have i read my most anticipated 2022 releases??

Hello friends. I'm smiling like this because I am already regretting doing this video. Hello. So here's the situation. I do two most anticipated releases videos every single year. I do one for the first half of the year and one for the second half of the year because otherwise the video would be like an hour long and we don't want that. And in November of last year I reacted to my video for the first half of 2022 to see how many of them I've read and I think it's fair to say that I didn't do well. And a big reason I thought I didn't do well, I mean obviously I never do well at these kind of things. You guys like watching these react videos because you like to see me in pain but I felt like I didn't do well because it was too quick. Like if you think that video went up to June in terms of releases and then I did it in November, I think that was too quick. So I've left a little bit more time this time for the second half of 2022 most anticipated releases. It's July, you know, coming up to August. I feel like this is enough time. I feel like I should have read. It's a year on from some of these being released. So I feel like we've had enough time and we're gonna see how many of my most anticipated releases for the second half of 2022 I have read in terms of hopes and aims. I mean I'd love to have read half. Will that happen? Probably not. It's the truth. I originally saw Mara from Books Like Grow do this video I think and she separated into four categories and we're gonna do the same. We're gonna do read and liked, read and disliked, unread and still interested, and unread and I'm no longer interested. Because that's kind of a positive as well if I've decided I'm not interested in that book anymore, get it off the TBR, whatever. Like anything that gets books off my TBR. I feel like I'm kind of overflowing with books at the moment and it's stressing me out. Anything that gets books off my TBR is a good thing. So I would just stop procrastinating and get into it. Okie dokie. Why do I feel sick? A third? A third would be positive. Oh dear god, Megan. What a mess. Let's just get into it. We're gonna go in chronological order throughout the year from July to December of the releases that I'm super excited for. First we have Miss Aldridge Regrets by Louise Hare actually. Okay, interesting. Miss Aldridge Regrets, unread and not interested. No longer interested in this one. This one I've taken off of my- I think I've taken it off my wish list. It should not be there anymore. And I decided I was no longer interested in this just because I didn't hear very good reviews. It is a murder mystery set on a ship, which I think is a fun setting, but I just heard pretty rubbish things when I read it. Pretty meh things, like everyone was giving it a three star. And there's just so many books out there, so little time, I kind of forgot this book had existed. So yeah, not interested in that one anymore, which is, I mean, that's still a positive. I mean, I was hoping we'd start out the gates with one that I'd read and that hasn't happened. Next is The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager. Megan, I have never been prouder of you than I am an aspirant. I'm amazed by you. I read and liked The House Across the Lake. I really liked it. I think I gave it a four star. I'd say it's my second favourite Riley Sager. I literally am foaming at the mouth to read the only one left. I know I could have read it during Summerween, I just didn't feel mentally prepared, okay? I know a lot of people read it during Summerween, I didn't feel ready. I have to like, you know, as someone who's a TBR reader, not a mood reader, I have to really work myself up to reading a book. I just didn't feel ready, but I'm so excited for this one. I feel like Riley, you know, The House Across the Lake was great. Riley, he went some directions that I just, I was like, go Todd. Todd, Todd, Todd. His name is Todd, if you didn't know. It's not Riley. We've had this discussion many times. Because he originally wanted people to think he was a woman, probably, because he writes with female protagonists, and so there are loads of the male thriller writers who write with female protagonists, take on gender neutral names, so that people, you know, don't know what gender they are. Anyways, it's a conspiracy theory that I'm actually interested in. Yeah, The House Across the Lake was great. Oh my gosh, Megan, we're gonna do great in this. I can already feel it. Any self-doubt has just evaporated from my body. I'm like, you know what I mean? Next we have How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix. So I've never read Grady Hendrix. Okay, okay, here's the tea. Unread and still interested, but this didn't come out till this year, did it? It got pushed back. So I'm actually, do you know what? Do you know what? I'm not even gonna count it. Scratch that. Scratch that. I'm not gonna count it because it didn't come out then, and so it's not part of the cohort of 2022 releases that I could have read. Scratch it. Scratch from the record it. I still want to read How to Sell a Haunted House. I'm in my Grady Hendrix era. He is my horror person, you know. I just, I really like his horror. Well, I really like the idea of his horror. I haven't had a five star yet. I really love the US cover of How to Sell a Haunted House, but I think the UK