get out of a reading slump with me | reading vlog

I have not been reading like I used to. I'm not happy about it. I'm not proud to say it. We are currently in July. Hello. If you're confused why I said it is currently July a second ago, that is because when I filmed the intro of this video, it was July. That is when I first started trying to get out of my reading slump. It is currently January and I thankfully am out of the slump, but it did take me six months to get here, which you will see the journey of throughout this video. So just wanted to give some context why the intro of this video was filmed six months ago. So here it is. I have read six books this year. Four of them have been audiobooks. I don't know what the issue is. I want to put an end to it right now. So the journey today is to get out of reading slump. In my mind, I kind of already have a plan of action. I have a plan. I'm in the mood for fantasy. Rom-coms just haven't been doing it for me. They feel too superficial. I'm like, I don't care. But at the same time, fantasies are way too easy to put you into a slump. So I don't know what fantasy to reach for. That has been my issue. So I do think I found a great contender. Kiss of the Selkie. This is the third book in the Entangled with Fae series. They are fairy tale retellings. This one is a little mermaid retelling. The reason I think this is a perfect choice for me to start getting out of my slump. It's a third book in a series. So the world building is kind of over. Like there wasn't even much in the first book, but it was super easy to understand. Like there's not too many complex world systems or magic system or anything like that. The writing and the language they use in the book is very simple. I love a fairy tale-esque book. So I know I will love it. Plus they are all free on Kindle Unlimited. So I don't need to even hold the physical book if I don't want to. I can just download it on my Kindle. I think it's perfect. Now for me being out of a reading slump, what that means would be I finish a book in a week or less. If a book is taking me longer than a week to read, I'm still in a slump. Number one. Number two, I immediately have the urge to pick up another book as soon as I finish reading the first book. Now that doesn't mean in the same series, I just immediately want to start another book because lately what's been happening is I finish a book and then two weeks go by and then I feel like I want to start another book. So that's just kind of ridiculous. That's not me. And number three is that I feel excited to be reading to the point where like I'm excited to come home and pick up my book. If those three things are happening, that is how I consider myself to be out of a slump. So a little bit of an update on the reading slump. It is still going strong. The slump that is not the progress. Um, I'm on page 61. Personally, I feel like nothing has really happened in the book yet, but I'm also reading at a snail, snail pace because I'm on page 61 and it has genuinely been like three weeks since I started reading this. I'm gonna keep going because I think once I get into like the thick of the plot, then I could potentially start reading faster. Just because it's a slow start, it's kind of dragging right now. But like, are you even allowed to say a book is dragging when you're at page 60? Probably not. Like that's just too, too early on to know. I think if I get to page 100 and I'm still like, when is this gonna end? Then I will probably give it a soft DNF, come back to it when I'm out of my slump. Because I love the first two books in the series. It has the same, same vibe, same like storytelling as those. So I know I will love it. And if I don't currently, it's just because of my slump. I also just love fairy tale retelling. So like I will definitely come back to it if I don't finish it now. Fingers crossed I can move forward faster. I'm gonna give it like a max two weeks. And that's pushing it, honestly. Like what day is it? It's July 30th. Let's say by August 10th. If I'm not done reading this, it's time to move on. Because I have a lot of ideas still for other books I can read, other books that might get me out of my slump, or just methods to get me out of my slump. And I'm kind of getting excited about those. Like when I'm thinking about other books that I want to read, like they're making me excited. But I was also like that when I started this. So I do think I'm the problem. Guilty. I am the problem. It is not the book. So we'll see what I can do about that. Wish me luck. So reading update. I'm on page 170 of Kiss of the Selkie. I'm 40% through the book right now. I'm very excited to announce that I've actually been getting through it a little bit faster now. The book is about Maisie, who is Fae. She's a Selkie. But she's living on air. I don't know how to pronounce the place. But the place is like human territory kind of. But Fae's and humans live together here. She has chose to live on human land because she's on the run. She's like hiding from the queen. We don't know why though. Basically, no spoilers. She ends up saving a drowning man that's on a ship. And it gets her into a lot of