I haven't read any of this. I opened the first page. The first line is at 7.35am. That's literally the first thing. 7.35. And I checked with Isabelle. I said, does that count? And she begrudgingly admitted that it counts. We've got one. Tick, tick. Tick, tick, tick. Seven. It doesn't say the word seven. It says the number seven. It's the same thing. Oh my god. It's fate. Okay, bye. I am over. I'm very red. What the hell? This is hot, but I feel like I'm more actually that red in real life. I am over halfway through The Devotion of Suspect X. I'm actually, I'm on page like 250. So I've read that much, got that much left to read. I've read quite a bit of it. And that's just like this afternoon. I've like not been able to put this down. But I don't know what's, I can't put my finger on what is like grabbing me so much about it. It's just like an easy read. Firstly, I know, we'll get into plot in a sec. But I know the most important thing is what words we've ticked on. So out of Isabella's five words, we have seven right at the start. We have had picture. I noted down where they were. Hang on. A picture of the illustration went up on the nightly news that evening. And we have had normal. If she didn't have a particular reason not to go, wouldn't it be normal to accept a friend's offer to go to dinner? So we've got three out of five. Oh my god, Jesus Christ. See and thrown. I don't think we're going to get thrown in this. I think we're going to have to look for it. But see, we haven't been near the sea yet. And it has been pretty self contained. But I'm feeling happy that we've got three. And like maybe if we can find just a really short book that ticks off sea and thrown like I'm okay with it. Come on, Isabella may read two books probably. Anyways, so yeah, we're following this woman who's a single mother and her ex husband. What do you know in the synopsis? Her ex husband turns up, you know very little synopsis, but I feel like I can tell you it happens like what I'm going to tell you about happens in the first 40 pages. Okay, that's why I can tell you happens in the first 40 pages. So yeah, single mom, her ex husband turns up, she's been trying to run away from him, he was abusive, and he turns up and he won't leave her alone. He's threatening her and she like, you know, and so the rest of the book is kind of following her and the neighbour who helps her cover it up and the police trying to figure out this crime. And it's just such a compulsively readable thriller. I read some reviews before I started reading it that said the characters, they didn't like it because the characters were like very without any characterisation. And perhaps that's true. But I just think the plot is really good. Like a book doesn't have to give me everything. I think to get a five star it does. I don't think this is going to be a five star. But for being a solid four star thriller, you don't have to give me characterisation. You know, it's like I can let things go, you know, if I can't put you down, I'm okay with the characters being a bit, you know, I think we've got intriguing characters though. And really, the push and pull of this book, and it's kind of mirrored in some stuff that's happening in some of the characters like conversations that they're having, but like what is harder devising a crime that is impossible to solve, or trying to solve that crime? Like, which is a harder thing to do? And I think that's a really interesting thing to think about that you don't often see. And I often read thrillers more, as you guys know, where like, you don't know who done it, right? That's the whole point of the book, whereas in this, you know, done it. And so the whole point is hoping, I mean, like, if I can kill that guy, I don't care. Death to all of them. I'm here for it. I want Gally, her and her little girl, her little daughter, to succeed in life. I don't, if, he's collateral, I don't care. So I'm like rooting for them, and so you're hoping that like the crime isn't solved, but then like little things are happening, you're like, oh ----, oh ----, oh ----, you know? And there was just something that happened in the last chapter that like, I feel like the whole book is going to go in a completely other direction now. And I'm a bit, things have changed, and it's going down a slightly more sinister route than I expected. But yeah, I don't know how, I'm feeling a bit nervous about talking about this for Kayla's book club, because I feel like I'm just enjoying it and just kind of reading it, and I'm kind of like no thoughts head empty, you know what I mean? So I don't know, we'll see. But I'm gonna go ahead and finish it tonight, and then I will check in with you in the morning with what I'm thinking. But yeah, it's a fun, fun, enjoyable read so far. Okay, last night I finished The Devotion of Suspect X, and I've ended up giving this a 3.5. I didn't love the second half as much. I felt like that kind of, I mean, I still read this in one evening. I started this at three o'clock yesterday and finished it last night, so like I didn't put this down. However, I didn't feel