READING the RAINBOW 🌈 (to finally read down my TBR!) 📚 🏁 TBR200 ep13

Hello, my name is Megan and I have 295 books on my physical TBR, yes. We're under 300 again and we're staying under there. Welcome back to TBR 200, the series I'm doing where I'm trying to get my TBR below 300. No, we've done 300, below 200. I feel like for me, my TBR being somewhere really around the like 100, 150 mark is a comfortable place for me. I like having variety. I do not like having 295 books of variety. So today, what I thought would be a super fun way to read down my TBR quite substantially is to read the rainbow. We're gonna be reading seven books that represent the colors of the rainbow. So we're gonna read a book with a red cover, an orange color, a yellow color, a green color, a blue color, an indigo color, and a violet cover. And I'm very excited. I think if you guys are also trying to read down your TBR, this is a super fun way to do it because it means we're gonna get variety. I feel like I'm like eating my vegetables, you know? I've had a lot. I said in my quarterly wrap-up, like over half of the colors, the covers were blue that I read this quarter. I mean, to be fair, we are gonna be reading two blue covers in this video with blue and indigo. I don't understand. I mean, I know the rainbow is a visual phenomenon, but why are we gonna have two blues? You know what I mean? He's got really blue eyes and I struggle with like eyes that blue, you know? Why is there no pink? Where's the pink? Oh, there is pink. Richard of York. Is there no pink in the rainbow? Hang on. I had a book that I was thinking I was gonna read that had a pink cover. That's devastating. Wait, why is there no pink? I love pink. Love pink. Oh my God. Okay, I guess I'm not reading that book then. That's sad. Why no pink in rainbow? It's not a spectral color, but it's also... That makes me sad. That's really sad. I was gonna read Murder at the Vicarage, which has got a pink cover. Okay, here we go. I have a book I have to read. I have to read Just Another Missing Person for my Patreon book club. I feel like the other covers we're gonna read are gonna be like a block color, really obvious color. This one we have to. I think let's say red. Let's say red. Keep saying it. Just keep saying it. Keep saying it out loud. Maybe you will convince hope. Do we allow that? I'm getting off to a little bit of a cheat here, but I feel like overall, I mean, you have a little bit of purple and maybe orange, but when I look at this cover, I think red. So this is gonna be our red. I am not gonna lie. I was sitting at my desk getting ready to film and my brain was starting to percolate things. There's a book I saw, because this isn't all my TV, I have a lot in boxes over there. There was a book I saw in a box the other day that is perfect, but it's a backstory. So you admit I have a nicer ass for probing? A looser ass. Excuse you. By Heather Radka, absolutely. Yellow. That's yellow. I mean, there is a big orange peach here as well, but yellow, that's gonna be our yellow. And I'm very excited. This is a nonfiction, it's been on my TBR forever. I'm happy to have a nonfiction in the list. So that's a good one. Okay, what can I see on the TBR? What can I see? Because this is kind of my like priority TBR. Oh, you know what? Okay, for blue, I think the blue and the rainbow looks like this. I'm gonna go with Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens. A book, again, this has been on my TBR, I don't even think I wanna know how long. Years. Years and years and years and years. It's a middle grade murder mystery. I've heard so many great things about this series. The series in general is quite good for this challenge because there's just a lot of colors. But this one, it even has the blue spread edges. So I feel like that's a good blue. Okay, we're moving and grooving, you know. Oh, this is gonna be a good one. Green. Green, baby, green, green, green. I'm gonna go with A Drifting Current's Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire. I would say that's very green. A very green cover. I love this series. I always give them four or five stars. Mostly, it was always five stars. I've had a few fours though, recently. So we'll see. I like Nadja as a character who just follows. Oh! I'm excited. I'm gonna read about my original series. Okay, okay, okay. Right, we've got four. So we've got red. We need orange. We need indigo. We need violet. Okay, here's the thing. Very orange cover. I don't think, I don't think, funnily enough, we're gonna find a more orange cover than this. On my TBR. However, I am reading this for another video. And this book exemplifies that video. Let me just tell you, I'm reading the oldest books on my TBR. And when I think of books that have been on there for a long time, it's this one. And so I really wanna examine that, this through that lens, right? Like, why has this been on my TBR for literally like six years? Maybe even longer. So I'm not gonna read that. What do we need again? Violet, indigo, orange. You know what? I would say this is indigo and it's short. Yay! And it's making progress in the series. We're doing a couple making progress in the series in this video. 10,000 Stitches by Olivia Atwater. This is like fairy romances. But also Regency. Fairy ex-Regency. Regency made Effie Reeves has acquired a fairy godfather. Unfortunately, he has no idea what he's doing. Da-da-da-da-da. I'm very excited. I enjoyed Half a Soul. That's a good indigo. Okay, we need orange. I feel like the orange is gonna be hard. I mean, how many oranges do you have? Violet. I am tempted. I'm not sure. I mean, this isn't a short book, but I would be tempted to put Blood Like Magic on there. I don't know. It's long. But this is a book that's been on my TBR a long, long time. And I love the colors on the cover. I love. Oh, it's beautiful. I'm gonna get my TBR up on my phone because there's a lot in boxes. Oh, How to Kill Men and Get Away With It. Is my cover orange? Because I'd read that. I think my cover of that is orange. Now, do I know where that book is? No. I will track it down. Okay, that's fun. Like another fun quick man mystery. Okay, do you know what? These books plus How to Kill Men and Get Away With It, which I need to find. God knows. What if I find