trouble. I'm reading the description so that I don't spoil anything that's not in the description already. So she's been running from the sea queen and she's hiding on land. She rescues this human, brings him to shore, which is supposedly illegal. And Maisie has a fatal kiss, which means any person that she kisses will immediately die. So to make up for her mishap bringing a human to shore, she is forced to enter a bridal pageant competition for this man that she saved and to kiss him to kill him. So currently, that's the summary of the book. That's all in the description. Nothing spoiled. Currently, where I'm at in there is she's in the bridal competition and it's like day two. She's just started and it's proving to be more difficult than she was anticipating. I'm really loving it. It's just been so long that I've been eager to pick up my book before this. So it just makes me so happy. So I will give you another update soon. I finished Kiss by Saki. I gave it four out of five stars. I really liked it, but obviously it took me a very long time to read. I do actually think it was my favorite of the Entangled with Fae books. The plot was great. The romance was definitely there. It was honestly mostly just a me problem that it took me so long to read, but the book I really did enjoy. I'm now today on day one of the vacation and on the plane I started. Keri Soto is back. This has been a year in the making of me saying I'm going to read this book and finally I picked it up. I'm already loving it. I'm on page 80 currently. If you don't know, it's about Keri Soto, who is a tennis player. She's a retired tennis player, actually, and as she's watching like a current tennis match, she's realizing that this girl who's playing might potentially beat her record and become the greatest tennis player of all time. She's very competitive. She doesn't want to let that happen, so she is deciding to come out of retirement to beat her own record and this girl so that she can stay the greatest player of all time. In the part where I'm at right now, she just finished the whole backstory of her becoming the greatest player ever, and I just left off on the comeback, so I'm about to read her retraining, I guess, to stay the best, and I'm very excited. It is very good. I love Taylor Jenkins' read. I think this is solidifying that she's probably my favorite author. Not one of, but I think the favorite. I'm very excited to keep reading. So what is this? Guess. I don't know. What is this crumble? Is this a pie? Guess again. Wait, really? Think of this. It's a cheesecake. Yeah. Wow. Done. How was it? So good. How many stars? Five. So good. Have you ever rated a Keri Soto book less than, um... Have you ever rated a Taylor Jenkins read book less than five? No. So you might be biased. No, Ina, it's because her books are just that good. Hi, guys. So it's been a while since I filmed an update. As you saw, I went on vacation. I read on vacation. I finished Keri Soto in the back while I was there. Guys, I love this book. This was a five-star read for me. There is just something about Taylor Jenkins read books that just, they will do it for me every single time. I don't know why it didn't occur to me when this slump of mine began to pick up Taylor Jenkins read. I really don't know what I was thinking because this took me right out of it. I finished this book in like three or four days, I think it was. Which, okay, not to say that I'm out of my slump because like I said, I need to like have the urge to pick up a book immediately right after and that didn't happen. And since I read this book, I have read only 26 pages of a different book, which this I finished like two, no, a week and a half, two weeks ago. I don't know. It's been a while though. It was so good. The plot just, it doesn't sound like it would be that interesting explaining it like this. Okay, it's about a tennis player who comes out of retirement. Like what about it? Who cares? But it's just so good that like while you're reading, like you just don't want to put it down. You want to know what's happening. Like it makes me mad that I don't know how to explain how good it was in words to just convince everybody to read it. But if you like Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Malibu Rising, like if you're a fan of Taylor Jenkins' writing, you will devour this book just like I did. It made me happy. It made me cry. It had great lessons. It was like, there was a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny bit of romance. Do not read it for the romance because that is not at all what it's about. But again, like the author just has such a way of writing characters that every time I read a book of hers, I'm convinced that these people are real, that it is a like historically accurate book. And it never is. It's all fiction. So, so, so, so good though. Five stars, no doubt. Then I picked up Happy Place by Emily Henry a couple days after I finished this probably. I got to chapter four, page 26, and I have not picked it up since. It has been well over a week, well over a week and a half, probably about two weeks at this point. Am I like losing track of time? Because maybe it