reading EVERY book by Real Housewives (or trying to...)

So, I'm unhealthily obsessed with The Real Housewives. Yep, yep, I'm afraid to say it. I love The Real Housewives. I love that. And so this week, we are, for better or for worse, combining my two loves, and I'm gonna be reading every fiction book written by a Real Housewife. I can hear the gasps, I can hear the shouts, I can hear, Megan, why are you doing this to yourself? I don't know, but I thought it'd be fun to read every fiction book written by a Real Housewife. I'm not reading every book, because most of them aren't memoirs, and if I read every book written by a Real Housewife, I'd be reading, catch this, 70 memoirs about having sex, about homemaking, about dieting and being skinny, about being a bad Mormon, and, you know, I may read a, I'm not incentivized to use that moment, I may read a Real Housewife memoir at one point in my life, but in this video, we're gonna be reading the 10 fiction books that I could find that have been written by a Real Housewife at one point in another. I'm not gonna mention them all here, we'll go through them one by one as I read them throughout the video. I'm not expecting great things, but I'm interested to see how it goes. I have obviously not watched every Real Housewife franchise yet, we'll get into that in a little bit, I'll tell you a little bit about my Real Housewife journey, but for our first book, I thought, better the devil you know, and I'm gonna be reading Starlit by Lisa fucking Rinna, baby. Lisa fucking Rinna. Lisa Rinna. Yeah, let's get into this, let's hear what Lisa Rinna has to say about her magnum opus that is Starlit, and then I'll let you know my thoughts once I've read it. It's a journey, and it's a journey that I think has a lot to do with my journey, and the book has a lot to do with the people that I came across, and I think what's really fun about Starlit and writing a romantic class is I was able to take my story and tweak it and put it on steroids and make it into something that is, but it isn't. So what's gonna be fun for you, I think, is to figure out what's real, who's real, did this event really happen, or is it tweaked on steroids? I don't know how to put into words what I've just read. I don't even know. Guys, I don't know where to begin with this one. Starlit by Lisa Rinna is one of the craziest things I've ever read, one of the most awful things I've ever read. Yeah, yeah, correct, correct, correct, correct. Guys, this is so, we're following Tally Jones and her two friends who are like up-and-coming actors in Hollywood. Tally Jones lands a role in a soap opera, which Lisa Rinna did as well as her big break, so you know, and her two friends, one marries the talent agent they signed to and one becomes a porn actress to make money. And the story of Tally Jones is kind of, I don't wanna call them romances, but romances with two guys throughout her career. And guys, it's awful. I was not prepared. Look, I'm not a prude. How aggressively sexual this book was gonna be. Everyone's boinking. Everyone is boinking each other aggressively. It's whack-a-doodle time. It is whack-a-doodle time. In horrible ways. It's actually a very explicit rape scene in this. And it's just kind of all written through this jokey lens. Spoiler alert, everyone's cheating on each other. This is my face on my sprints right now when Tally's boyfriend, her second boyfriend, after the one that essays her, proposes to her within two weeks of dating. They then plan their wedding. There's this enemy called Susie from the slave hopper, whose role she's been stolen this whole time, who shows fake video of Tally boinking her ex, who ain't her, to the prospective husband. He then sleeps with Susie two days before their wedding and then marries her and then it comes to three years later and he realizes the wrongs, realizes that Susie's been boinking everyone in Hollywood and then returns back to Tally and Tally's like, oh, my love. Oh, Tally also was pregnant with his child and miscarried a couple days after the wedding, after he'd married Susie, and then they got back together and it's like romantic. It's like, oh, they came together in the end. Oh, they found each other in the end. True love prevails. Are you kidding me? He slept with another woman two days before your wedding and never turned up and just like lived, you know, it was like he didn't go home that night or the night after. You're so angry. They were boinking, boinking, boinking for days. It's horrific. It's horrific at this. The stuff that these characters, I might just, do I expect too much in life? The stuff these characters put up with from their significant others or friends even. Lisa Rinna, is everything okay at home? Because in that video, in that post, she was like, oh, you got to figure out what's real and what's not. So much of it is based on my life. Rinna, if even the smallest part of this book is true, I'm deeply concerned for you. Maybe it explains why she is the way she is on Beverly Hills. Quick context for you guys. I'm doing this video now because if I waited till I watched all the Real Housewives in existence, it would be like 10 years. Because I've only watched, I'm watching a franchise at a time. So I've almost finished Beverly Hills. So I've spent a lot of time with Rinna. I've got like five episodes left that I'm done. And I've also watched the reboot of New York, which I didn't think was very good. And I love Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City was my first ever Real Housewives. I've watched all of Salt Lake City. So that's all I've watched. I'm debating what to start next. I think it's between New York and Atlanta. But let me know if you have any opinions because I like to watch a franchise in full is what I'm