clearing My ENTIRE TBR... with Bingo! 📚 🏁 TBR200 ep2

Hello, my name is Megan and I have a problem with acquiring books and not reading them. Since I started book five years ago, my TBR has managed to go from 37 books to 317 books. And so, this is my series called TBR 200 where we try and get my physical TBR below 200 books, which like I know some people do these series and try and get their TBR to zero. I don't think that's realistic for me. If we can get this below 200, I will be so happy. I will be so happy and relieved. So, we ended the last episode, the first episode of TBR 200 on 315 books. This episode, we are starting on 310. I have read five books for my TBR since we last spoke. But it was for a video. Out of the five books are in that video, four were not on my TBR. I did buy them for that video, but that video had been so delayed by like 6 months that I did eventually like add them to my TBR, but that won't be the case for like future experimental videos like that. So, yes, we are on 310 books currently. And today, we're going to try and get that down a little bit further. So, in today's episode, we are going to be playing bingo to read the books on my TBR. One of my lovely patrons, Emma, has created some sort of bingo board that we're going to use to pick books or is going to pick books for me that we're going to end up reading. So, I think we're going to read about five books in this video. Get five books off the TBR. And I'm excited cuz I think we may be reading some like heavy hitters from the TBR. So, shall we just go check out the bingo board and see what we're going to be reading in this video. Okay, it's time to find out what books I'm going to be reading in this vlog. I have not looked at the bingo board. Well, I saw when the message came through and then I like looked away. So, I've seen the shape of it, but I haven't seen what books are where on the bingo board. So, I've got an explanation from Emma. Emma who made the bingo board. So, let's see what this says. Hi, Megan. The theme of this year's bingo board is books that appeared in previous TBRs. So, things like TBR Kudo 24 books to read in 2024. Okay. The patrons got to vote for which of the 80 books would make it onto the board. Oh my god. Okay. So, there were 80 books that had been previous TBRs and they've voted and whittleled it down. I can't wait to see how this turns out. The goal was kind of to vote for books we thought you would really enjoy or at least be happy to read. We got a good selection of everything. Non-fiction, classics, TBR veterans, 2025 releases, etc. A spinner wheel was used to randomly choose a spot for each book on the board. Shall we look? Oh my god. Okay, so I'm going to choose a line that way or that way to pick and to try and get bingo. I did think about like randomizing the books and keep reading until I got like bingo randomly, but I thought that could be like 20 books I could read. So, I'm going to pick a line or line. So, the first row is Escaping from Houdini, The Spell Shop, The Mystery Guest, Laura Olympus Volume 1, Stling House. Okay. Row two, A Curious Beginning, Six Crimson Cranes, A Latz Away, Bad Gaze, How to Sell a Haunted House. Okay, then we got Monstrilio, Sea of Tranquility, Famous Last Words, The Last Murder at the End of the World, Deep End. Okay. Okay. The Book That Wouldn't Burn as Long as Lemon Trees grow in the Dreamhouse, but Little Women, Rebecca, Royal Assassin, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Once Future Sex, The Shadow Cabinet. Oh my god. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I think I'll take them all. What a good deal. What do I want to go for? What do I want to go for? I'm looking at like what's included. Oh, okay. Okay. I'm torn between two. I'm torn between the middle row, Monio, Sea of Tranquility, Famous Last Words, The Last Murder in the World, Deep End, or this category, which has a lot of non-fiction in it. I want to read Laura Olympus, Bad Gays, The Last Murder Underworld, Buts, The Once with Future Sex. Oh my god. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I can't I can't make this decision. Please, I can't make this decision. That is a lot of non-fiction. That's three non-fiction. Is that too much non-fiction? Um, this row, the middle row, has some 2025 releases. We've got Famous Last Words and Deep End, and I have not yet read a 2025 release. Do you know what? I think I'm going to go for the middle row. We've got some heavy hitters in there. We've got like two books that have been some of my most hyped books to read that I haven't read. Monstrilio and Last Monday in the world and then two 2025 releases. Famous Famous Last Words is petrifying me and deep end. I don't know what I'm going to start with out of that list. We'll see what I'm in the mood for, but that I think that's what I'm going to go for. I'm going to go for the middle row. Oh, or do I get the one above? A curious beginning, Six Crimson Cranes, a Latell a haunted house. that is on TBR K Pluto and I have not read it yet, but I don't think I fancy that row as much. I'm going for the middle row. I'm going for the middle row. Okay, I know what I'm reading. Isn't that exciting? So, we're going to be reading those books. I don't know which one I'm going to start with. You'll see in a second. But, um yeah, I'm very excited for this next episode of TBR 200 and this helping me get my TBR down. Hello friends. So I have started Sea of Tranquility as our first book of vlog. However, before we get into the video, I want to thank the sponsor of today's video, Serious Readers. This is my serious light, my favorite reading accessory in the entire world. I believe it is essential to my reading, to my my life, my work. I love it so much. This is a reading light from Sirius Readers. I have the high definition serious light. I am obsessed with it. I've had this I don't even know how many years, maybe 2 years now. It's still as great as the day I got it. I still love it as much the day I got it. It is a reading light that has something called daylight wavelength technology, which replicates the the daylight spectrum as closely as possible, which means the light from this light feels so natural on the eyes. I honestly can't I always say in my one line this feels like a breath of fresh air for the eyes. It honestly feels like so natural like versus the ring light I've got on me now. I can feel the resistance to that in my eyes and sometimes like with home light you can feel that you know you can kind of feel that it's like making your eyes hurt