it and my cover is not that color? I feel like it is, but something in me tells me it's not. Anyway, so we'll find that later on. These are our books. I am probably gonna start with my book club one, Just Another Missing Person, to make sure I get that done. And after that, who knows? The World is Our Oyster. I can't believe I'm not reading Murder at the Vicarage. I was so excited to read Murder at the Vicarage this week, but it's pink. This whole video I've been trying to film and that's just been in the back of my mind and I've been very sad. Okay, let's go. Hello. I did just playing with some cardboard over there, if you hear that. I have waited to finish Just Another Missing Person by Julia McAllister before checking with you, because if I'm honest, there is not a lot to say. We just had our book club discussion for this and everyone's just kind of like, I'm gonna give this three stars. My first three star of the year. I've only had a two star and then everything else 3.5 so far this year. So at least we're getting some variety, I guess. I'm procrastinating talking about this book. So the premise of this is the best part of it. There is a missing girl who disappeared into a dead end alleyway and we are following the lead detective, Julia. This is my baby, by the way, in case you don't know. Oh, okay, someone's in a mood. And I thought, God, wow, is she pernicious. She's just a pernicious, her behaviour was pernicious. We're following the lead detective, Julia, as she begins to try and find this woman, but then she must not find out what happened to Olivia, the girl who's gone missing for the sake of her own family and her own daughter. And it goes from there. This is essentially a very basic thriller, a very, very basic thriller. It has some twists and turns that I think on paper are good twists, but the writing for me in this was quite lacklustre, which is surprising. Hi, baby. Which is surprising when she doesn't mean to pick her up, but she wants to mill about the place, you know? Just kind of walk around me. Just do some laps. Oh, there's some boxes. All those boxes back there are stuff we bought for the bedroom, which hopefully I'm going to be able to show you very soon. I'm procrastinating talking about this, because that's nothing to say. There's nothing to say. The writing wasn't there for me, which is surprising, because I think Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister is a masterpiece, is peak mystery thriller, a seminal work of mystery thriller. Like, I think what that book does is generational. This just feels so, like, man, the writing really didn't grab me. We have multiple perspectives, none of which grabbed me, none of which felt like they had a different tone. The ending was satisfying. I can give it that. Like, I didn't leave the ending complaining. I left the ending going, okay, you brought it together, it's fine. But I was just bored throughout the whole of this. Like, this is the kind of book that actually I could have seen myself DNFing if it wasn't a book club pick. I never DNF my patron book club picks, because I need to run the discussion. And I can't do that. Even though some of them tell me, Megan, it's fine to DNF. I can't imagine a world in which I would do that. I just think I've read better police books. I've read better missing person books. I've read better Gillian McAllister books. I just wouldn't, I wouldn't, I don't think you guys need to pick this up. No one's reading that book if you don't own this book. Like, this is a book that's been on my TV for quite some time. It's been on here since 2024. I think I got it. I got the exclusive signed edition. So I must've got it closed when it came out. It was fine. It was unoffensive. And I've been in the mood for a thriller. So that's why I read it. Yeah. It is what it is. Before we go though, I do have a parcel. Someone's got me something. I'm very excited to see what it is. They just mean we're adding something to TBR, but we're going to get loads of books off of TBR. Just a grateful patron. Cheers to my one year of being a patron. Love you tons. From a grateful patron. Anonymous. Oh my God. Thank you whoever this was. Dida, look. She's interested. Give it a sniff. Have you got a mucky ruff? What's going on there? Is that tuna? Ew. Okay. Let's see what the book is. Oh my God. Jesus Christ. They've blessed me. Oh my God. It's Gumshoe by Brenna Thumler. Okay. This is my first 2026 release that I own. It's probably one of my most anticipated 2026 releases. It is a middle grade graphic novel. Brenna Thumler wrote the Lights. No, Sheets graphic novel. Lights is the third one. Sheets graphic novel series, which I adore. And this is her new release. And it's about a girl who like loves delivering mail, but she gets confused with a bandit who's rumored to be stealing mail. And her and her friends are like, we're going to figure this out. I wish I could read this right now, but I fear it doesn't really fit the category, right? Especially with the other books. I know this one was like a little bit of a shoehorn it in, but like the other books we've gone for are mostly like the color. This has many colors. Like is the color yellow or pink or blue? I feel like I can't shoehorn it into this video, but if I could, I would. And this is probably what I want to read most right now. God, that's exciting. Oh my God. Thank you so much everyone. This is like, I've been saying for a while, if I was to buy any book, this is what I want to buy. Like I want to read this so bad. Oh my God. I want to read it so bad. Can I? Is it yellow? I don't think it's yellow. The yellow isn't obvious. Okay, anyways. Okie dokie. I have finished Butts, a backstory, and I'm going to give this four stars. I really enjoyed this as a modern fiction. I think this is like a really, really well-written specific micro-history. For me, it gave me everything I wanted from it, you know? So this has so many different things that it examines. We start with like why we developed butts as humans, and it's to run. We developed butts so that we could run. And then she kind of goes through the history of butts. And then basically the last 200 years of the idea of what a butt should be, and particularly what women's bodies should be, right? Because butts are often