reading EVERY BOOK on my TBR 📚 🏁 TBR200 ep10

Hello everyone. My name is Megan and I have 301 books on my physical TBR. Yep. Yep. This is episode 10 of TBR 200. Can you believe it? I can't either. Where I have been trying to get my physical TBR below 200. We started on 317. We're at 301. So that's like an average of like 1.6 books a vlog. That threw me right back into the throws of PTSD >> considering I read 10 books in one of them. Not good. Not good. Not good. Da, what do you think? Do you have anything to say about my crimes against my TV? But today is a 10th episode, so I thought I'd get the whole stack out again so you can have a close-up look of what is on my TBR. I have just actually done a video. My last video that came out will have been me going through every book on my TBR. And I need your comments on that to tell me what I should and shouldn't read and maybe what's not worth my time. But anyways, here they all are out in front of us. Isn't it amazing? I feel like when I look at it, I don't actually think that's 300 books. And I love getting them all out again because I think it actually reminds me of some of the books on my TBR that I kind of I don't forget about them, but I forget why I want to read them. And then seeing them ignites my excitement again. I'm not really an unhauler without giving it a try. So, I still want to give all these books, all 3001 of them, a try. But, this has made me kind of want to shop my stash more. Like, I have a whole bookshop here basically of books to choose from. Guys, just take a moment. This is actually insane. This is actually insane. This is actually like not what a normal person does. Normal person doesn't have 300 unread books. Like, this is actually like a a physical representation of my problems. everything that's wrong with me. >> That's not normal. And I think, you know, you should maybe get some help or something. >> So, today we're just going to be reading books from my TBR again. That's basically what I'm doing. Reading all the books, all 300 of one of them. All the books for my TBR. We'll be reading as many as we can. Getting some off the list. And yeah, we will see how it goes. We will see what number. We have to get below 300 for the third time in this vlog and stay. We're not doing that again. I'm not doing it again. I'm not going above 300 again. I refuse. So, we have to like get fairly below 300, I feel like, so that it doesn't happen again. Let's read some of the books on my TBR. Hello, friends. How are we all doing? I am sitting here getting ready to have another crafting night with my patrons, which I'm very excited about. This is like a new thing we've started doing. I think this is only our second one where we all go and craft together. Like even in reading sprints, we do sprints of crafting and let me tell you, I'm obsessed. Everyone's doing different crafts. People are knitting. I'm doing paint by numbers often in that. That's what I've been working on for our first few. Here she is. It's off the coliseum. I don't know if you can tell that already, but that's what I'm working on in these crafting lights so far. Yeah, I've been loving them. I'm a crafting girl now. I'm loving crafts. I just want to do every craft under the sun. And a website that I've been using to get more into crafting alongside doing these crafting nights is Craftsy, who are very kindly sponsoring this video and I want to chat to you about and I have an incredible offer for you guys for this website. So, make sure you stick around to hear about that. So, Craftsy is your online resource for all things creative. They have classes on there for basically every craft or creative pursuit that you can think of. you know, sewing, quilting, knitting, baking, crocheting, painting, they have it all. And listen, I know cozy hobbies are a big thing right now. I'm really enjoying getting more into cozy hobbies. And so, I think if you're wanting to, if you've never knitted, if you've never sewed, if you've never crocheted, I think this is a great place to go to learn, honestly, that it is an incredible resource. The autuminal season and wintry season has me getting in the mood for baking. So, I've been taking a lot of the baking classes, particularly those from Bold Baking Academy. I've really been loving their classes. They have ones on baking bread, baking cakes, savory bakes. I really enjoyed learning to make Japanese milk bread, which is very exciting, very exciting. So, um, yeah, I've been loving a lot of the baking side of it alongside like I've done other classes on there as well, and I'm really excited about the offer that I've got for you guys. This is an insane offer. You can go to the link in my description to get a full year of Craftsy Premium. What? A full year? a full year of Crafty Premium for $1.49. So, if you're even like vaguely interested in crafting, this is the place to be. For $149, you can get a year's access to like hundreds of classes on every craft you can imagine. I think this is an amazing deal for you guys. Hence why I wanted to partner with them. So, yeah, go check it out down below. I love it. I think it's a great website. Every craft you can imagine. Get into the cozy hobbies era. I'm getting into mine. Let's now get into the reading for this vlog. Hello crazy cats. How are we doing? I went ahead and read all of Strange Pictures by Yuketsu. It's a very very quick read. Like it probably I probably read this in like two hours, maybe 3 hours. And I enjoyed this. I think I'm going to give this four stars overall. I think it might be the dreaded dreaded curse evil evil uh 3.5 in terms of enjoyment, but I think how unique this is really takes us over the edge. So this is translated from Japanese. It's a series of interconnected short stories. So throughout the short stories, I think I was saying this is our book club pick on my patron actually and I was saying on that live show, I think it's important that you go into this knowing that it's all interconnected because I think that's part of the joy of the book