FINISHING 7 SERIES in 7 DAYS!!📚🏃🏻‍♀️

So guys, we're getting towards the end of the year and I've been starting a lot of series, but I haven't been finishing many. If you know, my goal this year was to just have a net negative with how many series I'm currently reading. So I've finished at least one more than I've started. I don't think that's going to happen, but listen, listen. I'm still going to try my best to make the situation not entirely without hope. So in today's video, we're going to be finishing... Well, we're not really finishing. We're going to be reading seven series in seven days. I know the title says finishing, but that's just because it sounds better. But I did tell a bit of a lie there. We're going to be finishing four series in this video and making progress in three because I don't have seven series where I only have to read one book to finish off the series. So we're finishing the ones I can finish with one book and then we're making progress in some others. In seven days, we're going to make progress or finish seven series. Honestly, I'm kind of proud of myself. You guys love these videos where I read seven books in seven days. And so yeah, listen, I'm excited. So let's get into the series we're going to be finishing. I'll just run through these quickly because we'll talk about them all when I read them. But we have got The Tea Dragon Tapestry by Kate O'Neill. We've got An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed by Helene Turson. This is a sequel to An Elderly Lady's Up to No Good. We have got A Mirror Mended by Alexei Harrow. This is a novella that is the sequel to A Spindle Splintered, which is like a Sleeping Beauty retelling. And then we have got Lights by Brenna Thumna. Another graphic novel. This is one of my favourite graphic novel series. The first one is Sheets. So this is our four series that we're finishing. I'm pretty- I'm excited particularly for the two graphic novels. They're two of my favourite graphic novel series. So I am excited to finish them. And then the ones that we're going to be making progress in, we have got Lost in a Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire. The Wayward Children series. This will bring me up to date in the series, which is kind of the same as like, you know, statistics wise maybe, depending on how you view it. I've never viewed it like that, but maybe I'm going to start viewing it like that. I don't know. That would be crazy. So yeah, this will bring me up to date in the Wayward Children series, where we follow magical children. I know this one is a bit heavy hitting, but I am kind of ashamed that it's taken me this far into the year to read that. We're going to be making progress in the Lady Hardcastle mystery series. I think this is the eighth, I want to say. That is not correct. In the series. So I've read quite a lot of this series, and I meant to get around to this in the summer, because it's set in the summer. But this is the next in the Lady Hardcastle and her maid, Flo. Series. And then I'm going to make progress in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series as well. I did that. I made progress in the series in the 7 Genres in 7 Days video, which I filmed not too long ago. And so I would like to make progress in the series whilst it's still fresh in my brain. I mean, I'm kind of scared this is going to be like a series that goes on forever, but I am excited to make progress in this one. So those are the series we are going to be reading in this video. I think I am going to read A Mirror Mended by Alex E Harrow, because this is really short. It's only, I want to say only like 100 pages. 128 pages. And there's some illustrations in there as well, which always helps. So I'm going to start this. I'll chat to you when I finished it. I'm going to go listen to the audiobook while I do stuff, and then sit down and try and read this as quickly as I can, because I got 10,000 things to do today. But it's short, so it's easy. But yeah, I'm excited. I really enjoyed the first one. I can't remember a lot about it, but I'm hoping it will catch me up. But it's a Sleeping Beauty retelling, and I think this one maybe is like Snow White-y, because it's got the mirror. I've connected the two dots. You didn't connect shit, but I've connected them. So I think this one brings in Snow White. But I have it on good authority that this is, this series is not continuing. This is the last in the series. So we will be finishing a series by reading this. So it's much later in the afternoon. We went out for a walk. I was going to film like aesthetic video of the walk. It torrentially rained on us within 10 minutes. So I come back home. I've like tried to dry my hair, take my makeup off, because it like melted down my face. Anyways, I have finished our first book, Mirror Mended by Alexey Harrow. It's a series ticked off, guys. I know, I'm so amazing. So this is the sequel to A Spindle Splintered, which is like a