Alright it has been raining all day, so I'm very sorry that the light is going to be crazy.
It's going to be bright or subdued depending on if clouds are out to play with us. This is the best I
can do today. It has been heavy rain all morning. Welcome back to my channel. My name is Kat, thank
you so much for being here today. I'm feeling much better. I do not have an autoimmune disorder.
Now we're down to two other options, neither of which is as scary as an autoimmune disorder, so I'm
feeling very thankful for that. But I won't know until the middle of December. And let's move on
to some really great books. So today, all of these books I have read and I recommend and they all
happen to also feature physically disabled main characters. So I think we have... yeah we have sweet
16 recommendations today. So without further ado, let's get started. I'm gonna do adult books first
and then YA after that. So let's get started with adult. So first up, I want to recommend an
Australian series which I don't know if it's made it across the pond (or is the pond UK to America?)...
Okay I don't know if it has left Australia. This is Resurrection Bay & And Fire Came Down,
#1 and #2 in the Caleb Zelic series. This is a detective series set in Melbourne, Australia
and the lead detective is hearing impaired. And it makes for a very interesting detective perspective
because a lot of the things that he picks up on from certain people it would be minute
body movements that maybe normally wouldn't pick up on or things that they might be mumbling under
their breath or if people are having a discussion far away or they think someone can't hear them he
can actually read their lips. It's very cool. So I really recommend this series and, as well, the
author spent a long time learning Australian sign language and also had many many people
in the hearing impaired community in Australia read/proofread the novels before publication.
So I've heard that it is really great rep in here. Next up is another mystery thriller. This
is If You Knew Her by Emily Elgar. A woman who was walking down the street [...] is hit by a car
and paralyzed and when she is wheeled into the hospital, you're seeing things from this
perspective of her neighbor in the hospital who is also paralyzed. So they're both paralyzed and
things are unfolding but like they're helpless to do anything about it. Talk about terrifying.
Like was really nervous for everyone involved the whole book through. I really recommend this one if
you like thrillers. And next up is a very weird one. This is a French translation. This is Our Life in
the Forest by Marie Darrieussecq. So this is following a world in which like most people have clones
of themselves and when they get old they have those body parts switched out with their clones.
But this is a dystopia so the clones escape with their halves and they go into the forest
and then everyone's bodies start to disintegrate. So the main character in here yeah has
one eye, one kidney, and one lung and she's writing down her story as things get progressively worse.
And, because I like to keep things spicy and keep you on your toes, we're gonna switch
from French surrealism to good old-fashioned romance. This is Under Locke by Mariana Zapata.
We're following a woman who's down on her luck and she has her brother get her job which is
to be the receptionist at this tattoo shop where the tattoo shop owner is part of a motorcycle club.
And it's kind of their story between them. The rep here is that our lead female character
is a cancer survivor and hers was a form of skin cancer where they cut out huge chunks of muscle on
her arm so one of her arms is significantly weaker and can't like bear a lot of weight at all. And of
course, I'm gonna recommend it, I'm gonna recommend it forever. This is The Reckless Oath We Made by
Bryn Greenwood. This is one of my favorite books of all time. So there are two main characters. Zee is
a woman who got in a motorcycle accident and she's been going to rehabilitation for her shattered hip
and she also walks with a limp and has chronic pain. And then the other character is Gentry who
is a young man who has autism and who believes he is supposed to be Zee's knight, like her protector and
her champion. But because you know this is the real world, Zee is like "I don't know you please stay away
from me" and Gentry's like "okay like sure." Except, Zee's sister gets taken when there is a prison break
and then Zee accepts Gentry's help as they go off on an adventure to track down and rescue the sister.
So I like cannot highly recommend this enough. I'm gonna recommend it forever, the end, like I love
this book so much and everyone should read it. And the last adult book I want to mention here is
Two Rogues Make a Right by Cat Sebastian. This is another one that I love to recommend because it just
really has my heart totally. This follows Will who is trying to track down his best friend Martin. And
Martin is hiding in an attic awaiting death because he has chronic illness and also like an
unidentified lung disease where he finds it really painful to breathe basically. This is set in
Victorian time so it's not exactly sure what it is but it's very serious and it prevents him from
doing a lot of things like labor or walking or he can't run at all. So Will whisks Martin away to
this pastoral country cottage and is helping him recuperate and get better and it's just like sweet
country living. It's very soft, so sweet. There's not much angst, there's not much drama at all.
