did I read my most anticipated releases?! turns out i've never read a book ever 🙂‍↔️

Hello friends! Welcome back to my channel. Welcome to a video that you guys seem to always enjoy seeing me do because you like to see me suffer and fail. We're gonna be seeing how many of my most anticipated releases I have actually read. We often go back to my most anticipated releases videos and, yeah, see how many of them am I actually reading. We are up to the video that is my most anticipated releases for the second half of 2024. I'm trying to get caught up. We did the first half of 2024, I think, at the end of last year. So, like, listen, I've had a year and a half coming up to two years to read some of these books, which is a bit terrifying, a little bit petrifying, a little bit spooky scary. I don't know how I feel about that. Listen, I don't feel as much pressure on this list as I do, like, when we react to my my yearly TBR, like my 2025 TBR, whatever, because in that video I'm saying I'm gonna read all those books. I don't. I don't read all those books. But I did tell a bit of a lie there. But I am saying in that video I'm gonna read all these books. I'm not promising you anything like that in this video. I'm just saying these are the books I'm most excited for. So what we tend to do in this reaction is see how many of those books have I read and liked, how many did I read and not like, how many have I not read but I'm still interested, and how many have I not read and I'm no longer interested. Because tastes change, right? I can, like, say I'm excited for this book and then it gets, like, a 2.5 average rating and I'm like, you know what? I'm okay. Life is short. We don't need to do that. But yeah, we're gonna be reacting to that video today. So sorry I just dove into it. But before that, actually, obviously in this video we are reflecting a lot on past years but it also makes me think a lot about, like, how time passes and how we're not getting any younger and we've got to do the things we want to do now. 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I think, yeah, if you're wanting to get more into hobbies, wanting to get more into analogue, this is where you need to go. So make sure you go check it out. Okay, shall we get into it? Shall we begin watching back my most anticipated releases of 2024, the second half? Apologies, can I just say apologies for how priest my shirt is. I was having one of those days where I did not want to wear anything. Everything I looked at my wardrobe, I was like, no, no, no. None of it was the vibe. None of it was giving what I wanted it to give. So yeah, apologies, but this is all I wanted to wear and it is priest. I don't own an iron. I've never owned an iron. I don't think I've ever ironed anything in my life. You are very old and you need to play your age and not 12. You are an old lady. First book. Let's see what it is. Firstly, we have got A Talent for Murder by Peter Swanson. I just got the ARC for this. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Unread, but still interested. That is on my TBR, but like I say, I got the ARC for it and found out it was the third in the series and people told me you should really read the second book in the series. So now I have the second book in the series on my TBR, but both of them are unread. It's bad. Yeah. It's bad. Yeah. And I didn't acknowledge it. I don't think anyone can speak about all these other things. No, it's kind of bad. I just need you to say that to me. It was bad. However, I am actually going to start doing a really fun series within TBR 200 in the second half of this year where having the TBR visible has made me even more motivated to get the TBR down and I'm going to go shelf by shelf. We're going to go genre by genre because some genres are sharing shelves and we're not going to be able to stop reading that genre until we find a five star. And my hope is we're going to make some serious dents in some of these by doing that. But yeah, I need to read, I can't even remember what the title of the second is, but I need to read that one first. So that one's especially egregious because that's the third in the series, but I enjoyed the first in that series a lot. Other Peter Swansons I haven't heard the best things about, but that one I am interested in. Then we have The Truth About The Devlins by Lisa Schottling. I've never read from this author. Okay, unread and still interested. I'm not feeling good about this, actually. I'm feeling bad. I'm feeling unhopeful. I don't feel good. That is also my TBR. That is also my TBR. A book that hasn't stuck with me, I feel like in my