Sleeping Beauty retelling. And in this one, we're following the same characters, but it's kind of a Snow White retelling. And I'm finding it very hard to remember what's not a spoiler for the first one. Basically, we're following Zinnia, who is chronically ill, and she's kind of like Sleeping Beauty in the first book. So we need to know. And in this one, she's interacting with the stories of Snow White, is all you need to know. I just- you guys would have seen, but I just said like five different things there, and then like mid-sentence realised that was a spoiler to like try and piece it together. I enjoyed this. I'm gonna give this a 3.5, because in terms of the reading experience, I really did enjoy it. But I don't think that this is the best format for Alexey Harrow's writing. You guys know I absolutely love the ones of Future Witches. It is so special to my core. It is so incredible. I love the ones of Future Witches. And this- I just don't think her writing shines in a novella for me. I don't think- the way in a longer format, and I haven't read Ten Thousand Dollars of January or Starling House, but I really want to. But I get the feeling that they're quite similar, in that in a longer format, she really gets to craft this narrative, and these characters, these layered characters, and this layered plot, and all these things. Like the ones of Future Witches is so many layers to it. It's such a unique book that I just- I don't feel like we get in this. And so it just feels a little bit missing to me. It just feels a little bit like, uh, it's okay. You know what I mean? I don't know. I didn't love it. But I enjoyed it. The audiobook is great. This series has got this humour to it that I really enjoy. But I also think it's a bit forgettable. Am I gonna think about this novella series in a year? Even in six months? Probably not. You know? No, that sounds bad, guys. And forgive me for saying it, but that's how I felt. I finished it because I love Alexey Harrow, but I do think it's forgettable. I think I'll forget how I felt about a lot of it. And it just- the plot felt kind of rushed. There is a lot happening, and I just wish we could have slowed down and taken some more time. However, I do think if you like Alexey Harrow, then these books are nice to read. The audiobooks are great. Do you know what I mean? But I just don't feel like particularly strongly about it. But it's fine, you know? I enjoyed my time reading it, but I'm probably not gonna think about it going forward. You know, I like the message it was saying, but at some points, you know, the message- at some points the message felt a bit overwrought, and at some points the message felt a bit lost. You know, it's trying to give like this message about the kind of person you should be, and like what life means, and yada yada yada yada. It was fine. It was fine. It was fine. You know, I'm glad I finished the series off, but I really think that Alexey Harrow should stick to like, her longer form stuff, because there's just a magic to that that felt like it was missing in this. I think tomorrow I'm gonna get into An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crass, because it's tiny. Well, it's like- it's- it's, you know, the audiobook is like maybe six hours. But I'm gonna read this next, um, and finish this one off. I've heard mixed things about this sequel, so we'll see what I think of it. Hello. Long time no see. Listen, the thing you gotta take and accept with me doing these seven books in seven days vlogs is, I'm gonna read seven books in seven days. I may not read one a day, and I may not speak to you every day, but I will read seven in seven. Have you just stood up? It's fine. Calm down. Relax. The cats are here. He's like basically sitting on her anyways. Yesterday was pretty crazy. I had three live shows slash Zoom calls back to back in the evening, so I didn't get a chance to chat with you. But yesterday I did finish An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crass by Helene Turson. It's tiny! I'm gonna give this a 3.5. I think I gave An Elderly Lady is up to a good a four. I really like the writing in this. It's kind of got a humorous writing. I like that it's Swedish. I like a good like translated moment, and I feel like you can see the culture and the humor of Sweden. Well, I know what the humor is, but I feel like you can see it peeping through. I like the character mode a lot. She's like, basically the first book is about, she like kills people occasionally, okay? She has no qualms with hurting someone or killing someone if they deserve it. I don't believe in the glorification of murder. I do believe in the empowerment of women. But the first book is more about that. It's all short stories. And the second one, she doesn't really do that. It's more about her backstory and the trip she takes to South Africa, I think. So you don't have that kind of like appeal of the first one. Like the appeal of the first one is