is trying to figure out from day dot from like the first chapter how everything links up. And they all have this mixed media element where they all have drawings in them that mean something. So, in the first short story, for example, there is a series of drawings that a young woman who was set to be a mother made before her death. I enjoyed this. I think it's pretty simple. I think as someone who reads a lot of mysteries, I saw a lot of the twists coming in some regard. I think this is a good like beginner place for both maybe translated Japanese fiction if you don't read a lot of that or for like kind of a mystery horror hybrid because it is fairly simple. But I I feel like it pulled off what it was trying to do quite well. And I really think I've never read anything that has the kind of interconnected short story element and the mixed media picture element and the way the pictures were used like this. So I think I kind of just have to applaud it for its uniqueness. >> What's inside? >> And what I also enjoyed is that the pictures all like play a big part in you figuring out what's going on in each sort of story. and you had to kind of interpret the pictures in different ways. It reminded me I'm very much in my Nancy Drew game era at the moment. I'm loving playing them with my patrons and I've done a deep dive on Nancy Drew YouTube. I can't stop watching. Chloe, Chloe, if you're out there, can't stop watching uh I think it's about Snugly Chloe's channel. I can't I can't stop watching. And it reminded me of like the different ways you can have puzzles. I'm really Nancy Drew is just on the brain if I'm honest with you. I'm just so obsessed with these games and I just want to play them. I just want to play them so badly. Like I want to play them all. But anyways, yeah, it reminded me of like different puzzles you'd have in the game and like different ways you have to solve all of them, you know? They were all quite unique. So yeah, it is a bit ridiculous at the end. The ending felt very debutingly. This is a debut from a YouTuber. And I feel like there were moments towards the ending where you were like, "Oh, this is a kind of a debut and you don't know how to end it. You don't end it." Because I think we all agreed that the kind of reveal in the last short story was like what? It was like a reveal to how someone was murdered and you're just like if you were plotting to murder someone, you would never ever think to do that. Like it's a thing that kind of made it so there was a twist and like, oh, I bet you didn't realize they did this, so it means this. But you would never do that. You would you would think of another way around that problem before you did what the person does. So yeah, I don't have a ton to say about it. It's a quick read. I enjoyed it. I would recommend picking up if you're interested. I don't know if I'm going to rush to pick up like it's not a series, but there's more books in this style. Like I think Strange Houses is the new one. I don't think I'm going to rush to pick it up. I don't think I'm in a rush to read that. But it was a fun moment. I read it quickly. I feel like it was fun while it lasted, but now I actually read this last night and I'm it's kind of it's already dissipating in the brain, you know? It's already floating away in the breeze. So, I don't think it's particularly memorable. Yeah, it was it was a good time. It was a good time. That's all I have to say. I don't know what I'm going to read next, but I'll see you when I pick something up. Hello everyone. I went away and I read a whole book again. this time, The Fall of Whit Rivera, because I'm going to be honest, I didn't have a ton to say about this, but I finished it. And I'm giving this 3.5, but a good 3.5. Let me explain my journey with this. So, I basically read this in one day. I started yesterday on Sunday. It is YA contemporary. All of this is my third Crystal Minardo. All of her books follow like a young girl, often plus-sized, and a romance that she kind of enters throughout the book, but also all of her protagonists have some sort of struggle that I think a lot of young girls can relate to. And so, in this one, we have topics. Let me go to kind of the author's note. Whit, our protagonist, has just been diagnosed with PCOS. And so, she's kind of navigating that. But there's also her sister is autistic. They were abandoned by their parents and being raised by their grandparents. There's class. There's all of these topics that are being discussed. And our main girl, Ely, Wit, she loves fall. I love the fall. It's my favorite time of year. She loves autumn. She loves fall. She loves it so much. She loves pumpkin spice latte. She loves apple picking. She loves everything autumn. and she wants to be the like president of organizing the fall fest at her high school and having fun doing that and also starts falling in love with Z or Isaiah. Yeah, it's just basically a cute contemporary romance between them. Why a contemporary romance? I think Christa Maldonado with these heavier topics that she, you know, talks about like, you know, being plus-siz, like PCOS, you know, the way that she writes about it, I think is just incredible for if you are a young girl going through this, if you were 13, 14, 15, 16 going through this, to be able to read about it, to be able to see yourself in that character, to be able to see simultaneously like an acknowledgement of how [ __ ] something like, for example, example, the medical system is with treating PCOS and recognizing PCOS, but also the hope that like everyone in her life has for her and she has for her and her friends have for her to have, you know, the struggles that she has with it, but to rise above them and to just be herself and be the person that she is and be wonderful at being the person she is, I think is really beautiful. I think Chriso does a wonderful, wonderful job with that. And I'm kind of in awe of how she's done it in every single book. the way she's handled topics. I'm just constantly reading it going like, "Oh