hasn't been that long. Bye. I'm like so dramatic. It's been exactly a week. Well, it's been exactly a week since I came home from my trip. So it's probably been like a week and a half since I read this and since I finished this. Again, I'm only on chapter four, so I didn't really get very far. I don't have anything negative to say about it. But all I know is that I'm just not feeling it for right now. So I'm going to give it a little soft DNF. Definitely will come back to it, but it's just not what I'm going for right now. At this moment in time, I don't think I know exactly what I want to pick up yet. I'm thinking maybe the darkness within us. I'm feeling a fantasy. We're getting into fall a little bit, and that's what my mood is gravitating towards. I'm going to give it like a day or two-ish and see what I'm feeling, and then I'll come back once I probably start a book, make my decision, and then we can discuss it then. It's January 10th, so it has not been a couple days since I last talked to you guys, since I said I was going to pick out a book. No, it's been at least four months. That's wild. Oh my god. No, it's genuinely been like four, maybe closer to five months. I don't know. If this doesn't show what kind of reading slump I'm in, I truly don't know what will. But let me give you guys an update on what I've been doing since then. The last book that I read in this video was Carisota is Back. I finished that at the end of August. Since then, I have re-read, re-whatever, A Court of Thorns and Roses, but I listened to the whole graphic audiobook, which if you have not listened to the graphic audiobook, it is so good. I highly recommend it. I also started listening to A Court of Mist and Fury on graphic audio, but I only listen to audiobooks while I drive, so I haven't finished that one. I'm more than halfway through, maybe 60-70%, but I'm in no rush to finish those. I'm not re-reading, technically. I'm just listening to like... I drive a lot. It fills the time, you know? And I love them. I have attempted to read many books since then. Those are the only ones I finished, and so I decided I was only going to come back here when I'm reading a book that I actually feel like I could get through, because I have... I cannot tell you how many first pages or first chapters of books I have read, and I have debated so many re-reads, starting so many new ones. My biggest struggle has been picking what to read, because I'm in the mood for a fantasy, but the issue is, as soon as I start one, it's not holding my attention. I don't know. The book that I decided on a few days ago is The Things We Leave Unfinished by Rebecca Yaros. This is the most progress I have made in a book since I finished Karisoto. I'm on page 157. I'm like more than a third into the book. I did that in maybe like three days, which like still is not at the pace that I used to read at, but I'm taking what I can get at this point, and I'm very proud of that progress. I'm loving this book, and I think this was like so perfect, because like I said, I was in the mood for fantasy, but like the fantasy was just like a little too complex to like dive back into that. I was getting like, it just wasn't holding my attention, like I said. I didn't want a rom-com, because I just like don't, I need something with like more substance. Like I need an emotional depth in a book that rom-coms just like kind of are always lacking for me. I actually really did not even know what this book is about, picking it up. I thought it was gonna be more of like fiction rather than romance. I didn't think this was a romance, but it is. I still would say it's like on the verge of like romance fiction, historical fiction a little bit, but it was so perfect for what I needed, because it's not a rom-com. Obviously, it's not a fantasy, but it's like it has the depth that I need from a story, and it's unlike anything that I've read in a really long time, which was like a big problem I was having, because like I just felt like I was reading the same thing over and over again. So that's the progress. Finally found a book that I am enjoying. Now that I know I'm liking this and will finish the book, I'm gonna vlog the rest of it. Hopefully, this reading slump will be over soon. I also graduated last month, so I have heavily correlated my reading slump with being in nursing school, because my brain was just exhausted, you know? And as much as I wanted to read, it took too much brain power for me. At the end of a school day, at the end of a clinical day, like I just wanted to sleep, which I think was my reading slump issue. This is the first book, well, this is the first book that I've actually gotten into since finishing school and have my mind like clear of all thoughts school related. I have felt a major difference, which was so exciting. I have missed reading so much. So thank you to this book. Thank you to my cousin for buying me this book, because maybe this will be the start of the end of my reading slump. I finished reading The Things We Leave Unfinished, and I really liked this book. I'm giving it four out of five stars. Even though I rated Keri Soto higher when I read it in the summer, after