doing. So yeah, if I waited until I knew who all these women are in this video, would you wait all the time? I already know who like a few of them are. Oh, I've only, I've watched stuff with them. But yes, this is a one star needless to say. I cannot emphasize to you how bad the writing in this is. How bad the writing is, how, I'm just so deeply concerned. What these characters are doing, the black males are even the first part of it. It's like how everyone just accepts, like how sad are your lives if this is, I'm supposed to believe any of this could be true. What's going on here? It's not my business. Do you know what I mean? It's deeply, deeply concerning. Also, my favorite game is going to acknowledgements and figuring out based on like the vague way they phrase the thank you, who the ghostwriter is. And I looked them up. It's Josie Brown. She writes housewife assassin books. So obviously Lisa and his agents Googled like housewives author. Like, oh, she writes housewife assassin books. Hire her to be our author for a housewife. Even though this book has nothing to do with housewives. I'm guessing some of the other books will be like housewifey, but this one is like, you know, up and coming actress, like landing in Hollywood and trying to find your feet kind of thing. It's horrific. How am I going to do this? Is every book going to be like this? I'm not sure I can do it. I'm not sure I can survive it. I'm not sure I can bear it. I'm actually physically in a state of shock. I don't know how to describe to you guys how horrific this book was. Poor Tally. My girl went through it in this book and everyone's just like, ee, whoops. I feel like this has added a whole other layer to my watching of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. You know? Like the way everyone just brushes off infidelity just like as a factor. How are you all living like this? I feel like I need to re-watch every episode now through this lens. Anyways, my God. First book done, woohoo! Next, I think I'm going to read My Word by Giselle Bryant from Potomac. So let's go see what Giselle has to say about this book. But I'm excited for this one. I think this one could be one of the better ones. It's one of the newer ones of the list. So yeah, let's go see, shall we? I wanted to tell my story my way. And I felt like I could do it this way, but I could make it more salacious and more scandalous and more of a page turner. But yeah, there's some similarities to Jeremy and Ginger and Giselle and Jamal. How much of it is fiction and how much of it is fact? I mean, it's loosely based. So I would say like 50-50. 50-50, okay. Hello, humans. It's later the same day and I have read My Word by Giselle Bryant. I was thinking of patrons. I keep wanting to say Byrent, but it's By Bryant. She's from the Royal Housewives of Potomac. And this one, babes, it's basically a memoir from what I understand. It's basically a memoir, but she can't because maybe she signs an NDA with the divorce. You know what I mean? And I will say this. The truth is always more interesting than fiction. But it's basically about her romance where she met her ex-husband when they were young. They built a really successful church together where he is the pastor. And then he cheats on her. So I mean, it tells you the synopsis is happening. That's basically all the book is, is this woman grappling with this. And you know, in the interview, she's like, oh, I made it even more salacious and changed things. And you have to imagine what is true and what isn't. Girl, from what I'm reading on Reddit, he got two 17-year-olds pregnant in real life. And then this one is just a random woman of age. Not two 17-year-olds. So I don't know if we're making it, I think we're making it less salacious. Anyways, this one was very interesting. I watched it to be where she said you saw her writing it on the show, which I think, I couldn't find any clips. I think it would have been really interesting to see. This one, I'm gonna shock you guys. And this rating might be based on just what I'm expecting from this video. When I compare it to other books I've given of this rating, it's probably not as good. But I'm gonna give this a three. It's so much better than whatever Lisa ran up about. This had a pretty good ghost writer. I mean, it basically is a kind of like thriller-y romance, like contemporary. I don't know, it's just her discovering that he's cheating on her and like, and uncovering it and dealing with it, basically. But I felt like, oh my God, I didn't think I was actually gonna have to talk about the literary benefits of these books. This is good. This may not be good. But I felt like it was really a page-turner. That's what I'm looking for from this video. Just give me a page-turner, you know what I mean? And I really felt compelled to read it. I felt, for our main character, I thought it had interesting discussions around, you know, what line people draw in these situations. And like, I mean, she had like, look, I mean, she had quite a line. I mean, she had a better line than some people. Still a different line than us, in fact. I thought it was really interesting looking also in the culture of kind of these churches in America and seeing behind the scenes, there is not this same kind of mega-church culture in the UK. Like, we don't need to get into the churches exist, but this kind of like, churches with a lot of money, like put on these crazy like, you know, nativity shows, or like, you all know what I'm talking about, these mega-churches in America. It's a very different culture. And it's interesting seeing the perspective and seeing behind the scenes on that and seeing that written. Obviously, none of these women have written these books. We all know this. Like, this is all ghost writers. We'll talk about it later. No, we'll talk about it now. But I enjoyed it. Well, I didn't hate it. I enjoyed it. No, I looked forward to finishing it. Good. It was okay. So far, this is my recommendation. If you're looking to read a Real Housewives book, it may get better. We may have some better ones. But yeah, I thought this was if you're a fan of hers. Obviously, I haven't watched her show yet, but I think this would be, this would really give you an, open your eyes to what she's been through. And I think it would be interesting to her as a fan. She got packed with this dude for like a couple years though after writing the book, after like a decade of being apart. I'm like, girl, what are you doing? You went so low, I couldn't even get a broom to sweep you up. