unwrapping books picks what i read 🎁 wrapped up retro - episode nine

Hello friends welcome back to my channel and welcome back to wrap-up retro where I wrapped up all the oldest books of my TBR and we have one episode left this one before the finale which is kind of crazy I'm very very very nervous for the finale this I won't tell you what it is but if you watched last years you know what it is and I'm feeling very nervous about it so I almost all El is I almost don't want to get a book I really enjoyed this round because that it means my chances next video are worse for what I'm about to go through but anyways we're going to unwrap one book and read it like we do in each wrapped up retro episode and yeah the oldest book's my TBR and there's not many of them left we've gotten through them I'm really so proud of myself for reading so many of the oldest books on my TBR I'm feeling like a hard cover right I think we've read a lot of paperbacks recently it is mostly still paperbacks but I just well that actually might be is that a hard cover I'm not sure what this is It's like a small hard cover but I don't know what that could be but I think let's go for like a bigger hard cover I'm drawn to this one again I always just have to that's quite big though is it I don't know um I just have to kind of make a decision and go with it I think we're going to go with this so should we just unwrap it I'm doing it I've started what's going to happen going to shoot me I doubt it they have to catch me first I'm like a whipp it can you see what it is can you see what it is can you okay okay okay okay okay okay okay okay we're going to be reading my dark finessa by by Kate Elizabeth Russell this is one that over the years so many have told me to read if you guys know when you join my patreon you get to pick two books of my TBR that you want me to read and so many people have chosen my dark Vanessa I believe it is a pretty hard literary fiction look at a young girl who had a sexual relationship with one of her teachers and he is then years later being accused of abuse by a student and she still believes that it was love that she was in love with him so I believe it's quite a difficult hard look at you know what it means to be a victim and be groomed like this Etc so I honestly I'm excited for it because I think it's going to be very you know dark and difficult but this is one I've heard so many good things about almost wish I hadn't unwrapped this cuz this would have been a good Contender for the next episode but anyways we're going to read my dark Vanessa and this is one that I think a lot of you could still probably like to hear my my enjoyment of and what I think of it so O Okay interesting interest oh my God it's signed I have a signed sorry gy I didn't know anyways I'm going to go start this I'll check with you when I am a little bit of the waist [Music] through Blue Sky come bearing up for us we hang on the Hem of your gown Blue Sky come promise not to leave us T not to our town There's a darkness in the valley heavy branches crack and spit if we holler will you hurry Hello friends so I'm only about 50 pages into this I'll check them with you tomorrow probably once I've read a little bit more but I wanted to take a moment to thank the sponsor of today's video which is serious r with my serious light I've spoken to you guys quite a bit about how much I love these but I genuinely use this every single time I read I use it most I mostly read in bed but sometimes when I do reading Sprints I take it over to my table so I can read with it there I love it so it's basically the specially designed reading light a lot of other lights either aren't very strong so don't really help with reading or a blue lights and th aren't very good for our eyes and what serious lights have is something called daylight wavelength technology so it replicates the daylight Spectrum as closely as possible and what this does is it it's perfect for our brains right it's not kind of this technology that's in opposition to our biology it's like it's attuned to what our brain needs and so it doesn't make us stay up later it's very gentle in the eyes I love it it's probably my favorite reading kit my favorite reading accessory that I have I adore my serious light if you've ever wanted to kind of level up your reading I find I read so much more I want to read more when I have it on if Tom comes around and reads he uses it we all love my serious light I cannot recommend it enough I generally feel like it's been pretty revolutionary to my reading and when I like when I went and lived in Wales for a couple months I didn't have it and I really did not enjoy reading as much because I didn't have it with me so yeah I always recommend them because I just think it's absolutely wonderful it has an adjustable dimmer so you can adjust how strong you want it to be um I absolutely love it so I have a great deal for you guys and that is the code M wb24 will get you1 off a high definition light plus free UK delivery they can deliver worldwide they can also make any kind of plug that you need if you need a US plug a European plug they can make that but my code has free UK deliv plus £100 off a high definition like £100 100 discount it's absolutely crazy go check out my link down below I love my serious light so dearly I use it every single day cannot recommend enough I'm going to go use it some more this evening to read and I'll check them with you tomorrow once I've reached a little bit further through my dark Vanessa hello beautiful humans I have started reading my dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell I am on Page 142 and I am completely captivated and gripped by this book I love everything about this now I think I I can't remember what I said to you I fil the first clip cuz I always film the first clip of me opening the book and then me reading them so far apart for wrapped up because I want to unwrap them so I can maybe fit them on to TBR citter if I have the chance to um sometimes I do sometimes I don't but the opsis to this is it's about a woman who finds out when she's in her 30s a a piece is published by another woman claiming that a teacher from the school they both went to sexually assaulted her this woman our protagonist had a relationship with that teacher when she was 15 that she believes was consensual she was you know in control of and it's her kind of unpacking now what's happening with the other victims coming forward and it is split timeline I do want to say that it's some little chapters in the present day but majority in the past of us reading about their meeting and everything