cover just doesn't, it doesn't match up. And now that Book Depository is gone, what am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to get US editions of books? What do I do, guys? Book Depository died. Rest in peace. Like, it's so sad. How am I supposed to get US editions of books? So yes, I'm not, we're not counting it. We're not counting it. I make the rules, you don't. I don't know if you've noticed that, but uh, the rules don't apply. Then we have Sometime in Summer by Katrina Leno. Katrina Leno is an author I've read before and really enjoyed every time I've read. Yeah. Uh, haven't read. Still interested. Here's the thing with Sometime in Summer. I can't remember what it's about. I think it's like a middle grade, somewhere between middle grade and YA kind of book from Katrina Leno. And I haven't really heard anyone talk about it. I think Kayla read it. It's not high up on my list of books I'm going to get. Do you know what I mean? Like if, if I saw it, I would probably get it. You know, I'm up for reading it, but I'm not rushing to read it, you know? But I'm going to say still interested because I do want to read all of Katrina Leno's stuff. Then this is one I've pre-ordered. We have The Daughter of Dr. Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Don't. Don't. Don't. Click off. Click off. Click off. I pre-ordered that? I pre-ordered it. Well. I wish that I could just disappear. So I pre-ordered The Daughter of Dr. Moreau. Interesting. Unread and still interested. That has been on TBRs this month, this year. I should have read it already. The video that I am reading it for has just been pushed back and pushed back and I don't really know why. I just keep pushing the video back. I need to just do it because it's a fun video that it's going to be in. I swear this was in like ******* March's TBR credo or something. Daughter of Dr. Moreau. I will read it soon. It's in my stack of TBR down here. This is where I keep like my immediate TBR and it's there. So I will read it soon. But haven't read it. The quicker we move on from that, the quick- I pre-ordered that? When you don't read a book you've pre-ordered, that's like a bad sign. Then we have The Retreat by Sarah Pierce. Unread and still interested. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. I don't want to talk about it. It's right there. It's looking at me. It's looking at me. It's looking at me. Can I get it out from there? Probably not. No. The TBR cut is a little bit precarious. This is the sequel to The Sanatorium and I just haven't read it. It's a thriller that would be fairly easy to read but no. No. No. How am I supposed to move on from this? Guys, I really thought I'd left enough time to do well. Whenever I come into these videos going, yeah, I'm gonna do ----. Haha. I'm so rubbish. In the back of my head, I'm going, this time and then they'll be like, oh my god, Megan, you did so well. I exceeded expectations. Yeah. That's not happening. Okay, next. Then we have The It Girl by Ruth Ware. Miss Ruth Ware. Miss Ruth Ware. I have read The It Girl. There she is. There she is. I didn't love it. Read and liked. I think gave it a four. Here's the thing. I didn't like the start of it but I really liked the end of it. This is like kind of Ruth Ware's most, I mean, it's set at Oxford so it's like academia-y. We're following, you know, death of a friend, murder that happened years ago and our protagonist like, blames herself. I literally just got my hands on Ruth Ware's release for this year, zero days, and I've been hearing good things. It's very different than what I expect from Ruth Ware. It's more like suspense, I feel like. But I'm excited. I'm really, really excited. Yeah. I think Ruth Ware's an author that I read pretty quickly now, like once it comes out. I just, I love her. We have a good vibe, me and her. I think I've only ever given her four or five stars from what I've read. I haven't read The Lion Game or In a Dark Dark Wood yet but, so maybe they wouldn't be four or five, but everything else I've given four or five. Next we have These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall. I've never read them before. Okay. I have now read from Kate Alice Marshall. I read Rules for Vanishing with my Patreon book club earlier this year. Unread and still interested. This one has just been a ball ache to get in the UK. Kate Alice Marshall's books are quite difficult to get your hands on in the UK. I don't know why. Like more than any other author, I would say. They're just really hard to get your hands on. So it's not something, but also it's not something I prioritised getting. It did sound really interesting. It reminded me of Gallant, I remember. If you've read Gallant, I think it had quite a similar plot of like, at this house that's inherited and this other world. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's what I remember it being. It's not a book that's, yeah, again, like Sometime in Summer, something that's top of my priority list, but I still am interested in reading it. I also didn't love Rules for Vanishing. Then we have Stay Awake by Megan Golding. This is the author of The Night Swim, which I really, really loved. Unread and still interested. Oh my God, why am I doing that? It's embarrassing. Stay Awake, I have not read yet, by Megan Golding. And I now own Dark Corners by Megan Golding, which is her 2023 release. Oh my God, psychotic. I don't know where it is. I do own it, but it's like the ugliest. I've got the UK cover and it's so ugly. I mean, the UK, the US one wasn't incredible, but the UK one is, it's bad. I'm going to put it here. It's somewhere here. It's bad. So maybe that doesn't incentivise me to pick it up. I just have to question, I have to question, what do I ******* read? Do you know what I mean? What do I read? What do I read? Because I feel like I haven't been reading 2023 releases enough. I feel like I've been reading loads of 2023 releases. Where? Apparently not. What the hell is going on? Okay, moving on. Then we have Empty Smiles by Katherine Arden. This is the last in Katherine Arden's middle grade. I read it! I read, I read and liked, I read and liked. This was the last in the kind of middle grade horror series that Katherine Arden was doing. I am, I enjoyed this series. It was like an easy series to read, but I'm ready for Katherine Arden to come back in the YA adult sphere, something in that sphere. Oh, it has been what she's doing. It's like a war book with like skeletons. I can't remember, but I'll put the pitch in here if you want to pause and read it. I'll put it on the screen. But yeah, I'm really, really excited for it. Katherine Arden, as you guys know, is the author of one of my favourite series ever, the Baron and Nightingale series. I don't know, I enjoyed this. I thought it was a fun middle grade horror series and it was a good series for me to tick off and finish. So I have read Empty Smiles. Next we have Babble by IF Crang. This is like chonky. Megan, I'm so proud of you. I've read and loved Babble. It was my favourite book of last year. I love it. I love Babble. I love Babble. I still haven't read Yellow Face. I know everyone's been reading it and loving it. I'm hopefully going to be reading it, I would say in the next month, I would say. Sometime in the next month, I'll be reading Yellow Face. Hopefully everyone crossed your fingers that I managed to read as much as I'm hoping to read in the next couple of weeks, whilst also being obsessed with Your Housewives of Beverly Hills. It's a problem. It's a problem. It's whack-a-doodle time. It is whack-a-doodle time. I've watched the whole of season 2 in like a week, which I have some problems with season 2. If you've watched season 2, you know what I'm talking about. I don't need to get into it if everyone hasn't watched it. But I have some deep, deep problems with how certain topics have been handled, but I have watched the whole thing in like a week. It's like, guys, it's like 22 episodes. What the hell? But yeah, Babble, we know I love her. I've read it and loved it. Not just really liked it. Loved, loved, loved it. Oh, what a book. Incredible. R. F. Kwon, Can Do No Wrong. I genuinely think Miss Rebecca is about to be one of the greatest authors of our generation. Like, I think she's going to go down in history as one of the greatest authors to have ever lived. That's my genuine opinion. I'm not bullshitting. Like, she is incredible. Then we have Love on the Brain by Ellie Hazelwood. Why did I get me so excited? Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Fate is turning. I loved it. I loved Love on the Brain. We're equal with Unread and Still Interested and Read and Liked. Oh hell, the tables have turned. I love Ellie Hazelwood. I'm not going to accept any critique for it. I love her. I love Miss Ellie. Her romances are my favourite and very excited to read Love Theoretically. But Miss Ellie just always gives me a good time. I know some people hate it. I don't want to care. I don't care. I don't care. I don't want to hear it. There's certain things about her writing I recognise. You're going to have a man as big as a fridge. You're going to have a woman who's tiny. Actually, I've heard in this one she's medium. Medium everything. Medium size. Medium height. And I'm like, Ellie heard the tiny girl critique. She's like, right, okay, I'm going to make her medium. Revolutionary. Then we have Harry Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Oh my god. I'm excited and nervous for this. I kind of like it. Clock the numbers, guys. It might go downhill from here. So I just want us to, I just want us to appreciate this moment. But wow, what a moment I will never forget. A moment that is most pleasing to me. You guys know I love Harry Soto is Back. I literally just spoke about it in my last video. I think it's a perfect summer read. If you haven't read it yet, get around to it now. I think it's a great book. I read it on a ******* beach in Italy, living my best life, sipping granitas. After going on holiday to Portugal, me and Tom re-questioned why granitas aren't a thing everywhere. Like, they are so good. We had this strawberry granita at a place by the port, not the port, by the sea. We were there and it was like jam. It was like frozen jam. It was incredible. It was incredible. Incredible. Anyways, sorry. Just got distracted by granitas there. I feel like it's going to go downhill now. I feel like this is too good to be true. This is too good to be true. Half and half. Then we have Unraveler by Frances Harding. So again, don't really know the part of it. It was too good to be true. Haven't read Unraveler yet. It is wrapped up, I believe. And you guys know the finale to wrapped up- which wrapped up are we on now? Risk? The finale to wrapped up Risk