viewed, you know, as like a sexual thing for women or about women. And so we talk about Sarah, I can't remember her last name, who was a South African woman. What was her last name? Was it like Bartman? Yeah, Sarah Bartman, who was like a South African black woman who was kind of paraded around in London for her large butt. And like the stigma really that comes with negative connotations about large butts or larger bodies from that time really come from a place of racism. And I feel like this book does a wonderful job of examining all of the like gender, race, sexuality connotations that come with butts. I found it fascinating. And then we go into more like of the pop culture stuff. A lot of this book really is probably like the pop culture side of it in modern times, how our perception of butts has changed. I found there was a section on like aerobics classes and like dance classes. And as someone who likes a good dance class, likes a good Zumba class, ♪ I'm a, I'm a cultural, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a cultural. ♪ I found the discussion of like some of the negative associations for women over time, just the layering on different expectations of what a butt should be that add more and more layers of labor basically for women. I found that very interesting. It's not something I'd ever really thought about before. And something that was super interesting is at the end of this, it kind of talks about how like with people like Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez, like big butts are in, right? And this was published in 2022. So it was probably written like 2020, 2021. And of course we went through that whole era from like, I'd say 2014. I think it said 2014 was the year of the butt, you know, of like thicker, big butts being in, like BBLs being super popular. But I would say this book is almost outdated. I feel like it needs another chapter now with the rise of GLP-1s and Ozempic and like extreme thinness being in in Hollywood. Like every, basically every celebrity that you see has lost weight, even when you didn't think it was possible, you know? But so some of this book also felt outdated and I thought it was interesting seeing how our perceptions have already shifted in the last four years quite dramatically. So yeah, I mean, if you love butts, I find butts very, very interesting. I thought this was fascinating. I feel like it's quite a distilled look, right? Like it's only 250 pages. I feel like the topics that it has selected, it drills into perfectly succinctly. We're not going into great depth, but for me, it gave me everything I wanted. I could see some people who aren't as interested in the pop culture side of things. I love pop culture history, right? I love Reach for the Stars by Michael Craig. I love Disney High. I love a good pop culture nonfiction. So I love that side of it. I can imagine people wanting more of the historical side of it, of the scientific side of it, because that does feel a little bit brief at the start. But I like the butts and I cannot lie. What can I say? I think it was really interesting. And I think it was a really interesting lens to view all of the connotations of race, gender, sex, reality, all of these things through. I really enjoyed it. It wasn't a five-star just because I didn't have a five-star feeling, but I am picky these days. What can I say? I'm becoming picky for the five-star. I've only had one. I wonder if we'll get one in this video. I don't know if we will. I feel like Wayward Children might be our best bet. So maybe I'll pick up the Wayward Children book next. Let you know my thoughts when I finish that because it's super short. But yeah, this was a really, really interesting, fun, enjoyable read. ♪♪ Okay, I just want to show you how I'm feeling right now. Okay, this is me. Yeah. Much to think about. You know, some days are just days and some days are days. Today started off good day. I went to the gym. I'm very tired ever since. I'm feeling very tired, very, very tired. Hello. Let's do a quick check-in because I have finished A Drifting Current's Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire. Number 10, I think, in the Wayward Children series, which is a series, if you don't know, about, it's fantasy, and we're following Wayward Children, who are these kids who go into these portal worlds that are like made for them. They are everything they would have needed in a world. I'm so sorry to be here, seriously, but like, this is a dream. And we alternate between books that are like a kid going into their world for the first time, and then books that are like, we start at a lower school for Wayward Children, which is a school that these kids can go to. Oh, hey, baby. You want to make some biscuits on the blanket? This one, we're following Nadia, who we've met in, there's Dida Fleur in the air now, who we've met in previous books, and it's a story of her going into her world for the first time. And it's to do with turtles. She's a drowned girl. Yeah, that's that, babe. That's that. Hi. I don't know if I told you how much I do on a game day. Please, please, baby, please, my baby, please. You don't want to say hello? Usually you love the people. She loves live streams, particularly Nancy Drew game live streams. They're her favorite. She's a gamer girl. What can I say? Okay. Okay, here's the thing. Four stars, which is obviously a good rating, we love a four star. However, this series was a five star series to me. And the last few, two or three, I have given four stars. I think the series had a very strong identity, a very strong cast of characters, a very strong thesis, with like the first six books. And since then, I think it's getting a bit muddled. At least don't blame the trophy, Nick, because everyone's so scared to ******* tell the truth. Now, I still love this. I love Nadja's character. There's a lot of important stuff said about this, particularly about adoption and like people's reasons for adopting and the way that they can treat kids that they adopt in like not a bad way, but not in a way that puts them as the focus. I think also you can extrapolate that to a lot of parents who is more about what they want than what their child wants. There's also stuff about disability. Nadja is born with like