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the characters. I thought that the character, the writer, the narrator, the woman, the main character, had a very strong narrative voice that was very compelling to follow. I thought the book built really well. You could think it's kind of an abrupt ending, but I think it builds and builds and builds and builds and builds to that ending, and then there's like an epilogue. And that's fine. This book is 260 pages. I think that's the perfect length for what we're doing here. Wrap it up in under 300 pages. Don't need to be longer. But yes, no. My word, I enjoyed. I enjoyed. I think it was okay. The character of Minty is very much me. I was from, you know, Virginia. I grew up in the South and always wanted to be in New York. So I wanted to tell the story of, if you're not from here, it doesn't mean that you can't make it in New York and have great jobs and meet great people and be a part of the city. And there's almost a little bit of tips throughout the book, you know, loosely built in there that sort of help you figure out how to make it yourself. Okay. The next book I picked up is Southern Charm by Tinsley Mortimer. I'm going to give this book a one and a half. One and a half. This book is the personification or bookification, if you will, of beige. Beige. Like it's inoffensive, but is it any good? No. We're following Minty, who fun fact, my mom, this is embarrassing because I'm like, of course the character's called Minty. My mom wanted to call me Araminta. My dad wouldn't let her. And they wanted to give me the nickname Minty. That's quite embarrassing. Instead they gave me like the most popular girl's name the year I was born. Anyways, we're following Minty, who moves from Virginia to New York. She thinks that she wants to work in fashion because she likes shopping. She stumbles into this like event one day that she gets photographed at, that she gets popular society pages, lands a top job at a PR firm, then becomes a designer's muse, falls in love with a guy that she loved when she was younger, even though he's a bit of a douchebag. You know, he ends up cheating on her and they get married at the courthouse. Anyway, it's this whole thing. It's just like pretty boring, you know? At least Starlet was shooting for something. It was taking a risk, even though it was awful. Like it was crazy. It had something about it. This is just so, ugh, like nothing, nothing to it. Boring! Shut it! I am not gonna be able to remember this plot in two seconds. These, a lot of these books, I don't know if we'll see more that read like this, but I feel like a lot of these books read like fan fiction. They read like, oh, here's what a perfect life could be when I fall into the fashion world and suddenly I'm like, everyone's trying to make me their model and I'm walking on catwalks, I'm going to the Met Gala and I, you know? It just has nothing about it. It's just so like, ugh, has no substance to it. It reminds me of the fan fiction I wrote when I was like writing Jonas Brothers fan fiction when I was a kid and like, Nick Jonas immediately fell in love with me, you know? That kind of shit. I get the sense that some of these other books are gonna be controversial. At least give me that. This is just like nice society. Southern girl, you know, goes to New York and it's just, I feel like there's not really much character growth in, well, am I expecting character growth from these books? I don't know. It just felt very, you know, unrealistic in the way that Starlit felt very unrealistic and just these events happening one after the other, just like insane luck, whereas that one was like unrealistic in that everyone was like cheating on each other and forgiving each other and marrying each other. This didn't have that. It was more the career world that was just blatantly, obviously unrealistic. I really have nothing to say to you about this one. I'm like racking my brain for something that I can tell you. At least there was like an interesting kind of cast of characters. Her mother was interesting, but yeah, I have nothing to say to you. Bland, beige, boring. I don't feel regretful one moment about what I said and believe me, if I really wanted to, I could be a lot meaner, but I'm holding back. It gives me nothing, gives me nothing. Not even fun. I don't know. Yeah, nothing to say about that one really. Sorry. I have just spent like three days reading it, which I shouldn't have done, but it thinks it's like sweet and sassy and charming, but it's just boring. I'm gonna start The Widow's Guide to something, something, something. Another New Yorker. There's a lot of New York girlies on this list. This one I think is gonna be more interesting. I've read up a little bit on this one and I think there's gonna be some interesting stuff to talk about. I wrote this novel 10 years after my husband passed away, so I was already in a different frame of mind. I was in a much more whimsical state of mind. I had kind of found