or feel like a bit of tension in the eyes. This doesn't. I love it so much. I read so much more with it. I find reading so much easier with it. I remember before I got this, like the year before I got this, I was kept getting eye strain really badly cuz I kept reading in dimly lit rooms cuz I am not a big light on person. I am a lamps only person cuz I love that cozy vibe, but that does mean you're reading in poorly lit environments. And I find that this keeps the cozy vibe. I still feel cozy, not like there's like a bright light on in the room, like the the big light on, but it makes what I'm reading well lit. And I just love it so much. I cannot recommend it enough. Have you ever thought about getting a reading light to kind of level up your reading? Make reading a more enjoy. I mean, we all love reading. It's already an enjoyable experience, but really like put a bit of money into your favorite hobby to make it a more enjoyable experience. I cannot recommend my serious light enough. And I have a code meg which will get you £150 off a higher definition light. That is a crazy deal. £150 off. So, go check the link out down below. Code me. £150 off. I can't believe it. Like, that is insane. I might get a second one. I love it so much. One for every room. I mean, it's portable. Like I I can move it around, but like I just love it so much. So, go check out the link down below. And yeah, I would really recommend getting your hands on one of these. Everyone say, "Hey, Ta. Hey, Ta. Are you so beautiful? Are you the most beautiful?" Yeah. Oh, so sleepy. Love you. Hello. Hello. How are you all doing? I actually have finished Sea of Tranquility because this is a super short book. The audio book, this is only like 5 hours or something. It's really, really short. So, I kind of just flew through this. I also think this is the kind of book you need to read the entirety of to really know how you feel about it. Oh, are we getting up? I'm talking. So, she's waking up cuz she thinks that means I'm going to play with her cuz she's the only person here. So, why would I be talking to anyone else? E. So, the reason that I've never been able to get a handle on this plot is because it's a plot that I don't think you're meant to get a handle on until the end. It's whackadoodle time. It is whack a doodle time. It It really does come together at the end in a very, very interesting way. But it did mean whenever I was trying to pitch it, whenever I was trying to like put this book on a TBR or excited books thing, I would never be able to describe it. So, I think what you need to know is we're following like a lot of different characters in different times. Some of which we've met before. Some characters are from the Glass Hotel, which is her previous book. And then others, I don't know if any of them are from Station 11, but some of the plot points definitely hearken back to Station 11, which I'll talk about in a sec. And it's really a book about time travel. That's what you really need to know. I Hello. Hi. How are you doing? Are you stuck in here? Cuz I've shut the door. You just want to be seen. Really, don't you? She needs no help. Because she is a diva. Yes, she's perfect the way she is. E love you. I'm giving this a four star. On enjoyment, it was probably more like a 3.5. But I can see what a wonderful book this is qualitywise. It's very interestingly structured. Where do I want to start with talking about this book? Okay, let's just start there. I enjoyed it at 3.5. Like I I objectively had an okay time, but I have to give it a four. I have to round it up to a four because there's something so mature and so accomplished with how this plot moves and shifts from character to time. And it it's kind of like you ever seen those paintings where it's like moving uh what am I trying like it's like curving it's like lines right that all curve but none of them actually join up but they're all like curving in and out of each other. That's what this book feels like. It structures a very interesting way and like where time is kind of like adaptable and can be manipulated. I don't I don't want to spoil anything, but I think that the way that this book is structured and the way it flows from perspective to character to time and and and adjusts itself through all of these is so well done. I did enjoy seeing characters back from The Glass Hotel. However, I will say Emily St. John Mandel's books, I really have enjoyed them all. I think they've all been around like a 3.54 kind of level. I enjoy them, but there's there's there's a distance between me and them, which I feel like means that I don't remember them very well. like the characters are really sticking my brain. So, I did have to look them up. I did have to look the people up, the characters up and then I was like, "Oh, okay. I remember who you are." But this is kind of like a sequel in some ways. Like it really is a continuation of a few plot point. You could read this without reading The Glass Hotel. I think I preferred The Glass Hotel to this, but um it's just interesting seeing those characters come up again. And like the way that all of her books or last these last three books, Station 11, Glass Hotel, and this have been connected. you're kind of like, are these in the same universe or are they like alternate universes of the same story? Like there's there's similarities, but there's kind of like divergences of plots or divergences of characters. You're like, okay, but is this all happening in the same timeline? I just think it's very interesting done. And then without getting too much into it, there is a character in this who is an author of um a wildly successful book that focuses on a pandemic. and she's doing a book tour and then a real pandemic happens and it feels a bit like an Emily St. Mandel insert of her having written Station 11 and then the COVID 19 pandemic happening and like her almost having a bit more to say, you know, and it's this is kind of her way of doing that. Like her being like, okay, actually I want to say more about it's not like, oh, I got this wrong, I got this wrong, but it's like here's maybe a perspective of a pandemic I didn't examine or here's it kind of felt like a self insert of her going through that, but kind of written in a very interesting way. I will say by Emma Mandal like all of her books are intelligent, have an intelligence, have a maturess to them that I do admire. It's like she's she's doing art, you know what I mean? Not all these girlies are doing art. She's doing art. So, I appreciated that as well. This