like, oh my god, it's a grandma killing people, basically. So some of that appeal is lost and some of what makes the book so fun is lost. And also in this book, there is quite a lot of unchecked fatphobia. Like a lot of it. Because at first she was calling a kid fat. And I wondered, is this a translation thing? Where like there's a word for fat in Swedish that doesn't, that has like a different connotation towards it? Particularly when it's like a child. Like, I don't know. Like, you know, if a kid's fat, it means they've, they're rich or like, because they're well fed. I don't know. Or like they're joyful. Do you know what I mean? In some cultures there's different connotations. But then, no, it became clear that like, this book over and over again has characters be fat if they're horrible people, basically. Not all the horrible people are fat, but a lot of the fat people are horrible in this book. And I just don't appreciate that. There's just like no need for it, you know? So I didn't love this as much as the first one, but I am giving it 3.5 because I do enjoy it. This is like cozy mystery, kind of. But with like, she's, she's, you know, she ain't taking no bitches. Or she is taking bitches. Don't know what the right word is. But she's an interesting character and I have enjoyed reading both of these. However, I would say you could just read the first one. You don't really need to read this one. It tonally is not as, as strong as the first one. An elderly lady is up to no good. So I enjoyed it, but I had a few issues with it. Now, this evening, hello cats, we are going to cozy up and get into the first of our graphic novels, which I'm so excited for. I'm going to read Lights by Brenna Thumler. This is the finale to the Sheets graphic novel trilogy. In this series, we've got Marjorie, whose mum has recently passed away. And then in the second book, I believe this is Eliza. Yeah, we meet Eliza. Then through all of this, we have Wendell. He's a ghost, he's a little ghost. And the thing is with Wendell, this isn't a spoiler, he's a ghost. We've never known really how he died. So I think this one is going to go into his backstory. Because book one is Marjorie's book, book two is Eliza's book. I think this is going to be Wendell's book and kind of go into his backstory a bit more. But yeah, I love the illustrations in this series. I love the tones, these kind of blue and pinks and purples. I think the first one was a four star for me. And then the second one, which is Delicates, was a five star for me. I loved Delicates. And so I feel like because I'm going to be attached to these characters now, maybe this one may be a five star as well. I'm very excited. So I'm just going to cosy up and get to reading this book. Maybe I might have dinner first and then I'll see you after dinner and read this. The shadows of this quiet I see you there, your feathers on the ground Your eyes are heavy with the weight of the world Lost in a life you never could've known Even if you've never flown before You can take a chance and try once more Don't let your worries weigh you down, down, down You can still take flight Although you're earthbound So I have finished Lights, but before I chat to you about it, I want to say a big thank you to today's sponsor, which is Serious Readers with their Serious Light, Serious Light, Light... It goes together. So you just saw me using my Serious Light to read lights. That's enough of the light connection. But now that the clocks have changed in the UK, I don't want to talk about it. I'm so sad. It is so dark so early and my reliance on this light has just increased so much because it is dark so early and I use this every time I'm reading and it's dark outside. Because these lights have daylight wavelength technology where it replicates the daylight spectrum as closely as possible, it feels really natural on my eyes and it has this natural light. Oh my god, it's so comforting. I love reading with it. Honestly, I do not read when it's dark outside without it. Even if it's a gloomy day, a cloudy gloomy day, which we have a lot now in the UK, I'm using this. I cannot be without it. I love it so much. So I cannot recommend using a Serious Light enough. I find I get way less eye strain when I'm reading. I used to get a lot of eye strain. It just makes the experience of reading so easy. Like it feels like a... I always say a breath of fresh air. My eyes are just like easy, breezy, beautiful. It makes reading so much more enjoyable and so easy. So I have a code for you, which is SR438, which will get you £100 off a High Definition Light plus free international delivery. The great thing about Serious Lights as well, if wherever you are in the world, if you're in Europe, in your America, whatever, you need a different plug than the UK plug, they can make that for you. You just gotta tell them. I have the High Definition Light and I love it so much. It has a dimmer. I can just... Whoa, let me do it