mind, unlike some books on the TBR I've had since 2024, because I haven't really had anyone talk about it. It's quite, I think, a niche thriller that I was interested in at the time. And it's like a family drama, family dynamics. The plot kind of reminded me of like a Leanne Moriarty or something along those lines. I don't know if that's spot on or not. But yeah, I just haven't had anyone review it. And so in my mind, I'm like, oh, I have to read that because so and so loved it. I haven't seen any reviews. So yeah, I mean, it's still there. God, looking at the TBR, I can't look at it. It's like haunting me in my peripheral vision. Then we have one I'm very excited for. We have Imposter Syndrome by Joseph Knox. So Joseph Knox wrote True Crime Story, which is a very, very unique man of mystery. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's also on the TBR. Oh my God. Oh my God. I haven't heard the best things about that one. I don't think- or am I making that up? I don't think it has the best average rating. Am I making that up? Put the average rating in somewhere. If I'm telling the truth or not, I can see it right there. I can see it. Oh, lordy, lordy, lordy, lordy, lordy. Okay, here's the thing. I loved True Crime Story. Where's True Crime Story? It's there. There she is. There she is. I loved True Crime Story, which was a really unique mixed media, all told through like interviews with characters. I think this is more of a traditional novel. It really intrigued me about reading more from Joseph Knox. When I saw he had a new book out, I was like, gag, let me read it. But I don't know if it's doing- what I loved so much about that was it was doing something new, it was doing something that had never been seen. I don't know if that is doing the same. So I'm still excited to read it though. I would say it's in my top 50 books on the TBR that I'm excited to read. Wow, what a- what an accolade. Okay, I have to have read one. I have to have read one. Come on, next one I'm gonna have read. Then we have I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones. I've read quite a few Stephen Graham Jones and have enjoyed them. No, this is off to a- I don't think I've ever done worse. I don't think I've ever done worse. Now, I have a question. I have a question. I don't think I own that. Right? I own it. I own it. I've just seen it. Shit. I thought I didn't even own it. I thought it's right there. This is the thing about the TBR now finally being visible. Hmm. Unread and still interested, evidently. It's on my TBR. But not interested enough to remember it's on my TBR. The reviews of this haven't necessarily got me. I- I'm still interested. It's on the TBR. It's there. But I don't know if I'm gagging for it. Okay, number five we have to have read. Otherwise, I might just call this video off. Then we have Bury Your Gaze by Chuck Tingle. I've never heard anything about Chuck Tingle, but a lot of my patrons have a few- Oh! Oh, she's read it. Can't see, but I'm shaking my ass. I'm shaking my ass. Yes, I've read and really, really liked Bury Your Gaze by Chuck Tingle. It was my first Chuck Tingle. I would love to read more. He is my type of horror. I like campy, silly horror, but still, like, it can still be scary. It can still be gory. God knows there's some moments in Bury Your Gaze that were gortastic, gore-sensual, absolutely goralicious, babe. Like, it was so gory at the time. But it has that referentialness. I love Bury Your Gaze. Like, I don't know if it's a twi- I can't remember if it's a twist or if you know it, but, like, the book is very referential, particularly, like, the horror genre, the movie horror genre, and it was so fun. I would love, love, love, love to read more Chuck Tingle. Lucky Day, which came out last year, I was interested in. Okay, okay, the band-aid's off. I'm now gonna have read them all. I just think she's very delusional and maybe possibly insane. Oh, Bless Your Heart by Lindy Rhone is another one that was suggested by one of my patrons. This one is about this group of women who I think- that one's, that one's painful. I'm supposed to be reading that. Oh, I suddenly can't see. Unread and Interested, also on my TBR. A lot of these are on my TBR. Apparently I bought a lot of 2024 books. It's on my TBR. I really want to read it. I think I would love it. It's on TBR. Kudos for this quarter, so I better get reading it at some point. I think this could be a really high rating for me. I love the sound of it. It's like, um, sorry, I haven't really been giving synopses for these. Do you want synopses for these? Okay, Bless Your Heart by Lindy Rhone. So sorry, so