that happens with them and it's incredibly difficult reading this is not a lightharted book it's not fun it's an incredibly difficult read I actually had to stop I was doing reading Sprints last night with my patrons and in the last Sprint I had to just stop reading like I couldn't read anymore last night I I was in the middle of quite a I imagine will be one of the most intense scenes of the book I don't want to spoil anything but it's around the 100 page Mark if you have read the book and and I just couldn't I just couldn't carry on reading it like it is so horrible horrible but I think the writing in this is absolutely incredible when I am reading it I cannot put it down I'm reading it so so fast I'm so captivated and drawn in by this story and you know this is a difficult difficult position to take because I think as readers we are often taught to believe the narrator right like the narrator is our truth in the story is our is our you know our our basis our our anchor in the story and so we we instinctively want to agree with them we instinctively want to agree with what realizations main characters come to or opinions they have on people and then when you're reading a book that doesn't that doesn't you you can't that you are in opposition to what the narrator is often thinking and you're just wanting to like shake them it's a very difficult read it reminds me of in that regard I'm the Girl by Courtney Summers that's another one that's tackling similar topics and I mean that's a ya so I mean but she is young in the present day in this but you're kind of viewing her through a different lens because it is adult and we have the older her I'm the girl is just when she's young and I think sometimes with these characters people reading have have issues with them that they if they had any kind of reading comprehension they wouldn't where they kind of blame the character for making bad decisions for making harmful decisions to themselves right they blame them they go why why why are you doing that why are you so or or or doing doing things have having actions that we wouldn't view as the right thing to do but like in both of these books in both these situations and in real life that is not the correct attitude to have am I making any sense I don't really know I'm trying to talk around a little bit but I mean I don't want to say I'm loving it but I am loving this book in terms of its writing craft in terms of what it's trying to do the position it's putting you in as the reader I think is so interesting and difficult difficult as the reader so I'm going to go carry on reading it but um I I think it's quite quite wonderful as a piece of art that's making you think a lot I do have some book mail which we'll just open quickly I feel like I'm opening what have been opening something in every video lately and I just you I'm so appreciative this has all happened like doesn't I mean there so many Vlogs in the past I haven't had anything opening in so I'm not trying to be like braggadocious is that a word but I'm so thankful for you guys sending me stuff one is from one of you I'm assuming and one is from a publisher so what have we got oh interesting okay is there a note from Amy the community of maid is truly wonderful everybody in Discord is so welcoming and kind and bloody funny and that's because that is the energy you put out I hope things get lighter for you soon Amy thank you so much Amy sent me the airs by Rachel Hawkins I didn't realize this was a paperback waa got it's whoa look at that flop we don't get that flop that often in UK covers whoa this is the RS by Rachel Hawkins I have read uh Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins and I did really enjoy it so I've wanted to try more stuff out so there's a woman who dies and she is North Carolina's richest woman but she's also notorious cuz she was the victim of a famous kidnapping as a child in the aftermath of her death her adopted son wants this to do with her money and rejects inheritance but 10 years later his uncle's death pulls him back in and he goes to the house and the house tightens their grip and there's what happened to her four husbands that she was widowed four times over women's stories matter yeah they just matter you know I'm really really excited Rachel Hawkins threat is to me always scream fun and just kind of ridiculousness and over the topness so thank you so much Amy and then we do have what I believe to be an arc from a publisher Oh yay okay we have oh that's interesting on the cover we have how well do you really know your husband we have a talent for Murder by Peter swansson now this is the third in the Henry Lily series but I've read the first one I haven't read the second one but I don't know like can someone who's read the second one and maybe this I don't know I don't know I feel like this fit follows different topics I feel like they're kind of stand loon but maybe I do want to read the second one so maybe I should get to it oh but yes this is the one where there's a librarian who thinks that her husband is a sorry I should laugh but like she pieces together the places that he's been there's been like lots of unsolved murders during those times so I'm really really looking forward to reading this I really enjoyed the cworth killing which is the first in the series it was my favorite Peter Swanson so I'm very much looking forward to reading this and thank you to the publisher for sending it okay I'm now going to go read a lot more of my dark and hopefully maybe I'll see you tonight or first thing in the morning with some more thoughts a few moments later I literally just so filming 2 minutes later um another Amazon package arrived this is a story about a girl Namy I'm truly so thankful you guys are being so kind sending stuff to me like you know I'm not really wanting to talk about it but behind the scenes I'm still not the greatest and things still aren't the greatest I just don't want to speak about things or Jinx things but I really do appreciate this this is so kind and generous of you guys but let's see what this is I got another this is exactly what I need today got some stressful things no this is one I'm really excited for is there a note no guys there's no note if you sent this please let me know please message me please comment but it is out there screaming the antology by Jordan Peele oh hey Meeks you want me to let you out okay one sec this is a horror Anthology that I have heard so many good things about and I'm so excited to get into thank you so much to whoever said this to me oh I love this addition look at those eyes on the end pages I always