is coming hopefully this month. We'll see if that happens. It depends on how kind wrapped up is to me. It might be at the start of next month and maybe Unraveler will be unwrapped. Who knows? Who knows? But yeah, I remember, I've said this many times, but the first chapter of Unraveler I've read and it was incredible. It gave me the like most incredible vibes ever. And Frances Harding is an author I've only read from once. I've read Skin Full of Shadows, but I loved it. I feel like Frances Harding could become a new favourite author for me if I were to actually read her stuff, which currently isn't happening. Then we have The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D Jackson. Now we have an interesting relationship. Is God on my side? What the hell? I read and I loved The Weight of Blood. It was a five star for me. I knew me and Tiffany D Jackson had a five star in us. I just knew it. I knew we had the potential for a five star and we got it. I loved The Weight of Blood. If you haven't read it, I really recommend the audiobook. I think the audiobook is incredible for The Weight of Blood. It just, it's so good. It hits different. It's a Carrie retelling. I do recognise that I was like gagged by certain things and like really enjoyed the mixed media elements, but like maybe if I had read Carrie before, some elements wouldn't have been so like, oh my god, that's so good, you know, to me because I don't know where the inspiration started and ended, but me and Tiffany D Jackson, we're besties. I was so worried for so long because I'd only given her a two and a three, I think, in terms of ratings, but I just knew deep down in my core that we had a five star in us and The Weight of Blood was it. I don't want to say anything guys because we're doing so well. Then we have Marple, which is one of my most anticipated releases that are coming out the rest of this year. Okay, alright, unread and still interested. I own Marple. This is a collection of short stories following Miss Marple by many favourite authors. Ruth Ware, Lucy Foley, Leigh Bardugo, like there's loads of them in there. I originally was just going to like read this. I was so excited to read it, but then I've just thought I've never read Miss Marple, right? I think I need to read. I've set myself a goal of reading at least two Miss Marple books before I read this anthology. I just didn't think it was right because I wouldn't get references. I wouldn't get, is this embodying Miss Marple? Hopefully, I reckon I'm just, I'm putting this on hold for a while, this book. I don't think I'm going to read it for a while. I might even read more than two Miss Marple books before I read this. I don't know, we'll see. So unread and still interested, but I'm not planning on reading it for quite some time. Then we have The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead. So Ashley Winstead wrote In My Dreams I Hold A Knife, which again, still haven't read. Oh ----, unread and still interested. We're still doing okay, right? Okay, I haven't read The Last Housewife. I think it's another one that's wrapped up. Uh, it's one that I would love to get around to soon. I'm pretty sure I've put it on loads of, like, lists of books that I want to read. I haven't read it yet and Ashley Winstead's release for this year sounds incredible, so hopefully this will be one that I will get around to soon. This is one of the books, when I think of, like, books I most want to read, if it wasn't for vlogs and I didn't prepare myself, I'd say this is in the top 20 on my TBR, which doesn't sound like high accolade, but it is. Speaking of Courtney Summers, we have probably my most anticipated release for the rest of the year. We have I'm The Girl by Courtney Summers. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. I've read I'm The Girl and I loved it. Courtney Summers can do no wrong. We all know I love Courtney Summers. I'm The Girl was a difficult read. I remember saying, I think I gave it four stars, and, you know, I think it's a book that is handled with such care when looking at the topic, inspired by the Jeffrey Epstein case, so that gives you an idea of some of the topics in this book, and, um, I think it's handled with such care, but it also is, like, it was a horrible reading experience. I didn't enjoy a second of reading it, but I think that kind of is the point. So it is a book that I would recommend to people if that does sound like something you think you can handle and you think you would be good for you to read, but it was, like, the whole thing is very uncomfortable and, like, it's not, like, an easy, easy book, do you know what I mean? It doesn't, like, handle the topics in a way that just, like, makes you feel comfortable, makes you feel better for reading it, like, oh yeah, okay, I've, I've, like, I've read about that now, and, like, I, I know about it, like, it makes you uncomfortable on purpose, so, but yeah, I read it, I read it, we're doing well. Next we have House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson, which is so exciting. Oh, unread and still interested, this is another one, oh my god, look at the US cover, look at the UK cover, I, you cannot expect me to read that UK cover, you cannot expect me to do that. Are you tough enough for the job? No, you cannot expect me to do that, it's been made on ******* Microsoft Word or some ----, like, I can see the