my sense of humor about the absurdity that we all know life can be. And so I give that sense of humor to my heroine, Claire, right away. So from the first chapter, we don't dwell on the five stages of grief. We skip right to acceptance and like, oh no, now what? Okay, this one was fascinating. Let's talk about it. So I just read The Widow's Guide to Sex and Dating by Carol Radziwill from Royal Housewives of New York. Actually, we talk about Royal Housewives of New York in a second. I think Royal Housewives, I think I've mentioned this already. I think the original New York is gonna be what I watch next, but we'll talk about that after I've spoken about the book. So this one we're following Claire, whose husband, who is a sexologist, like writes about sex basically, like academic theories about sex, gets killed in a freak accident where like a piece of bronze art, like a massive statue falls on him on the street in New York and he gets crushed and dies. And she almost immediately is like sex crazed. You guys are f***ing crazy. I'm out of here. Bear in mind, her and him haven't really been intimate much and he's been having a lot of affairs and she just like is okay with that. When he dies, she just wants to have sex. And it's like freaking out about like, oh my God, I'm a widow. When am I expected to have sex? Everyone's like looking at me weird. Everyone thinks I'm like a, oh shit. Everyone thinks I'm like a virgin again. Like it's like, everyone wants to be with me. When am I going to have sex? And it's basically a lot of her in a monologue and her going on dates and her dating a bear and having sex. And this has quite low ratings. This is why this is fascinating, right? Comparing it to the one I just read, Southern Charm, dear God, has a 3.2 something, 3.26. Can my camera, I need to get a new tripod guys. Yeah, it has like a 3.26 average rating. This has a 3.02, so it's much lower. But this book actually has some intelligence to it. Now, well, you know, I kind of like, I sing it. Now this one is interesting, this is relevant because Carol wrote a memoir called What Remains. And from my research, you know, some of you will know this very well if you've watched the show, I will watch it eventually. There was a storyline about whether she'd had, for this memoir, whether she'd had a ghostwriter or not and her very strenuously denying to have a ghostwriter. And that memoir is very, very highly rated, right? It's seen as a really, really compelling memoir about when her husband died and they were friends with, oh, I can't remember, it's one of the, it's a Kennedy and his wife. It's not like one of the main Kennedys, they were like socialites, I can't remember. They all died, they were friends with them, they all died within a couple months of each other. And it's a really well-known memoir. And then this came out after that. And so I do wonder whether this was written by her because she made such a big deal about not having a ghostwriter before. So this one, I'm not entirely sure. She was a journalist as well. So there's part of me that thinks she could have written this herself. And even if she didn't, the ghostwriter did a good job with it, there is an intelligence behind the writing in this. Like, I cannot emphasise it enough. Reading this straight after Thousand Charms made me just realise how there's nothing of substance in that book at all. Not even the slightest bit of substance, there's nothing of substance. Whereas this has intelligence to it. And I'm like, why is it so much lower rated then? And I think this book, it kind of reminds me, it's this, it's trying to be funny. It's like a surreal, dark comedy, almost. The way that InnoMom look is written sometimes reminds me of those, like, depressed women books that are all the rage now. You know, when you're really in someone's head, just really voicey, you're consumed with every, like, little thought that they have. And it's kind of surreal in a way. This book is kind of surreal. And I just don't think people are ready for that. I think people, if they're reading a real housewives book, want just ridiculous, like, socialite fun, woo, you know? And down one of, this has another element to it than I think what people are expecting. It's not just chick lit. Kind of, a lot of it is. But the reasonings for things and the thought process for things, I think you have to be in the right mindset, you have to view it the right way. But if you view it the right way, I think it's actually a very, very interesting book. Now, I personally am gonna give it a 2.5. I was gonna give it a three. But then the ending is kind of ridiculous. You spend all this time building on these dates and having a fairly long relationship with one guy. And then, like, the last two pages are like, oh, and then she fell in love with this guy and lived happily ever after. It's the guy you met once in the book. And isn't that funny? Ha ha, they love each other, lived happily ever after. And it's like, what? It's like, no build up. It's just like, and it's like, then she ended up with Carl. I don't know. Like, who the f*** are you? But like, yeah, and then she ended up with him. And they lived, yeah, they loved each other. Great, great life. Yeah. And you're like, what the hell? I almost think it shouldn't have had that ending. So for me, it's a 2.5. So I didn't, you know, I didn't love it. But I think I could see elements of wit and charm and interesting perspective. This had something to say, right? This book had something to say. A lot of the other books don't have shit to say. Whereas this was kind of funny, but in a weird, like, warped mirror kind of way. So yeah, I don't think this deserves to have one of the lower ratings that we've seen so far in this video. I think also that rating