this kind of like addendum addend addendum. I can't say the word to Station 11 kind of continuing that on thematically, even if not with the same character. So, yeah, I enjoyed this. I'm giving it a four. Um I don't know what I'm going to start next, but successful. This one's been on my TBR. I think I have what we're going to be reading the longest, I want to say. So, um I'm glad to have read it and to be up to date with like at least the modern era. I haven't read her back list, but I read Station 11, The Glass Hotel, and this like up to date with the modern era of MC Mandel. So, yeah. I don't know what I'm going to pick up next. Neither does Zena. She literally just came to sit here to be on camera. I love you so much. You know that. You're my best friend ever. I love her. She's gotten so dark, guys. She's basically brown now. I wouldn't call her white. She used to be white and now she's brown. Her fur has gotten so dark. Okay, I'll see you when I've decided what to pick up next. Hello. I have started Famous Last Words by Jillian Mallister. So, this is my first 2025 release that I'm reading. It's taken me until May 2nd to read a 2025 release. Let's not talk about that. Hurry up, girls. We have business to do. For some reason, I'm scared. Also, I'm I haven't got a ton on my TBR. I've got maybe like six on my TBR, and I'm really trying not to buy anything. I'm not doing like a no buy rule. I might actually go to some bookshops this month um that I've been meaning to go to nearby me that like I keep waiting to go to until I film a video there. So, I may buy a few things this month, but I'm really really trying. I don't think I've really bought many books that aren't for videos this year or any. I think only this is something I've bought myself maybe this year that isn't for a video that I'm not buying to a video. Anyways, sorry tangent. I'm I'm like can't really talk about this book. And this book was probably one of my most anticipated releases for the first half of the year. I haven't really thought second half yet, but I'd say this and the favorites by Lane Fargo. most anticipated books for the first half of the year. A book has not made me feel like this for a very long time. So, it is perfect. Everything that we work for is right here, right in this moment. So, I am only, as you can see, about 120 pages in. And that's because we are ending act one. And so, I feel like the book is going to change quite a bit in how I feel in terms of the pace of the book. I don't want to spoil anything, but like act one was act one. And act two, I think, is going to be different. So, I wanted to talk to you now. So, the plot, all you need to know going into it is like it's the most incredible hook you've ever heard. It is Camila's first day back at work after maternity leave. She drops her daughter off at nursery. She finds out in London there is a hostage situation going on and her husband apparently is the hostage taker. Is that the right word? Yeah. The gunman keeping everyone hostage. And we're following two perspectives. following Camila's perspective and we're following Nile's perspective who is the hostage negotiator and um you know this book dives straight into it. Don't expect a slow start. This book gets straight into it. I actually last night picked up picked it up cuz I knew I was going to start it next to just read the first page. Tom had just gone down to the toilet before bed to book brush his teeth whatever. Sorry Tom exposing your bathroom activities. I don't know. He wasn't in there long which is why it's going to be crazy that I say I picked the book up and I read the first 30 pages until he came back up to bed. I just couldn't I couldn't put it down and then I've sat in the garden read the the end of act one and a book has not made me feel like that for a very long time where I I've said some books are unput downable but this is truly unput downable and like some of those books when I was saying that about Nicola Morati's book in my authors reading my favorite author's siblings vlog like I had to read that book fairly quickly cuz I had to get a video out I have no time constraints this video ain't going up for like a week and a half I could take my time I do not want to do anything but read this book I have not felt like this in a very long time. I am obsessed. The first 120 pages of this book are so high tension, high stress. That was [ __ ] scary. My heart's going p. I feel sick. Like I could throw up. I I I couldn't read the words fast enough. I wanted to find out what's happening. I did not want to put this book down. I'm already, you know, we're only 120 pages in and it's been like I already deeply care for Camila as a character. I already deeply am invested in what this means for her. Like I think this book does a good job of like making you imagine yourself in this situation. Like imagine you have just had a baby. You've got a 9month old baby. You realize like no matter what the outcome of this is, you know, he he won't be in our lives. You know, he either gets shot by police or he gets taken to prison or I'm not spoiling anything because I don't know what the outcome of a lot of stuff is now. I'm only 100 pages in. But you know, no matter what the outcome is, our lives are changed and I'm going to be a single mother. her my daughter won't really know her father in whatever capacity whatever happens to him you know how how earthshattering that moment is and imagine yourself in that situation I was like what the [ __ ] that is crazy and so even through all this high action high stress moving from place to place quick we need her here we're investigating this d like I'm so deeply invested in the characters and their story and Julia McAllistister I just love her writing I love it has this intelligence to it has this emotional intelligence to it that I don't think you see a lot in thrillers and I feel like that's only going to grow in this book and like you know the journey that the rest of the book takes. I I'm obsessed. I love reading. I love reading. I love reading. I I was thinking the other day like we're reading some pretty heavy hitters in this vlog. These are some of my most anticipated books and so I think these are all going to be like I would hope that these are all going to be fairly positive and this end with the first episode. So just for the summer I read in the first episode 20 200 I'm reading this I'm reading deep end last day the world in this vlog like we're getting heavy hitters I'm probably going to really enjoy like other vlog I feel like