her arm missing below her elbow, one of her arms. And so there's a lot of discussion about that, about how she doesn't see it as a hindrance to her and she lives, you know, a perfectly normal life without it. And there's a lot of discussion about that. I enjoyed this, right? It has Sean McGuire's beautiful writing. I think Sean McGuire is one of the greatest authors of art. I'm slurring my words, Bessie. And my glands are up as well. Not that you need to know that. I don't know why my glands are up. They get up when I'm burnt out. I feel like I've been a bit of a lady of leisure the past couple of days, if I'm honest with you. So I don't know what's up with that. I don't know what's up with that. If I look a bit swollen, I'm trying to hide, you see. I got, okay, anyway, anyway, anyway. So yeah, oh yeah, Sean McGuire, one of the greatest writers, one of the greatest writers, incredible author. I love the narrative perspective that this book comes at. It's kind of this, this is one of my favourite kinds of like narrator for a book, like a kind of omniscient, all-knowing narrator that does little winks and nods. I love that. If I were to write a book, I fear that it would need that little dash of camp in it. It's camp to me. It's a little bit exciting. It's a little bit different. We don't spend enough time in Nadja's world, right? I think it takes to page 50 out of 140 for us to go into the world. And it feels like the story moves. There's even one point where the book's like, we're gonna speed this up a little bit. You know, we're gonna rush through this a little bit. And I didn't feel like that worked fully for me. I wanted to spend more time in her world. It felt, to me, the real world stuff, about her being born in Russia and then being adopted into America and all the kind of identity stuff that she was having to navigate as a young child, as like a 10-year-old. I found that much more interesting than what happened in the world. The world felt a bit underdeveloped for me. And we've got turtles. Turtles should be fun. Turtles should be so fun. I mean, it's still great. But what I was just saying earlier about, I feel like this series, and you know, I may regret saying this as someone who loves this series, I do think it needs to come to an end at some point. Oh, you guys gonna drag me for this, huh? Okay. I think it needs five more books. And I want us to start wrapping this up with an intentional ending. I know Shunogawa has spoken about this because I believe that she said Cade would be the last story she'd write. And I feel like it's losing its way a little bit. And I don't want that to, like the new characters we keep bringing in, I think all their stories are wonderful. I don't want it to feel like their story shouldn't be told. But I just feel like the series was stronger at the start. And it's getting a bit, I don't know if we're doing new stuff. I don't know if we're saying new stuff all the time. I don't know. I don't want this to go out with a whimper. I think this is one of the greatest little novella series out there. And I want it to go out on high. And I feel like we should start working up to like, I'll give her five or six more books. You know, I'm not being stingy here. But I feel like I wanna start, excuse me, start us working up to a more, yeah, intentional ending. Because the last two just haven't been my favourite and have felt a little bit disappointing. They're four stars though. You know what I mean? Like, who am I to be complaining about it being four stars? It is still wonderful, but I just fear it's losing a bit of its magic, a bit of its stardust. I'm gonna now start the audiobook for Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens. This has been on my TBR for God knows how long. I'm very, there's a gift note from Shanice. Thank you, Shanice. Shanice is one of my oldest, or not in terms of age, but has been around the longest on my Patreon. So thank you, Shanice. Shout out. I've been wanting to read this middle grade Madder Mystery series for so long. So I'm looking forward to starting the audiobook. I should see you tomorrow with my thoughts. ♪♪♪ Hello. How are we doing? I have not finished my next book yet. I'm like probably a hundred pages in. Like, let me give you a quick update. I'm enjoying it. There's a lot of pros to it, which we'll talk about in a full check-in. This is not, I'm about to go on a walk. This is not what this is for. But I don't really want to read it. I went on a car journey yesterday. I went to see Norwich. It was great. We lost. That wasn't great. We had a lovely day. And I could have done some reading during like the four hours I was in the car. I didn't. But anyways, I should check in with you quickly before I go on a walk, because look what's arrived. So excited. So this is my Mindsight box, which, can I just firstly say, paid for by myself, paid for by my own doula, this is not sent to me, so I can give my complete and honest opinion. This is Illumicrate's new subscription box, which I think is quarterly. Like they're, I think they've got like a horror one and a romance one, like these genre specific boxes. And I believe Mindsight is kind of mystery, thriller, suspense, dark academia, anything in that kind of ballpark is going to be in this box. And can I just say, oh, I've dreamt, I'm out of breath. I've dreamt of times like these. I've dreamt. That actually means a lot to me. I'm so stupid. Because I really loved back in the day when I used to get Fairyloot and Illumicrate boxes, but like for a long time, it's only been subscription boxes for fantasy books, right? Fantasy books have been what there's been subscription boxes of. And I have wanted for so long, special editions of mystery thriller books. Like I want beautiful mysteries. I think there's not enough beautiful, dee-dah, beautiful mystery books out there. I can only hope that it's beautiful and that they keep having great selections because this month's book they announced, I don't know if they always will ahead of time, dee-dah, mate. But this one is the story, right? No, I can't remember the title. The Evelyn Clarke book, the one that V. Schwab has written with another co-author. And it's the, I'll talk about the synopsis in a sec. Let's just open it. I'll tell you the synopsis