[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Look at how tiny the text is!
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Oh my god—𝘕𝘰! That's, like, textbook.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I know!
Why does she assume I have brain cells for this?
🎶 Music Intro 🎶
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I am giving away five free books to anyone who needs to pass the time during quarantine because Book of the Month is sponsoring this video.
Book of the Month is a subscription service where, every month, they choose the five best new releases.
And you get to pick your favorite book to be delivered to your door.
There's a wide range of genres and diverse authors.
And it's a great way to discover new books for a cheap price.
I have April's selections with me and they are:
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘓𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 by Janie Chang
𝘝𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦 by Elizabeth Wetmore
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵 by Lucy Foley
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 by Alex George
and 𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥 by Emily Henry
The giveaway link will be in my description.
But if you want these books guaranteed, you can also sign up for your first box—for $9.99—using my code "READWITHCINDY".
Alright.
On to the video.
So, Chanelle is over here at my place just to self-quarantine.
And so, we are safe.
We have practiced social distancing so we will not be infecting each other or other people.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Just so the world knows!
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Yes, we are still a social distancing responsibly.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] And washing our hands.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] While social distancing, I actually have read fewer books than I normally would.
Most people would be reading 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 books during quarantine.
But I actually read the majority of my books while commuting.
But now, I only commute from my bed to my desk.
So, there's been no time for me to read.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] You're like, "Bus route 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦?"
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] This would've been a short wrap-up but, fortunately, Chanelle is with me.
She has read four out of the five books that I've read this month.
Two of the books that I've read, we have opposite opinions on.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah, that's true.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] And then two of the other books, we have the same opinions on.
So, I think it would be interesting to see what we have in common and what we thought differently.
First book that I read is 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 by Libba Bray.
This is a YA paranormal book that takes place in the 1920s.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yes.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] The main character is Evie O'Neill, who is kind of like this party girl but she has a supernatural ability where she can read objects.
So, if she touches objects that formerly belonged to you, she'll be able to know your secrets or see you the last thing that you saw.
Throughout the book, there are a series of murders and she is able to use her powers to figure out who the serial killer is.
And so, it's like a combination of, like, Roaring Twenties with supernatural, creepy shit.
This is the book that we have opposite opinions on.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Dude, yeah! 𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥!
I thought you would love 𝙞𝙞𝙞𝙞𝙞𝙞𝙞𝙞𝙞𝙞𝙞𝙞𝙞𝙞𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙩𝙩𝙩𝙩!!!
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] You rated this 5-stars, right?
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah. This book—Okay—
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] 𝘊𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] This book was honestly amazing to me.
Because, I hadn't got to a point where I'd read something that was, like, scary and also kind of like—
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Wait, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘺?
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] It was scary!
Like, I was like, "𝔻𝕚𝕣𝕥𝕪 𝕁𝕠𝕙𝕟!!!" 🙈😱
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] You know what was scary?
𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] No—I mean, I'll agree.
It's too long.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] She thicc.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I think 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 could've been 300 pages, max. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] If they had condensed everything, it definitely could've been in the 3— or 400s.
But I listened to the audiobook.
Did you read it physically?
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 with the audiobook because everyone raved about it.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Oh no! [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Umm. . .
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] But then I was like, "No, I'll switch back to physical."
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] 'Cause I prefer to read physically. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Uh-huh. Yeah.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] But I was curious about the audio.
So, I was like, "I'll just give it a try, see what the narrator is about."
And then, once I heard, like, her voices, I was like, "Okay, I get what she's all about—I'm gonna switch back to physical."
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Oh, okay. [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I still think I wouldn't really have cared for it, even if I listened to the audio, though.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Oh, yeah. 'Cause the audiobook scared me because when they're singing the "Dirty John" song—
𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙮!
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺? [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Like, in the audio it's like, "𝔻𝕚𝕣𝕥𝕪 𝕁𝕠𝕙𝕟."
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] And you're like: *𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳* 😱
And it took me, like, three weeks to read it because the audiobook is, like, 20-something hours.