the tone of these first episodes won't be as sim as some other ones where we are going to be dnf I can't imagine myself dnfing these books I think we're going to be running quite high kind of set a mini goal I would love I have no control over this but I'd love if every book I wrote in May to be a four or five I've had enough of 3.5s they can get in the bin I'm just like I'm manifesting that for myself anyways I am obsessed I don't know if I'm going to check with you before the end of the book or if I I'm I'm honestly reading it so fast that I just like I can't I can't put it down. I can't put this book down. I love Have I ever told you I love reading? Have I ever told you that I love reading? Cuz I do. Isn't it so good to be a reader and just love Oh my god. I love it. I love it. I love it. It gives me that buzz. I can only imagine it's been such like a high octane like high pressure start. I'm so intrigued where she's gonna take the rest of this book and the tone that the rest of the book is gonna have and like I feel like the traps have been laid for like crazy stuff to happen in the rest of this. So yeah, I'm very excited to see where it goes. I just want to go out on a walk with you, baby. You know I just like to talk with you. You don't have to tell me anything that's new. I just want to go out on a walk with you. I just want to see your shadow next to mine. Hello everyone. Say hello, Da. There she is. She's sleeping on some like um packing material like it's from like a boots order that I did. It makes her very happy to like play with and buy. So you see little dots of it around the bed. She's been buying it. Okie dokie. I have finished Famous Last Words by Julie McAllister. And this is going to be a very very strong fourst star. I really enjoyed this. I really really enjoyed it. Now I want to just temper everyone's expectations. And like I don't think this is a spoiler, but if you don't want to know like the vague path that this story will take that I'm trying to like say so you can prepare your expectations for this then don't watch. But otherwise I don't think it's a spoiler. That part one the first like 120 pages like I said intense thriller in crazy intense thriller. Edgy your seat. Can't stop reading. Can't put it down. Have to find out what happened. Tense thing after tense thing. Oh am I speaking to you? Hello. Oh yeah. Rub up on the book. That's fun. how you doing? Um, yeah, very very intense thriller. The rest of the book slower, more introspective, more of a character study, more like contemporary slashthriller. And so, yeah, I think Oh, that was a real yeet of that pen. I see. Are you okay? And so, yeah, I just think you should prepare yourself for that going into this in that like I think because of the synopsis, there is a world where the book could be a kind of book where that synopsis is all a book is. And that is not the case. I don't think that's a spoiler. I'm trying to again prepare your expectations. Sorry, my phone's ringing. BRB. Okay. It was some sort of um spam thing. Don't worry. Okay. But I really enjoyed the introspectiveness and the journey. I'm not going to speak about what the kind of like journey is, but the journey we go on and the characters go on in this story. It is slow, but I I could not put this book down. I had a wonderful time reading it. I really really enjoyed my time reading it. I love J Mallis's writing. I think she really is becoming a favorite thriller author for me. And she does this so well where like you have a thriller or you have a mystery like Wrong Place, Wrong Time. There's moments of like where you step away from that perhaps more so in this one where you step away from like the high action and it's about what it is to be human. You know in the first book it's something to do with the main character's dad that I think like wow okay take us out of like this being an entertaining but you know like high stakes quick quick like you know popcorn thriller like what you expect from like the kind of thriller you're going to pick up in a supermarket. Yeah. those moments of humanness, those moments of like real emotion, I think she does so well and integrates that so well in her books. I loved it. I had a really good time. It just wasn't quite a five star. That first 120 pages were five star, but I don't think you can sustain that for a whole book. I think that'd be very difficult to and like there's stuff to do with the publishing industry. Like the main character works in the publishing industry that I always find fun. I really enjoyed it. I really really enjoyed it. very much not a disappointing uh pick for the first 2025 release of the year that I've read. Taken me a while. I have received a parcel. I don't think I've ordered anything, but I think we've received something to add to um Oh, I'm choking to add to the TBR. So, let's see what it is. I'm going to see with you. You're kidding me. Who is this from? Where is the note? Where is the note? Who is it from? You're kidding me. From Mel. Hey Meg, I can't believe it's been a year since I joined your Patreon, so I thought I would gift you this five star read to celebrate. Thank you for amazing community. Sorry about the TBR ad. Don't apologize. Don't apologize. We have got Jane Austin's Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney. No [ __ ] way, Mel. Thank you so much. Okay, this is all about Just let her do it. Just let her be happy. This is all about the women writers that were on Jane Austin's bookshelf. I'm not sure if they like somehow know what books she owned or if it's just about like contemporary authors of the period that she would have read. I am so excited. I'm I'm like gathering Jane Austin non-fiction. I've got this I've got Jane Austin at home by Lucy Wesley. There's loads of like Jane Austin non-fiction that I'm accumulating and I am so excited about this one. Rare books to Rebecca Romney sheds a light on Austin's inspirations and contemporaries in this page turning literary adventure. Mel, thank you so much. That is so exciting. Okay, so we are at the moment negative one with the TBR. Hello, baby. Okay, exciting. I'm going to go work for a bit today and then tonight I will start something else. I'll probably see you tomorrow with whatever I've started. I don't know what I'm going to be in the mood for. I'm a bit ill and if you can tell, I feel like I didn't do a good job of like famous words is momentous and I just I loved I had a great time. I feel like I didn't do a good job of talking about it cuz I'm I'm feeling a bit under the