Latest / Gorls Unplugged / Our mid year reading wrap up! The hits, the misses, and a reading goal check in ✨
Transcript
- 0:00Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast.
- 0:02I can't believe we're already halfway through the year.
- 0:05We're in June. It's like insane how fast this
- 0:09year has gone. So me and Tor thought it would
- 0:12be a good idea to actually do a mid year reading check in and
- 0:15wrap up and just tell you everything we've been reading so
- 0:18far. Like what the hits were, what
- 0:20the duds were, if we've had any, how our reading goal is going.
- 0:24So yeah, can't wait to tell you about all the five stars we've
- 0:27had and some of the books that haven't done done so well as
- 0:30well. Do you want to go first?
- 0:32Tell me how your reading year has been so far.
- 0:35Yeah, OK, perfect. Well, I've actually had such a
- 0:39good reading year so far this year, which I'm ecstatic about
- 0:42because last year it was not a good reading year at all.
- 0:45But I have literally only had one book that I didn't like,
- 0:49which is super rare for me because everyone knows I'm a bit
- 0:53harsher than Taurus. Yeah.
- 0:58But the only thing I will say is that I am not doing that great
- 1:02on in terms of quantity. I am now ahead of my reading
- 1:07goal, but only just. And my reading goal was
- 1:10significantly lower than previous years anyway.
- 1:13So I am a bit like, girl, how are you being so slow?
- 1:19But I'll take quantity. No, I'll take quality over
- 1:23quantity. 100%, OK. How's yours going?
- 1:27Do you know what? I also a bit like you, I've
- 1:29definitely been going. I haven't been so stressed about
- 1:33how many books I'm reading this year.
- 1:35Some months I've been blitzing through and done 12 books a
- 1:38month and other months I've done like 4.
- 1:40Like May, I think I only did 4 books, less fear of the chunky
- 1:45books, but I've had some real high highs and some real like
- 1:49disappointing reads that I really thought I was going to
- 1:53love. So it's been a really
- 1:55interesting year. And some books that just were
- 1:58not on my bingo card at all, like they weren't even on my
- 2:01radar read them. And then I was like, oh this was
- 2:03so fucking fantastic. So it's been a really
- 2:06interesting reading year for me, I would say.
- 2:08But I've had some read some absolute blindingly good books.
- 2:12Me too. And actually that's happened to
- 2:14me too, where some of them haven't even been on my radar.
- 2:17Or like, I feel like we've had a lot of sudden book releases this
- 2:20year. Like, for example, the Ali
- 2:22Hazelwood one that came out, we didn't really know we were
- 2:25getting that until recently. And now we're getting a new
- 2:28Jessa Hastings book next month, don't we?
- 2:31Yeah, brand new. This just released last like the
- 2:34news was just told last week. I did not know that.
- 2:37What's the book? It's called Time of Your Life
- 2:40and it's like a 90s Rockstar and super model romance perfect.
- 2:44And it's, I think it's set in London, so.
- 2:46Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
- 2:49My goodness, this is exciting. I'm instantly like, just like
- 2:54going to like Kate Moss. Like pictures used was it?
- 2:58Oh my God. Amazing.
- 3:00Yeah, I can't. Like how exciting.
- 3:02I know. So it's.
- 3:03Just a lot of stuff like that where you're like, oh, stood a
- 3:06new book by one of my favourite authors.
- 3:08Like of course I'm going to read that and hopefully love it.
- 3:11Yeah, how exciting. But shall we talk about our
- 3:15actual favourites of the year? Shall we start as we mean to go
- 3:18on and start with the positive? Yes.
- 3:20I'm not ranking. And because that you know how I
- 3:24feel about ranking, it just gets too stressful.
- 3:26I'm too indecisive for that. Yeah, do you?
- 3:28Want to go first? You want me to go first?
- 3:30I'll go first. Why not?
- 3:32Because I feel like this is on topic.
- 3:34One of my top five read or just five favorite reads of the year
- 3:37so far is The Conditions of Will by Jessa Hastings.
- 3:42If you don't know, this book is sort of attached to the Magnolia
- 3:45Parks universe, but actually still technically a stand alone.
- 3:49You can read it if you've not read Magnolia Parks.
- 3:52It follows Georgia, who lives in London but is originally from a
- 3:56really religious, like southern small town in America.
- 4:00And she has to travel home because she has found out her
- 4:03father has died and she needs to attend his funeral.
- 4:06She hates her family like she hates them.
- 4:09And as the book unravels, you see why and like what they're
- 4:14all like. And while she's there, she also
- 4:18meets Sam, who is her brother's a a sponsor who has come like,
- 4:22to the funeral with him to make sure that he stays, you know,
- 4:25sober. And her and Sam have an
- 4:28immediate connection. So it's kind of like almost like
- 4:32an Emily Henry book where it's romance, but also the plot
- 4:35outside of the romance. There's a.
- 4:37Deeper kind of message underneath it all.
- 4:40Exactly. Yeah, there's I.
- 4:41Feel like that about. I mean, I've only read Magnolia
- 4:43parts, the first one and kind of part way through.
- 4:46She hates that. I feel like those books also
- 4:48have like they're not just, she's not just a romance author.
- 4:52She's almost like more like women's fiction in a way.
- 4:56But yeah, that one, this one is definitely like, it's got some
- 5:00deep messages. There's a lot of themes of like
- 5:02religion and stuff, not religion in the sense that like she's
- 5:05preaching religion just like how does the main character feel
- 5:08about it and like exploring her own faith?
- 5:11I found it super interesting. And honestly, look at the cover
- 5:14art on the inside, like it's stunning.
- 5:18So like what I really liked about this book, I think was the
- 5:21themes. Like obviously I've talked about
- 5:23how she explores the southern States and the religion within,
- 5:27like what that can almost do to people, but the family dynamics
- 5:31were super relatable as well. And like really quite not
- 5:35triggering, but just like, oh God, like I know that situation
- 5:39of family stressed very well. Yeah.
- 5:42And then the romance was honestly one of the most perfect
- 5:45romances I've ever read. Like Sam is now one of my all
- 5:48time favorite book boyfriends, which you know that my other
- 5:51favorite book boyfriend is Ian. So she really knows how to write
- 5:56these men. But honestly, it was just such
- 5:58an emotional story for how short it was.
- 6:01It was like a six star read for me.
- 6:04Amazing. I'm really looking forward to
- 6:06reading it, but I am going to wait until until I've read.