I just loved it so much. If you like sweet slow character study romances this would be for you.
Okay now let's get into the YA. So first up here is The Wicker King by K Ancrum.
This is following two boys in high school and one of them starts to see visions and his friend
decides to go along with him and support him and make sure that he's not going to hurt himself.
This features degenerative hallucinatory disorder and the cause is a physical cause
so that is why this is in a physical disorder list. And next up I have I Am Still Alive by Kate Alice Marshall.
This follows Jess who is recuperating from the car crash that killed her mother
and she had her leg broken in multiple places and she uses a cane and has chronic pain.
And she is sent to live with her father who is an off-the-grid kind of survivalist man.
He is into some shady dealings and sh*t goes down and basically the cabin
where she was staying with her dad is burnt to the ground and she has to suddenly live and survive on
her own in the Alaskan wilderness while using like a cane and it is just very intense and I
wasn't sure how this was going to be. But I really love women in the wilderness survival books and
this is one of the best that I have read so I highly recommend it. Next up let's get a little
obscure. This was one of my favorite books in high school. This is To Feel Stuff by Andrea Siegel. From
chickenpox to tuberculosis, Elodie suffers such a frequent barrage of illnesses that she moves into
the Brown University infirmary. So her physical illnesses keep her in the college infirmary for so
long that she attracts the attention of, I believe, a professor who is going to try and crack her case
and figure out what is wrong. Next up is one I read this year. This is A Cage of Butterflies by Brian Caswell.
This is following a group of think tank kids who are basically extremely intelligent
children who are kept all at this one location. And one of the main characters
his legs are just described as twisted and he uses crutches for the entirety of the
novel. Yeah so I certainly hadn't heard of this but apparently they teach it in schools here
and it's a very common book to read so there you go. Next up is the first two in a series.
So this is Storm & Fury (#1) and Rage & Ruin (#2) by Jennifer L Armentrout. This has a female main
character who is going blind which is something that is also happening to Armentrout herself
which is a very unique perspective. So we're following Trinity who is 18 years old and
she is being hidden and kept safe from the demons in this world by these gargoyle shifters.
And one day, something happens and all hell breaks loose ~literally~. I will absolutely be reading the
third in this series which comes out next year. I cannot wait. So if you like YA, if you like fantasy,
if you like angels, demons, gargoyle shifters, own voices representation, romance... like I don't
even know... those are like all the things. How can you not like this book? So highly recommend.
It is just like dessert for me. I love love love it. And we also have another [duo] here. This is
Six of Crows (#1) and Crooked Kingdom (#2) by Leigh Bardugo. So I don't think I need to explain what this is
about for you guys. It's a fantasy heist with a group of characters that is so so so good.
But you may not realize that a few of the characters do have physical disabilities. So Kaz, who is kind
of the ringleader, he has chronic pain and he uses a cane. As well as Wylin has dyslexia which is
a physical disorder and is not classed as a mental disorder. As well as Bardugo herself
has osteonecrosis which also sometimes means she uses a cane. So yeah read this.
It's great for so many reasons. And the last one is one that I wish everyone would have
and buy. This is Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens. It does what it says on the tin.
In this case, the specific physical disabilities that are mentioned include blindness, chronic
pain, chronic illness, wheelchair use, cane use, IBS, cerebral palsy, and autism. So that is that.
Let me know any recommendations that you may have for physical disability in books down below.
I am always really keen to hear more. Also, let me know how you are doing. Are you stressed? Are you
well? What's going on? How are we feeling? I had three cups of coffee today and I have been feeling
really good. I haven't been reading that much because there are so many balls in the air.
I don't want to add more to the juggling. But for what I'm doing, I'm doing well, if that makes sense?
So I look forward to speaking to you in another video soon. Lots of love. Take care, bye~