clipper edges of stuff. So, again, please tell me, guys, where can I get these books now that Book Depository is gone? How can I get US editions? Because it's really a trouble, this and How to Settle in the House, I'm not reading the UK editions, I'm not doing it, I have standards, I have morals, I know disrespect to anyone who has designed the UK cover of these books, I doubt whoever that is will be seeing this video, but that's my worst nightmare, is, like, me being mean about it. So, apologies, apologies, all love, no hate, but I know what cover I want to read. Then we have The Glass Witch by Lindsay Packett. Lindsay Packett is one of my favourite authortubers. I met Lindsay a couple months ago and I felt so lucky, oh my god, Lindsay was so, it was so nice to meet her and it was just, we had a great time. I haven't read The Glass Witch yet, though, because, again, it's another one that's really quite difficult to get your hands on in the UK, like The Sleeping Shadows, it's quite tricky to get your hands on in the UK, so that's the only reason I haven't read it yet. If I had it in my hands, I'd be reading it tomorrow. Then we have Into the Windcrap Queens by Seanan McGuire, this is the next interesting, uh, unread and not interested anymore, I decided to DNF this series. I read the first two, this thing is Seanan McGuire, I love Seanan McGuire, Seanan McGuire's one of my favourite authors ever, okay, but just something about this series, just, I didn't love it and I didn't feel the need, like, after reading the first two, I'm glad I read the first two, I feel like I've experienced enough of the story. It's basically, if you've read Middle Game by Seanan McGuire, it's, like, short stories that are mentioned in that and she's writing them as the author who's mentioned in Middle Game, so it's kind of like Inception, and I just, I didn't love it. I feel like it's quite similar to Wayward Children, it's, like, children in this other world that isn't Earth, and I just feel like I'll just read the Wayward Children series, I don't feel like I needed to continue, so unread and no longer interested. Oh, then we have one of my favourite ones that are coming out, Into the Riverlands by Nhi Vo. I don't even own it, I don't even own it, unread and still interested, I don't even own it, I don't even own it. Take flop, girl you have done it again, constant lowering the bar for us all. I want to get this so bad, this is one of the books, here's the thing, I feel like I don't buy books that often, I'm trying to be better at buying books in person rather than just buying them on the internet because I feel like buying books in person is more intentional, however, the problem is when I buy books in person, I feel like they don't have some of these more niche books that I want, they don't have them, so, like, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a vicious cycle. So, yeah, Into the Riverlands is still one I would really love to read, and Mammoth at the Gate, which is the new one this year in the Singing Hills cycle. I love these, they're, like, literally 100 page novellas that are incredible and are a love story to the art of storytelling, um, so I would love to get around to it, but alas. The last book is Whiteout, which is the, kind of, sequel to Blackout. Okay, unread and still interested. Yeah, I own Whiteout, this is, like, the sequel to Blackout, if you've read that, it's a, it's a selection of YA authors writing this kind of interconnected story, they each write a chapter or a short story, so it is an anthology, but the, the, well, at least in Blackout, the stories were connected, so I think this is, like, YA love stories in a snowstorm, basically. I'm still really, really excited to read it, but I just want to talk about the percentages here. So, read and none, which I think is pretty impressive. Everything I've read from my most anticipated releases, I've, I think I pretty much gave them all at least a four star. So, read and liked, eight, that's, that's, you know, I feel like that's better than we did in the last video. Unread and still interested, 12. Listen, not terrible, unread and not interested, two. So, how many, there's 20, 22 books here? Yeah, 22 books here. I've read 36% of what was on this list. I don't think that is terrible. What did I read of the percentage-wise of what was on the last list? I only read 18% of the last time I did this, so that's, like, we've, more than, we've redoubled? We've doubled. We've doubled the percentage that I have read of this list. I'm, I'm calling it a, a, a mild success. A mild dub. Not a strong dub, not a good one, just a mild, a tentative success, which we're improving as a person, and that's all that can be asked of me. You only need to be one percent better every day than you were yesterday. Not terrible, I did okay, and I'm really proud that I, out of all the ones I've read, I've liked, because I feel like that's difficult. So, there we have it, everyone, that is how many of my most anticipated releases of 2022 I have read. Not terrible, I feel like we're improving. Next time we do this, maybe we'll get 50. I mean, if we double again, we'll get, like, ******* 72%. Don't think that's gonna happen, but I'm pretty happy with how we've done that. I'm pretty proud of us. I'm pretty proud of you. Thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you very soon in another video. Bye!