And so I'd be like, "I'm scared."
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Like, I could not listen to this book at night because I felt like Dirty John was gonna come for me. [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] 𝘋𝘢𝘮𝘯!
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] So I have a— [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] He's so dirty!
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah! It's weird because, like, I haven't read a book like that before, so I was freaked. Ooh!
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Well, I'm glad that you enjoyed it.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Wait, "Naughty John" was his name?
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] "Dirty John".
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Oh, "Dirty John"? [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Wasn't it "Dirty"—No.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Wasn't it "Naughty John"?
Ooh—Fake reader.
🎶 🕵️ 🎶
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] And he was released because a bunch of white people were at a party and were like, "Ooh let's play with a Ouija board!" [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] They're like, "Skeet skeet!"
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] I feel like people should 𝙣𝙤𝙩 play with anything like that because— [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Yeah?
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I would be the dumb bitch that would play with it.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] I would—I'd be like, "I'm leaving. Don't associate me with 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙥𝙞𝙙𝙨. Bye."
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I actually have an Ouija board. . .
We should pull it out for the video!
🎶 👀 🎶
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] No, I'm just kidding.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] You scared me, 𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺!
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Literally, scared me.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I pull one out right here. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] I was like, "𝘚𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘵!"
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I rated this 2.5-stars.
I feel like I really missed out on this.
I know everyone really liked it, but I just was not feeling it at all.
I think it's because the entire first book was basically a setup for, like, the rest of the series.
It had so much that she tried to cram into—
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] In one book, yeah.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] And I think if she had condensed it to 300 pages—
And instead of introducing so many characters, really focused on, like, the central characters to really develop them more.
When I first read it, it was very clear, like, what the archetypes of each character were, without much depth.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah. [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] So, I just felt very bored throughout
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] One thing I think she should've done better was not giving us too much about each character in the beginning.
We didn't need to know everyone's backstories.
We could've just known Evie's, and then gone to the second book.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] What's interesting is that some of my opinions about the characters are different from, like, most people's opinions.
So, for example, a lot of people don't like the main character, Evie.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] 𝙄 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧!
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] The main critique for her character was that they just thought that she was super annoying.
Because, throughout the story, there are these murders that happen.
And then her uncle's like, "Don't mess with this."
And then she's like, "Hmm."
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] "I'mma do it anyway!" [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] "I'mma mess with—
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Anyways! She's like, "Y'all heard sumn?" [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Anyways!
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] And then her uncle finds out.
He's like, "𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰? Okay, 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 do this."
And then she's like:
↪️↪️
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] 𝘚𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘵! [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] 𝘚𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘵!
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] So, a lot of people just think that she's just, like, a dumb bitch that just does whatever she wants to 𝙗𝙪𝙩— [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah!
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] They think she's stupid with no plan, but I actually liked her character.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I feel like it was necessary for her to be a Dumb Hoe™ in order for the story to advance.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I didn't mind her being a dumb hoe.
𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝙪𝙨.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] When you're an 𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘵 so you need to see yourself in a book.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Exactly!
I was kind of interested in Jericho, but a lot of people thought that he was, like, dry and boring.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Honestly, Jericho and Evie were my favourite characters.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Like, in the whole book. [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] 𝙒𝙤𝙬!!!
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah. [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] You know what? That's so interesting 'cause we have the opposite opinions on, like, the book itself,
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] but the characters we're like— [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah, yeah!
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] I loved their characters so much.
I thought Jericho brought a lot of, like, interesting vibes to the story.
Jericho is the one poor black kid.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] 𝙉𝙤, 𝙝𝙚'𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩! [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Isn't he?!
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] 𝙉𝙤𝙤𝙤!!!
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Who's—Then who is that guy? [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] You're thinking—
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Memphis.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] 𝙊𝙝!
Never mind—just kidding.
It's not Jericho, it's Memphis.
𝔽𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣!