probably comes from people having read her memoir and being so impressed and really, really enjoying that. And then reading this after would be disappointed. You know, I think that probably plays into it a bit. But my thoughts on New York, right? Because I never finished the reboot of New York. I did start watching it when it first came out. Cause I was like, oh, you know, this is something I can just start with. It's easy to get into rather than before I started my goal to watch every franchise from the beginning. And I never finished it. I got up to like the girl's trip to the beach. Where do they go? They go somewhere. They go on a beachy holiday. I'm watching that again now. And I do not like the reboot of New York. I'm gonna watch it, but I don't like it because I do not believe any of these women are friends. Right, I know in all these franchises, none of these people are friends, really. And they're just, you know, co-workers and it's a show and it's full of dramatics and yada, yada, yada. But I like to believe, I don't have to believe everyone's friends because you don't, cause everyone's always arguing, yada, yada, yada. But I have to believe in some interesting interpersonal dynamics. So on Salt Lake City, you've got Lisa and Meredith who like are in and out of being friends or Whitney and Heather or, you know, my favourite points before House of Beverly Hills were when Carl Richards and Lisa Vanpump were on good terms. Kyle's my partner in crime. We're very close. I adore her. Cause there's something you can believe about that relationship. Or I liked when you had the dynamics with Kyle and Kim and Kathy on the show. Like, I don't have to believe that everyone's friends but I have to believe in certain pairings of friendships. Or like, Carl and Joey are friends or I believe that Darcelle and Saturn are friends. Do you know what I mean? Whereas in this reboot of New York, who are friends? Who are the pairings, right? There's gotta be some pairings. I don't know if that's true for the whole group but there has to be some interesting, and I just feel like none of them actually, like, it's not that none of them like each other. They've just been thrown together with no pre-existing connections. I need some history on the show. And so I just feel like it's all really, really fake. And I know it's all fake. Like, I know it's all fake. I just don't like it because I'm like, I feel like when we got introduced, it was like, oh, we're just a group of friends. But there's no one who's close. You know what I mean? But yeah, I think the OG New York is gonna be the next one that I watch the whole way through. But before that, we have to finish reading these books. I'm almost at my wit's end. So for next one, I'm gonna pick up the one that I was most excited to read, which is A, from Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Eileen Davidson, who, listen, I liked Eileen, which was on the show. And B, it's a murder mystery. It's a murder mystery. Oh my God, I've been waiting 10 years for this. So let's go read Death in Daytime. I'm gonna try and finish it today. So I will let you know my thoughts when I'm done. Okay, friends, I've read Death in Daytime, but at what cost? No, it wasn't terrible. It wasn't the worst thing I've ever read. So this one, basically, we're following a girlie who's the lead star in a soap opera like Miss Eileen Davidson herself. And the writer, who she's been getting in arguments with, is murdered. And our main girlie is the one to find her, and she decides, I'm gonna solve this murder, babes. I'm gonna solve this murder. And there's a little bit of like a love interest, a love triangle, actually, in this one. And I mean, it was fine. I don't know. I just am fed up. Guys, this video is ruining my life. I'm fed up of awful writing. I'm fed up. I actually thought Eileen Davidson might have written this herself because I couldn't find much press for it anywhere. And it's a quartet. There's four of these bloody books. So I thought maybe it was like a passion project. But no, I went on Wikipedia. Actually, one of my patrons went on Wikipedia. Turns out, she collaborated with a guy, aka Hugh Ghostwriter, a guy called Robert J. Randisi, who, let me just read out a part of his Wikipedia page. He has published more than 650 books. He may be one of the last pulp writers. He has had a book published every month since January 1982. In 1984, he wrote 27 books in 12 months. So he wrote this book in a day, babes. He wrote this book in a day, and it shows. It shows. Shut up, you smug, sanctimonious bitch. I just don't get, I mean, obviously he must not be a terrible writer. Well, I don't know. The writing wasn't good. The writing was really, really bad. It was kind of boring, but kind of inoffensively boring. There was something about being back with the format of a murder mystery that I found kind of comforting. So there was that, at least. Oh, but guys, I don't know how much longer I can do this. I've been working on this video for three weeks. It's taking me forever to read these books because they're all so bad, and I have no interest in reading them. My patrons keep telling me I should DNF. So in the second half of this video, we're gonna be more liberal with DNFing. If I read like 100 pages and I'm not enjoying it, we're gonna be okay with me DNFing, okay? Because I can't do this video for much longer. It's ruining my life. So I'm gonna give the book two stars in terms of rating. It could have been like a 2.5, but there's a little bit of like transphobia at the end. Or like, I mean, now it's transphobia. Now I'd say it was just like kind of the general attitude, sadly, in 2008 when this was published. But it is a little bit transphobic and maybe a little bit homophobic. And just, you