like it had that same pace, that same intrigue. I felt like the questions that, I don't want to spoil anything, but the questions that kept me reading in the first half and excited were kind of dissipating in the second half. And there is a twist right at the end of this, but I don't know if it's really a twist. Like, I feel like you can kind of see it coming, and I just feel like it's kind of forgettable. It's kind of forgettable. You've been very, very harsh. Nice to meet you, Kelly. Very harsh. I mean, like, I read it fast, but I feel like it's gonna go from my brain fast. It was fun while it lasted. We had a fun time together. It's like a little fling, you know? Short summer fling is what me and this book are. Like, it was fun, and you're not the love of my life, you know? I don't really have many thoughts about it other than that I'm really nervous for the live show, because I'm like, what the hell am I gonna say? It was fun. It's kind of like my overwhelming feeling. When I woke up, I was like, I kind of already am forgetting what happened in this, you know? So I'm glad I've read it, but it wasn't perfect for me. But, bad news. This didn't have See Your Throne in it. So I've been looking through my shelves for something that's quick, that I think will, and we're gonna go with The Lives of Saints by Leigh Bardugo. This is really short, and it has loads of illustrations. That's a weird one. It has loads of illustrations. Actually, C. Oh my god. I saw the picture, I was like, oh my god, it's a boat. C! This is a story about a girl named Lucky. Okay, so we know this has C in it. It just needs to have throne, and because this is Grishaverse, I feel like it's gonna have throne in here somewhere. If not, we really are in trouble. But I'm just gonna go ahead and read this. I've got the audiobook, actually. I got it a while ago. So yeah, we'll just read this. It's just about all the different saints in the Grishaverse, and their stories. And I think it will be a fun, quick read. I'm not expecting this to be incredible. This isn't a five-star prediction, but I think this will be a fun, quick read. And hopefully, we know it already ticks off C, we just need it to tick off throne as well. This had C in throne. I couldn't take reading another book for this vlog. So, we had C. Where was that? We saw that together, didn't we? A captain took his crew to sea, and then I wrote the other one down. Throne, where are you? As the king grew older, he worried that his death would bring chaos to the kingdom if each of his sons vied for the throne. We did it! In terms of this, it's a little book. It took me maybe an hour to read, because it has the pictures. And any time that a short story doesn't end on this page, it has that filler page. It's like half the pages that it actually is, in terms of reading. I'm going to give this a 3.5 as well. I think for what it is, it's nice. It's lovely. It's an enjoyable read, basically just following all of these saints. I found it quite interesting reading the story, and then seeing what that had made. Because at the end, it would say what they're the saint of at the end. I found it quite interesting seeing what the story was, and then how that related to what people in the Grishaverse prayed to them for. I don't really have many thoughts about it. Listen, I'm not a Grishaverse girlie, as you guys know. I mean, I know Six of Crows' Kingdom are in the Grishaverse, but to me, they're not steeped in the Grishaverse lore as much as other stuff. And I did enjoy this. It was a version of Grishaverse lore that I did enjoy. I just don't think it's anything particularly special. I listened to the audiobook, just to help me get through it. Ben Barnes narrates some of them, and then the usual audiobook narrator of the Grishaverse books narrates the other ones. But yeah, I enjoyed it. There's not much to say. It's a nice quick read. I think if you're doing a readathon at any point, where you want to read loads of books, this is a great option. If you're trying to read a book a day for a week or something like that, this is a great option. And listen, it got me Sea and Throne, so I'm eternally grateful. I do like a book that's kind of like, not a book in itself, but it's like a teaser or like, it feels like bonus content or an easter egg for the rest of the world that has been built up. So there we have it, everyone. That brings us to the close of this vlog. Oh my god, this was an experience, this vlog. I feel like I went through it. But all of the books were like, kind of just okay, or like, good, you know? We didn't really have- we had a 4 or 4, a 3.5 and a 3.5. It's like, very similar ratings throughout. But I had so much fun getting these booktubers to help me choose what to read, and I feel like the books that I got to read were a good mix of like, newer books on my list and books I've been meaning to read for a long time. So yeah, I hope you enjoyed this video. Let me know what you thought of any of these books down below, or what you would have read for any of the prompts that had been given, and I will see you guys soon. Bye!