my god, that must be so great to read if you're a young girl going through that situation." However, I will say it's ya >> and there it is. I don't there >> and I I just had this with Caraval that I just read. You know, there were moments where the yaness felt a bit ya. Just the way the characters spoke to each other didn't feel entirely like authentic. I don't know. It just feel like, oh, this is what the kids sound like today. You know, a little bit. I don't know. I found some of that cringe, but that is just me. I actually want to go through my physical TBR and find out how many books on there are YA. I don't reckon it's actually that many anymore. Yeah. Kind of see what YA I've still got back there because we in YA are struggling. I was thinking should I do a can't I can't stop reading until I find a fivest star ya but I don't know if that'll ever happen unless it's basically like Courtney Summers or something. I have got some Courtney Summers back there. So maybe that's my best shot. But yeah, there are moments where I found the characters a bit cringe and moments a bit cringe but for the most part it was just a lovely lovely time to read quickly over the weekend in the autumn season. Like it was perfect for the time. I loved reading this. I went on a lovely autuminal walk and you know this is all about autumn and just the vibes were great. The vibes are great. I don't think this is going to be a book that sticks with me. I'm going to round up to a four in good readads. I think objectively it's a really good book. I am just not loving Well, I don't know. Some of you might read this and be like, Megan, no, it is cringe. It is cringe. You know, I enjoyed the romance. I enjoyed their kind of like enemies to lovers or they were like it's m miscommunication trope where they dated in middle school and then both hated each other for a reason that turns out to be miscommunication. And I don't know, I just really enjoyed seeing their growth throughout the book and her uh getting to be loved. I think that's a very powerful thing for like many girls to, you know, maybe who are plus-siz as someone who was plus-siz growing up. Um, I think it's kind of beautiful seeing, you know, everyone you you were worthy of love in a society that sometimes suggests that you shouldn't be. So, yeah, I really enjoyed it, but it's ya. Now I'm gonna get into the big boy of this vlog. The big boy of this vlog. I'm gonna start Rebecca by Daffhne Demorier tonight. Yeah, it's happening. It's happening. We're starting Rebecca. I'm nervous, but I actually am going to get cozy and read a lot of this tonight is my plan. I'm looking forward to it. But yeah, this is like one of the oldest books on my TBR. I've been meaning to read it every kind of like October, November season for years, probably like 5 years at this point. And everyone still tells me I'm going to love this. Everyone who reads this tells me I'm going to love it. Every time I mention this, there's like 20 comments telling me I'm going to love it. So, no pressure. No pressure. I'm nervous. I'll let you know my thoughts from a little bit of ways through, but I I think this is going to be the perfect vibe. It's very rainy. It's very dark outside. The wind is howling and I'm excited to dive into Rebecca. So yeah, I'll let you know my initial thoughts, but no pressure. I feel a lot of pressure in case that wasn't clear. Hello friends. Apologies. I'm filming this on my phone. Also, I don't know where to look when I'm on my phone, but I realized I'm coming to A Costa. Should I look like here? I don't know. My steering wheel's on the way. There's nowhere else I can put it. Oh well. I just thought check in quickly. I've come to a Costa to read for a couple hours cuz Tom is at the hospital having surgery and so he's probably going to be there for like quite a few hours and I realized there's a chance I could make like quite a dent in this in the costume like I could almost finish it and I didn't want to do that without having checked in with you. So very quickly I'm going to have to be >> the level of unprofessionalism far too much. >> I am about 75 pages into Rebecca. Really enjoying it. Really enjoying it. Most of you probably know the story of Rebecca where our main character who doesn't have a name yet. I don't know if she will at some point, but she meets this very wealthy man in Monte Carlo. She's working as like a companion to this rich woman. Uh, and she falls in love with him and he offers her, "Do you want to come marry me and live live at my place? Live with me?" >> He wants to marry me. So, she goes and marries him and he's got this grand estate full of servants. And um don't park next to me, please. Oh, he is. I'm going to keep yapping for a sec. Um yeah, she Hello. Let me just see how close to me he comes. Okay, he's way forward. He won't see me talking. Um yeah, she moves into this house and you know she's obviously there's there's a power imbalance here. There's a power imbalance here. She moves in and already there are so many traces of his uh deceased wife Rebecca everywhere. Mrs. Danvers, who's like the head of the household, is like Rebecca liked it like this, babe. Rebecca liked it like this. This is where Rebecca would be. This is how Rebecca would do things. And she's taking it in good stride so far. But I would say it's an interesting reading experience starting off because everything is just so slightly off. It feels like have you seen those pictures where like it's a normal picture and then there's a monster lurking in the corner. It feels like that. It feels like it also feels like like something's about to crawl out of your skin. I don't know how to describe it, but there's like this deep darkness on a surface level of everything being okay. And that's a very interesting writing technique, particularly for the time. Like this is surprising me how modern this feels. It's in in its entirety. Like it is it for something written in 1938, it feels like it was written yesterday. But yeah, I'm really enjoying it. But