love an anthology because you do get to try out a lot of authors that you haven't read from before and I've in some past anthologies found some favorite authors so please let me know whoever said this to me thank you so much okay now I truly am going to go read so I'll see you later hello beautiful humans I am now about 260 pages into my dark Vanessa so I am nearing the end I am still really really enjoying this I'm going to try and make a point I'm going to try and say something and this may make no sense to anyone but I'm going to try and say it so I don't want to SPO anything about the plot with you but there's you know the plot has obviously got waves to it and something is happening in the present moment I'm reading this and I'm reading the way that she's acting and behaving and the way she's experiencing the world and it reminds me a lot of when I was like 14 15 16 and the way way that what I was reading would structure things or the way that I'd take things in that I was reading and the way that the writing style of stuff I read at the time and what's interesting is when I was that age I wasn't really reading ya I was reading more adult stuff I was reading more like I read the cut Runner The Book Thief these are like my favorite books when I was that age I don't know how to explain this but it's making me feel like how I felt as a girl at that time when you're you're still a child but you're coming into this maturity you're coming into this Womanhood whilst being a child and that kind of space and how you feel and how you consume the world and I don't know if that's intentional but I think it's trying to make you as the reader feel and this could be just a personal thing it just happens St but it's trying to make you as really feel how you felt at that age where you felt like you're an adult but you're not I don't know if that makes any kind of sense the way that she acts the way that she behaves the way that just even the words are written on the page is all very reminiscent for me of stuff I was reading at that time and also how I felt at that time and I just think that that's fascinating I absolutely am loving the writing in this I can't believe Kate Elizabeth Russell I mean this came out in 2020 she hadn't published anything else I think she's going to become one of those authors that I'm like constantly trying to find out on the interwebs if there's another book coming Elizabeth Thomas is another one for that for me roor of kathern house please Elizabeth Thomas give us on the book I'm begging you I'm on my knees on the floor begging you what do we have here yeah I just think this is so so interestingly done I don't know I can't say any more on how I feel about it how it's done other than what I said in the first clip because I think a lot of it's going to depend on what kind of opinions she forms the character in this last section but I'm going to go ahead and read it tonight I'm absolutely loving it I'm loving it I think it is just so well done so well written so difficult so gripping so yeah I don't know if I'll check with you tonight or first thing in the morning but I'm going to go ahead and finish it and I'm yeah I'm just really looking forward to seeing what I think of it hello cuties so I finished I me take the bookmark out otherwise I'll lose it I just I don't know there's so many bookmarks lost in these shelves I finished my dark Vanessa and I have thoughts I do feel like this last 100 or 80 pages is the weakest part I think it loses some of what is propelling the book forward and like what is the reason for the book in the other parts and it doesn't quite find its footing but in other in other ways it really does find its footing and I also think that some of that perception is cuz I just took too long to read this I've read this over 4 days I think I could have read it in two there were just some life things happening that meant I didn't read this as fast as I could have done and I think I wouldn't have felt that way about the ending if I still had the momentum of the rest of the book whereas I didn't really however despite saying that I am going to give it a five star because I think that this book is just so deeply I don't even know I don't know if I have words for what this book is and I just want to speak to Kate Elizabeth Russell and say like wow I you did it this is incredible incredibly heartfelt and Incredibly difficult and and navigating this difficult feelings and difficult emotions with such care and such maturity but also not shying away from imperfection I just thought was absolutely absolutely wonderful I mean this is old now but I really cannot recommend picking this up enough because I think like I said it it it tackles the topic in such a difficult way it makes you think about a lot of things and make you think about you know so many things the idea of a perfect victim and how flawed that is the idea of you know the meoo movement and how a lot of it was arguably co-opted by journalists for their own personal gain rather than care for the victims and so so much more I I think and the way that we talk about victims can sometimes alienate other victims I just think it's so so fascinating and I think I mean I don't even I don't think I'm qualified to talk about how amazingly this tackled the topic that that it did but also imperfectly you know and how it recognizes that it's doing both I absolutely loved it I do have to say I wish I hadn't unwrapped this though because the finale to ROP retro episode 10 which will come next month I'll now confirm is going to be I cannot stop reading until I find a five star episode and I've never felt more nervous about doing I can't stop reading until I find a five star because a do I have no choice in the matter on what I'm unwrapping and what I'm reading but B the selection you know the oldest books of my TBR arguably the least likely to have a so I'm a little bit concerned and I kind of wish this had waited until that episode I could have unrapped it first and what you do there we go the episod over that's what happened last year with the I can't stop going find a five star wrapped up finale we read one book I don't think it will be the same this year so we shall see so yeah I'll leave you guys to wait for that next month I'm very nervous but I'm excited as well and yes I would very very much recommend this and so glad that I finally got around to it because again this is a whole point of wrapped up retro otherwise this book could have sat on my TBR for so much longer so there we have it everyone I hope you enjoyed this video and I will see you very soon in another one bye [Music]