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Jericho is like that big, buff dude.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Oh, I liked him too.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Ok, 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥, 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥, 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Okay, then I'm guessing top 3.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Basically, I just didn't care for it but. . .
I'm glad that there is a dumb hoe, like Evie, to represent us.
After that, I read 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 by Tarryn Fisher.
This is a thriller book about a girl named Thursday.
She is married to a guy who has two other wives that he sees on Monday and Wednesday, and she's Thursday.
They're, like, in a "polygamous relationship".
The wives can't meet each other.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah, they can't meet each other, but they know about each other's existence.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Yeah. They agreed to 𝘯𝘰𝘵 meet each other or know about who their names are, so that they wouldn't get "jealous".
It's just, like, divided time that each of them have with this one guy.
We follow the main character, Thursday.
She starts to get suspicious about what her husband is hiding and who the other two wives are.
And she starts investigating the identities of those wives and figuring out, like, what their marriages are like.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Sorry, I'm about to puke.
🤮
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] She starts to unravel some secrets and question the true character of her husband.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] 𝘜𝘶𝘦𝘶𝘨𝘩! I'm getting flashbacks!
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I read this book because you read it and then you were like, "Cindy, this book is 𝙨𝙤 𝙗𝙖𝙙!"
And then, that's what made me bump it up to my TBR.
Because I was like, "Okay, how bad can it be, 'cause if Chanelle says it's bad,"
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] That's saying something!
So I was like, "If you guys give this 5-stars, it's on sight!"
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I was just super curious 'cause you made it sound so awful.
You were telling me that you were ready to give it 5-stars.
Half-way through, something happened that made you just want to flip the table.
And you rated it 1-star.
It made me so curious—Like, how can someone descend so quickly into madness?
We both rated: 1-star.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] 1 𝙬𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣 star 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘴.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I feel like you know a book is bad if 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙝 of us rate it 1-star. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah, are like: 1-star.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] 'Cause we usually disagree on the books. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Especially thrillers—I think we usually disagree on thrillers.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I think I'm gonna have to film a separate video for this to really talk about everything that happened. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] The reason I cannot say why I rated 1-star is because— [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] It's a huge spoiler.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] It's a huge spoiler.
It really has to do with the twist.
The twist is just 𝘴𝘰 cheap and badly done.
And it just turns into this whole soap opera of these characters acting so ridiculous.
In the first half, I was like, "Y'know, this isn't so bad—It's like, okay, I would rate it 3-stars."
And then I read to the halfway point where I was like, "𝘖𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩𝘩..."
𝙊𝙝𝙝𝙝𝙝𝙝. . .
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] You're like, "𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵."
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] We're goin' down this route, okay. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Dude.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I feel like with the wives, you have to pull out a whiteboard and, like, connect everything. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] And, like, write everything down.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] You're like, "Wait what about this day?" [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Wait, wait—Wait a minute.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I remember this one part—
This isn't a spoiler, 'cause I'm gonna say it out of context—
So, one of the characters gets in a wheelchair, and then the—
The other character who sees that one in the wheelchair, she's like, "Well, at least they'll never be able to make a baby."
And I'm like, "𝘽𝙧𝙤, 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩?"
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] When I read that, I was like:
*𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘨𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨* 😵
𝕀 𝕙𝕒𝕥𝕖 𝕚𝕥—ℍ𝔸𝕋𝔼 𝕀𝕋!!!
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I'm like, "𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥?"
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] That's not even mutually exclusive. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah!
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Just because you're in a wheelchair, doesn't mean you can't make a baby. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] —Doesn't mean you can't have a baby.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] And also: 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙚!
There could've been so many alternate paths it could've taken for it to be, like, a really good book.
It could've done a great commentary on, like, women and relationships, but it didn't.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Remember when I texted you my theory about what the twist would be? [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I feel like that would've been better.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] That would've been—There are so many good things that could've been done with this book, and the author was just kinda like, "Let's go this route!"
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Let's go, like, the 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘦𝘴𝘵 route ever.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yup.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] With no creativity. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Like, 𝕝𝕒𝕫𝕪, 𝕝𝕒𝕫𝕪.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] If you're curious, you can check it out.