- 6:11Yeah. The rest of the magnet, I know
- 6:13you don't have to, but I just think that's I want to do it in
- 6:16the order because I know that it's kind of a there's.
- 6:18Definitely some Easter eggs in here, so I would definitely read
- 6:22Magnolia Parks first if you're already interested in those
- 6:24books. Love that.
- 6:26OK, my turn. I'm going to go with I've picked
- 6:30out some different ones, like some fancy, some unfinished
- 6:33series, some new series. So I'm actually going to start
- 6:36with a finished series that I devoured this year and that is
- 6:42Lady of Darkness by Melissa Kaye Warwick.
- 6:45I think that's how you pronounce her name.
- 6:46I never know if I get it right. This is such a fantastic binge
- 6:52ball series. It's very the first book is very
- 6:57Throne of Glass esque because she is an assassin.
- 7:01She's got she's got a lot of secrets and but it's it's
- 7:07definitely more adult. It's much grittier and although
- 7:10there are a lot of similarities to other big like fancy series
- 7:16out there. So it's not the most original,
- 7:19but it definitely is it's own story.
- 7:22You get really hooked into the found family dynamics, really
- 7:26interesting magic system, lots of secrets that get uncovered as
- 7:32you go through, and twists with a villain that you love to hate.
- 7:37Like, you know, like in throwing a glass.
- 7:39You hate the bad people so much you cannot wait for it all to
- 7:44finally be over and for them to win.
- 7:46But they're so taunting all the way through the book that you're
- 7:49just like, I just want to climb into the book and off you
- 7:52myself. I love that in a fantasy series
- 7:56where because sometimes I don't like it when the when the
- 7:59villain is a bit namby pamby, you know you want to you want to
- 8:02really hate them and root for the good guys, and I think this
- 8:05series does that really well. It is a finished series as well.
- 8:09Like I said, the audio books are also really well done.
- 8:14Fantastic. Like main romance story.
- 8:18It's spicy as well, but not too much.
- 8:20It's not one of those like romancey series where the spice
- 8:24ends up overtaking the plot and you just feel like you're
- 8:27reading the same thing over and over again in every book.
- 8:31And there's also good like spin off romance stories, which are
- 8:34just absolutely adorable, which we just love to see because
- 8:37sometimes in a long series you can get bored of reading about
- 8:40the same couple the whole way through, can't you?
- 8:43So yeah, definitely like 10 out of 10 recommend this series.
- 8:48It's an it's a fave for me for sure.
- 8:50I need to read them ASAP. They are actually on my 25 for
- 8:532025, so like I have to do them. I'm actually doing really well
- 8:57on that so far, but I'll talk more about that later.
- 9:00But my next favorite book, this is actually like we're not
- 9:04ranking them and I couldn't rank the rest of them anyway.
- 9:07But this is my favorite read of the year so far.
- 9:11And that is A Blood over Bright Haven by ML Wang.
- 9:15So if you don't know, she is the same author that wrote sort of
- 9:18Kaigen. So it's like she's very much
- 9:21into epic fantasy, historical fantasy, like strong themes
- 9:27within the books, very similar to like RF Kwang, I would say
- 9:32with the Poppy War. But this one is stand alone and
- 9:35it's a dark academia fantasy, which if you know me, you know
- 9:40that I always say I don't really like dark academia, but I'm
- 9:44going to have to say. So that's a lie now because
- 9:47there's two books on this list that are technically dark
- 9:50academia. But this book literally made me
- 9:53cry 9 pages in. Like literally the 9th page I
- 9:57was crying. She just has such a way of
- 9:59packing so much emotion in a very like I don't like a very
- 10:04nuanced way. There are really strong themes
- 10:08in this. As I said before, it's like very
- 10:09much rooted in oppression and colonialism and misogyny and
- 10:15just all the bad things basically.
- 10:18But she does it in a way that's like super accessible and easy
- 10:21to digest. Like it doesn't necessarily feel
- 10:23difficult to get your head around or complex to read or
- 10:26heavy. It's just part of the story and
- 10:29it's done really well. Almost like Legend Born
- 10:31actually, how that embeds kind of stronger, darker themes, but
- 10:35in a really easy way. It's about two characters, Seona
- 10:39and oh I can't remember his name now, but there's 2 characters, a
- 10:43girl and a man. And he's from like the sort of
- 10:47like indigenous lands. And in the lands they get this
- 10:50thing called the blight and it's basically like this blinding
- 10:53light that just comes down and like kills them essentially.
- 10:57So all of their people are just being murdered by this blight,
- 11:01and, you know, they're really struggling to survive.
- 11:04And then Seona is in the city and she works for like, the kind
- 11:09of magic Academy sort of governing body type thing.
- 11:14And she's the youngest and only female high mage.
- 11:18So she experiences a lot of like, misogyny.
- 11:21I obviously won't say any more than that because I don't want
- 11:23to give away spoilers or the whole plot for everyone, but
- 11:26it's just so poignant and so clever, but also so simple at
- 11:32the same time. So yeah, if you haven't read
- 11:35this and you want a fantasy stand alone, you absolutely have
- 11:38to. And also read sort of Kaigen
- 11:40because that book was my favorite of last year.
- 11:43I do need to read both. I've had the proof of Blood over
- 11:47Bright Haven since last summer and I haven't touched it yet,
- 11:51even though it's a big club book.
- 11:53You really like it as well. It's a little bit slow to start,
- 11:57but just in a typical high fantasy way, which you're used
- 12:01to anyway. So, yeah, yeah.
- 12:04OK, I'm going to go in with something a bit different from
- 12:06the fantasy genre. And I feel like it's so funny
- 12:08when I listen to you talking about a book.
- 12:10You're so good and you analyse it and I'm like, yeah, it's
- 12:13really great. It's fantastic.
- 12:16You've. Analysed Lady of Darkness.
- 12:18Really. Well, no, I don't ever feel like
- 12:21that. But this is my book too.
- 12:23And this is caught up by Liz Tom.
- 12:25I always thought it was Liz Tom Ford, but apparently it's Liz
- 12:28TomTom 4D. As far as I'm aware, that's what
- 12:32I hit everyone. How I hit everyone pronouncing
- 12:34it on TikTok now anyway. But caught up is book 3 in the
- 12:38Windy City series. And if you don't know much about
- 12:41this series, it is interconnected sports romance,
- 12:45unlike other series. It's not like all hockey, not
- 12:48all football. It's it's different.