sorry. I probably shouldn't have been doing that. Bless Your Heart, there's a vampire and you've got these older women who are gonna kill it, I think, basically in this small town, and I love it. It reminds me a lot of Southern Book Vampires. I think I'm gonna love it, but unread. Unread. That's the one that's been, like, high on my want to read for a long time. Oh, then we have One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware, which a lot of people have been telling me about. Could they sell it in the US? We must consult Goodreads, because I'm not sure. I think I gave this a three. It could have been lower. I've read it. Woo! Yeah! But I don't know if I want to say I liked it or not. It wasn't my favourite. This one is, there's a TV show being made, very Love Island-esque, but it's couples, so couples are brought to this island to see whether they can survive being on this island, if their relationship can survive being on this island together, but then it turns out, can they actually survive being on this island? I gave it a three. I'm gonna say Red and didn't like, because compared to my other Ruth Wares, this one was very disappointing. A three is, like, you know, a 3.5 opinion Red liked, a 2.5 opinion Red didn't like. Three is middle of the road, but there was a great feeling of disappointment with this because it was not my favourite Ruth Ware. She needs to stop doing the thrillers. I'm saying it now. She needs to stop doing the thrillers. I love Ruth Ware most when she's at her turn of the key or her one-by-one. She is her best for me when she does mystery. I've had enough. I've had enough of One Perfect Couple, Zero Days, The It Girl. Ruth, what are you doing, babe? You were that girl for me and suddenly you aren't. Suddenly you're just not. I've had enough. I gotta put my foot down. Hello, I'm actually at the end of my tether. Um, I don't know whether I've spoken. I've actually, I've had enough and I'm about to blow. Ruth, I think, needs a year off the publishing cycle. I really think she does, more than anyone else, because she can, she can work magic, but she's currently not doing so. Then we have a very interesting one. We have Queen Bee, The Story of Anne Boleyn, Witch Queen by Juno Dawson. So this is pitched as 0.5 in the Her Majesty's Royal Coven series. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Read it, loved, baby. Five stars. Five, it's on my favourite shelf. Five stars. Queen Bee by Juno Dawson is everything I want in a book. This is a prequel to her, the Her Majesty's Royal Coven. It's a novella and you're following Anne Boleyn, my girl, first of all. You know you were that bitch if you grew up obsessed with Anne Boleyn like I did. I was obsessed with Anne Boleyn. I loved her. I went to the Tower of London, saw the Anne Boleyn like layout. What's the word I'm looking for? Exhibition. I loved drawing Anne Boleyn. Anne Boleyn is that bitch, let me tell you. And it's about her coven, right? Like one of the first witches, her, not the first witches, but you know, a famous witch, her coven, the story of her death. Oh my lord. So good. I need, here's the thing. I love witches. I love historical kind of Tudor time period. I love something that's referential. I love reading a book with Anne Boleyn as a witch, like I love that. I would eat that up every single time. Give me more, more, more of this, please. Oh, I was so good. So good. Then we have Seven Lively Suspects by Katie Watson. This has been paired in the Three Dahlia series, which not enough people are reading. Okay, I'm read and still interested. Seven Lively Suspects is another book that I am constantly, constantly wanting to read. Like constantly. This is top of the list to me. I love this series. It's the Three Dahlia series where you've got these different actresses who have all played Dahlia Lively throughout the years, who's like a female occupier, like super, super world famous detective character, and they are solving mysteries. I think Seven Lively Suspects is to do with a cold case reappearing or something like that. I really enjoy this series. I think I am going to be reading this in a couple of months. I think maybe in like three months time, maybe? I'm thinking my video schedule. I am going to be reading Seven Lively Suspects. So it will be getting read soon, probably sooner than any other ones we've seen so far on this list that I want to read. Well no, bless your hearts, once you've done today. So I am supposed to be reading that, but yeah, not yet. So it doesn't count. It doesn't count. Then we have What Have You Done by Shari Lapina. I haven't read a new release