If not, I'll talk about it more in my video review.
The next book that I read was 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘋𝘰𝘰𝘳.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I read this because Angela was reading it and I wanted to buddy-read it with her. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Oh, yeah.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] This is the book that we had opposite opinions on. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] You rated this 5-stars, right?
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] I think I rated it 4- or 5-stars—It might've been a 4. [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Okay.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] But I 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 this one. It just didn't, like, 𝙬𝙤𝙬 me, but I loved it.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] There's this couple, they—
The synopsis is already so stupid 'cause 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙮 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚—
Okay, okay. Sorry.
They go to, like, a little, intimate dinner party to their neighbor's place.
They decide to leave their baby at home because they couldn't find a babysitter.
And so, they were like, "Well, because we're gonna be right next door, it's gonna be fine. We'll just put, like, the baby monitor and we'll check every half an hour."
𝘉𝘜𝘛—
That night, when they finally get home, their baby is gone.
So, somebody took the baby and they're like, "Oh my god, what happened?"
Basically, it revolves around the main couple, the detectives, and the other couple that was next door that they visited.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] By the way, they were— [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] 𝘏𝘰𝘰! That couple—
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I rated this 1-star.
I was so turned off by the stupidity of everybody's actions.
I thought every character was so annoying and such a caricature.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] The mom was, like, in hysterics the entire time. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] She was—
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] She's like, "ₘy bₐby!" [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] She was, like, my least favorite character."
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] "Ugh! ℝ𝕚𝕔𝕙 ℙ𝕖𝕠𝕡𝕝𝕖 𝕋𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕤™"
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] And I don't think she ever did anything that was productive or useful in the entire book. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] She didn't, she was just, like, crying.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] And everytime she had a problem, she was like, "It's okay, I'll ask my parents for money."
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] And then her parents are like, "ₒᵤᵣ ₚₒₒᵣ, ᵣᵢcₕ qᵤₑₑₙ."
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] The husband was a scrub.
Both Angela and I did not like the husband at all.
He was literally, like, the stupidest character.
Everytime he made a decision, you could tell right away that something bad was gonna happen—because it was a stupid decision.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah, he was an idiot.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] He meets a stranger, and whatever the stranger says, he's like— [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] He's like, "I will do it!"
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Yeah, he's like, "Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. I just met you, but I'll go ahead and 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭."
I didn't like how the whole plot happened because the characters had to be ridiculously stupid for it to happen in the first place.
🎶 🤔💭 🎶
I just want people with brain cells.
Also, the detectives were super unprofessional.
The mom had postpartum depression.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] And then the detectives were like, "She has postpartum depression—𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵'𝘷𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘺!" [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳!
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] And I'm like, "Yo, she's just depressed."
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Like, dude. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] And I think that, like, shows really bad ideas about women who do have postpartum depression.
'Cause it's like, not every woman who has postpartum depression is gonna be like, "Let me kill my baby."
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] The detectives are agro as fuck for no reason.
The neighbor lady, her whole personality was just being a skank.
And then, the neighbor husband, his whole personality was just being a cuck.
That's why I gave it 1-star.
Angela gave it 2-stars.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Your 1- and 2-stars are very valid.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Yeah, so the thriller books that I read this month—
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I just— [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Laughable.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] The fourth book that I read was 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘴.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] And this one, we had pretty similar opinions on. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah, we did.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] We both rated it 3-stars. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yup.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] This is the second 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 book.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] We've been reading this for the first time. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah, yeah.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] We're gonna try to trudge through the series together.
We weren't really a fan of the first book.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] It was probably, like, 2.5- or 2-stars. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] We liked this one better.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] I liked—Yeah, definitely.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] This one's better. [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] We bumped it up to 3 this time!
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] So, y'know, progress!