like that. Can you see the light going up and down? So you can adjust the light. And yeah, I cannot read without it. I love it so much. Please let me know if you've ever got a Serious Light on my recommendation because someone let me know in the comments last week and it like brightened my day so much because I know you're having a good reading experience if you've got this. So if you've ever got this or you're thinking about getting this, please let me know in the comments. But like I said, I use it every day. I use it every night, all the time. Anytime I'm reading, I'm pretty much using this light. So I cannot recommend it enough. Make sure you check out the link down below and use my code SR438 to get £100 off your light and free international delivery. And in terms of what I thought of lights, I'm giving it five stars. Yeah! We are so back, baby. We are so back. So all you need to know, this is obviously the third in the trilogy, but this one is really looking into Wendell and how he died and like the group and the gang trying to figure out how he really died and trying to give him some answers about the rest of his life. And I just absolutely loved it. I loved it. I almost cried at the end. I thought it was a wonderful fitting end to a trilogy. It wrapped everything up nicely and I, yeah, I almost cried. It got me emotional. I just think this series is just so heartwarming and lovely. I'm telling you what this is about friendship and like you have to be a good friend. I don't know. I don't feel like there's a lot of stuff about that, but like it really values friendship and true friendship and like how to be a good friend. And I just think it's lovely. You know, this series is middle grade technically, but I think that it is really the kind of book that everyone and anyone and absolutely everyone should read. What it just says about like the type of person to be, I think is so lovely. And I think the stories that are told in this was so lovely. And you know, also what it's saying around grief still, there was some really poignant moments because obviously Marjorie lost her mum. And by the way, if you're wondering how like Wendell, she met Wendell, there's like she runs a laundromat and in this world ghosts are like bedsheets. Okay, yeah, she lost her mum and there's these points about like how she's talking in the kind of in the metaphor of light and darkness and talking about how much easier it is to extinguish light than create it and how easier the darkness comes, but how light is starting to seep in. And I just thought it was so lovely. I just thought it was so lovely. And I just love these characters so much. And you know, sometimes perhaps it is like, it is trying to make an emotional point, like the one I just mentioned. And it is a bit, little bit heavy handed, but not really. I loved it. I love it. I mean, I'm so passionate about it. I cannot recommend picking up this graphic novel series enough, honestly. And the art style, I just love the kind of style of it. It's kind of like almost 80s themed. I don't know if it is set in the 80s, but like also the colour schemes, well the pinks in this one, particularly are Wendell's stories. These pinks and reds are flashbacks to Wendell's life. And then the more blues and purples and greens are Marjorie and Eliza's storylines. Also, there was like ghost hunting in this one. And I was like, oh my God, REM pod, EMF, like all that. I'm watching a lot of ghost files with Watcher, me and Tom. That's like our duo, like one thing that we absolutely always watch together on time. As soon as it comes out, counting down the hours to ghost files, and it's the series is on at the moment. So I was like, oh my God, I know all these. But yeah, I can't wait. I don't know if Brenna Thumler has a lot of other books. I don't know a lot of other graphic novels or if this was her debut series, but I'm either going to read her backlist or I'm going to be very, very excited for what she comes out with next. I just love these. And you know, Sheets was a four star for me, but then the rest of the series has been a five star. And like I said, they are middle grade, but it's kind of middle grade that feel, it doesn't feel like middle grade, right? So you've got like characters who are in middle school. So it's middle grade, but I don't know. It feels so equally like such a realistic look at children and like their lives and attitudes or whatever, but also the wisdom that you wish you had as a kid that then you have when you're an adult looking back. You know, in terms of what I'm going to read next, we have these four books left. I think I am going to start The Fatal Flying Affair and try and read all of that tomorrow. Because I think this is our longest book of what we got left. I mean, granted it is Lady Hardcastle, so like it's not difficult for me to get through it, but it is the longest one. And the quicker I get this done, because I've got such a busy week, because if