once I actually have the book in my hand. Okay, dee-dah, are you ready, babe? I'm so excited to see what they've done with this. Let me have a look. I want to see the cover first because I don't love the existing cover. So I hope that they maybe have changed it. Let's have a look. Oh, V just playing. Ooh, I don't know what I was expecting, but that, by the way, I was going to be right with the title. The ending writes itself. Oh my God. Okay, okay, okay. I don't know what I was expecting. That is different, I feel like, than what I was expecting. Do I like it? Yes. Do I love it? No. Let's peruse the rest of the book. Get out. On a typewriter. Sprayed edges. We have like a little turret, I feel like. Ooh, this is interesting. I like this. On the end pages, we've got pictures, I believe, of the characters, of our cast of characters. I like that. I like a good, I like a kind of realist picture in my book. I like that element. Ooh! Okay, this I love. This, okay. I might not have that dust jacket on the book. I might not have this dust jacket on the book because look at this. Oh! Oh my God. See, that I love. It's like a floor plan. A floor plan of the place. That, that I love. That I love. So I might take this off. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. But this, looking at all the different bedrooms and the rooms. I love a floor plan, as you know. Okay, that's a bit of me. That's a bit of me. Okay, fun! Okay, so yeah. I just wanted to show you the ending rights itself. There it is. And the store of this one is, I think there's like a world famous author and these many other authors, struggling authors get invited to his home for this writing retreat. But it turns out that he has died and he wants them in his will, I guess. It's like, you need to write the ending to my book and whoever writes the best ending is gonna have a huge publishing deal, yada yada. But obviously I think people start killing each other, et cetera, et cetera. I'm very excited for this release. It's one of the releases I'm most excited about this year. And I now own two 2026 releases. I have not read one yet, but I now own two. So it's time I get reading either this or Gumshoe, I think. Fun! Okay, I'd give our first Mindsight box, I'm gonna give it a seven out of 10. I like this, I don't love it. I love this. Love, love this. And I love this. So that's where I'm standing on the choices I've made. Okay, I'm gonna go for a walk and then at some point I am gonna read more of my book. At some point. When that point will be, we don't know. We don't know. But at some point I will read more. Let's talk murder, murder. Let's talk Murder, Murder, Murder by Robin Stevens. I finished it. Let me just say, I feel like I'm like, I'm getting through some books that have been on my TBR for a while. Or at least I'm about to also. But this, I mean, you'll have just seen how many months this has been on my TBR for. I don't know, 40, 50, 60. This has been on here a long time. So it feels good to finally read it. A murder happens at this girls' private school, Deep Dean School for Girls. And Daisy and Hazel are besties and they previously set up this detective agency where they just like solve little mysteries that they make up around the school. But now they've got a murder to solve. Reading from Hazel's perspective, she is, I believe, Chinese, I think. And has like come over to the UK. And so this is set, I believe, it feels like maybe in the 1930s, which we'll get onto. And so there's a little bit of like racism going on there. And her and Daisy have an interesting friendship where like they call themselves Sherlock and Watson. And Daisy has that kind of Sherlock like dismissiveness, like person who thinks they're a genius can kind of get away with rude behavior a little bit. So Daisy doesn't always treat her in a way that you want a friend to treat someone. But anyways, a teacher at their school dies, Hazel stumbles across the body and they decide to solve it together. I enjoyed this. I'm giving this a 3.5. It didn't blow my socks off, but there were a lot of elements. And I think a lot of that is because it's middle grade. I don't really read middle grade or YA anymore. It takes something special for me to like give a middle grader or YA like a five star. Pro number one, really loved the writing style of this. Really enjoyed the writing and felt like the writing and the voice of Hazel, the reading from the perspective of is very rooted in the 1930s in kind of a fun way. Like we have a lot of lingo. Yeah, just the cadence that someone would speak at the time. I feel like it's very present in the book and that makes it fun. I feel like if I was young reading this, I would just have such a fun time reading like, oh, some of the girls have a passion Daisy, which is like a word they had for when a younger girl has like kind of like a crush on an older girl. I feel like this would be a really good gateway into reading Agatha Christie. I think some people read Agatha Christie quite young. I only read Agatha Christie when I was like 20, but I think my mom read Agatha Christie when she was like nine. But I think if you've got a kid and you want to get them into murder mysteries, I think this is a great way to do it because I think it gets them familiar with the historical period and a murder mystery. And so, yeah, I thought the writing was really, really strong in this. The writing really stood out and was what made it had a great time for me. However, I don't think I'm going to continue the series and that's because I didn't really get attached to Daisy or Hazel. Like they never stood out as characters that I was invested in and would want to read more in the series. Here's the thing. If I'd read this four years ago, I would be undoubtedly continuing this series because it's fun. I had a good time. I love murder mysteries. It wasn't strenuous to read. Like I would want to read more in this series and part of me does want to. However, there's like 10. I'm not in that deep. I don't care enough about the characters, right? Daisy and Hazel, more so Daisy. Oh, hello. Hi, babe. They just never stood out to me. They never felt like real characters. They never jumped off the page. You're okay, babe? You just want them to see you, don't you? I know, I