know, it just, elements of that made me really uncomfortable. Guys, I don't know. I like the soap aspect of it. I find the soap, like US soap aspect of it quite interesting. I always enjoyed when we saw that on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills with Lisa and Eileen. And I liked that aspect in Starlet. I mean, it was like the only thing I liked in Starlet. But it was interesting seeing in this book the behind the scenes of soaps. And I mean, American soaps versus UK soaps are very different. Drop Eileen Davidson into Coronation Street, I'm not sure she could hack a day. I'm not sure she could hack a day at Coronation Street. It's very interesting seeing the difference in what like our soaps are. So I enjoyed that aspect of it. I enjoyed the fact that it was a murder mystery, but I just think the writing was bad. I think the writing was bad. I don't particularly like you either. I can't find one damn thing to like about you right now in the moment. Anyways, I'm gonna start Sheree Whitfield's one next. I always get the audio mix up. Wives, Fiances and Side Chicks of Hotlanta, I believe. There's the audio book for this one. Praise the Lord. I just want, if I had audio books for all of these, it would not be a problem because I'd be able to passively read it. And that's not me saying that I passively read all audio books, but in this case I would. Normally I'm very engaged, but I'd be able to just half read these books. But most of them, I only have the physical or the ebook. And so I'm having to really actively read them. I feel like it's killing off my brain cells one by one. I'm not kidding. I don't know how much more of this I can take. I feel like I'm going a bit insane. So today I'm gonna do lots of reading. We're gonna try and get our way through two books today. We've got five left. One's a kid's book though. And then two of them are really long. If the really long one is not that good, I probably would DNF it. But anyways, let's persevere, shall we? And start Wives, Fiances and Side Chicks of Hotlanta. The other thing about these books is I also just have nothing to say to you often because they're just bad. They're just bad. Anyways, I'll check in with you once I finish the next one. This is real life. Okay, done. Bye-bye. Remember, you're the one who works as a stripper. Oh, I gotta go back, hold on. You're the only one using your body to get coins. And not the only one. The kind that make music. What? I keep saying music and it sounds annoying. Hello, I have to turn the bloody big lights on to film in here because it's otherwise too dark. I hope you all recognise the sacrifice I've just made. So, I've finished The Cats Who I'm Willing About and I know they're about to start fighting. Well, playing. Play fighting. They've all just woken up from their slumber. I finished. Today, I read the whole thing. I hope you're proud of me. Wives, Fiances and Side Chicks of Hotlanta. And this one had something about it. This one had a little something. She just pounced on Miko. He doesn't want to, dude. He doesn't want to. She just like, when Miko's sleeping, she just jumps on him and starts biting his neck. She's obsessed with him. And he's not. He says he's old now because he's old. Anyways, this book has something about it. So, we're following, I've forgotten her name and I finished this book about three minutes ago. We're following our main girlie as she moves to Atlanta. She also becomes a fashion girlie but she ends up being in this relationship with this basketball player and falling in love with him and it's their romance story. However, you know all along, something's wrong. Like, something's wrong under the surface. And it takes, I mean, the most interesting bit of this is the final epilogue when you finally realize this man ain't shit and has just married her so he can like fuck around with other women but have a wifey at home. But you know the whole book is leading to that. Like, you know the whole book because there's a prologue where you realize that he ain't shit and then the whole book is her moving and meeting friends and then meeting him and yeah, yeah, yeah. But like, if that epilogue had been the majority of the book because she talks about maybe killing him. She's like, yeah, this might be the last supper I'm about to make for him. I'm like, oh yeah. So if that could have been the whole book, I would have loved it. But for the most, I'm giving this like a 2.5. I don't think it was the worst thing I've ever read. I do think it kind of tries to couple those little like catchy one-liners like the characters saying things and people being like, oh, Dita's just out of shit. I can hear her. Guys, she just gets poo on her porch. Guys, she's so naughty. You don't even understand. Anyways, you don't need to hear cat poo talk. I enjoyed the reading experience of this because the whole time you can see it leading up to it and you start to see how the people that he's friends with ain't shit and there's people in her life who are lying to her, not telling the truth. It's kind of like a contemporary romance thriller hybrid. Dita, what is wrong? Come here. What else can I say to you about this? Let's think critically, shall we, Dita? Let's think about. Definitely, I thought it was fun. I liked the beat. Yeah, I enjoyed this. And this has got one of the lowest ratings out of all the books. It's a 2.99, which I just feel like, I feel like from what I've seen, these Real Housewives reader fans are a lot more, what's the word? Giving the benefit of the doubt to these white girlies than the black girlies. You know what I mean? Some of these books by the white girlies, horrific. The cats are causing havoc. I don't know what's going on over here. You can't see them, just, they're all doing