weather. I've got a bit of a nasty car. I feel like she just catapulted a highlighter off the table. She doesn't follow them. She just eats them and just looks at where they go. Oh, is she actually going to go after this one? Go, go, go. Yeah. Okay. But anyways, yeah, I don't know where I'm going to start next, but thank you, Mel, so much. I'm going have to go say thank you. So excited to read this. Wow. I also need to get into more non-fiction this year. I'm feeling a bit of a desire for some non-fiction. My baby, come here. Come say hello to everyone on the camera. We got a very sleepy, grumpy deer, but we love each other. Do you want to tell everyone that you love them? But hello, friends. Hello. I'm just under halfway. I'm 150 pages into The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turtton. If you've been here a long time, if you've been here a year, year and a half, you'll know last year this was one of the books I was most excited to read. And I put it off and put it off and put it off and put it off and put it off. I was petrified of it. I was so scared. I built it up in my brain to be too much, you know, and thus uh I'm only reading it now. And this is an interesting interesting experience. So, I could give you this synopsis in my sleep. I gave the synopsis so many times. There's an island. Lots of humanities living on it surrounded by a fog that killed off the rest of the world. There's some scientists and humanity on an island. But a murder happens of one of the scientists and it triggers a lowering of the protective system that's keeping the fog away. And if we don't solve the murder, then the fog will come and take over the island. However, the security system has wiped everyone's memories of what happened. So, someone's a murderer and they don't even know it. There we go. given that 10,000 times. Greatest synopsis known to man. Greatest. Such such such a good synopsis. I'm listening. I'm listening. I think when you have known a synopsis so well that is still quite vague but so intimately. I me and the synopsis, you know, I know it's like the back of my hand. I imagined this book to be something it isn't. I filled in the gaps and it's a lot more sci-fi than I was expecting. The murder does not happen until quite a ways through the book. I would say over the 100 page mark, around the 100 page mark. And there's certain things to do with what it says in that synopsis and what I've experienced in this first 150 pages that don't quite make sense. So that is a little bit of a jarring experience, right? Where just the nature of the story is very different than what you like kind of filled in the gaps in your brain. I am enjoying it though. There's a lot there's a lot of questions that I have. Stuart Turtton goes for something and he's so obviously going for something with this. You know what? You have to appreciate it. You have to thank him for doing something. I'd rather we shoot and miss than don't shoot at all. And this is how I feel about Stuart T. No matter how you feel about all of his books, the three books that he's put out, he is shooting for something in all of them. He may not hit it for you. He hit it for me in one of them. Some people didn't like that ending, you know, but he's trying. It's different. It's imaginative. He's doing stuff you never seen done before. Talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, showstopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before. But there's just a lot going on that is there's like a lot of elements to the story, to the characters, to the plot, to what you're being told that doesn't quite make sense that is slightly offkilter. And I wonder how much some of that is starting to get answered. We just had like a big twist happen that answered some of those questions, but like I feel like there's more to come. And I feel like there's questions I know I have subliminally where just you know when you walk you walk in you see a picture or you walk somewhere like you can just tell like your brain is sending you like no no no no no signals cuz something's everything's a little bit off. Everything's not quite right and it's a very interesting reading experience. I have heard that there's like inconsistencies and plot holes. However, so I am worried about the extent to which we will get answers for all of this. But this is just a very interesting murder mystery. A very unique murder mystery. I always say it's true at certain books. I'm not going to know how I'm going to feel about it until the end. I need to finish this book to really know. I'm enjoying the experience of reading it. I'm enjoy But I could go either way. I'm feeling more positive. I'm feeling like it's going to be at least a four at the moment because I'm finding it such an interesting reading experience. But God only knows. It could really piss me off. Something could happen that could really piss me off. But yeah, it's it's fascinating. It's a very interesting book. I'm glad I'm finally reading it. I'm sad, however, it's taken me this long. The whole point of getting my TBR down, is that I then want to be better at reading new releases sooner when they come out that I'm really excited for. Like, I should already have read the favorites in 2025, my most exciting 2025 release. We have read Famous Last Words in this vlog. And we will read Deep End in this vlog, which were my other two most excited for the first half of the year. Anyways, yeah, I'm This is It's so different than I was expecting. More sci-fi. I think that's the number one thing to go into this with expectations if you haven't read it yet. more sci-fi than I pictured. So, we shall see. But I will let you know I'm finished. I'm going to try and finish it tonight. So, hopefully I'll see you later. Hello, friends. Firstly, first point of action before I talk about the book. Maybe I'm putting it off. I need to tell you that I have read whilst I've been filming this vlog another book off my TBR, The Phoenix Keeper by S. A. McClean for my patron book club. So, take that off the tally. That basically like undoes the book that we hauled in this vlog. So, I have gone and read this. Unless we talk about that, I give it three stars. Didn't hate it, but we don't need to talk about that. This is not what this video is about. Um, I have finished also The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turtton. I'm getting like chest pain talking about this. Listen, one of my most anticipated books last year. One of my most anticipated books last year. I'm giving it a 3.5. Come on. Again, I