know. You just want all the comments to be like, Dita's the most beautiful cat in the land. Slowly but surely, you start to realise, actually, I can't nip to the garage in me pyjamas anymore for a painted mug, even if I want to. I never told you how much I love you now. Okay, see ya. So yeah, for that reason, I don't think I'd continue. However, if I ever, I don't know where our situation would arise for this. If I ever had to read the second, I'd be very excited to, right? Or like if, this is a lot of ifs going on here, but if I ever have a child and like, I was reading this to them as their bedtime book, would you still be reading to a child at an age where it's like reading to a child and it's a murder mystery? Would there be a Venn diagram where those two cross over? I don't know. But I feel like me and my kid would have a great time reading this series again. We have so much fun. Like it would be such a great time. So yeah, that's where I'm at. It was enjoyable. It's been on the TBR for a long time. I think if you enjoy middle grade or if you have like a kid in your life who this is around the right age for, I feel like maybe eight is a good age for this. It says here, a feel-good blend of Mallory Towers and Cluedo. Oh yeah, it's Mallory Towers and Christie. Mallory Towers and Christie. Like that, I love that. There would have been a time where I probably would have given this a four. There would have been a time where I would have continued the series. But the time is not now. I think now I'm gonna start tonight, 10,000 Stitches, the other blue book that we've got, Zindigo, I guess, by Oliver Atwater. This is the second in a Regency fairy tale series. And I feel like with this one, I'm gonna be considering, do I care enough to read the third in the series? Because Half a Soul, I feel like I gave 3.5. And then it got added to my series spreadsheet. There's a lot of series where I don't think I would continue the series if I read that book today. If I think I read Half a Soul today, I wouldn't continue the series. But this is on my TBR, so we're reading it. It's not super long. It's like 200 and something pages. We'll see what we think. But do I care enough to read the third book? That's what we're gonna find out. But I want to love this series. Regency fairies, I mean, come on. Okay, hi. There's a lot going on. Tom's watching a video upstairs. I don't know if you can hear. Dina's eating crunchies. My books are gone. Bum bum. Where are they gone? They've disappeared. It's a bit of a mystery. Never to be seen again. No, you'll hear about that soon. Here's the thing. I am about 86 pages into, I am, that's quite exact. About 86. I'm 86 pages into 10,000 stitches, but I live it out of water. I am DNFing it. I'm DNFing it. Listen, some of you are gonna be jumping up and down. I need to try and get better at DNFing. I've left probably the three books I was least excited for for the end of the video. What if I DNF them all? Not that I want to DNF books. I did, listen, this took a lot of coaching. I'm on reading sprints with my patrons. This took a lot of encouragement and coaching from them and a poll where everyone voted to DNF. So this was not a decision that I came to easily, but I am just bored as ****. I'm so bored. And I fear that's when I need to DNF. Like, even if a book is awful, sometimes I want to read it more than just like 2.53. It's so mid. So this is a Regency fairy tale romance. We're following Effie, who is a maid, and she, very insta-lovey, like so insta-lovey, falls in love with this guy who's like a lord or a part of the gentry, right? A person that would never usually be someone that she could marry. She just meets him and then she's like, I'm in love with him. And she meets a elf, I think, is that the right word? An elf? Who wants to help her. But he's a bit of a, like, he doesn't really know what he's doing. He's granting wishes, he's doing stuff, not always with the right intentions, perhaps. Like, you're not supposed to trust these elves or fairies. I can't remember what that word is. But yeah, you're not supposed to trust them because they can be sneaky, but I don't think he's necessarily sneaky. He just doesn't really know what he's doing. And he's like, I'm going to help you marry him. They strike a deal where she can like disguise herself as a lady at periods. She has to try and get him to marry her, basically. And I'm just bored. It's not doing it for me. I gave half a soul the first in the series 3.5. And I think that might've been a bit generous. I think that might've been a bit generous. And I think at the time I read it, this series was having a moment and I wanted to be part of that moment. So I said, I'm going to continue the series. But I don't know how I'm bored with a Regency fairy romance. Like, this should be the thing for me. I love Regency England. I love Jane Austen. I love, can I have you for a dance? Do you have space on your dance card for me? I love that. But the writing, unfortunately, is just 100% not doing it for me. And I'm not quite 50% in, but I'm not far. It's like a 240 page book and I'm 80 pages in. You can do the math. About 30% of the way in. Okay, so it's not a, you know, nothing amount of the book. I don't buy into the romance. If this is a romance, if she does end up with this guy, shame on you. Shame on you! Because I should be more invested in the romance by now. Now, if it's a like, she thinks she wants to marry him, but finds the true power is in loving herself, you know, if it is that, then sure, right? I can understand then the insta-love. I can understand not really actually having any focus on the romance yet and more about her and her fairy friend. But I wouldn't mean I like it. I don't really like that decision. So yeah, I think I need to get better at DNFing. This is me trying. I'm really trying. I think if I'm not enjoying a book, why continue? I'm 90 pages into this and I'm sitting there thinking, I'm going to give this a three star at best. And why would I want to continue that? Why would I want to continue that? And I don't think there's even, sometimes with a bad book, it's fun to read because I have something to tell you about that book. Maybe it's a controversial opinion. Maybe it's a book I want to steer you away from. Maybe it's