you don't know, today is Monday. I'm flying to Costa Rica on Saturday. So like I'll be reading books up until the day before I fly. So I've got a lot to get sorted. A, to get you guys all the content that I want to upload whilst I'm away. But B, I also just sort everything out for the holiday and like pack and like buy all the, you know, I need to buy goggles. I need to buy goggles. Very important, earplugs, because I have tiny ear holes, so I have to wear earplugs while I swim. I need to get some more earplugs. So I've got to sort all that stuff out. So the quicker I get this read, I think the better I'll feel, because then the rest of these, I mean, this will take like two minutes. This is only like 120 pages and this is fairly short as well. So I'm going to get into this next and be back with my babes, Lady Hardcastle and Blow. Let's get into it. Okie dokie, good evening. I read most of this yesterday, but I had to finish it off today. No, we're behind schedule, guys. Don't worry. I'm going to try and finish almost a whole other book today, if not completely finish it. But tomorrow might be the day that we finish too, I'm going to be honest with you. Anyways, I read most of A Fatal Flying Affair by T.E. Kinsey yesterday. I was wrong, this is number seven in the Lady Hardcastle mystery series. So this is number seven, right? I was going to check in with you halfway through because this is like the longest book that we're going to be reading throughout this whole video. Then I realized I just say the same fucking thing about every book in this series. Nothing new, nothing changed, same old shit. Because I feel basically the same way. The plot of this one is that Lady Hardcastle and her maid, Flow, are recruited by her brother, Lady Hardcastle's brother, because he works for like the foreign office, into this murder and they think there's like... It's to do with an aviation factory, right? It's all to do with planes and like planes and parachute secrets and plane secrets and all this stuff, okay? And let's start with the positives because the positives are the same as every other Lady Hardcastle book, right? I love these characters so much that I think they are such wonderful characters for a cozy mystery series. I love the narration of the audiobooks, it completely brings these books to life. I love the main character's relationship, the dynamic that Lady Hardcastle and her maid, Flow, have is so wonderful and lovely and gorgeous. I love the historical setting, I love the writing, I love everything about these books, basically. However, this is the first book in the series for a long time that I... Or maybe ever? No, I feel like I've given a few before. But this is the first one in ages I have not given a 4.5 or a 5. I'm giving this one a 4. I think the last one I gave a 4 was the one that's about cars, cars and planes. I don't seem to like the ones that are like focusing on transport. And the reason is I just wasn't into this plot as much as I have been with a lot of other ones. This one, it's much more with the link to Harry, Lady Hardcastle's brother. It's much more to do with like spying and espionage and like, you know, state secrets and we're spies, we're spying out rather than murder. There is a murder, but it's a very small part of the book. And I just prefer when we're in Littleton Cotterell, the small village and it's all set in the village and it's due to the characters in the village. Yes, there is, there does have to be books that are outside of the village because like you can't just have people in the village keep on killing one another. But I think the next one is set in the village. But yeah, I just prefer the ones set in that village. I think it's got such a vivid picture to it and is such like the quintessential view of, you know, a small town that murder mysteries happen in. I just love it, it's camp, it's high camp. Whereas just the plot of this one wasn't my favourite. I still loved it, but it's not a 4.5 or a 5 like most of them in this series are. But can you believe I'm seven books into a series? Wow, honestly, I'm amazing. I am so powerful. My mind, oh, it amazes me sometimes. But yeah, I still love this series. And like I said, all the positives that I say about every single one in this series remain. I would recommend this series to all of you. Just listen to audiobooks, listen to the audiobooks because they're by far the best way to consume it. I basically just listen to the audiobook for this. I just like owning the physical copies so that I have the whole collection. It wasn't my favourite in the series, but I'm glad that I have made more progress in the series. Now I'm gonna go cook dinner for my family and I'm gonna start Before Your Memory Fades by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. This is the third in the Before The Coffee Gets Cold series. And I've got the audiobook for this as well. So I'm gonna start the audiobook and probably then have a bath