again, I'm only 75 pages in. We've literally just got to the house. What I've read is basically them meeting and falling in love. But I am going to go read here at this Costa for a couple hours. So I'll let you know either when I'm finished it or if I'm not that far in, I'll do another check-in. But yeah, that's what I'm going to be doing. Love you. Goodbye. I will be the last to leave. I won't say a word, just let you breathe. I won't make a sound. I won't slow you down. I knew we were on borrow time, just a passing streak. Nothing you would keep. I fell into deep. And as far as I at least I remember, we were leaving in September when red and gold paint the sky. And as far as I though, maybe I pretended. Oh, I wish it never ended. >> Hello friends. It's been a while. It's been like I think a week since I last checked on this vlog, which considering how much reading I have to do before the end of the year, not great. But I went to Wales very last minute. As you've seen, you just saw the walk we went on. Oh my god, that was one of the most magical walks, hike kind of things I've ever been on in my entire life. It was in Snowonia. I felt like I was in Norway again. It was beautiful. Most beautiful atmospheric walk I've ever been on. But we went to Wales and I read nothing. I read nothing. >> Get your [ __ ] ass up and work. It seems like nobody wants to work these days. >> I didn't read. We were in Wales for like four, five days and I didn't read anything. So I've come home and I've finished my book. So that's what's been going on there. I have to tell you a few things, guys, that I just felt crazy to yap about. This is going to be a little yap before we get into what I thought of Rebecca. Guys, this cat, this kitty cat. Oh my god. Listen, my mom. So, obviously, I left her here with my parents. She gets very upset when we leave. She doesn't like it when we like go around Tom's for the weekend. She doesn't she doesn't like it. And this is I feel like the longest we'd probably ever left her. She'd been like, "Okay, moping around a But on Sunday, mom took her outside for the first time cuz usually I take her out almost every day in the garden. Not so much now that it's cold, but definitely in the summer. And she went out in the garden and she started meowing like how she meowed the first night we got her when we feel like she was trying to find her siblings. She was going around the garden going looking for us. She was trying to find >> I'm just going to stand in the middle of the road >> and if a car comes I ain't going to move >> cuz obviously the only other place she associates us being other than in the house is out in the garden. So she just thought we'd been out there for days. But she was trying to find us and get us home and it makes that makes me want to cry. That seriously just makes me want to cry. It makes me so sad. Makes me so sad. So I just thought I'd give you a little deed update. Also something crazy happened while I was in Wales. Lily from the K-pop band NM IXX did a video. This K-pop superstar, oh my god, talking about how she loves my channel. Lily, if you're out there, thank you very much. One of I'll put the clip in here. >> Meg with books. Me with books. This is one of the craziest things to ever happen to me. I was like, "What?" The messages started coming through and I'm like, "Huh? What is this real?" That's crazy. So, Lily, thank you for everything that you all the kind things she said about my channel. I want to know, DM me, please. I want to know what um book recommendations or comment what book recommendations you've gotten from me. Okay, it's now time to talk about Rebecca. I've done enough yapping. I have finished Rebecca. I am going to give this 4.5 stars. I adored it. I had so much fun with it. We'll talk about why it's not quite a five, but let's talk about all the good things first. I think this is a marvelous book. I think it is a feat of a book. I really enjoyed the afterward that I think is in most editions. My audio book had it as well. And it said how this book is about four characters. It's like a character study. A man, two women, and a house. And it that just sums it up like the character study particularly we have with Rebecca the ex-wife the past wife and the current wife who remains nameless is so fascinating. The way that their characters shift or don't shift over time. The way that both are subsumed by their husband in different ways I think is fascinating. I think this book feels so modern. It feels so it feels so modern to me. It feels both in like writing craft. I feel like it has some very modern ideas, sensibilities, very like stuff that, you know, if it was done today, but oh my god, like not giving the main character a name is so such a fascinating literary device, but also in its sensibilities. I think what it was saying from like a feminist angle is very, very fascinating. I don't want to spoil much because I think a lot of that famous angle kind of is how we learn about Rebecca um and how that unfolds throughout the book. But it just feels it feels so ahead of its time. People aren't ready for it. People are not smart enough to appreciate pieces of work like this. >> And I think it's so tragic that this was marketed as like a gothic romance. This is not a romance. Do not go into this. Do not go into this expecting a romance. But I was just basically in awe of this book the entire time and particularly the first third and the last third. The reason it's not a five for me is I do feel like it has some pacing issues in that middle third that I think could have been sped up a little bit. So that's the only reason it's not a five. That's the only reason it doesn't have that five. Five star is a feeling. Five star is an emotion. It's not something you can put down. And I feel like just that pacing ruined that that five star feeling. But I was really in awe of this the whole time. The final third goes in a direction I really wasn't expecting. There was a twist actually that I wasn't expecting, but in hindsight makes complete sense. The ending of this 10 out of 10. 