reading this, I'm actually feeling like I'm getting out of my slump. Like if the next book I read I enjoy, I think I will be out of my slump, because I just finished this last night, like after midnight, and honestly immediately wanted to pick up another book. The only reason I didn't is because I was very tired and I needed to sleep. But that, after this, is the first time in probably over a year that I have wanted to pick up a book right after finishing another book, which is a great sign. This book was so good though. I loved how emotional it was, because like I mentioned before, I really need an emotional romance, like a deep story, or else I don't really care about the story. And this one follows two timelines, one of them being in like the 1940s during war, and the other one being present day. I really enjoyed both stories. There's also two romance stories going on, and I enjoyed the romance of the past timeline a little bit more. Both were still entertaining to read about. Something about the like historical fiction, like the time during the war, how much was like, how much was going on in the world, and like all of that surrounding their romance story just makes it so heartbreaking. That's what really makes it emotional for me. I did not see the end of this book coming at all. Like I would have never guessed. I cried throughout the end in the best way. I loved it. I am so glad that I read this, and so glad that it is finally giving me the feelings that I used to have when reading. I immediately recommended this book to my sister. She's not even a reader, and I told her you should read this. You would absolutely love this. And she claims that she will, so hopefully she actually will. So good. And I'm just like so excited to keep reading now. Let's hope, fingers crossed, that my next book will be the clear indication that I am out of my reading slump, and this video that has been going on for like half a year will be completed. I also wanted to add kind of something that's really crazy to me. This book is written by Rebecca Yaros, who's the same author as The Fourth Wing. If you didn't know Fourth Wing is a fantasy, this is not. This is romance, historical fiction, whatever. They did not feel like they were written by the same author, but like in a really good way. Like it's actually like very impressive to know that they were written by the same person, and that she can do both. If I had to compare the two, which I don't have to, I just am. I enjoyed this more than I enjoyed Fourth Wing, actually. So if you like her writing, and you like a good emotional romance, read it. Hi guys! So it's been a few days, and I have realized that I have yet to give any kind of like verbal update on Powerless that I started reading. And I'm already on page 310, so I think it's like about 60% through the book. And I am loving this book. This book kind of blew up on TikTok, so I'm sure most of you probably already know what it's about, probably have already read it. But just in case you don't, it is a fantasy, romanticy type of thing, about a girl who lives in a kingdom where everybody has powers. And the people who are born without powers are called ordinaries, and they are like executed by the king of this world because he thinks it's going to like taint their elite powers, whatever. And the main character of the book, Paden, is an ordinary. She doesn't have powers, but she like pretends like she does. She pretends she's psychic. She gets chosen to be in these trials that happen I think every year, or every few years, or something like that, which are basically exactly like the Hunger Games type of thing, where they pick like 10 people or so to compete in these trials. But obviously that's a problem for her because she doesn't have any powers, and she has to make sure that nobody finds out she doesn't have powers or else she will be killed. The romance is between her and the prince of the kingdom. I am really enjoying this book. I will say everybody always makes comparisons about how it's very similar to Red Queen and the Hunger Games, like a combination of the two. And I definitely do see the similarities. I haven't actually read Hunger Games, but based on the movie I've seen. And I read Red Queen a few years ago, but I don't remember it that much. I only read like the first two books, I think. But there are a lot of similarities. For me personally, it doesn't take away from the book. Some things that are like too similar bother me a little bit, but I'm enjoying this a lot, and I'm really loving the plot and everything. It has been extremely captivating. Like I literally don't want to put the book down while I'm reading. Fantasy romance is my favorite genre, and I just love it so much. Another thing that I really enjoy in fantasy books is like the trials aspect, like games in fantasy books. Which like I said, similar to the Hunger Games, it was also kind of in The Serpent and Wings of Night. There's like trials type of thing in that series as well. And I really love that because I feel like with trials like that and games that they do, you just can never get bored. There's always something going on, always something that's