something. You know, some of these other books I've read, diabolical, and they have pretty good average ratings. The thing is, all these books I have been reading have been pretty much girl moves to new city, four job, and there's a romance subplot. It's a romance subplot. Whereas this, at least this one is something different. At least Death in Daytime was a murder mystery, but I have a feeling, whoa! There's acrobatics going on. I have a feeling that we're about to get back for these last, well, we've got the kids book, but for the three novels we got left, I don't know how much I've got in me to finish all three of them. If I can finish one of them, I'll be happy. If I can finish two of them, I'll be ecstatic. If I finish all three, I'll be shocked, frankly, because I don't know, I can't do this much longer. Me reading all of these books. I need to read something good, you know? But this one at least had something different. It was fun. It was quick. I had the audiobook. Thank fuck. I really just wish I had the audiobook for all of these. I just, I need it. Give it to me, Rachel. I need it. But this one was okay. This one was okay. And I don't think it deserves to be one of the lowest rated out of all the books I've read. We've had far, far worse. This one at least had something fun. My Word is still the best. And this is probably my second favorite out of all the books I've read. I mean, it's still not good, but compared to what's out there, it was interesting, you know? It was a fun read. Bit silly, bit campy, bit thrillery. It had some fun aspects to it. Anyways, I am now this evening, gonna do my best to start Skinny Dipping by Bethany Frankel. I know she's one of the main girlies. I have not watched OG New York. Like I said, I think it'll be my next one. I'm currently watching, we've currently got like, well, two that I'm watching coming out weekly and that's enough to keep me going. And I'm watching Big Brother UK. I didn't watch it last year because I didn't have time, but this year I'm trying. Well, there's been three episodes so far, so we're not that far in. But I think OG New York will be what I watch next. But I know Bethany is that girl, you know? She's like one of the main girlies. I know Skinny Girl is her whole thing. And this is Skinny Dipping. I'm not really looking forward to this one. I think it's just another girl who moved to New York, has a career, maybe a bit of a romantic son plot. And I'm, I, like I'm done. I'm done, Lux. I'm done. Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow, hopefully having finished Skinny Dipping. This was by far the biggest passion project I've ever worked on in my entire career. It just, it wrote itself. It was just so exhilarating and so free. And just, I've written so many books about how to live a better life and how to unleash your skinny girl and all things that are great. But this was a more creative process and more imaginative process. I loved it. I don't think I can do this anymore. I'm so tired. I am so tired. Go to sleep! You're crazy! Go to sleep! I am over 200 pages through Skinny Dipping. Okay? Oh, Dita's here. She's gonna help us emotionally. Hopefully if you just look at how cute she is, you won't be mad at me for what I'm about to do. I'm over 200 pages through this book and it's not even that bad. This is one of the better written ones that we've got. We'll talk about its synopsis in a second. This is one of the better ones we've got. I just can't do this anymore. My willpower is at zero. I am not strong enough to read any more of these books. I hated myself. I hated her. Can you behave? I can explain to you guys. This has been a marathon. Yeah. It feels like I've run a marathon. I've been reading these books on and off for a month. For a month. I took a week off where I mood read, if you remember that video. But I started Starlit over a month ago. And I just can't pick up to it anymore. When I read, it feels like when you're running and you don't want to run and you're just making yourself run. Imagine your reading being that for a month. Yeah. Yeah, Dida. Yeah. I can't. I'm sorry guys. I can't do it anymore. I'm not gonna read the last three books. I'm gonna read and I'm DNFing Scooby-Doo. I can't do it. Bethany Frankel is the assassin that finally got me. Shot me in the heart. Oh my gosh. You look like you're dead. I can't. I don't. When I think about having to read these books, I feel sick. I look at my fucking TBR cart. I look at it. I look at the books in my TBR cart and I salivate. I salivate. It like, it's some kind of Pavlovian response in me. I just want to read something I enjoy. Something that's good. I can't do it anymore, guys. I can't. Dida, I can't. Tell them. Stand up for me. I can't do it anymore. I'm so sorry. So yeah, we're gonna end the video here. I'm so sorry. In terms of Skinny Dipping, like I said, it's one of the better written ones that we've had. It's following a bit of like a bolshie, is that the right word? Like, kind of like, a little bit of an edgy girl. Bethany Frankel type personality from like, and you know, it's not like, tending more to my southern charm. I'm just a southern bear. This girl's got a bit of grit to her and she moves from New York to LA to try and become an actress. And it's about her trying to become an actress and dating guys in Hollywood, yadda yadda. I mean, we've read this 10,000 times. Dida. No, you're gonna fall off. Can you behave for like five minutes, guys? I love her so much. I'm so obsessed with her, but she, I mean, she slept with me all night last night, but she's just naughty. But yeah, I mean, Bethany Frankel had a good ghost writer for this. Ah, I'm being blinded. Ah. The writing was pretty good. It had good vocabulary. It had a good, you know, speed, a good