like, I really have thoughts on it. This is just like so meh and so ugh and so ugh, eh, ooh, you know? It's just doing nothing for me. Just doing nothing for me. The characters I'm not particularly attached to and I feel like it's putting me in a slump. So we're DNFing. I'm going to start instead the next book, the Violet book, Bird Like Magic by Lizelle Sambry. This is a book I've wanted to read for a long time. Lizelle is an authortuber whose videos I really have enjoyed in the past, but it is YA, which scares me. Are you comfortable? I'm scared. Are you scared? Yeah. You should be. I'm not a big reader of YA anymore. I feel like that could put me off perhaps. I don't know if she's since published an adult book yet. I don't think she has. But yeah, I'm going to start this and see what I think of it. But I worry that as soon as I start DNFing, the DNF floodgates open. I go from refusing to DNF for years and years and years to suddenly I'm never actually finishing a book again. I'm just DNFing forever. I'm going to read this. I'll let you know, I'll probably check in halfway with this one because it is so long compared to the other books in this vlog. Yeah, hopefully I enjoy it because she's had so many other books come out since, this is her debut. And she's had so many books come out since that I love the synopses of. So I would really like to love this. So let's see how it goes. Okay. Hello. I'm DNFing another book. Shaking. I'm physically shaking. I'm about to put all of you bitches to the test who are like, click it if you can DNF. They're not going to give you a TBR if you don't DNF. Like, you've got to DNF more. How does it feel? How does it feel for me to DNF two books in a row? Is it fun? Is this what you wanted? I got a hundred pages into this. I got about a hundred pages into Blood Like Magic by Lizelle Sambry. I was walking down to the beach this morning. Me and Tom were going down to the beach in the morning. I was going to read on the beach. And I was thinking, why am I going to spend like six, seven hours of my weekend reading a book I'm not really enjoying? Why would I want to do that? I can't do it. My heart is saying no. Let's talk about the book. I have a lot of thoughts, right? I need to kind of streamline them because I actually have a lot that I want to talk about. There's realizations that this book has made me come to. So we're going to go plot the book, thoughts on the book, and then realizations that I've had because I think that's really where we're at. So the plot of this, we are following Roya, who comes from this family of witches. This is actually very interesting, which we'll get into in a second. Set in the future, the near distant future, I think about 2050. And in this society, this magic system, witches come of age with their first period when they're about 16. So it opens up in her in like a bath of blood, which is quite a, you know, visual. When they come of age, they have to go through like a test where they have to perform a task and then they get given their witchy power from there. That's, I think, all you really need to know. I think this is actually, probably a very good YA fantasy, actually future kind of like sci-fi fantasy. But am I the target market for that anymore? No. We're getting into realizations too early. Put a pin, put a pin, put a pin in that. I think this is very interesting. Like in terms of the society and the magic system that she's built, it's fascinating. Like the kind of witchy elements that we've got here, the kind of how everyone develops their own power, I think has some really great depth to that magic system. And then the sci-fi in 2050, imagine where we are in 2050 with technology and, you know, the way that the world's kind of systems work and like how work works or phones, like being able to see stuff through your eye, like a chip in your eye or whatever. Like, I feel like it was kind of a realistic portrayal of where we could be in 25 years, you know? And I think it's well-written. I think this is probably quite a smart, intelligent YA fantasy that has stuff to say, that has quite an interesting main character. She has this kind of, one of her key personality quirks is that she can't make decisions. And it's not framed as anxiety. She just can't make decisions, girl. She cannot make decisions. One thing I did mind, and you know this is something I hate with fantasy in general, the slang. Oh, can I just say, hack me? So I was just saying, **** me. Like at any moment, where like a character is very exasperated, they go, hack me. So be cool. Don't be all like uncool. And it was said, I think about 10 times in the a hundred pages that I read. Too many. Not hack me. I'm not down with hack me. Okay. That's kind of my thoughts on the a hundred pages I read in the book because me deciding not to continue it is really more on realizations I've had. Number one, I'm not a YA reader anymore, girl. I'm not. And I need to stop pretending I am. Right? I bought this or got gifted this when I was a YA reader. I am not. And I think I need to come to that acceptance. Right? I need to come to accept that. And I think I need to do something radical with the YA books that I left on my TBR. At least some of them. There's still quite a few up on there. And I think we need to start being a bit, you know, really the problem here is me, not the book. I don't love YA books anymore. A lot of what annoyed me about this was the style of writing that I think works in YA and for a YA audience. The way that like clothes are described or food is described or how long it takes for characters to get to certain realizations. I'm like, can we speed this up a bit? Like, I get it. I get what we're doing here, but we'd spend, because I understand why we do need to in a YA book, we spend longer on those realizations. Have I just come to a realization here? The year of just realizing stuff and everyone around me, we're all just like realizing things. Because I have more of a problem with YA than I do middle grade these days. I find YA hard to read in middle grade. And is it because characters are having realizations that are, we're having a lot of realizations. We're having realizations that are closer to like adult book realizations, but they just take so much longer to get