But it's a it's like I wish I could give it more. I really do. Like it's not a 3.5 where I'm like meh or like I don't have anything to say and I'm like ugh, you know, average. I I've had a lot of them this year. 3.5 is my most common rating. It's like I really wish I really wish I could give this higher, but I don't think I can quite give it a four. Here's the thing I will say. I really enjoyed the structure of this. It's a very interesting structure with that kind of memory wipe element because our characters, we have we kind of have a character who's acting as like a detective trying to solve the murder that's happened and they're like traveling around the island and they're noticing things and they're like, "Oh my gosh, was I here last night or like were you here last night or did you do this last night?" Like they're piecing stuff together. It's interesting like for everyone to wake up and there's loads of stuff has changed. Everything looks different and people have died but like also this has moved and like this has gone from here to here and this is missing and there's footprints going to here and like it's interesting for like the world the characters to wake up and the world is so changed and you're trying to piece that stuff together. I did enjoy that aspect of it and like I said I love that he shoots for it. I will read everything that Stuart turn right. I I admire what he's going for in this. It's a bit wacky. It's a bit weird. I love that he's shooting for it. However, I did not find the resolution of this particularly satisfying. I also didn't find it unsatisfying, which is also annoying. Like, I wasn't like, "Oh, that's shit." You know? I was just like, "Okay, fine." Like, I didn't care. And I think it's because because of the nature of this book. I don't want to get into spoilers, but like I found it very hard to really get attached to any character. And I've had this with books that are a similar twist to this where because of multiple reasons and there's like different reasons because there's different charact there's different reasons for different types of characters in this book. I will say that all those reasons meant I struggled to get attached to basically any character in this. And thus I just didn't really care. I didn't really care what the resolution was. I didn't care like I wasn't rooting for it not to be this person or for it to be this person. I didn't have any stakes in the game. Is that the terminology? Like I didn't give a [ __ ] for lack of a better term. And so, yeah, just something like that that kind of leave leaves leaves you feeling lukewarm. I feel like I can only give it a 3.5, you know, but there's also elements that I really admire. I really admire that it's doing this interesting murder mystery with these speculative elements and like, you know, pushing the boundaries of the genre. I think also though I have come to expect a crazy whack ass ending from Shu Turtton because that's why his other two books have had and I did get pre-worn that this one didn't really have it. It was more like a midway twist but like when you when you have certain beats that you expect from an author like a crazy ending and you don't get that you just still feel like subliminally disappointed. So I don't know guys it was fine. It was good. I think it's an interesting take. I think if you enjoy murder mysteries I would recommend picking it up because there's a lot of interesting stuff this book does with that. But I think like the first half of this book and the kind of premise and the setting are a lot stronger than like when you actually have to get into the millai of the plot. And I think there are quite a lot of plot holes in this. So there we have it. That's my end rating. I'm starting to get concerned for a line that had some of my most anticipated books on it. We are yet to have a five star. I think it would be absolute insanity if we did not have a five star from this selection. So next I'm going to go with Deep End because I give Ali Hazwood basically a five star every time. I think the only of her fulllength novel novels. The only book I haven't given a five star was Bride and I still really enjoyed that a four. So either way we should have a good time with this. I'm a little bit nervous about this one. For some reason it just feels different than like her other contemporary romances. I think cuz it's like friends with benefits maybe and I'm not sure if I will get as like I like the slowb burn, you know what I mean? I'm not sure as I'll get as invested, but we shall see. I will let you know my thoughts a little bit of the ways through, but I want to devour a good chunk of this tonight. I'll see you in the morning with some thoughts. But um yeah, I feel like if anyone is going to give us a five star, I feel like Ally has the potential. What can I say? What can I say? She's going to do it every time. She's going to bring it to every ball, you know? I just Okay, I am 150 pages into Deepen, so just under halfway. I think it's like it's like 430 pages. Not that it matters. Um, well, they're speechless. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's my review. Um, so basically this is another romance, contemporary romance from Ali Hazerwood, but it's a bit different from her other ones. It's still got like a sciency twist, but this time they're also student athletes. The gal and guy, she's a diver, he's a swimmer. And I need to shut my window before I talk about this. Um, but the difference between previous books in this is that the couple in this, well, they're not even a couple. They're they haven't even done anything yet, 150 pages in, just to let you know, but like they're going to be they're friends with benefits and they're both very much into the same stuff section. I don't know why I can say they won't get me uh demonetized. Very into the B DSM. I'm trying to delay YouTube knowing what I'm talking about. Um and Alli's done it. You know what I mean? How much more I have to say? I I thought I wouldn't like them like contractually entering into like we're not going to have a relationship. We're just going to try that. I say [ __ ] all the time. Why am I suddenly embarrassed? It's making me blush. This be making me blush. I thought I wouldn't like that, but there are reasons why. He is the ex-boyfriend of her friend, but the friend initiated the breakup and at one point kind of suggests that they should sleep together because they're both into the same stuff. And so, it kind of like makes sense and you kind of, you know, there's