- 12:50So book 1 is hockey, Book 2 is basketball, Books three and four
- 12:55are baseball, and book 5, which is actually just released,
- 12:59reminded back, is back to hockey.
- 13:02I think. Of course, this is a single dad.
- 13:07He is grumpy as sin. She's all like a sassy queen.
- 13:12Honestly, I have such a type, it's unreal.
- 13:15But this is such a fantastic book.
- 13:17And one of the things I love about this series, as we all
- 13:19know, and one of my favorite things, is found Family.
- 13:22And this series does it really well if you're a big fan of
- 13:25Playing for Keeps and the fan family dynamic in that where
- 13:27they just, yeah, all the friends are so close and the banter just
- 13:32gets fucking wild and hilarious. And you really feel like part of
- 13:36that friendship group. Like this is definitely a series
- 13:40for you, but I think like with anything, this series, you have
- 13:44to give it a little bit of time. Like Mile High book 1 is is
- 13:47good. It's a really good story.
- 13:49But I was a bit like when I read it, I would I didn't think, Oh,
- 13:52I must read book two straight away.
- 13:56But as you go through and then you kind of fall in love with
- 13:59all of the side characters that become main characters, it's you
- 14:04just become a little bit obsessed with them.
- 14:06So caught up is book three single dad, grumpy sunshine
- 14:11nanny trope. It's just all the things that we
- 14:14love. The spitus in them is great.
- 14:18And book 4 is actually about his brother.
- 14:23So yeah, absolutely love this series.
- 14:26Definitely one for fans of sports romance found family.
- 14:30I'll definitely do them at some point.
- 14:32We'll do an update, guys. If we ever do that sports
- 14:34romance episode as well, I'll make sure I've got them by then.
- 14:37Yes, at least. One of them or two, yeah.
- 14:41Exactly. OK, Book 3 for me, it's Unspoken
- 14:46Things by Adrian Young. I never know if it's just Adrian
- 14:49or Adrian because it's like E&E. Anyway, this is tiny.
- 14:54It's literally 280 pages. Like you can read this in one
- 14:58sitting, which is exactly what I did.
- 14:59Start at 11:00 PM, finished at 3:00 AM because I couldn't put
- 15:02it down. And I feel like the first thing
- 15:08I want to say is that this book is marketed incorrectly.
- 15:12And I think a lot of people will be disappointed if they go into
- 15:17it expecting what the marketing has said, which is that it's
- 15:19magical realism. There is literally like 2%
- 15:24magical realism in this. It's barely any at all.
- 15:28It is mostly thriller slash mystery with a romance subplot.
- 15:35I would say so I think if anyone's going to read that you
- 15:38need to know that going in. However, I absolutely loved
- 15:42this. It's definitely more like her
- 15:44other book Spells for Forgetting than on Making of June Pharaoh.
- 15:49But I just I just found it super atmospheric.
- 15:52It's set in this little logging town in like the Pacific
- 15:55Northwest of America. It's a girl that has moved away
- 15:59when she was 18 for college and never come.
- 16:01She's never been back since because she was desperate to get
- 16:04out of there because something happened and you don't know what
- 16:08that something is. And the reason she ends up going
- 16:11back even though she hates it is because her twin brother has
- 16:14died and when he died she literally felt it like she she
- 16:18felt her connection to him sever.
- 16:21So she goes back and she is determined to find out like how
- 16:24he's died because it's a mystery.
- 16:26And to do so, she enlists her childhood boyfriend, who was
- 16:31also like their best friend. And it's just like an unraveling
- 16:35of this mystery of how he died and all the people that are
- 16:38involved in it and the dynamics of small towns.
- 16:41And it feels almost like an episode of kind of like the
- 16:45Netflix crime thriller dramas that you get like The Sinner or
- 16:49The Killing or stuff like that. So I think it's definitely a
- 16:52very specific book for a very specific group of people.
- 16:55It's not one that would necessarily recommend to
- 16:57everyone, but Adrian just always has like, the most incredible
- 17:03writing. Like, her writing is very
- 17:05poetic, and she's really good at creating these romances that you
- 17:09absolutely root for, even when they're just a subplot.
- 17:11So that is what I love most about it.
- 17:14I read it in one sitting, which rarely happens these days.
- 17:17And yeah, I've just thought about it continuously since.
- 17:21I am very excited to to read that one because I've obviously
- 17:26done it makes sense for me to move on to my other favorite
- 17:30book this year. We'll go in with my third and
- 17:32that was The Unmaking of June Pharaoh and absolutely was not
- 17:38on my bingo card for 2025. Bronte had been talking about
- 17:41and I don't have a hard copy. I'm waiting to hopefully get it
- 17:44on fairy loot resale. But that Bronte had been raving
- 17:50about these books like all of last year.
- 17:53Like as soon as she read them, she was like, everybody needs to
- 17:55read these. And I just, I was just a bit
- 17:57like, like just something I wasn't that asked about again,
- 18:02it was an audible sale and the audio was just done so well and
- 18:06it just, it floored me. It was a little bit slow to
- 18:09begin with or wasn't really sure what I was making of it, but
- 18:13there was something a little bit eerie and like you just said
- 18:16about sea of unspoken things like very atmospheric.
- 18:20I was like what on earth is going to happen here?
- 18:23It kind of might like as a kid my dad used to just make up
- 18:26stories in his head on the fly for us.
- 18:28Like we used to have to drive down to Hastings like once a
- 18:31month to go and see family. It's like a 2 hour drive.
- 18:33And he just make up these like really insane, like magical
- 18:38stories. And it would, it really kind of
- 18:40reminded me of those, especially with just like the door
- 18:43appearing. I was like, Oh my God, like
- 18:45what? Like what, what what is going to
- 18:47happen here? It was just fantastic.
- 18:50I don't even know what else to say about it because I loved it
- 18:53so much that I just wouldn't even know where to start,
- 18:55especially to explain it without giving anything away because you
- 19:00don't want to ruin anything. But just know that if you do
- 19:03decide to read it, you will get confused.
- 19:07Like as you go through, it's really confusing and you get you
- 19:11really start to question whether or not it's it's making sense to
- 19:15you or if you've understood what's happening.
- 19:17But it really does all make sense as you get towards the end
- 19:21of the book. And I would say this is the
- 19:24fucking perfect if you want in a reading slab and you've been
- 19:27reading loads of fancy or you've been reading load of romance and
- 19:30you feel like everything's feeling a bit samey.
- 19:32I can almost guarantee you if you pick up this book and try
- 19:36and read it, it will. It will get you out of that
- 19:40slump because it is just so different to anything else
- 19:43you've probably been reading. Honestly, Like 100%.