making me want to like keep reading as fast as I can, find out what's happening. Which this book is doing very well. They've only had one trial so far, and I think there's three total. I'm loving the romance also. The banter, like the back and forth, is so good in this book. And I really enjoy Peyton's character. Like she's just very smart, like independent, strong woman. And I just really enjoy like the dynamic between her and Kai. I'm really loving it, honestly. Also, I want to add that the book is keeping me entertained every time I'm reading. I can't think of any part of it right now that has been boring to me. Which a lot of the times in fantasies, once they start talking like about politics and all that stuff, I get a little bored. But this one does a good job of like keeping you hooked even through political talk. There's 502 pages and I'm on page 310. My goal is to finish this tomorrow. It may seem a little bit ambitious, but I did read 170 pages the first day that I started reading this in practically one sitting. And that was the beginning of the book. So knowing how the end of fantasy books go when like everything picks up and there's just so much chaos and everything's happening at once, I don't think that'll be unrealistic. I think I can finish it tomorrow. I want to keep reading right now, but I need to go do some studying for the NCLEX. So I'm going to go study for a bit, then I'm going to continue reading and we'll talk soon. Completely unrelated to my reading, I found this Stanley at Target. It's like the Valentine's Day one. I have never been on the Stanley train and I never thought I would be, but the hearts got me on this one. And I've been really excited to put a little drinky drink in here. I'm normally a pink slush Alani girl. I've never tried blue slush, but I figured why not? It's good. I still like pink slush better. The cup is completely unnecessary for this because usually I just drink my Alani out of the can, but I've just been really excited to try this. And it's a smaller cup. It's like 20 ounces. So I bought it with the intention of using this for anything but water because this is my water bottle. I love my water bottle. It's out and I just am obsessed with this color. I don't want to get rid of this. So this is my fun drink cup. Yay! I'm almost done now. I have like 40 pages left. I just finished the last trial. What happened at the end of the trial distracted me so much that I almost forgot what we knew was gonna happen at the end of the trial and now my head is just spinning. In all fantasy books when the main character has to betray someone, even if it's for a good reason, for some reason, it always makes me sad. They're always in the right. They're betraying them for a good reason, but it it hurts every time. What does that say about me? I don't know, but... and I feel bad for them. Like, they didn't see it coming. Wow. Okay, I just finished Powerless. I loved this book. There was literally not a second throughout the whole thing, throughout all 500 pages, that I felt bored. It was so entertaining the whole time, from the beginning to the end. The end leaves off on like a huge cliffhanger. Like, my jaw literally dropped when I realized that it was the last page, because like I knew I was almost done, but I just was not realizing that she was really gonna leave us like that. And I don't even own the next book yet. I think I'm gonna rate this four and a half stars. I really loved it. The ending really leaves me wanting more. I want to read the next book like immediately. It also made me sad seeing how it left off. I'm just like... I feel bad for every person involved, honestly, of the three, if you know what I mean. Yeah, they're making me sad. I'm like so interested to see how the next book is gonna go, because the relationships between the main characters here and just the way that it left off, I was not expecting it to go like that. I was expecting something way more one-sided. It just really caught me off guard, and I have a hard time trying to imagine how we are going to recover from this. We as in the characters. Wow, that was really good. Oh my god. And the tension? Insane. Literally insane. I believe this is a trilogy, and I don't know if it's completed or not. I haven't really been keeping up with like new releases and everything throughout my slump since July when this video started. I need new recommendations and stuff too, because I don't know what's going on. I'm like really out of the loop, but I can officially say that I am out of my reading slump. I am literally so happy, so excited to say that. After The Things We Leave Unfinished, reading this, and I am like so ready right now to pick up another book. Seven months of a reading slump. Defeated. I don't even remember what books I was reading in the beginning of this video when I first started filming this, but I'm so glad that I documented this journey so I can go back and watch it myself and see what the heck I did for the last seven months. And thank you for coming along watching me get out of my reading slump, my horrible reading slump. I hope you enjoyed watching this video, and I will see you guys soon. Bye!