10. Like the last five pages an incredible ending to a story. I don't think I can explain to you. I want to read you the last line. The last line of this is so haunting, beautiful, has so much weight to it, so much meaning of it. I mean, how many words is this? I can't read it out to you. 30 with 13 words. for 13 words. This last sentence just like it's a horror it's a is a horror story. It's a horror story. It's so good. Mrs. Danvers, guys, Mrs. Danver such a formidable villain, a formidable opponent. Oh my gosh. Some scenes with her in it, she dissipates in the second half of the book, I feel like. But some scenes with her in the first book were like Jesus. It just felt so ahead of its time, this book. Like I feel like when this was published in 1938, the girls were gagged. The girls were gagging. You know, it it's it's truly outstanding. I really really really enjoyed my time with it. I'm so glad I finally read it. But I feel like now is actually it's the kind of book I'm glad I waited to read it. You know, I was saying how this had been on my like October TBR, I think, for every year for like the past four years. What is my hair doing? Where is that supposed to go? I felt like the right time to read it now. I feel like I grasped it. I think this will be such an interesting book to reread. It's definitely going on the list of like my favorite classics. I'm sure this is not going to be the only time that I read this in my life. When am I going to start rereading, guys? I always think like I when I think of my future self, I think of me as a rereader. Currently, I do not reread. But I don't think you want to reread a favorite book too close to reading it, right? I think like once every 10 years is probably a good kind of cycle to try and be on. Anyways, loved it. Cannot recommend enough. It's just that little bit of pacing in the middle that means it's not a five for me. I have two more books that I want to read on this vlog that have been on TBR today. I have had to scrap one vlog because of the whole going to Wales thing. Scrap one vlog that I was going to do at the end of the year, which does mean I think there's now it's not just Royal Assassin. It's going to be the only book I don't get to from TB clear this year. I think it's going to be maybe like four, which is very sad. It's very sad. But um these are the ones I want to prioritize. I'm going to read I'm going to start today most ardently by Gabe Cole Nooa which is a Pride and Prejudice remix I think with a trans main character. I might This is super short. The audiobook list is 7 hours and I have a lot of like admin and cleaning and things like that to do today. So I might just even read the whole thing and then check in with you this evening. But I think I will probably read most of this today and then I do need to read my patron book club pick which is actually I'm a murderer by Terry Deiri. So I'm going to get to this as well. So this is our TBR for the rest of the video. I reckon I will get through both of these pretty quickly. Like I said, this one is super short actually. It's literally a sevenh hour audio book, which usually for those kind of books, I only do one check-in because I mean, this was like a 16-hour audio book by comparison. So, anyways, I'll see you either when I'm halfway through this or when I finished it. But I can't wait. I haven't read one of these remix classics yet, but they super intrigue me. So, I can't wait to get into this one. Hello everyone. Okay. Okay. Okay. We need to talk about Most Ardently by Gabe Coloa. I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to talk about it because I don't want to say what I'm about to say. >> I prefer really not to not to speak. If I speak, I am in in big trouble >> cuz I think this is an important book. But let's get into it. So, this is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, a YA retelling. It's this series called Remix Classics that basically reimagining classics in a new way, particularly taking into account marginalized identities, under reppresented identities. And I think it's a wonderful thing. I would love to read more in this series. And in this adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, we are following Darcy, but the character that in Pride and Prejudice is known as Elizabeth Bennett in this book is Oliver Bennett and is a trans boy, a trans man, but who is still having to outwardly present in society as a woman. So, is having to hide his true identity. And I'll start off with a good thing. I think that the discussion of Oliver's trans identity, the difficulties he faces, but the the hope that this book gives to trans kids, I think is amazing. I think as a YA book about someone navigating their trans identity, I think it handles that with such care, such nuance, such deafness. I think that's really the shining star of this book. and everything I enjoyed about this book comes back to how that was handled. I think this is such an important book for young people to read. You know, I don't read a lot of YA these days, but I was very impressed by how that subject matter was handled, particularly also through a historical lens. I thought it had some really interesting elements to it. And yeah, I can't I can't praise that aspect of it enough. You know, I saw it came from the heart. You can tell it's something that's very important to the author that probably some of the author's lived experiences have informed. And I think that's always very powerful as well. Unfortunately, the good ends there. Unfortunately, the good ends there. I love Pride and Prejudice. Here's a beautiful edition I own. I love Pride and Prejudice, as we know. It was my favorite book that I read last year and is a very, you know, important story to me growing up. I love the BB BBC adaptation of it. I know Pride and Prejudice like the back of my hand. As an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, this is awful. That's strong. No, I shouldn't. That's strong. But every