- 19:47I can guarantee it will be in my top five reads of the year by
- 19:51the end of 2025 because I loved it so much. 100% agree.
- 19:55I think that's actually what happened to me as well.
- 19:58I was in a reading slump and then I did unmaking of June Faro
- 20:02and spells with getting back-to-back because unmaking of
- 20:05June Faro was so addictive and got me out of that slump.
- 20:07So 10 out of 10 agree they are perfect for that.
- 20:12My next book actually also got me out of not necessarily a
- 20:17slump, but kind of like. Changed up everything I was
- 20:22reading and made me look at romance books in a new way and
- 20:26that is Nightshade by Autumn Woods.
- 20:30This has been my favorite romance book of the year so far.
- 20:35It's just got the perfect blend of like nostalgia and everything
- 20:40we love in romance with unique ideas and execution.
- 20:46So to give you a bit of a back story about what you know, the
- 20:49plot is and things, Ophelia is a 20 in her early 20s.
- 20:54And four years ago, her parents were killed in a helicopter
- 20:57accident. And she was left, like,
- 20:58completely on her own and with no money, nothing.
- 21:02And she thinks there's something very suspicious about the way
- 21:06that they died. The helicopter company is owned
- 21:09by this massive CEO who is like a billionaire and his son goes
- 21:15to a local, like elite kind of school, college even.
- 21:19And then she gets a scholarship to go there.
- 21:23So she's like, I'm going to find out what I can about this family
- 21:26to see if I can figure out how my parents died.
- 21:30She ends up meeting Alex, who is the billionaire's son, on the
- 21:33very first day there. And they are put together in a
- 21:35group project. And she hates him.
- 21:37He does not hate her as much. But what ensues is this like,
- 21:42forced proximity, kind of have to work together, romance.
- 21:47But then at the same time, Ophelia starts getting stalked
- 21:51and it's getting increasingly, increasingly darker and weirder
- 21:54until someone actually, like, tries to kill her and she
- 21:57doesn't know why or like what's going on.
- 22:00And Alex is literally the only person that can help her with
- 22:02it. So it's like you've got romance,
- 22:08but it's romantic suspense, like kind of kind of thriller.
- 22:12And then you've also got dark academia and it's set in
- 22:15Scotland and it's like this foggy castle estate with like
- 22:20all the autumnal vibes, almost like the the vibes.
- 22:27But nothing else about it reminded me of a study in
- 22:29drowning. OK.
- 22:30Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the romance was like much
- 22:34more tense, much more like like just the kind of romance that
- 22:38makes you like, kick your feet and giggle and squeal.
- 22:42Alex is literally the perfect male of interest.
- 22:45He is tall, dark, handsome. He's got tattoos.
- 22:50He's a rugby player, and he's the older brother of six
- 22:53sisters. And his like, main motivation in
- 22:57life is to look after them. So he is like the perfect love
- 23:02interest. And then Ophelia is a bit
- 23:04softer. She's a bit more of an
- 23:05introvert, a bit of a granny, so.
- 23:08We love to see that sometimes. We don't always need the FMC to
- 23:13be like the hard skinned kind of feisty woman.
- 23:19We like variety. It's nice to see those softer
- 23:22characters sometimes. Exactly.
- 23:24She's very relatable and she she actually did kind of remind me a
- 23:27bit of Effie in a study and drowning.
- 23:30I was literally just thinking that as you were describing her.
- 23:32Effie is also quite like a soft FMC.
- 23:35Exactly. But there was just so much like
- 23:37banter in it, so much tension, both with the romance but also
- 23:43the thriller aspects, the the setting and the mood was
- 23:46perfect. Like it was just so addictive.
- 23:49And then it had such a cliffhanger because because when
- 23:52I picked it up, I didn't know anyone that had read it.
- 23:55I had literally only seen it because I followed the author on
- 23:58Instagram and the character art was so cute.
- 24:00I was like, I'm just going to give this a go today.
- 24:01It's on. It was on Kindle Unlimited at
- 24:03the time. But then I was like hooked.
- 24:07And then until I got to the end, I was like, Oh my God, it's a
- 24:10cliffhanger. Like it's part of a series.
- 24:11No, no. But that's now been picked up by
- 24:16Pam McMillan, hasn't it? So it's now unavailable.
- 24:19When does it release? Either next month or the month
- 24:22after very soon. But that does mean that Book 2
- 24:25has been pushed back. I have ordered not one, but two
- 24:30versions of this book. That's how much I love it.
- 24:35Well, I am excited to read this one because the way that you
- 24:40described it, I was like, Oh, this does because I'm not really
- 24:42a dark academia. I just feel like there's lines
- 24:46of dark academia for me, like the scholar man's trilogy.
- 24:50Nah, it wasn't for me like Olivia Blake.
- 24:53No, like not for me. But then when you go to things
- 24:56like, which I'm actually going to talk about next, Legend born
- 25:01has that kind of like bit of dark academia, like it's, it's
- 25:05so good. So I'm I'm excited to read that
- 25:09shade for sure. And I will be picking it out
- 25:10when it comes out. So legend born.
- 25:14Oh my God, this was on my bingo car for 2025.
- 25:19I have had this since joining book talk like I it was one of
- 25:24the first series that I saw and I was like, oh, this sounds this
- 25:26sounds really good. It sounds like something I would
- 25:28love and just because of the size of them, even for like the
- 25:31first book, I was like, I'm not going to.
- 25:33I just would put it off because of that like big book fear.
- 25:38It was Kate no Maze book club book of the month and then
- 25:45haven't been able to put them down since.
- 25:46I'm actually about 70% of the way through oathbound now.
- 25:51Legend born and bloodmark are both so fast-paced.
- 25:55There's so many like relevant topics in in these books, like
- 26:00of just like what is going on in the world that really make you
- 26:05think that like I've really had to The book isn't hard to read
- 26:10and digest, but it's really made me like just think about certain
- 26:14issues out there in life about around diversity and prejudice
- 26:19and the way people think. And it's really it's just so
- 26:24it's so fucking well done. The story is amazing, the magic
- 26:28system is really interesting. The romance.
- 26:31I'm still like on the edge of my fucking seat with the romance
- 26:34situation in these books. Legend born and blood mud suit
- 26:38like the pacing is phenomenal through both of them.
- 26:42Oath bound, I have found a little bit slow.
