[MUSIC]
Books, yeah.
That's it, that's the opening.
[MUSIC]
Hey, didn't see you there.
Welcome to the July Epic Reads reading challenge.
How's it going?
You can't answer, you're a camera.
So I am going to talk about some of the books we have coming up in the month of
July over here on Epic Reads.
But before I get into that I'm gonna talk about the Year of Epic Reads
reading challenge.
The Year of Epic Reads Reading challenge are challenges monthly, weekly, and
quarterly where each challenge has a different theme.
And you just pick any book that fits that theme and can read it.
And there's a Facebook group where you can talk to other book people about what
you're reading said week, month, or quarter.
It's a really fun time, fun place.
Links will be down below.
And monthly reading challenge because I've only ever been able to do the monthly
challenge.
As hard as I've tried to not been able to read more.
I'm a slow reader, maybe someday but that is not today, and
was not the last six, seven, over a year that I've been doing this.
[LAUGH] I have not been able to read more than one a month.
Let's not talk about it.
And the reading challenge this month is to pick the perfect summer read.
And so the book that I picked is Sea Witch by Sarah Henning.
This book I read last summer but I'm rereading it because there is
a sequel coming out in August called Sea Witch Rising.
And so I wanted to remember what happened here and it's very summery, very beachy.
It is about the iconic villainess from The Little Mermaid and
how she became quite so evil.
And I don't want to spoil it more for you, it's definitely something you should read.
It's the perfect time to read it and you'll be reading it in time for
the sequel to come out.
But if you want witchy, summery vibes, this is the book for you.
That reminds me, and by that, I mean talking about books.
Talking about books reminds me that my shirt says, it's lit.
It's an official Epic Reads merch shirt.
And, when I went to pick up my lunch, today, at Chipotle,
the lady across the counter said, it's lit.
And, I said, yep.
And, it's a pun, because it's lit, but also, it's literature.
And if you guys have been watching these videos you know I love puns.
Okay, let's get back to the rest of the books but links down below.
So the next book I have here is Pan's Labyrinth,
the Labyrinth of the Faun by Guillermo del Toro, and Cornelia Funke, and
this is based off, inspired by Guillermo's movie, Pan's Labyrinth.
It's, first of all got a gorgeous, stunning cover.
I wanna make sure you see every bit of that.
But there's also some fun and freaky stuff going on under the cover.
Bam, it's kind of terrifying, but I kind of love it.
And so this is an adaptation of the movie that was written with Cornelia Funke,
who's the author of Ink Heart and a lot of other fun books.
And they're interesting extra fairy tales woven into here that give you more
background on the story from the movie and the story within the book.
And there's also really fun art pieces within it that Guillermo
found an artist himself and commissioned to do the art.
So it's like a really great package, really spooky, dark, fantastical read
about a long lost princess, some trickster faun, and some evil men.
And it's wonderful.
[SOUND] And the next book I have here is Soul of Stars by Ashley Poston and
this is the sequel to Heart of Iron,
which was an Anastasia retelling with tons of action set in space.
And yes, it was as epic as it sounds.
This is also going to be an epic space sci-fi saga.
And it follows, without spoiling the first book, Ana after she escapes from the hive
but must save her best friend Di and the kingdom from their evil clutches.
So it's going to be an epic, all out awesome novel.
Can you tell I'm excited?
Sorry.
[SOUND] So the next book I have here is The Beckoning Shadow by
Katharyn Blair and this is an urban fantasy a low fantasy similar to
Cassandra Claire's The Mortal Instruments series.
And follows a girl named Vesper who has the supernatural ability to turn your
worst nightmare into reality.
And she meets this group of other people who are like her and enters into this
thing called the tournament of the unraveling which is like a tournament or
fight club for people with supernatural abilities.
I'm sold.
[SOUND] And then here I have Immunity by Erin Bowman.
This is the sequel to Contagion and is another epic sci-fi novel.
So in the first book Contagion, a skeleton crew had to go to this faraway planet
to answer an SOS call and when they got there, most everything was dead.
Or was it?
Maybe some monsters rose from the dead.
And the people who survived Contagion and thought they were free and
thought they were safe now have to stop whatever happened on this planet from
stopping esewhere, and from spreading.
And so it's epic and terrifying, and exhilarating and awesome.
[SOUND] The next book I have is Destroy All Monsters by Sam J Miller.
And this is a book that follows two characters named Ash and Solomon,
who 12 years ago, something happened to them.
They were in an accident.
And then nowadays, Solomon lives in this fantasy world where there's
this fear of outsiders and there's a lot of corruption and brutality.
And it's like there are dinosaurs, and powers, and
it's this really magical place.
And then Ash lives in the current present world, where there are bullies, and
things wrong at school, and family issues at home.
And as she sees her friend,
Solomon, continue to sort of sink further into this fantasy world, she realizes she
has to figure out what happened to them years ago, in order to save them both.
Because she's also dealing with a lot of tough things on her end.
And it's this really mind bending, interesting, great novel.
[SOUND] And so the last book I have from us that I'm going to mention is
The Arrival of Someday by John Malone, and this follows a roller derby girl
named Amelia, who has a nickname first of all, Rolldemort.
I told you earlier in this video I love me a good pun.
So I really appreciate that.
And everything in Emily's life is going one way
until a rare liver disorder she was born with flares up again.
And unless you can get a transplant, which could happen potentially anytime,
she's gonna die.
And so her whole life becomes a question mark, her future, college,
a question mark and her family and friends are treating her differently.
And then someone from her past unexpectedly comes back named Will and
he promises not to mention her disease and
she finally can feel like a normal person again.
But she has to face like, hey, this might be the end, is this forever?
Does this continue for me?
And it's just this really touching emotional story you guys.
[SOUND] And so now I'm gonna talk about some books we got from another publisher.
And the first one is this box with Wilder Girls inside,
which I've heard is like an all female Lord of the Flies where this
island got infected by something and people started to mutilate and die off.
And now these girls who are left in this school, like this caged in area,
can't go outside fence, because it's toxic and dangerous out there.
And it sounds creepy and atmospheric and really cool.
[SOUND] So the last book I'm going to talk about here is There Will Come a Darkness
by Katie Rose Pool.
And this is a new epic fantasy set in this really,
really cool world where the prophets, first of all, one last vision,
about essentially like, the end, the end of everything.
And there are five characters, five main characters in this novel,
and one might be able to stop, or will cause this end of everything.
And, it is a Prince exiled from his kingdom, a ruthless killer known as
the Pale Hand, a once faithful leader torn between his duty in his heart,
a reckless gambler with the power to find anything or anyone and
a dying girl on the verge of giving up.
And so it sounds super epic.
[SOUND] So that's all I have for you guys today.
Again, click the link down below for the Facebook group, for the shirts, for
anything else that I mentioned that I forgot.
And I will see you guys next month.
Thank you for watching and I hope you're having a fantastic summer.
It's lit.
Okay, bye