decision it makes in terms of adapting the story of Pride and Prejudice, I think it's I think it gets wrong. >> You may not hold the space for me, and that's okay. But that's a hill I'm going to [ __ ] die on. >> Other than obviously Oliver's trans identity, um, and the handling of that. So, let me get into this. Firstly, it is not enemies to lovers. The core of what makes Pride and Prejudice Pride and Prejudice in the original in the is Lizzie and Darcy's Pride and Prejudice towards each other and them getting over that and them hating each other for the start of the book and then realizing how their pride and prejudice is obscuring their opinions and you know having I think some of the I think some of the problem with this comes from I read I read this pretty recently and so how amazing a book this is like one of my favorite books of all time is still in my mind. So yeah, the the enemies to loversness, the OG enemies to loversness of Pride and Prejudice, I think is very important in this zero enemies to lovers. They meet at a ball like they do in Pride and Prejudice where Oliver is having to present as female and Darcy doesn't like him in that my edition just fell off. Darcy has the line about how there's no women beautiful enough to tempt me here, whatever, whatever. It comes to pass, spoiler alert, a little bit of a spoiler, that um Darcy didn't want to dance with any women because he is gay. And so that's why he kind of like is uh perceived as being rude in society or like has that kind of persona and doesn't want to dance at these balls is because he is gay. But then very soon after that they meet while Oliver is able to present himself as his true self. And they get on like a house on fire. They're besties and then most of our scenes throughout the rest of the book are um when Oliver is presenting as his true self and they're able to get to know each other like that. They they love each other. They're getting on like a house on fire from the start. And that unfortunately is not what I want from Pride of Prejudice retelling. Like I want enemies to lovers or at the very least snarky banter. Like we can tell we're both in love with each other but we're going to kind of joke about it and pretend we're not. That's what I'm asking for at the very least. This had none of that. This had none of that. And I think also my biggest problem with this is that this very closely follows the plot beats of Pride and Prejudice for, you know, with a few exceptions. It kind of strays outside the story, but we're seeing it's almost like Wicked, right? The Wizard of Oz. Like you're seeing behind the scenes of the story, but it's still following that original story. And I think if you're going to do that, you have to do it really well. And I just don't know if it did. Like I think back to Here we go. I didn't love this. Oh, I can't get it out. Okay, I'll just hold I'll put a picture in. Pride and Premeditation by Tza Price. Another YA Pride and Prejudice retelling. Didn't love it. I think I well I I think I give it maybe 3.5 or a four. That barely follows I don't think at all follows the plot beats of Pride and Prejudice. That one they're like rivals in a law firm and they're both trying to solve this murder mystery. Very very different. this you have got a lot of those same scenes like Collins coming and him proposing and like Lady Katherine Deur going to visit there going away with aunt uncle like it has a lot of the plot beats and I think it just then pales in comparison for me for me personally and having read Pride and Prejudice so recently I just kept thinking how incredible Jane Austin's writing is and the writing in this didn't do it for me I know this is harsh we've been very very harsh >> nice to meet you Kelly >> very harsh but it just meant as As a lover of Pride and Prejudice, I didn't love this. I think this book is perfect for YA readers who maybe are questioning their their gender identity themselves and who haven't read Pride and Prejudice. I think this is a retelling you don't want to have read Pride and Prejudice for. I think maybe you want like a a brief understanding of what Pride and Prejudice is, but I don't think you want to have read it and I don't think you want to have read it and loved it so recently because yeah, just every decision it makes in its adaptation. Also, like I could go on forever, guys. There's so many things that I object to. Like Wickcham immediately Oliver finds sus. Like there's no being drawn into Wickham's presentation of things. There's no believing Wickcham and being like I'm I'm giving slight spoilers here for Pride and Prejudice, but it's 250 years. Not quite. Jay Austin's 250 years on. But um yeah, immediately he thinks Wickcham is sus. Darcy proposes to who he believes to be Elizabeth in this, but they've had two scenes together cuz like I say, most most of the book is Oliver and Darcy getting to know each other with Oliver being able to present himself, you know, in his masculine true form. So Darcy has met who he believes to be Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a name that is used fairly often in this. And Gabe Connivora has a note on that at the beginning about how, you know, that could be seen as dead naming the character, but it's kind of like a requirement and that's something that is discussed a lot in the book, which I found interesting and and well handled. But anyways, I'm going on a tangent. Yeah, they've met each other twice and so it makes no sense for him to be proposing in that moment. And as a reader, you're like, what? Why is he proposing? Like they've they've barely met each other to his knowledge, you know? So, I didn't like it. I didn't like it. I'm going to give this a 2.5. I'm going to give it two.5. My enjoyment was probably like a two, 1.5 even. Like I just Yeah, I don't think you should read this. This is not a book to read if you love Pride and Prejudice. I think personally personally the enemies to lovers thing is the biggest thing for me. I wanted them to be enemies. They could have