- 26:44I'm still loving it, but the pace has slowed down
- 26:48significantly that I'm like of what is like, where are we now?
- 26:55Where is the story now going is what I'm trying to figure out.
- 26:58And I feel like that feels quite intentional for Book 3, to be
- 27:01honest with you. She's obviously trying to kind
- 27:02of like build into build up the start of the end of the story
- 27:08for this series. And is this going to be 4 or
- 27:10five books? You know, is it 5?
- 27:12I think it's 4. So it was originally meant to be
- 27:14a trilogy. And then the reason we had to
- 27:16wait so long for because it then turned into four books.
- 27:21So I think it's it's definitely for whether she announces a
- 27:25fifth book, I'm not sure. She hasn't so far.
- 27:28There are theories. On.
- 27:29What the name of book 4 is as well?
- 27:32But I do think that Oathbound feels like it's leading up to a
- 27:36final book. Yes though.
- 27:38I agree with you and. I find it almost feels like
- 27:40book. Two of a trilogy, if that makes
- 27:42sense. Do you know what I mean?
- 27:44It really does. But it's but honestly.
- 27:48It's been such a wild ride. I'm super glad you loved that
- 27:52series. Because obviously that's one
- 27:54that I love too, but. My 5th and final.
- 27:58Book that I have absolutely loved this year was also a five
- 28:02star is when the Moon Hatched, which actually is one that Tor
- 28:07had been telling me to read. And again, like Tor, I just had
- 28:10big book fair because it's huge. It's it is huge, especially for
- 28:14a first book in what you. Know is going to be a series
- 28:17exactly and also. Like last year I was in a
- 28:20romanticy slump, so it was even more like, oh God, this massive
- 28:24romancy in it. But this year I'm out of that.
- 28:28And so I read it and I absolutely loved it.
- 28:32It is everything I love in romanticy.
- 28:35So you kind of do have your stereotypical very strong, very
- 28:39bad ass like female main character in this, but I feel
- 28:43like the rest of the book is quite unique.
- 28:46The tropes aren't really your standard enemies to lovers.
- 28:49It's I won't say what the trope is because I feel it's a bit of
- 28:52a spoiler. But then you also have like this
- 28:57world that is so fairy tale esque in a way.
- 29:01It's like it used to be like a tale, and then war has sort of
- 29:05like, torn it apart and you have these Dragons and there's three
- 29:09different types of Dragons. And like the way she describes
- 29:12them and the bond that the main character has with the Dragons
- 29:15is so reminiscent of things like a never ending story or like
- 29:20fairy tales and fantasy movies that I would watch as a kid
- 29:23where they would have like, a sidekick or a magical creature.
- 29:27Yeah, absolutely. Loved.
- 29:29It again, I feel like this is one that you can't really say
- 29:31too much about without giving it away. 100%, yeah.
- 29:35But I would say like, my thing with it that I always like
- 29:38preface when I'm when I'm talking about it in videos, is
- 29:41that it is definitely a romantic fantasy.
- 29:46It's not a fantasy romance. So if you're not into high
- 29:49fantasy, this won't be for you because the world building is
- 29:52intense. There's a lot to get your head
- 29:54around. It's an intricate magic system.
- 29:57It's not it is not like you're it's not like a simple fave
- 30:01romance that's just super easy to read.
- 30:03It's not like that. This is definitely one for the
- 30:05people that like to read high fantasy and I also really like
- 30:09in the world. So I don't know if you ever
- 30:10watched it, but like it the world feels.
- 30:14Like a more magical. Game of Thrones S type world
- 30:18really gives that like gritty cutthroat vibe.
- 30:25So yeah, honestly, such a good, such a fucking good book.
- 30:29I and definitely I'm not one for a reread, but I am definitely
- 30:33going to reread before, especially as we now have to
- 30:36wait even longer for book 2. I will definitely be rereading
- 30:40before we get the ballad of the What is it called again?
- 30:44I can't remember Dragons. Something like that ballad.
- 30:48Of falling Dragons? Is that what you said?
- 30:49Maybe I. Also would like to do reread.
- 30:53I will also say that this has a very lyrical writing style and
- 30:58if you don't like that you won't like this book because it's very
- 31:01like descriptive and I saw a lot of negative reviews about that.
- 31:05I love descriptive, lyrical writing.
- 31:09All of Sarah's books. Are very like have a very
- 31:12lyrical writing style. I would say like so if you
- 31:15don't, if you didn't like her other if you tried to read like
- 31:18to bleed a crystal bloom, which was her first like big one.
- 31:20I would say if you didn't like her writing style, you're not
- 31:24going to like her writings on this, because I feel like her
- 31:26writing style for the main remains quite consistent.
- 31:29She's not like an RF kwang whose books different every time
- 31:34because she's writing in different genres.
- 31:35So the tone feels different. Her writing style remains very
- 31:39similar throughout her books. I would say my final book last
- 31:44but not least. Oh, I know what it is.
- 31:47I. Remember this by Helena Shura?
- 31:51This. It was so fucking good.
- 31:55I honestly like this was like one of those times for me that
- 31:58receiving a proof was just like absolutely like wanted to cry.
- 32:01I was so excited. I read the Blood and Seal series
- 32:06last year, binged. It devoured it.
- 32:09It was so fucking good and this is a spin off series from that
- 32:14series. Now Helen says that you can read
- 32:17this series without reading the Blood and Steel series.
- 32:21I personally would say you can, but.
- 32:24Reading that series. First adds so much more depth to
- 32:29this book. This again, has an academic
- 32:34setting. I do love an Academy, but not
- 32:39She's not young, she's in. She's in her 20s and she is an
- 32:44alchemist. He is a bodyguard, so it has
- 32:48that trope. They hate each other for reasons
- 32:51that I shan't divulge. You need to read the book.
- 32:54But she's a total freaking bad ass.
- 32:56But. It makes it even better.
- 33:00Because she's not like your typical warrior style bad ass
- 33:03like she uses like her brain and she's just very intelligent.
- 33:09And again, the found family dynamic that are side characters
- 33:13within this series that you meet in Blood and Steel that just
- 33:17really add to the whole story dynamic.
- 33:22There's this like duo in it that are so funny.
- 33:25And I feel like you wouldn't get the humour of this book if you
- 33:28hadn't read Blood and Steel. But yeah, honestly another one
- 33:37that I need to read. So much.
- 33:39Another one that I need to read. And I also love an Academy
- 33:43setting so much. And I will say, like blood.