Shari Lapina since Not Happy Family, which I didn't enjoy. I don't know what this Shari Lapina plot is. I don't think this is on my TBR. I have two Sharis there that I can see. The Sharis are hard for me to discern between because the UK covers are all the same. They're all blue. They all have the same font. They're all just like a random, you know, location, a picture of a random location. I don't know how I'm supposed to tell what I'm looking at. What the heck? So this doesn't stand out to me. I'm going to say unread and uninterested. Listen, I enjoy a Shari. If I was, if there was a world where I pick this book up and it adds on the TBR, I would one day read it. But it's not a book I'm searching for. It's not a book I'm gagging to read. I'm so excited to read. If I had to read it, or if I found it one day in a Shari shop, I was like, you know what? The slobster sounds good because the slobster does sound interesting. I would pick it up, but I'm not searching for it. And there's so many books that I want to read. Life is so short that I'm going to say unread and uninterested in this one because I genuinely, a girl goes missing in a nice town. Like, it's not, it's not grabbing me. Next we have one that I was sent unsolicited. I did not request this book because I did not love this author's first book when everyone else did, but I'm intrigued by it. So we have got The Pairing by Casey McQuiston. The Pairing by Casey McQuiston. Here's the thing, this was sent unsolicited to me, this book. I didn't love Red, White and Royal Blue. However, I've wanted to give Casey McQuiston a go. This book is still on my TBR, so I'm going to say unread and interested. However, if this book was on my TBR, I would not be searching it out. You maybe think, Megan, just DNF it. And I'm like, I can't do that. Not DNF it, unhaul. You'd be thinking, Megan, unhaul. And I would go, I can't do that. I gotta at least give it a go. So it's up there. Am I, yeah, I'm not gagging to read it. I gotta, I can't lie to you. I gotta be honest. This one's to do with like, it's a road trip. That's all I really know. Road trip romance. I didn't love Red, White and Royal Blue. And I feel like I was the only person who didn't love that book. Like, literally just me. No one else. Everyone else loved it. Next we have Death at Morning House, which is a little bit of a vague synopsis. This is by Maureen Johnson, who wrote the Truly Devious series, which I need to catch up on. Okay, I'm going to say unread and still interested. I don't own it. Again, am I like, gagging to read this book or to haul it? Not necessarily. But I do really, out of all like, YA mysteries, I really enjoy Maureen Johnson's stuff. I think she's a very interesting author. I really enjoy the Truly Devious series. Like, they're pretty much all four stars for me, which is pretty strong for YA mysteries. And this one did sound interesting. It had quite a vague synopsis. But Death at Morning House does sound quite fun. Is it top of the pile? No. And you may be thinking, Megan, you're probably never going to read it then. You may be right. You may be right. What can I say? Oh, then we have one I'm so excited for. We have The Seventh Veil of Salome. Set in 1950s Hollywood. Haven't read it. Still interested. Is on my TBR. I love a Hollywood book. I love. I think we should have more. Ever since I read Seven Deaths of Evan Harker. No, what the hell? Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Whoa, that was a sign that was misfiring. I've just been like, why have we not written more Hollywood books? Hollywood is rife with drama, heartache, ambition, betrayal, revenge. Like, every great dramatic feeling, emotion, moment can be in that Hollywood setting. I just love it. So I really enjoyed Silver Maria Garcia. Why have I not read this yet? This is not good, by the way. I've barely read any of these books. And it, you know, it was predictable, sadly. Then we have one that I've put on here kind of tentatively. It's I Need You to Know This by Jessa Maxwell. This is the author of The Golden Spoon. I haven't read it and I'm interested. I couldn't tell you the plot of this if you know I'm into the cross. All right? Sorry, my brain just thought of the Vicky clip, which is like, I'm being nailed with the cross like Jesus Christ and I did nothing wrong. I couldn't tell you. I couldn't tell you what this book is about. I have no idea. And I didn't love The Golden Spoon. I feel there's no need to pick it up. We have The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. McLean. This seems to be like a cozy fantasy. Okay. Okay. Cozy fantasy. I have read this. Imagine