to them. And also, I am not the fantasy reader I once was. I think what I enjoy for my fantasy has become a lot more specific, has become a lot more niche. Like I really think I know nowadays, I don't pick up as much fantasy when I do. It's very, very specific. You think with the witchiness in this, it would be that, but it's more like sci-fi witches, which I'm not sure is my vibe. I like old school witches, covens, you know? And so, yeah, I just came to this book and I'm like, hmm, we've got to get the YA off the TBR. Let me know in a TBR trend episode, how would you like me to do that? I think we have to, right? Like, should I do a tri-chapter for loads of, I don't know how many YA I've got left on my TBR, but I think we need to, I need to accept that some of it's got to go. It's got to go. And you're going home, sweetie. Who do you think you are? I don't think this is a bad book, right? I think this is a very strong YA debut, right? I think it has a lot going for it. I'm just not the person who should be reading this anymore. I'm not. I'm not the target market for this. And so, I'm DNFing it. I also read some spoilers on Goodreads for What Happens at the End. Apparently the last 20% goes a bit crazy, a wackadoodle. And I read What Happens at the End, I'm like, what the, what, what? And it was long, right? And I think it just comes down to, I wasn't having much fun reading it. And do I want to spend my weekend like that? When life's short. Life's short. I think as I'm aging, I'm coming to conclude that life's too short for ---- books. So when I was down at the beach, I did start the audiobook for How to Call Men and Get Away With It by Katie Brent. I am only about 60 pages in, I think. I am enjoying this so far, but it's a very specific kind of book and it could still go either way. So I'm going to go read this today. Hopefully I'll check with you this evening or tomorrow with my thoughts. But yeah, it's a very specific kind of book. So I don't know exactly where we're going to end up with this yet. Hello. Hello, we're in front of my empty bookshelves for probably like the last time. Say goodbye to these girlies. They've served us well. So long. I have finished How to Call Men and Get Away With It by Katie Brent. Katie Brent, yes. Here's the thing, here's the thing. This book, this is my pitch to you. This book is perfect if you're ill in bed, right? And you need brainless, brain rot, but you don't want to be scrolling through Instagram. Maybe you just want to lie there and listen to an audio book, right? That is what this book is made for. I'm giving it three stars overall because the quality of it, I'm not sure it's there. But did I kind of have a fun time reading it? Yeah. Like, did at any point I want to put this down? No, no. But I just don't think I could ever recommend this to anyone. I don't think it's particularly gonna stick with me. We are following Kitty, who is an influencer, but I've spoken before about how sometimes I have issues with like influencer characters in books and like the author not getting the influencer career correct. Cause I think it's something fun to write about, right? And like, have your character be an influencer, but like, you know, do you actually know what that job involves? However, it's like so not an issue in this book because it's so not a point of information. Like she's just an influencer. She never does any influencing work, nor does she need to. And so it's just not really, it's a non-entity, right? We just like all accept that she's an influencer apparently. And she decides to start killing shitty men. She becomes like addicted to killing awful men, like rapists, abusers. But like, she loves, she loves to kill. Women's stories matter. Yeah. They just matter. There's also a little side plot romance. I would say it's totally quite similar to things like Finlay Donovan or there's the how to kill your family. You know, very similar to those where it's trying to be witty. It's trying to be funny. The humour bordered on cringe. I felt like throughout it was close, but I feel like it almost, it just squeaked the landing. You know, you've got these horrible, rich characters. She is like uber, uber rich. Do you know what? I've been watching a lot of Ladies of London, which I know we're right at the end of the video, but like, you must watch Ladies of London. Martha, Kimmy. I mean, come on. Ladies of London is pure cinema. Sorry, it's on the best TV in a while. Bitch fest. Love that. I've been consuming a lot of that content and these characters feel very, very similar to Ladies of London characters. You know, I could really imagine a few of them in the same social cycle. So listen, I had a nice time reading it. Would I recommend it to you? No, I don't think it's particularly well written. I think the plot, the way the plot moves is just so, a girl, it's been done 10,000 times. Nothing in this shocks you. Nothing in this surprises you. It's the most basic ass, straightforward plot line you could ever imagine. You all, without reading this book, and me just telling you like a 30 second summary, you all can predict basically what happens in this book, I'm sure. It's a book that I think I would not go off my TBR without this video, right? I got this for three pound in the works on a whim. My hype was not super high when I bought it and it probably had diminished quite a bit. But the audio book is great. If you're looking to read a book like this, the audio book is great, but yeah. That's I think all I have to say. So with that, I believe that takes the TBR to 290 books. I don't know if we've ever gotten that low. We've never, I feel like we've surely never gotten into the 280s. I could be proven wrong. I could be proven wrong, but I don't think we have. But yeah, we got through quite a few books in this video. So yeah, we are down to 290 books on the TBR, which I can't believe. Like I say, if you're trying to get your TBR down too, this was a super fun way to like randomly kind of pick what I read. So I hope you enjoyed this vlog. Let me know your thoughts on any of the books. Let me know your thoughts on me, like really trying to become a DNF-er. You girls were really trying to do it. She's really trying to do it. And yeah, I'll see you all soon in another video. Bye.