and then read some after the bath. And I'll see you tonight if I finish it tonight. And if not, I will see you first thing in the morning because it's about six hours, I think, this audiobook. So hopefully I'll be able to get through it. And then we only have two books left. Guys, we're finishing series. Isn't this incredible? Or making progress in series, at least. I've got this one and the next one. I don't know if there's more in the series, if I will continue to read them or if I'll just kind of read these initial four and then be like, that's enough for me. Do you know what I mean? There's some series that go on forever that I don't need to read forever. So anyways, I'm gonna start the audiobook for this and I will check in with you once I have finished it. Good morning. I don't have the best news. Don't count on bearing great news. I have finished Before Your Memory Fades, which is the third book in the Before The Coffee Gets Cold series. And this is my least favourite in the series so far. I'm gonna give this three stars. I didn't hate it, but I was just bored throughout. So the premise of the series is that there's this cafe where you can sit at the table and go back in time to meet someone who's gone to that cafe before, but you have to drink the coffee before the coffee gets cold. Otherwise, you'll like die, basically, is all you need to know. That's like a very quick synopsis. But this one is about another cafe that exists in Japan with the same feature. And I don't like that. I'm anti that. Because for me, what felt so special about this series was how small the magic was, how small the magic system was. There's this one seat in this one cafe where if you drink the coffee, you can go back in time. And the idea of like the exact same thing being true, like pound for pound in another cafe, it just makes no sense in my fantasy. I'm sorry. In that second book, I felt like I'd really gotten to know the characters of the cafe and become really attached to them. And in this one, we've got a whole new set of characters. Apart from one character who's in the first one, the owner of the original cafe has come to this cafe to help look after it. So he's in it, but otherwise, it's all new characters. And I just didn't feel attached to any of them. I was like, who are you people? You're not my Before the Coffee Gets Cold cast. Excuse me. Like, who are you? I'm not, I just never became attached to them. I spent the whole book trying to figure them out and not being able to whilst missing the old characters. Like there's, but there's very, they're very similar. They're like almost too similar. Like there's a little girl in this one, just like this little cute little girl in the other one. You know what I mean? And some of the characters were too similar and I just felt like I'd really become attached to those characters that it felt a shame to lose them. And the first Before the Coffee Gets Cold book, I bawled at two of the stories in that. I found it so emotional. And the second one, I didn't cry, but I felt like the, the theme, the stories had a different theme to them. They weren't necessarily to make me feel sad and emotional, but there was this like bittersweetness, but also appreciation of life to them. I just didn't connect. Oh, hey, Laura, you shouldn't be on there. She like is obsessed with sleeping on Tom's pillow at the moment, hence why it's got a different pillowcase onto the rest of the bed because she just made it. You can't do that. But I also just kicked her off of this chair. So she's just not going to be happy with me. Do you want to come sit on my lap while I talk? Come on then. She's, she was also in love sleeping on my chair and I had to kick her off. So she wasn't happy with me. You can, you can sleep on me. Um, what was I saying? Yeah, all of the stories in this, like always there's four short stories that it's split into following people who want to go back in time to me, to meet someone. And I just didn't feel, feel anything for any of these stories. I didn't find them particularly emotional. I didn't find them poignant. I was like, okay, fine. You know, and so I'm sad about it. I'm very disappointed. I'm very sad. I'm, I'm almost heartbroken. It's a three because I really like the writing. You know, I like the premise as a whole. I don't think it's bad. It's not bad enough for me to give it a two. But I was bored, you know? Hey gorgeous. I'm gonna have to stand up in a second as well. You're gonna be really mad at me. She's settled in my lap. There you are. But anyways, today I am now gonna go ahead and read Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire, the next in the Wayward Children series. And guys, I'm so excited. I think this is gonna be a five star. Listen, this whole series is really five stars to me now usually. And I have heard good things about this one. So I'm just gonna cozy up and read this. I'm really excited to making more progress in the Wayward Children