- 33:46And steel was not, although again, it's not a bit like lady
- 33:49of darkness. It's not like the most original
- 33:51thing, like the basic plot points are that that you get in
- 33:54most fantasy books, but it's very much its own story like
- 33:57blood and seal has. It's like the first book is Ver
- 34:00is deadly trials. She's she's trying to prove that
- 34:03women should be able to be warriors because they women have
- 34:07been outlawed to fight basically or carry weapons.
- 34:12So it's nothing new, but it's. Very much its own thing.
- 34:20Yeah, we love that and. Anyone I know that?
- 34:23Has read it, has loved it. Yeah, like.
- 34:27Becca picked up. Quarter spicy books.
- 34:29For those of you who don't know, she picked this up last year and
- 34:32again, like devoured it, went straight on to this.
- 34:36It's really, really, really worth the read as like a full
- 34:39series and book 2 of this series is coming out June, maybe July,
- 34:47and I think we actually get the last book before the end of the
- 34:50year. She's literally like releasing
- 34:51all three in this year with Pan. That's insane.
- 34:56OK, very exciting. To do those, I think, I can't
- 35:00remember if those ones are on my list for this year or not, but
- 35:02I'm definitely going to try and do them this year.
- 35:05So that's all the books that we loved.
- 35:08Why do you have one More Wild? Card.
- 35:11Go on 1. More wild card that.
- 35:13Was not on my bingo card this year, had never heard of it, but
- 35:17I felt like it deserved an honourable mention of its own
- 35:21because I did absolutely love it.
- 35:24And that is Julie Chan is dead. And this is a book that was sent
- 35:29to me by Bloomsbury and I'd never heard of it.
- 35:34I just got an e-mail about it and I was like, oh, that sounds
- 35:36like actually sounds really interesting.
- 35:39And it's a bit of like a it's thriller vibes, but it's quite
- 35:44amusing and has this kind of like weird, like twisted spin at
- 35:49the end. But it's basically about two
- 35:51twins that were split, split like really quite young.
- 35:56One of them dies and the other one is and she's like a big time
- 35:59influencer and the other one assumes her identity, but she's
- 36:02kind of like down and out on her luck doesn't really have much.
- 36:05And when her sister dies, like she assumes her identity.
- 36:09It's just, it's very fast-paced, very interesting.
- 36:12The chapters are so short. It just keeps you hooked because
- 36:17you're like, I can quickly read another chapter.
- 36:19I can quickly read another chapter.
- 36:20And you just like fucking eating it up.
- 36:23Honestly, if you're looking again for something a bit like
- 36:26they are making of June Farrow, if you're looking for something
- 36:28that's just a little bit different and it's just going to
- 36:30kind of take you out of a slump, this would be perfect.
- 36:34To me. This is like that perfect.
- 36:35Pick it up at the airport for some holiday reading on the
- 36:37beach because you would just read it in a day.
- 36:40Yeah. Yeah.
- 36:41I I I do want to read this, but I also I'm like I'm so hit and
- 36:47miss with things that are kind of thriller vibes.
- 36:49I either love them or I hate them.
- 36:52I feel like this I. This I say I feel like this it
- 36:55does. It gives a really interesting
- 36:57insight into the realities of being a content creator.
- 37:02Whether, you know, you have a smaller following, a medium
- 37:07sized following, a really big following, it really gives you a
- 37:10look into the darker, more toxic sides of being a content creator
- 37:16that can really kind of mess with your mental health and what
- 37:19it does to other people and the cliques that can be formed.
- 37:22So it has a very interesting spin to it, a bit like Legend
- 37:26Born. There are certain things about
- 37:27it that really make you think outside of the book.
- 37:32Yeah. I I, I love that.
- 37:34Like I just love anything as well that feels fresh and
- 37:37unique. That obviously sounds like it.
- 37:40Have we had any overhyped or let down books?
- 37:44Just about to say so like my. Two my 2.
- 37:48Books. And IDMFDA book that has a huge
- 37:54two books that are actually so fucking popular on book top.
- 37:59The first of those is Jade City, by what's her name?
- 38:04Lee Fonda. Fonda Lee.
- 38:08It just wasn't for me. I didn't give it much time, but
- 38:12it just wasn't. It just wasn't for me.
- 38:16I could. Just tell I might have ended up
- 38:18reading it and absolutely loving it, but I'm so I'm past the
- 38:21point of if I'm really not enjoying something, I'm going to
- 38:23push through unless I'm really in the in the mood for something
- 38:27like that or I know a mutual that's read it and adores it.
- 38:31And I know that we have a very similar taste.
- 38:36Yeah, It just wasn't for me. The world building.
- 38:38I couldn't it wasn't pulling me in.
- 38:41So that was a no no for me. And my second was Fearless,
- 38:46which is the last book in the powerless trilogy, book 1.
- 38:50Unlike Bronte, I loved it. I thought it was it.
- 38:54I mean, it was a bit I got your like your points about it.
- 38:58Something just to put just didn't make sense.
- 38:59But I had a really good time listening to it.
- 39:03Book 2 was a massive let down. I was, I was bored.
- 39:09And I was like, I'm going to read book three though, because
- 39:11I feel like sometimes with the trilogy, that's so natural for
- 39:14book 2 to really like slow down. And I was just trying with book
- 39:193 so hard. And again, I was like, I'm not,
- 39:21I'm not doing this to myself. I'm bored.
- 39:23I've now sold the books I have of it because I'm just like,
- 39:26Nah, not for me. I just think that it wasn't very
- 39:30good. I think like.
- 39:32Obviously I hated Powerless like to the point that I made a
- 39:37negative review, which doesn't happen very often.
- 39:39But I do think those books are like very beginner YA Nancy, and
- 39:47that crowd loves them, which is great because it's bringing
- 39:49people into reading and that specific genre.
- 39:53But for anyone like us who is experienced in those kinds of
- 39:56storylines and that genre, I just don't think they hold up to
- 40:01other YA books, say, like legend porn.
- 40:03They're very different in terms of plot.
- 40:05But yeah, I just think they're great entryway books.
- 40:09But for us, not so much. Yeah.
- 40:12But for me? I only really had one book that
- 40:16I haven't liked this year, which was something I probably could
- 40:19have pushed through and enjoyed, and that was a court this Cruel
- 40:24and lovely. And the only reason I didn't
- 40:27push through to finish it because I didn't hate it, but
- 40:31the only reason I didn't finish it was because I'd heard that
- 40:33books two and three were not great.
- 40:37Yeah, idea in F book. 2 exactly so.