this being the one I've read. Again, I'm consulting Goodreads because, again, it's going to be around that three star mark. Three stars! Let's put- oh no, I didn't like. It's a three stars on the rating where like, I didn't love it. I have problems with the book, but I can see how someone else could enjoy it. Let me, let me actually read you out. Let's see what my, let's see what my Goodreads review was. A cozy fantasy with high highs. Oh, what was the high highs? And low lows. I just remember the low lows. I'm not gonna lie to you. I wish I could have loved it more, but the pacing was off as well as the way certain elements of the story grew and developed. Oh yeah, that's true. The romance in this is whack. It's whack-a-doodle-time. I think I did enjoy the fantastical creatures, like the phoenix and the zoo setting I thought was really fun. I'd love to read more in like that kind of, um, not a zoo, but like a animal rehabilitation center like Monkey World. Shout out Monkey World. Shout out best place ever to exist, Monkey World. Listen, if you don't know the Monkey World lore, I don't know if we can be friends. Next book. I'm yapping for so long, this is gonna be a bitch to edit. Let me... Then we have one that I just love the, I love the cover for. It's The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki. I have read this. Could I tell you what I thought of it? No, this book I've forgotten. Do I still own this? I do still own this. It's a beautiful edition. Some come to Jesus moments here. I gave this four stars. I gave it 3.5. Okay, here's what I said. Holy ----. A lovely little collection. I read this in 2025, March. That ain't that long ago. A lovely little collection of interconnected short stories that focus on what you should do when you find yourself at crossroads in life. I really enjoyed my time with this book but don't feel it was particularly memorable slash is something that will stick with me. Well ain't that the truth. Okay, read and liked. I read and liked. I gave it a 3.5. I don't think this is particularly memorable or something that would stick with me because I barely remember. I remember the coffee shop setting and I think they were giving people like people who are at crossroads in life, this is what my review just said, are coming to the coffee shop and they're like I think it's outside and they're getting like tales told to them that kind of point them in the direction that they should go in. I guess I read it and I liked it. Goodreads is really a wealth of knowledge. I'm glad I'm writing these reviews for me because now I'm learning things. Do we have one that I was intrigued by? We have You Will Never Be Me by Jesse Q. Santanto. Okay, here's the thing. Thriller. Read it and still interested. It is on the TBR. It's very different to Vera Wong's in the vibe. This is like your stereotypical thriller. I think it's to do with like mistaken identity or like stealing someone's identity or copycat someone. This isn't, again, this isn't the thriller that's like top of my list to read. However, when I come to do that, I can't stop reading till I find a 5 star, I feel like this is the kind of book I should be just spending and getting off the TBR. In that video, I think I'm not going to be reading books that I'm like this is a 5 star prediction, you know. I'm going to try and get through a lot of the backlist of the genres in that video and hopefully find a gem amongst them. Or if we get to like seven books read, you'll probably find me then reading 5 star predictions. But at the very least, I would like to kind of churn through some of the older books on the TBR in those videos. Then we have a T. Kingfisher fantasy. We have A Sorceress Comes to Call. So this is about, we've got our main character and her mother is like a bit sus. Like, okay, here's the thing. Couldn't tell you the plot of this if I tried. However, I love a T. Kingfisher. I will read anything T. Kingfisher writes. But I don't remember a ton of people reading this. I don't remember people's opinion on it. And it's a book that's kind of, that's fallen out of my my brain. It's a retelling of the Brothers Grimm Goose Girl. Mara gave it 5 stars. Okay, unread and still interested. But it's not really, that's reminded me that that book existed. Oh my god, we're at 11 unread and still interested. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's dire. It's pure evil. Never read any. I've never read a book. I've never read a book. No Death at the Sanatorium. I think this is an Icelandic translated fiction. I haven't read it. Ragnar Jonsson, I think, is an Icelandic mystery author. And I think quite a few of his books are being translated. I would really like to give him a go. Because I think I quite like the Nordic countries when I've read like Swedish. Maybe I've only read Swedish. But like the cadence of that language. I feel like I would like the cadence of the Icelandic language when it's translated into English. So I am still interested but I haven't read it. Then we have The Life Impossible by Matt Haig. I'm gonna say unread and not interested. I enjoyed The Midnight Library. I think I gave that like a 4.5, 4, 5. Something in that park. I enjoyed The Midnight Library a lot. However, I do feel like my reading has changed a bit since then. And I think this is seen as a bit of a sequel to The Midnight Library or like a spiritual successor. And I just don't know if I'm interested in that. I don't think I would see this in a bookshop. And I think that would be the book I'd want to pick up, you know? I think there'd be probably five other books I want to read before I read this. So I'm gonna say unread and uninterested. Another ARC I was sent recently. Unsusited but I'm excited about it. We have When Harry Was Here by Dustin Tao. Okay, I'm just gonna say unread and uninterested. It's on the TBR. Is this my kind of thing? Not really. I am going to be doing a video where I read a lot of YA. This is a YA romance. I don't really know anything about it like that. Other than that, I think it's, I think it's gay. I think it's between two boys. But I don't know a ton. We're gonna probably get a good chunk of like the YA. I have quite a few YA romance. I'm interested in it, but we've got to get some of this stuff off the TBR, haven't we? But we have The Examiner by Janice Hallett. Yes, we do. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Read and I'm gonna say didn't like again. We're consulting the oracle that is Gertrude. It's a three. It was so disappointing. This is probably one of my most disappointing books I read last year. This was Janice's worst for me. Disappointing, irrelevant. If you're a hardcore fan, great. If you're not a hardcore fan, don't bother. My review says, ahem, sadly not Janice's best for me. I just never felt super invested in the mystery and didn't feel like the twist really twisted. Okay, I felt like it was all stuff we'd already figured out. Choosing to erase this from the Janice Hallett discography in my mind as I love her other stuff. That's so true, Megan. Wow, you're like pen on fire in some of these reviews. So true. We have Here One Moment by Leanne Moriarty. This one sounds very interesting. There's a plane and a woman comes on the plane and she tells everyone on the plane when they're gonna die. Some of them are gonna live to 103. Some of them, she tells, you're dying next week, baby. Wait, that synopsis has kind of gagged me. I'm read and still interested. I don't own this. However, I do love a Leanne Moriarty. I've read one. I was gonna say I love a Leanne Moriarty. I think in terms of that kind of, she straggles that kind of, sometimes she leaves more contemporary, sometimes she leaves more thriller. And I just really enjoy her. Well, I've read Big Little Lies. I really, really enjoyed Big Little Lies. And I have Apples Never Fall on my TBR. I think Leanne could be a girl for me. I want to keep trying out her stuff. I'm excited to read and the synopsis sounds really good. It sounds really good. Then we have probably my most excited release. We have We Solve Murders by Richard Osman. Okay, read and loved. Read and loved five stars. It's Richard, my man. I love you, Richard Osman. We Solve Murders is his second series rather than the Thursday Murder Club. We're following a father-in-law and daughter-in-law detective duo. It's got all his same fun, whimsy, charm, real life alongside an incredible murder mystery. He's the best. He's the best. He's the best to currently do it. I love this man. I love him. I am team Richard until the day that I die. How lucky am I to live in a time when Richard Osman is writing books? It doesn't get any better than this. It doesn't get any better. Love you, Richard. Then we have An Academy for Liars by Alexis Henderson. I have not yet read House of Hunger. This one's hard. This one's halfway between unread and interested. Here's the thing. I have House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson, which is her release I haven't read that I'm more interested in. That's on my TBR. I feel like whether I want to read this will depend on how I feel about that because Year of the Witching I loved. I gave, I think, very high rating, again, between a four and a five. But it's not really fresh in my brain. It's been a long time since I read it. So I think if I love House of Hunger, I will. Let's say unread and still interested. But again, it's not front of mind for me. I'm not like, oh, I really need to read An Academy for Liars. And I feel like it didn't get the best reviews at the time. Then we have Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T.J. Klune. This is the sequel to the House of Serenity. Okay. Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T.J. Klune. We're consulting Goodreads again. Loads of these books are like the three star. It's going to be three stars again, isn't it? I just said 3.5 stars full stop. Okay. Let's say red and white. Here's the thing. I love T.J. Klune's writing. I love this setting with these cast of characters. This is at the magical orphanage. And we're following, like, it's a sequel to House of Serenity. So we're following the characters. I don't want to say too much because I don't want to spoil anything. But like, we're following the characters after the events of House of Serenity. And it's got all the same, you know, hope, warm glow to it. However, this book should never have existed. No, that sounds bad, guys. And forgive me for saying it. But that's how I felt. It should never have existed. House of Serenity should be a standalone. This book is a cash grab. It should not, it shouldn't exist. It shouldn't exist. I don't believe it should exist. I just felt like the plot wasn't there. The plot felt, it felt manufactured. It didn't feel like T.J. Klune was like, I've been waiting forever to write this story. It felt like House of Serenity did well. So I've got to make up another plot for these characters. And it just didn't deliver what I wanted it to deliver. But it was still objectively a good book, I guess. And we have the House of Last Resort, which I think has been out for quite a while in the US. I haven't heard a lot of people talk about this. This is about a town, I think in Italy or something. Yeah. Okay, House of Last Resort. I believe it's a thriller. There's sterile buildings being sold off in Italy for very cheap. I think a couple buy one of the houses and it goes wrong from there. It's on my TBR. So unread and still interested. However, I think this is one of the lowest average rating books on my TBR. So I am a bit trepidatious about it. I think it could go either way. I think lowly rated thrillers, unless they're weird. I don't think this book, I don't know anything about it being weird. Lowly rated thrillers to me, that sets off alarm bells. So I am a bit nervous. I think since I got it, the rating has just been getting lower and lower and lower. So let's say unread and still interested, but it's definitely not top of my anticipated. Then we have, I'm so excited for this one, we have Kick the Lock by A.S. King. This is A.S. King's new release. A.S. King, you're going to get weird ----, baby. This has reminded me, I think I still technically have this book on order at Waterstones for like two years and they've never sent it to me. I need to write an email. I need to write a strongly rated, I think I paid for this book like two years ago and I haven't got it. Oh my God. I don't have any money. What happened to the money? It's weird ----. I love A.S. King. One of my favorite YA authors, so weird. This crazy magical realism, Dig. Dig by A.S. King, one of the greatest like magical realism, magical realism absurdist surrealist YA you've ever read in your life. So I technically tried to buy this book and they refused to send it to me. Then we have a novella, Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio, the author of If We Were Valents. I've read it. Guess what, we're consulting. See, here's the thing, I feel like I have fond memories of this. Like I remember reading it in the garden and that was a great, great time, but did I like it? 3.5 stars. Okay, I'm going to say I liked it, that my instinct was right. Not a lot happens, but I think there are five very interesting character studies within this small novella. Come for the characters, but don't expect much or any plot. These are reviews, Megan. It just says everything that needs to be said about my opinion. Yeah, that's how I'm feeling about it. It's short, right? It's a hundred pages, but I remember feeling like I had some very interesting individual character moments, character growth, character journeys within these only a hundred pages and you've got five characters that you're focusing on. So I thought that was a very successful element of it, but you know, there wasn't really any plot. I think that could have been stronger as a whole book. Then we have Disney High by Ashley Spencer. This is non-fiction. We're into Disney. Come on, come on, come on. One of my favourite non-fictions ever. Disney High, 10 out of 10. 