series and catching up before the next one comes out, which is dinosaurs. It comes out in January or February next year. I'm very excited for the dinosaurs. But anyways, I'm gonna go ahead and read this and I'll chat with you once I've finished it. And then we only have one more book to read and I've read seven books in seven days. Wow, I'm really proud of myself. Okay, apologies for whatever's going on here. It's very late. It's like 11 o'clock, which for me is very late. But I wanted to speak to you about Lost in the Moment and Found because I just finished it and it's five stars. Olivia Wilde nod at the end of the day, right? Olivia Wilde nod. It's five stars. I loved it. I love this whole series. But I think this is a really strong addition in the whole Wayward Children series. Now, you do need to go into this with trigger warnings and with an awareness of what's happening. There's an author's note at the beginning. Oh, don't want to lose my seal book mark. I'm always leaving that in places where it shouldn't be. There's an author's note at the beginning, which I think I want to read out because I think it puts what this book is about and how to prepare yourself for this book better than I possibly could. So it says, While all the Wayward Children books have dealt with heavy themes and childhood traumas, this one addresses an all too familiar monster, the one that lives in your own home. Themes of grooming and adult gaslighting are present in the early text. As a survivor of something very similar, I would not want to be surprised by these elements where I didn't expect them. I just want to offer you this reassurance. Antsy runs before anything can actually happen. Antsy runs. So I think, I mean, Seanan McGrudge has this incredible way with words and I think that prepares you for what this book is. So this is one of those books where we're following more so the individual in their world. If you don't know, I'm sure you know what this series is about. But the Wayward Children series is about kids who go to these portal worlds which are perfect for them or are right for them. Basically every other book we follow a child in their world and the other book is at Eleanor West School for Wayward Children which is a school they go to to kind of help them kind of accept the fact that they're out of their world and back in the normal world but also keep that hope alive that they could one, some of them will get back to their world one day. And this one is set in the place where lost things go, the shop where lost things go that Antsy finds herself in having run away. And, you know, Seanan McGuire just has this way with words that I am constantly astounded by it but particularly in the way that this series is written. You know, I love Middle Game by Seanan McGuire but there's something about the way that this, the tone of this series that is so unique. There'll be sentences or there'll be phrases that just you, you read and they stop you short because they are so beautifully written. Seanan McGuire for me is probably my favourite author in terms of writing craft. I just think she is, you know, incomparable. There's no one who does it like her and I just think this book was a wonderful example of that. Pretty legendary if you ask me. I love it. I am giving it five stars. My one critique, I do think this one could have been longer. It is one of our shorter editions, I believe, in the Wayward Children series and I do feel like it could have done with just a little bit more time in the portal world that we're in. I didn't feel like we were there for super long but, you know, this is the second book that Antsy's in. She was in the last book briefly and then I think from just reading the synopsis, the next book is kind of going to be quite a continuation of this so I can forgive that because it seems like the next book picks up right where this leaves off and is following Antsy in particular so I can forgive this one feeling a little bit incomplete to me. I feel like some of the resolution for what happens in this book is going to happen in the next one a little bit. But, you know, this has beautiful things about the loss of innocence of children and I think particularly also the pressure to grow up and particularly on young girls, this expectation. I mean, I'm reading into it a bit but there's expectation we have on young girls to grow up quicker. I don't know, I just thought it was, I mean, there's a lot of interesting and heavy themes tackled in this but she does it with such care and attention and love and light and dark and a perfect balance of everything all in one go. So I just absolutely loved it. I cannot recommend this. I mean, this is number eight in the series. I would not recommend picking up there. You could do. You could absolutely, there's nothing, I believe, that's a spoiler for a previous book. We also, if you have read some of the Wayward Children series, we learn a lot more about how worlds