- 40:39I was just like well is there any point me persisting and
- 40:42enjoying book one but then book 2 is not good anyway.
- 40:47Where IDNFI think I was. About 50% in and it just felt a
- 40:51little bit samey to all of the favour romanticies that were out
- 40:54there. There were scenes that reminded
- 40:55me of Plated Prisoner. The love interest reminded me of
- 40:58Plated Prisoner. There were things that were a
- 40:59bit Akhtar ish. There were thing, you know, just
- 41:02kind of all of those vibes, which is absolutely fine.
- 41:05And for a lot of people they will love that.
- 41:07But I crave originality in a book, that's what I look for,
- 41:13and it just didn't have that. So that was my only DNF of the
- 41:17year. And then there was one that was
- 41:19a slight let down, but I did still enjoy it, and that was The
- 41:23Rebel Witch, which is the sequel to The Crimson Moth You've made
- 41:27me. Nervous to read it.
- 41:28I don't think you should be nervous because there's so.
- 41:30Many people that gave that five stars and like, cried at it.
- 41:33I didn't not like it. I gave it 3.75.
- 41:36But the first book had been like a strong 4.5 for me, yeah.
- 41:41I just felt it started to. Get a little bit repetitive, and
- 41:44the plot relied quite a lot on convenience.
- 41:47Like, oh, it just so happened that this is, you know, this
- 41:50works out. This.
- 41:51Way and out of this situation like this and I won't say too
- 41:55much because I don't want to. I don't want to like sway your
- 42:01expectations going in too much because you still think for a
- 42:04lot of people they will love it. But yeah, it just wasn't as good
- 42:07as book one for me. But I'll still take a 3.75, you
- 42:11know, like that's not bad rating.
- 42:12If that's the lowest rating I've had this year, I feel like I'm
- 42:16doing pretty well. I am.
- 42:20I mean, I'm definitely still going to read it.
- 42:22I just think that for me is like one of those books I loved The
- 42:26Crimson Moth, and had The Rebel Witch been out when I finished
- 42:31it, I would have probably instantly gone on to Book 2.
- 42:35But because I had a bit of time and distance from it anyway, it
- 42:39will be like one of those books that I just pick up when I'm
- 42:41like, oh, I fancy going back to something that's kind of
- 42:45familiar. Yeah.
- 42:46And it is actually like, really? Like the audio is really good
- 42:51and it's super easy. So there is that.
- 42:54But yeah, it was fine. It just wasn't amazing.
- 42:59I mean, we've obviously gone through.
- 43:00Like the absolute faves. But I have had like a phenomenal
- 43:05reading this year. This year I'm like I've added
- 43:07new genres, obviously, like a like a couple of like more like
- 43:11thriller type books and I've bought a couple of new ones.
- 43:14Actually, I've been reading non fiction this year.
- 43:16So I've read Atomic Habits, I've been reading the 5:00 AM club
- 43:21and those books take me longer to read because I can't just
- 43:24binge them. It's more, you know, with 75
- 43:27medium, 75 hard. I've been reading 5 to 10 pages
- 43:29a day or just like whenever I fancy picking it up now that
- 43:33I've finished those challenges. But I've had a fucking great
- 43:38reading here this year. Yeah, me too.
- 43:42I did make some. Goals at the start of the year,
- 43:44which I always do in terms of like what I wanted my reading
- 43:48year to look like. One of my goals is always, every
- 43:52year, to try and read diversely. I've been doing OK with that.
- 43:57This year. I think I would like to do
- 43:58better. Seven out of those 33 books have
- 44:03been by POC authors. I haven't.
- 44:06I don't think I've read anything by men.
- 44:08I don't think I've read anything by queer authors.
- 44:12And I would like to expand that just because I feel like when I
- 44:16do expand how diversely I'm reading, that's when I get those
- 44:20really original stories that's from people.
- 44:24With different. Experiences to me, yeah.
- 44:27So that is actually why I've picked up my current book, which
- 44:30is Chain Gang All Stars. I can't remember the author's
- 44:33name, but it's a dystopian about the US prison system and it has
- 44:37themes of racism. It's obviously dystopian.
- 44:40So like capitalism and stuff is a theme and so far I'm really
- 44:44enjoying it. So that's one of my things I
- 44:46need to work on. I can't actually remember what
- 44:48my other goals were for the year though.
- 44:50Do you did you have any? I don't even know if I made.
- 44:53Any goals for this year? I felt like my whole goal this
- 44:55year was really to be so much more relaxed about what I'm
- 44:59reading this year because I really wanted to take the
- 45:04pressure out of it because I feel like everything started to
- 45:07become a chore last year. And with so much going on in my
- 45:12life, as you know, with just like work, the kids like Zola
- 45:17started school at the end of last year.
- 45:19It's a lot. It's been a real like emotional
- 45:22roller coaster for me the last kind of 8-9 months.
- 45:27I wanted to come into this year with just relax about it a
- 45:32little bit, like read whatever the fuck I I want to read.
- 45:37If I get swept up in the hype of something going on and I pick up
- 45:40the book and love it, great. But also I would say years
- 45:44previous when a book would come out, if it was all of a sudden
- 45:48gaining loads of traction, I would feel like I had to read it
- 45:51instantly to become part of the conversation on TikTok.
- 45:54And now I think go for your lives, guys, like the book top
- 45:58community is so over saturated now.
- 46:01Like your voice is so much smaller than it was 12 months
- 46:04ago anyway. So why put that kind of pressure
- 46:06on myself? Because I would get stressed and
- 46:08then that stress would like seep into my relationship with Kyle,
- 46:11with the kids. And I'm like, they don't need
- 46:14that part of me. And it really it's not that
- 46:17deep, but leave it alone. So I feel like my whole goal and
- 46:21ethos this year has just been chill the fuck out basically.
- 46:24Yeah, I think that actually was 1.
- 46:26Of mine as well and I have done that quite well.
- 46:29I think even things like Silver Elite, like I've just because I
- 46:33don't know about you, but I also get sick of seeing the same
- 46:35books on my for you. Page.
- 46:36I mean, I got sucked up in the hype and bought it, but have I
- 46:39read it, you know? Well, actually.
- 46:43I do think I had one more goal, which was to read more high
- 46:45fantasy. And I've kind.
- 46:49Of done that kind of I, I do need to do more like I've still
- 46:52not read the John Gwyn books and they were like, my like biggest
- 46:56goal this year was to do John Gwyn's books.
- 46:59So I will do that. That's and I want to go.