Because it's kind of like a cute, little middle-grade book that's more about, like, a mystery.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] They're tryna figure out who opened the Chamber of Secrets.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Harry is concerned that he has something to do with it because part of, like, the subplot is him questioning whether he should've been Slytherin or in Gryffindor.
Because, when he first got sorted, the hat was gonna put him in Slytherin.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah, the hat was, like, debating about where he should be. [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Yeah.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] But he was like, "Don't put me in Slytherin—put me in Gryffindor. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] And the hat was like, "Alright, okay."
The whole book, he's questioning about, like, his character and I thought that was an interesting part of the book.
Because it kind of shows, like, the grey morality of people.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] People can't be easily categorized into one thing. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] You can't just say someone's a Slytherin or someone's this or someone's that.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Yeah.
I thought it was interesting to add a little bit of depth to Harry's character 'cause you know he needs it.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] He needs a little bit of extra ꜰʟᴀᴠᴏʀ.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] The book had a stronger start to me because we weren't stuck with Harry the whole time. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] He was whisked away by Ron, and the twins, and the Weasleys. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yup.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] And the Weasleys are, like, the best.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] I love the Weasleys.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I love the twins. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] They're so funny and adorable.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] I'm like, "𝘐 𝘓𝘖𝘝𝘌 𝘠𝘖𝘜!!!"
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Yeah, like—So we were stuck with Harry in his boring-ass house, with the Dudleys and his fat-shaming.
And then, the twins come in with a car that they stole and whisk him away.
And I'm like, "This is so cute!"
Now that the world has been established in the first book, we can better enjoy the other characters.
'Cause we're not stuck with Harry the whole time.
We get to see, like, how the world gets expanded with all these secrets and also the other cast of characters.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Wait, is this—Oh, that's Ginny! [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] That's Ginny.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Oh, okay. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] By the way, I don't care for Ginny.
I just think—I don't know. She's just there.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] 'Cause I don't really care for those— [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵?
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Okay, well, I don't care for Ginny, and I don't care for Neville.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Okay. Who cares about Neville?
ɴᴇᴠɪʟʟᴇ ꜰᴀɴꜱ: ʀ.ɪ.ᴘ. ⚰️
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I just don't like that personality type where they're like, "ₒₒₒₕ ₘy gₒd ᵤₑₑₕ."
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] ᵢ₋ ᵢ₋ ᵢ'ₘ ₛcₐᵣₑd. ᵢ₋ ᵢ wₐₙₜ ₜₒ ₛₐy ₛₒₘₑₜₕᵢₙg bᵤₜ ᵢ'ₘ ₛcₐᵣₑd.
I think with Ginny, I kind of understand why she was like that.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Because she has, like, these older brothers so she's like, y'know—brought up being, like, afraid to speak her mind. [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Oh, yeah.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I can see that. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Because she's around, like, all these loud brothers.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Yeah. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Y'know what I mean?
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] And then, also, she's younger than them. [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Yeah.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] So, she's kinda like, "Oh, is it my place?"
I don't understand Neville.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Like, he's everybody's—Like, he's the same age as everyone else. [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I don't get why people like Neville.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Me either. [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] He must be doing something later on.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] He has to have done something, like, really amazing further in the series because right now, he's, like, really useless and boring.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] For Ginny, why I don't like her is because most of her personality so far is just having a crush on Harry. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] And so, there's nothing for me to relate to.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I didn't like that Hermione barely played a role in this book. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] She was purposely taken out of the book for a majority of the time because, if she was present the whole time, then she would've solved the whole mystery right away. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Immediately.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I think the charm of the book is just seeing the trio work together.
And so, if you take out, like, an essential player—especially if it's just, like, a plot device to take her out—then that kind of cheapens it.
Another part that I thought was cheap was like, at the end, when the antagonist shows up, he goes through this whole monologue about, like, everything that he's done and what he's planning to do.
So, it was just super cartoonish.
But I get it, 'cause it's middle-grade.
So, I'm trying not to be too harsh on it.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Yeah, I think that's, like, the bottom-line thing is that this is kind of something that you'd really enjoy if you're like, 11 or 12.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] The fifth book that I read— [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Ooh!