pace. I have no more words for books anymore. But I'm just so interested. I got 200 pages through it. And you know what, last night I did, she's now climbing the wall. Just ignore her. I mean, it's the chaotic end to this chaotic video. I, last night, I was on reading sprints with my patrons and I was like, I can do this, guys. I can do it. I'm gonna read all these books. I can persevere. And I woke up this morning and I said, no, I can't. No, I can't. Bethany Frankel, you've killed me. It's bad, yeah. It's bad. Yeah. You've killed, I just like, I read like another 50 pages of it this morning. And I was like, why am I doing this? Why am I doing this? I don't wanna do it anymore. So let's quickly look at the good reads for the three books that I'm not gonna be reading. They've been published by Royal Housewives. And then we'll go and we'll part ways and we'll forget this ever happened. Right, Dita? Yeah. Okay, so let's look at the books I didn't read. First, we have one that I own, A Dangerous Age by Kelly Killoren-Benserman. Sorry, girl, I don't know. She's from Royal Housewives of New York. Hot nights, cold drinks, big secrets, bad choices. Welcome to Manhattan. I think this is pitched as like a group of 40-year-old friend women, kind of like sexlessy. I guess I'm just like that kind of vibes. We're talking here. They're like socialites in New York and they have fun. And I'm just sorry, I'm so uninterested. Let's look at, I mean, there's like quite a few positive reviews here, but I'm going to the two-star because I think that's what I would have given it. The Constant Threat and Encouragement of Infidelity. Where have we read that before? Oh my God, all these books. Somewhat autobiographical. Nothing happened in the entire book, but it was a fast read. Not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Well, that's a two-star voucher encouragement. Four Friends, all somewhat of a mess. I found the main character annoying. The others weren't any better. Yeah, okay. I don't think we're missing out on anything here, if I'm honest with you. Then we have The Rumor by DeShawn Snow, who was only on one season of Real Housewives of Atlanta, the first season. I haven't ever heard anyone talk about this. Let's see, this is a kid's book. It's got, okay, it's got one rating. That's five stars, so I mean, it's rated great. This is a kid's book. It was like 70 pages. And I think it's about a girl realizes that her school friends are not her friends at all. She learns what writers write. It sounds like a cute kid's book, but we're going to read it. And then the final one is Red Carpets and White Lies by Leah Black, who was an OG on Real Housewives of Miami. Now, I am kind of sad I'm not reading this one because she seemed fairly invested in this book. She did an interview at a bookshop with an audience, which is kind of bold. It makes me think maybe she wrote this, or at least was more involved in writing it. But she also marketed it as a series, as a trilogy. And it came out in 2015, and no more books have been published, so I don't think that's happening. It's like a socialite in Miami who holds charity balls. It's majority three stars that we're talking about here. I adore such authors. I've read the good Bethany Frankel. To be fair, Bethany Frankel's was not that bad. The bad Tinsley Mortimer. At least we can agree on that. Wrote the epilogue in a fun, original, and offbeat way. Very slow. This book was so, this was the longest book we had. This was like 450 pages. I'm not spending time reading a book that's 450 pages and only the last third is interesting. Lacked plot until page 300. There's no love story or conflict until we finally get to the painfully obvious set up. Oh, court case. Well, that's something. I do like a court setting. I'm kind of sad. This is the only one I'm sad I didn't read, if I'm honest with you, because the kids' book is a kids' book, and a dangerous age I'm not interested in. But this one had something interesting about it. But there we go. That's what we missed out on by me not finishing the books. Apologies, everyone. Hopefully you can find it in your heart to forgive me. So there we have it. I tried to read all the fiction books written by Royal Housewives, and I failed. I couldn't make it to the end. I read, I'm counterskipping, skinny dipping. I read over half. I read seven out of 10. I just needed my life back, guys. I mean, look at all these books. Oh my God. It like makes me, it makes me like salivate in the mouth. I need to like consume all these books that I actually want to read right now. This has taken up my life for far too long, and we're done. We're done, Zo Babes. We're done. We've had enough. But I hope you enjoyed this video. It was fun reading some of these books anyways. It was interesting seeing the kind of books that they write. If I had to recommend one, I would recommend My Word. I think that was the best one that we read. Carol from New York's one was also interesting, but the others, I think you can miss. I think you can miss. Funnily enough, if you've enjoyed this video, make sure you like, comment, subscribe. I don't say that very often, but subscribe if you're new here. Comment below who your favorite Royal Housewife is of all time. My, who's my favorite Royal Housewife of all time? Holy shit, this is hard. I would say, I do love my Lisas. I do love Lisa Vanderpump and Lisa Barlow. I do. I know Lisa Vanderpump was a shit Sarah, but you gotta love her a little bit, you know? Lisa Barlow, I'm not enjoying as much in the current season. I love a bit of like Xanaxed out Meredith as well. I don't know what else I was gonna say. But let me know who your favorite Royal Housewife is. I hope you enjoyed this video, and I'll see you very soon in another one. Bye.