10 out of 10. It's so good. It's the history of the Disney Channel. If you loved the Disney Channel growing up, if you're of a similar age to me, must read. I'm not kidding. High School Musical, Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato, Celia Gomez, The Sprouse Brothers. Yeah, all the shows. It's there and it's just so good. So good, so good, so good. Then we have Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray. The synopsis of this sounds interesting. We've got three different timelines. Yeah, you know what? I'm going to say still interested in this. It's historical fiction. There's multiple timelines. I do enjoy Libba Bray. She's a very intelligent YA author. It's done with this intelligence. I feel like it's for older YA readers. So I would still be interested in reading this. I feel like Libba Bray is someone I've slept on a bit in recent years. Then we have The City in Glass by Nebo. Another Nebo. I love Nebo. I love Nebo. I need to read- Okay, unread and still interested. But I feel like it's on the TBR, guys. It's on the TBR. I don't know the plot of it. It's a city in glass. It's fantasy. It's a short book from Nebo. The thing I do keep up with Nebo pretty well is the Singing Hills Cycle series with the novellas with Cleric Chi. But I need to read more of her standalones. I read Siren Queen last year and enjoyed it. But I have The Chosen, The Beautiful and this one on my TBR and I need to get to it. Again, I don't really know the plot. I think with Nebo, they're so beautifully written, you kind of want to go into it not really knowing the plot. Not really knowing what's going on. Like you just want to go in and experience and let hell lead you. Like Siren Queen, if I tried to give you a plot for that, it's near impossible. What that book is doing is so unique and what her books are often doing is very unique. So just go into it. Just experience it. It's all about the experience. And then finally, I'll just link these two together. We have two Christmasy novellas from Murder Mystery series, which I'm intrigued about. We have The Mistletoe Mystery by Anita Prose, which is the sequel to The Maid or like, you know, that series. And then we have Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson, which is everyone in my family has killed someone. Okay. Okay. Okay. I have read Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret. Oh God. Okay. Hang on. Goodreads check. I gave it a two? Shit. Brandon, like, I gave that a two. I remember it being a bit disappointing and the main character not really doing it for me. I'm debating whether I continue in that series. Everyone in my family has killed someone series because I didn't love that Christmas novella. I have not read, but I'm still interested in The Mistletoe Mystery. I was going to read that the same Christmas, but at that point, I hadn't read The Mystery Guest by Anita Prose yet, which is the second in the series. And people told me for that series, you really needed to read the second one before you read The Mistletoe Mystery. So I did not read it. They're both just Christmasy murder mystery novellas. You don't really need to know the plot. So seven books read and liked, four read and not liked, 13 no, no Megan, 18 unread and still interested, three unread and no longer interested. My goodness. That is, that is a, that might be my worst performance yet. That might be the worst she's ever done, Your Honour. Guilty. Good. That is how many of my 2024 second half year most anticipated releases I have actually read. Not a lot of them, but a lot of them are on my TBR. Okay, listen, the TBR is getting down. The TBR, she's going down. I'm yelling timber. Like it's time. It's time. It's time. It's time. It's some old books on here. We've got to do it. We've got to, more than ever, guys, we have got to do it. So anyways, thank you for watching this video. I'm going to end it there because it's probably so long. I already hate myself for having to edit this. Like it's going to be a nightmare. Thank you so much for watching. Let me know out of the ones I haven't yet read, what you would most recommend or what you would most like to see me get to out of what's on my TBR. Do you want me to read Bless Your Heart by the New Ryan? Do you want me to read I Was a TH Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones? Let me know down below. Thank you so much for watching and I will see you very soon in another video. Bye!