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I'm actually in the middle of reading this right now, but I'm close to finishing it.
But I'm pretty sure I'm gonna rate this 3-stars.
So, this is like a fantasy YA novel that I'm also buddy-reading with Angela.
This is a King Arthur retelling that is told from the perspective of Guinevere.
In the original story, you've been following King Arthur and Merlin.
But then, this time, you follow his wife, Guinevere.
And then, in this book, it turns out that Guinevere is not actually Guinevere.
The real Guinevere is dead because Joe killed her.
No, I'm kidding!
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Oh my god, you literally scared—
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] She's actually been replaced by a forest witch.
In the kingdom of Camelot, where King Arthur is ruling, magic has been banished.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Which means that Merlin was also banished because he's a wizard. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Uh-huh.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] So, when magic was, like, banned, they had to kick Merlin out.
And so, Merlin sends Guinevere to kind of like, infiltrate the place and marry King Arthur so that she could protect him.
I like Kiersten White.
She wrote two other books that I liked.
One was called 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘯, which was a retelling of Vlad the Impaler—
who was originally a man, but she genderbent the main character to be a woman.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] That sounds really interesting. [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Yeah!
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] She also wrote 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘩 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘪𝘯.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] It was about Frankenstein but it was told from Elizabeth's perspective. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Ohh.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] So, I think that's what she does where she takes historical stories that you know, and then she puts it in the perspective of a woman.
That's why I wanted to pick this up.
I liked her other two books better.
This one has been kind of boring to me because not much really happens in it.
There isn't enough flavor.
Once I got past the halfway point, I texted Angela saying like, "Man, I feel like nothing is happening here."
There's no, like, drama or anything.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Basically, this month was very like, 𝘌𝘶𝘦𝘩𝘩𝘩. [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] —Not very fun.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] There were so many books that I planned on reading this month that I didn't get to because the quarantine has slowed me down.
Next month, I'm basically gonna read all the other things that I was supposed to be reading.
Along with:
𝘕𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 by Jay Kristoff
Which I also don't think I would like.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Oh, no! [𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] But. . .Jordan picked it for Papercut Book Club.
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Ughh. . .
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Look at how tiny the text is!
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Oh my god—𝘕𝘰! That's, like, textbook.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I know!
Why does she assume I have brain cells for this?
Also, I've been getting questions about whether I can still read even though libraries are closed and we're under quarantine.
Don't worry.
I have so many library books that I still need to read—that I obviously can't return now.
So, now it's just mine.
That's pretty much it for all the books that I read in the month of March.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Alright! [𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] And that's a wrap!
I almost forgot to film a shout-out because:
Everytime I hit a milestone, I shout-out another small BookTuber so that they can get the clout too!
I hit 130k, so I want to give a shout-out to "the wild Sasha".
She popped up on my radar recently because, last week, she made a tweet about how:
There was a big BookTuber that was looking for other hosts for their livestream.
And when she contacted them, they denied her because they said that her channel was "too small".
So, I wanted to give her a shout-out so that more people can check out her channel because Sasha is really sweet.
I've known her since last year because we both read 𝘚𝘪𝘹 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘴 around the same time together.
And we both talked about getting a 𝘚𝘪𝘹 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘴 tattoo.
And she's just an awesome person overall.
She does a lot of different kinds of videos like TBRs, and hauls, and opinions, and tags, and unboxings, and pretty much everything that you can think of.
She puts in a lot of hard work into her channel, so definitely check her out!
I also invited her to be on a future livestream for Papercut Book Club.
So that she could be a guest on my liveshow, regardless of how many subscribers that she has—
Because that should not matter.
I'll link her channel in my description below.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] I hope everyone is staying safe.
Uhh. . .stay socially distant from each other.
Practice what we are doing.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Good-bye!
[𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦] Bye!
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Subscribe to Chanelle and 𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦 from me instead.
[𝘊𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺] Bye!
🎶 Music Outro 🎶