work and this world that she's in is particularly, I think it's called a vex, maybe? Oh, I don't know. There's a word that they use where it's basically like a meeting point of a lot of worlds which I think has been mentioned in a previous book but we really learn a bit more about how that works in this one. So I just appreciate it so much. I thought it was wonderful. Tomorrow is our final day. Also my final day to get ready for Costa Rica. Have I packed anything? No, absolutely not. But I have bought goggles. Do you want to see my goggles? My goggles arrived. I needed two new goggles. Tell me that this doesn't fool you with such excitement. Anyways, our final book that we're going to be reading tomorrow is the Tea Dragon Tapestry by Kate O'Neill. I'm going to try and find the perfect moment in the day tomorrow where I'm not feeling rushed and I can just sit down and appreciate this book for what it is. I am just so, so, so, so very excited to read this. I want to have the time to appreciate it and savour it. So yeah, very, very excited to read the final Tea Dragon series. I will see you tomorrow at some point to do so. Okay, friends. I have finished the final book in the Tea Dragon fest... No, society. No, what's the first one? The Tea Dragon series. Can't remember the names of all of them. My brain is like trying to merge. Anyways, I finished the Tea Dragon Tapestry which is the final one and I'm giving it five stars. We did it! Yes! We've won! Yes! It was never going to be anything less than five stars, okay? I do think some of the lessons in this are a bit more abstract than the first and second one. The first and second one are a bit more simple. This one, it's saying some really interesting stuff. Now, I don't really want to give you a synopsis for it because I cannot remember for the life of me what's a spoiler in the first in the series. But, um, you know, this world is a magical world full of magical beings but really it's cosy, it's comforting. It's a very small world on small magic. Part of the book's centre, but not all, part of the book's centre around these tea dragons that brew tea with the leaves. There's one there. I love the tea dragons because I think they're like cats. I don't think they're like dogs. They're very, like, sleepy and cosy. Um, so they're like cat animals and I am a cat person. And I just, again, I loved this. It's one of the most beautiful graphic novels that you'll ever read. And, you know, it always just says wonderful things. This one's talking a lot about grief. It's talking a lot about personal renewal. It's talking a lot about finding yourself and finding your purpose in difficult times. I loved it. But I love all the tea dragons. I would say I think this is my least favourite if you can give a five star least favourite out of the series. But I don't know if that's because I'm stressed about packing. It also could not have been the perfect time to read it. And, you know, I've been saving these for the perfect time but I had to read it today. Um, and part of my brain was like, oh my god, it's not the perfect time. But I'm gonna reread these like 10,000 times. So I think the beauty of these graphic novels is that you will arguably find something different and deeper every time you read them. But I just love Kay O'Neill's illustration style. The way that they communicate emotion through the characters facial expressions and body language. Like, I think only for me, Alice Oseman kind of matches up to that on being on par of like, I love the facial expressions in Hearthstroke as well. Even the body, even the facial expressions and body language of the tea dragons. They have body language. They communicate so much. So I loved it. You know, I'm gonna reread this series again and again and again because it doesn't take long and it's incredible. So that brings us to the end of this video where we have not finished seven series in seven days but made progress in seven series. Well, finished four series. Finished four series and made progress in three. And listen, we had three... No, did we? Yes, we did. We had three five stars. Both of the graphic novels, Lights and A Tea Dragon Tapestry were five stars and Lost in the Moment and Found by Sean McGuire was five stars. I think that's the best. Granted, I've read more books in this vlog than I do in other vlogs but I think that's the best, like, ratio we've had in a vlog for reading five stars in a long time. So I hope you guys enjoyed this video. I had so much fun filming it and listen, it feels a little bit better now. The series situation is not as dire as it was. I'm still probably not going to reach my goal. I just want to prepare you all for that. But yeah, I'm glad I have made progress in so many series and these two graphic novel series for me, I am just... I know I'm gonna reread and reread and reread. I cannot recommend these enough. So thank you guys so much for watching and I'll see you all in a video soon. Bye!