feelings there. They're kidding themselves. You know what I mean? And Alli's writing is just so good. She This is why she gets a five star from me every single bloody time. It's so good. I eat it up. I eat it up. There was rumors I think it was from an interview she did one time that like I don't know how the truth of this and not I'm not saying this for the truth of the matter, but um there were rumors that like she doesn't come up with the ideas for her books and the publisher gives her like trope suggestions and she goes and writes them. Even if that's true, I don't give a [ __ ] I don't give a [ __ ] I could care less because I love what Ally does with it. If the publisher is giving her these ideas, keep doing it. You know what I mean? It's a conspiracy theory that I'm actually interested in cuz she can you can give someone an idea, but can they write it? Alli can write it. This this could be a myth. I'm not what I'm trying to say is she can do anything. I would read her grocery list. Her writing style is just so it's so good. It's so good. She is just so easily readable, so easy digestible. her characters. I just love the way her I love her narrative voice. I love the way the characters talk, the way they talk to each other. Also, the way they talk in their heads. I read it so fast. I cannot put this book down. And I have not even gone into the sexy sexy stuff. There's not been a sex scene. There's just been a lot of discussion about it and like a lot of like uh sounding each other out. And it's still like one of the hottest books I've ever read. I want to [ __ ] you the minute I saw you. I'm sorry. I don't mean to feel like that. But yeah, he is hot. He is fine. I do want some of that. Listen, I'm pretty tame usually my romances. Like, yes, everyone's everyone's going to [ __ ] in a romance usually in an adult one, but like I've never read anything. I'm tame. I don't read dark romances. I don't, you know, and this is like this is a step up and I'm like, whoa, this is this is something. All right. It's so good. It's so good. It's so good. I'm nervous for what I'm about to read and like in front of people. I'm we're going around Tom's now the weekend. So, I'm going to be reading this there and I'm like, um, what are you going to think of this cover and like I'm going to have to try and hide away somewhere. No one can hear me talk to film my end review of this. But, it's so good. I'm eating up and I'm eating up the sports element of it. We still got the science element of it. Olive and Adam from the Love Hypothesis have turned up quite substantial this book. It's She does it every single time. She does it. There's nothing else to say. She does it every single time. She's gonna bring it to you every single time. Oh, it's so good. So, yeah, I'm going to go around Tom Thompson. I'm going to get packed up and then I will finish this probably tonight if I'm honest with you. I cannot wait. I know I'm about to just like really get into the meat of it. And I'm kind of scared for what my reaction will be. I don't know why I said that. What would my reaction be that I'm scared of? I'm not scared. I'm just intimidated, you know? Okay, I'll see you later. Okay, five stars. Five stars. I shouldn't have been worrying about not getting a five star in this vlog when I knew Miss Ali had a book in here. Um, I loved it. I love Ali. I love Ali. Now, this is very different than other Ali Hazelwoods. I'm scared. I don't want anyone to hear me. I don't like talking about this. I'm scared someone's going to hear me. It's a lot more sexual than other Ali Hazwoods. I say usually you get like two sex scenes in an earlywood book. This is non-stop. This once it gets going, it's like a cart going down a hill. It doesn't stop. And it was it was hot. It was a hot book. What can I say? This was originally meant to be named Wet. I'm not going to say that. And yeah, I want him. Okay. Yeah, I want him. Yeah, my face is going to get hot cuz I want him so bad. However, I will say for a book that proclaims to be about kink and like two characters who like start sleeping together because they're so into kink and like there's a he does like like a spreadsheet like a tick list at the start to find out all the different things that she's into. They don't do any of them. So, I can understand for me it was the perfect level cuz I don't read stuff like this. This is my first foray into something that isn't just kind of like a tame contemporary romance with a bit of sex in it. But I can understand if you read a lot of this and books like this, you'll be like, "What the [ __ ] They don't do anything." It's more about like the power play and power dynamics that they explore versus like doing, you know, like if he does that tick list, doing things on the tick list. You know what I mean? They don't do any of that. They just have, you know, they just have sex. They don't do anything like with stuff or, you know what I mean? So, I can understand. I didn't have a problem with it. Oh my god, someone's just walked past the window and see me filming. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. Hi. Yeah, I can also if you read a lot of stuff like this being disappointed by that, but I wasn't personally. I think that I don't know if this is my favorite relationship that I've read from Annie Hayeswood. I think that probably belongs to love hypothesis or love theoretically. Probably love hypothesis. I do just love them. They're the one who stands out in my brain. You know what I mean? And they're very much in this book which is makes me very happy. But I'd say that these characters have some of the best character development, character journeys, exploration of like what makes them them both sexually and not sexually. Oh my god, that's another person outside. Uh, look what I've read everyone. There is thousands of you watching, but that's fine. I don't know. I I I feel kind of like I'm not approved, but I feel like I don't want to, you know, it's a bit awkward reading what I've just read and then sitting down to talk about it. My mom read this before me and we had a chat about it. How did she do that? I don't really understand. I feel like I can't look anyone in the eye. What was I saying? Yeah, some of the best character journeys I've read from Ali Hazeswood. Like there's a lot of sex in this book, so it takes up a lot of page space, but in between all that, she manages to go take these characters on a wonderful journey. I wonder if it is kind of her strongest book then in that regard. I don't know. I I just loved it. I