been enemies to lovers. Oliver and Darcy when they met each other could have been enemies to lovers. Like I want that relationship and there was none of that. So that's not fun. Anyways, I've been yapping. How long have I been Have I been yapping for 8 minutes? Okay, we need to change up where I'm filming for a sec cuz that's crazy. Wow, I'm so sorry. I don't want to dunk. It's an important book, you know. I don't want to dunk on it. But anyways, I am going to read, but I will apparently final book is my book club pick for Patreon. Actually, I'm a merger. I'm hoping to get through this quickly. I do have some things to talk to you about, though. So, let me go film at my desk just so we change up where we are in this vlog a bit. Okay. Hi. I have a book to haul and maybe some books to unhaul. I hear you all screaming. You guys all tell me all the time to unhaul books when I don't like it. But anyways, I'm doing it. I'm doing a little bit. Let's haul first. I've had a parcel. Let's see what it is. Let's see what it is. Oh, I can guess who this is from. I'm going to pull out the note, but I'm guess it's Estie. It's Estie. Estie, I love you. Estie says, "You know I had to." I do know you had to, Estie. I knew soon as I saw the book, it was you. Oh, I can't wait. Mate, oh my god. Okay. Mate by Ali Hazerwood. I've been seeing so many people read this and I'm jealous. I am so jealous of everyone reading this. I just love her, you know? I just I just love Ally. I don't think Re can describe. She is my romance girl. I I I love her so dearly. She is exquisite. I love her. I love her and I love her even more. >> And I've been hearing amazing things about this one. This one I think Serena is Yeah. the first human wear hybrid and it's a werewolf. So it's a werewolf romance and I'm just very excited. Very excited about it. I'm feeling good about it. So thank you so much, Essie. That is so exciting. I I don't know how many of you know this. I do say it fairly often, but like I was a paranormal romance girl when I was like 13. All I read were paranormal romances, which I know is a little bit difficult to believe now considering all I read is like murder mysteries, but um I Yeah, I love it. I love it. I love it. I'm so so excited. Thank you so much, SD. Then I have four books to unhaul. Can you believe it? I'm unhauling four books from my TBR. I'm unhauling four things from the TBR. So, I filmed my um all my books on my TBR video earlier this week. And when I was getting the stack out, I was like, I'm not going to read these books. I can be truthful with myself. I'm not going to read these books. I am planning on doing a bigger unhaul more specifically of my red books, but also maybe a little bit of the TBR when I move out. Um, who knows? Actually, that's actually we've had some good news and it's picking up speed a bit. So, there is like a small chance we might move out in the year, although I think actually now probably be first couple months of next year. So, touchwood on that one for me. But anyways, I I figured it was time to unhaul these books now. So, we're getting four things off the TBR. Number one, I actually a long time ago, I think at the end of last year, took this series off of my currently reading series list and like DNFed the series, but for some reason, I kept the books on my TBR, if that makes sense. I don't know which one's the first. No, which one's the second and which one's the third, but Days of Blood and Starlight and Dreams of God of Monsters by Laney Taylor. I just didn't love the first book enough, I think, to continue. In fact, I wouldn't be able to follow anything going on in this world right now if you asked me to if I were to read these books. Like, I can't remember anything. Yeah, I decided to DNF the series a long time ago. So, I'm going to pass these on to someone else to read and enjoy. And then I'm also going to unhaul off of my TBR We Were Liars and Family of Liars by Elock Hart. I actually read We Were Liars when I was like 14 and enjoyed itish, but then um when Family of Liars came out in 2022, I got the arc of it and I was going to do a video where I read both of these, but I'm just not interested. I'm not enjoying YA. And this is like really ya that does not excite me or fill me with joy or I don't think I'd enjoy these if I were to read these now. So there we go everyone. We unhauled four books. >> I am so proud of her. I could cry. What number does that make the TBR now? I can't do the math. You know, you know what's on the TBR now, but I don't. But yeah, I just think I can let those books go. I don't think I'd ever read them. There's probably more books on the TBR I could unhaul. I don't want to really. I would I would prefer to give everything on there a go and DNF and maybe DNF more. Maybe that should be my reading goal for next year. DNF more. But like I'd like to give everything on there a go apart these four. I just don't feel the need to anymore. So anyways, I am going to go start Actum Murderer. I don't know if I'll check in with you tonight, but I am planning on reading for the next couple hours, but I've got a lot of live shows tonight. Actually Murderers had mixed opinion so far on my Discord, so I'm a bit nervous for that. So I'll let you know what I think either when I'm halfway through or finished, depending on how many thoughts I have. Okay, we are back. I don't really know why I'm filming a check-in. D's playing with my lens cap down there, by the way, if you can hear that. So, excuse that noise. Yeah, I don't really know I'm filming a check-in. I think because a lot of these books I've only filmed one check-in, and I feel like weird about that cuz I don't usually do that. But, I'm 150 pages into actually I'm a murderer by Terry Deiri. I'm really not sure what I'm reading here. I'm not sure what's going on. I'm not sure what the point of this book is. I'm not sure why it exists. It's set in the 1970s. We open up on a train where it's this group of people all telling each other what they do for work. One of them