just love Ally. She just does it every single time. and she's got like 10,000 more books coming out. I still haven't read Not in Love. I think out of the novels she's got out. That's the only one I haven't read. I think I've read every other Alley. And she's just my girl. She is just my girl. I could not put this book down. I could not stop reading it. I loved it. I loved it. It's so fun. It's so fun. And Justice for Wet. It was meant to be called Wet. Justice for Wet. Their diver and swimmer. Justice for Wet is all I'm going to say. Um we're on to our final book of the vlog, which is good cuz this video should be going up tomorrow. Fingers crossed. um which is Monilio, which I have heard wonderful things about since I put this on TBR Cludo. Everyone's telling me that they've given it five stars. So, I'm excited to see what I think of it. I'm going to pick it up now, literally the second. I think I might get the audio book for it as well. Um and yeah, I'll let you know my thoughts on a little bit of ways through, but I'm I'm very very excited for this one. Hello friends. So, I have actually finished Mon Studio. I read the whole thing. It was a very quick read. And you know what this means? We've got bingo. We hit bingo. What a fun way to read some of the, you know, books on my TBR that I was either most excited for now like last words or like deep end, but also to read books that have been languishing. This has been on my TBR since November 2023. Gag. Gag it. Gagandra. I really wanted to read the entirety of this book. I wanted to sit with it before I spoke about it. I think it's a very interesting book. So, the the general synopsis of this is that we've got a mother and a and a father and their son dies right at the start of the book and she decides to cut out a piece of his lung and keep it and feed it and it grows into this monster called Monio. And I'm going to give this four stars. I think it's a very very interesting, you know, meditation on grief and using metaphor and using kind of the horror genre to kind of like explore the uglier parts in grief. And I think it really is I remember when I've heard people review this like in the years since it came out cuz it's been years now. I think people like don't say much about it and I understand why because it's kind of this quiet intimate dark but also beautiful but you know meditation on grief and you kind of don't want to like you kind of can't summize it in any other way than the book what the book is you know what I mean like the book exists and the book speaks for itself and I I find it quite difficult to talk about it we do have four perspectives that we follow throughout the book in blocks so it's one perspective then another then another then another and I really appreciated the addition of them. I think telling the story through those different perspectives is very important because I all think they brought something very different to the story. And we also explored parts of those people's personality. It's not a spoiler actually cuz it says right at the start who they are. So we have Magos who is the mother, Lena who is her friend, Joseph who's the father, and then M. I'll leave you up to figure out who M is. When I read books multiple perspectives, I want them to have a very different voice. And these definitely do. They have all very different voice which I think is impressive for what I believe is a debut novel from this author. They all very different voice a different way of speaking, very different way of thinking. We explore parts of them as as individuals, as people in a very interesting way. And yeah, I enjoyed my time with this book. I will say I think the vibes weren't right. I think like this is a book my vibes were just in total contradiction. This book yesterday it was all sunny. I was out in the sun. I was in my best life and then I was reading this book and I was so depressed. I was like I don't want to read this cuz I this is not my vibe. I think this book should be read in autumn or winter at night like in one I could you could read this in one sitting. It's not actually very long and like really sit with it and like be with it. I feel like it's not a good summer book. I wouldn't recommend this. I just like I was I heard the sun. I was in Dorphins and I read this book. I was like I'm so sad. There is some body horror in this but I wouldn't say it's the most extreme I've read but there are some parts I was like I'm not the best at body horror. Yeah. I think this is a very special interesting book. Part of me wonders whether I would I think it would also be a very good short story. And that's not me saying that this length of a book is unnecessary, but I think there's also like the way that this talks speaks. I I would be interested in reading short stories from this author and see how he does them because I can kind of see how this could have originated as a short story. Yeah, it's dirty. It's gritty, but it's got heart to it. It was a very very interesting read and I'm glad I finally read it but not quite a five star for me. People have been saying oh in my comments like oh this is the best book I read. It wasn't quite that for me. I perhaps didn't love the writing style but it was quiet. It was intimate but it's also a bit like bold and bloody and like it's it's a multitude of book of a book. It has multitude. So yeah. Final book of the vlog done. And that means we're ending this vlog with 305 books on my TBR. 305. We're getting there, guys. We started this on how many? 317. We're down to 305. That's good progress. We're making good progress. I'm proud of us. Yeah, I'm very excited. I've got the next couple episodes planned already of TBR 200. And I'm feeling like I can do it. I can do this. I'm so excited to get some of the older books on my TBR off it. I'm so excited to read some books or or DNF. But yeah, I hope you guys enjoyed this vlog. Thank you so much again to Emma from my patron for making this bingo board of my patrons for voting on the books to determine which ones were on the board. I had so much fun doing this and it was a really fun collection of books. Pretty successful. We had one 3.5 which was the last moment in the world. Kind of sad about that. Uh then we had some fours and we had a five with deep end. So I feel like it was pretty successful. Let me know what you thought of any of these books down below. This was kind of momentous. We read some momentous books in this video. But um yeah, thank you guys so much for watching and I'll see you very soon in another video. Bye.