says, "Well, actually, I'm a murderer." And it goes from there. We're following three perspectives. The murderer and then a female cop who's in the area and then a guy who is um like an actor, like a struggling actor who was on the train. I don't understand. No one's died. I'm 150 pages in into this like 330 page book. No one's died. And I feel like someone actually I'm lying to you. Someone has died. >> But I did tell a bit of a lie there. But it was so boring and so of Little Note and a character of Little Note that I didn't care. No, actually someone's died. But there's no mystery about it. We know who's killed them. Guys, I don't know. This book is It feels very debuty. Obviously, Terry Deiri has written so many books. If you don't know, Terry Deiri I know and many people in the UK will know from writing horror histories which we grew up on. Like Terry Deiri raised us, but I'm not sure if he is a a fiction author. Odido is opening up my wardrobe to climb into. Ignore any noises. Yeah, I I'm not sure if if fiction is for him. It feels meandering. It feels like it doesn't really have a point. I will say it's a very interesting writing style. It's a very like the the narrator talking directly to the reader. It's very conversational. Don't expect anything to be visually described. It's literally just characters talking their inner monologue. It kind of reminds me of the bad monologues I'd have to do in drama. Like when I did GCSE and Alevel drama and you'd have to do those awful monologues that were really cringe and I'd be like someone's mom or something being like why don't they love me? I don't know what I was saying. And I think the audio book I would recommend the audio book if you want to pick this up because of the writing style. I think the audio book is actually much more effective because you feel like you're listening to the person talk to you. I feel like reading it might be a bit of a jarring experience. Um but I'm enjoying listening to it. But I I mean I can already tell this isn't going to be a memorable book. I don't think I don't think it's going to do anything crazy. I don't think it's going to do anything out of the ordinary, unexpected. It's feeling a bit meh right now. So, I will let you know my thoughts. I'm just going to finish it tonight. I've got a very cozy evening. I'm going to go put a face mask on and hang out with my my child, my my baby. I'm tired. I don't know what I'm saying to you. I'm going to finish this book. I have nothing to say. Bye. Okay. Um, I don't want to spend too long talking about this book because if I'm honest with you, I don't think this book should really exist. It's the troph. I feel like we started off this vlog so well and it hasn't ended well. So, I have finished actual a murderer. I'm going to give this two stars. This is Terry Deir's 350th book. Let's just sit with that for a moment. Let's just sit with that for a moment. I don't think it's his fiction debut. I think it is his adult fiction debut. I think um and you can tell you can tell you can tell you can tell I think this book is boring, meandering, plotless, meaningless, has no purpose. >> Get a date. >> You might be saying why it's not a one. I think ones I reserve for like offensive. I think like morally incorrect what gets a one. But this is about as close I think as you can get without getting a one or 1.5. Like I don't think the writing is terrible actually. That's probably what saves it. Like that talking to the reader directly style I didn't hate with the audio book. I don't know if I would have felt physically uh different had I just read it physically. But there's nothing interesting about this. I just forced myself to read these words. There is no This book is doing nothing. This book is doing nothing worth writing. And it infuriates me because the premise of like four characters being on a train and one of them says, "I'm murderer." Like, "I kill people for my job." That could be such an interesting book. He manages to make it so boring. So boring. How do you make it so uninteresting? I don't think I have any thoughts. I'm dreading this being my patron book club pick because A, I feel bad making everyone read this and b I don't know what we're going to talk about. I need to think of some questions because at the moment I have nothing to say to you and I have nothing I have nothing nothing to say about this. The conclusion of like who did what is fairly unsurprising and fairly predictable and fairly uninteresting. Like if it's going to be predictable, at least make it a gag worthy moment, you know? At least make it a gag, not a gag. I found all the characters interest. I have nothing. There's nothing. I think let's just add the end the vlog on that. I don't know. Nothing. There's nothing to say. I think he's probably a great non-fiction writer. Just just stay away from the fiction. Also, I think the 1970s setting, like there was a lot of sexism, and he's obviously trying to point that out, but I found it a fairly exhausting read, the sexism in this. So, there we go. I'm sorry that's not a more like in-depth review, but if you read it, you'd understand. There's nothing to say. Anyways, thank you for watching this vlog of TBR 200. We have got the TBR down to 293 books, guys. This is a momentous occasion. We're going to do a party again. Da's not here to party with me. We're under 300, and I feel like we're never going above 300 again. That would have to be something crazy. Like, something insane would have to happen for us to go above 300 ever again. I'm very happy to get down to the low 290s. That's crazy. Like, we're really on our way now. We're on our way. I think we'll get into the 280s. Probably not quite the 270s for the end of the year, but I'm happy with that. I'm happy with that. Let me know if you have thoughts on any of the books I read in this vlog. I feel like it started off very well and then has ended not so successfully. But, uh, thank you so much for watching. I love you all so much and I will see you very soon in another video. Bye.