- 47:01Back and read I mean, I would say that is a goal for me.
- 47:04We've we've both had this conversation because we've both
- 47:06come from like, you know, our natural like starting point of
- 47:10of reading was actually fantasy as opposed to like this romance
- 47:15to genre. And one of the things I really
- 47:17want to do is go back because I've read the the, The Rain Wild
- 47:22Chronicles by Robin Hobb. But alas, when I actually picked
- 47:26up that book, when I went away to Cape Verde years ago, I did
- 47:30not know that it was that that series of which has four books
- 47:35was part of a broader universe. So I really want to go back and
- 47:40read the entire universe because I've heard it's just like
- 47:43absolutely fucking phenomenal. And I do have the first book sat
- 47:47on on my shelf ready to read at some point.
- 47:49I think I'm actually going to take it to Mexico with me in
- 47:52October because I'm away for 11 days.
- 47:55There's plenty of kids club, lots of family going with us, so
- 47:57I feel like I'll get lots of reading time.
- 47:58So if I want to kind of like, binge through the series, I
- 48:01would be able to get a couple of them done.
- 48:03Yeah. And I feel like holiday.
- 48:04Is just good for fantasy because you're like in the zone of
- 48:07reading anyway. Like, yeah, you know, that's
- 48:10what you want to do. Well, that's how it is before
- 48:12you. Have children once you have
- 48:14them. I think when I went to Cyprus
- 48:16last year I didn't even get a whole book read and I was away
- 48:19for full week. I can't.
- 48:24I'm never having kids so. Shall we?
- 48:27Rapid Fire some books that we want to read for the rest of the
- 48:30year? Yes.
- 48:32Do you? Want to go first?
- 48:33You want me to go first? Yeah, mine.
- 48:34I'll go first. One thing I obviously have
- 48:37already talked about is Chain Gang All Stars.
- 48:39I have started by many temps sent in and then that leads on
- 48:42to book #2 because it's a similar theme which is
- 48:45Handmaid's Tale. I love the show, so I want to
- 48:47read the book finally and putting it off for years.
- 48:51I do want to do Lady of Darkness, as you said, because
- 48:55it's everywhere. It's on my list.
- 48:57Like I know I feel like I'm gonna love it and I it's been
- 49:00ages anyway since I've read that kind of a romanticity.
- 49:03So I want to read that. I also want to read time of your
- 49:07life, the new Jessa Hastings one that we read on day one.
- 49:13I'll be. Waiting up.
- 49:14For the release, I also want to do Great Big Beautiful, Great
- 49:20Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry or the Great BBL as the
- 49:24Internet likes to call it. I've been putting it off but I
- 49:27will do it and. I need.
- 49:30To also read A Witch's Guide to Practical Inn Keeping by Sangu
- 49:35Mandana, because mine is literally printed on back of the
- 49:38proof. So it's very exciting.
- 49:41But yeah, I think those obviously I talked about John
- 49:43Gwynne as well. I think those are like my your
- 49:45mains, yeah. Love that mine are Rewind it
- 49:53Back, which we spoke about earlier.
- 49:55This is technically the last book in that series.
- 49:58I literally can't wait to read this.
- 50:00I am. I'm going on holiday tomorrow
- 50:02morning. This is a potential I might read
- 50:05while I'm away. It's just going to depend on the
- 50:08mood. But this is a book I'm kind of
- 50:10keeping in my back pocket for when I'm feeling a bit slumpy.
- 50:13And I find when I'm feeling I'm anxious, I want to go to
- 50:17something that feels familiar. So I feel like this is the book
- 50:21that I'll pick up if I'm feeling a bit off and I don't really
- 50:23know what I want to read. It would be very easy to go to
- 50:26because I feel like I know the characters.
- 50:28So this is a definite very soon. Some proofs that I'm really,
- 50:34really excited to read, the first being Arcana Academy by
- 50:38Elise, Elise Kova, like tarot card magic and Academy setting.
- 50:45Obviously just very excited to read this, but she is a girthy
- 50:49girl. This is coming away on actually,
- 50:52this whole stack is coming away on holiday with me.
- 50:54This is coming away with me because I thought I'm going away
- 50:57for four days, five days with no children.
- 50:59So it actually got reading time. So I'm using the time to get
- 51:03some of my highly anticipated like proofs read 7 Rules for a
- 51:08Perfect Marriage. This was sent to me by
- 51:10Bloomsbury recently and I'm really excited for this one
- 51:13because it is about a couple that are already married and it
- 51:16sounds like the marriage kind of starts to break down and then
- 51:18they kind of hopefully happy, happily ever after work it out.
- 51:22And I feel like this is going to be great for me because I am
- 51:25married. And sometimes it's hard to put
- 51:26myself in the shoes of some of the books because that was New
- 51:29Romances. And I'm very much a believer of,
- 51:33you know, 6 what's broken. I feel like in this day and age,
- 51:37a lot of people kind of them relationships start to breakdown
- 51:39and they just give up. And I'm not about that life.
- 51:42If that was the way it was, Carl and I would have ended years
- 51:44ago. So I'm really excited to read 1
- 51:46about a couple that are already married.
- 51:49I feel like it's going to be a really interesting romance read
- 51:51for me anyway. And then I also have a Forbidden
- 51:56Alchemy by Stacey McEwen. I'm very, very, very excited to
- 52:02read this. It is like a fancy Peaky
- 52:04Blinders esque type world. I just received this proof
- 52:07recently. I know that you've got it too,
- 52:09and it just sounds really interesting.
- 52:11So I'm very excited to read this one.
- 52:14And some others that I'm also very excited to read are Terra
- 52:18Gates by Scarlett Sinclair, which is releasing next month.
- 52:23I'm very excited to read that one and also the final books in
- 52:29the Her Majesty's Royal Coven series by Juno Dawson.
- 52:34We have like book 2 ended on a fucking massive cliffhanger in
- 52:392023, and then we just got like a prequel novella last year.
- 52:43And the cliffhanger at the end of book 2 was I did.
- 52:46I fucking did not see it coming. So I am trying to get my hands
- 52:52on the final book in that series this year.
- 52:55I'm sure there's loads of others.
- 52:56I know that we're both really excited for Lila Sage's new
- 53:01romance. So So Searching.
- 53:03Is that what it's called? So searching.
- 53:05Book 1 in Sweetwater Peaks, I think, yeah.
- 53:07And that's going to kind of be. Like small town romance in like
- 53:10a bit of a ghost town, which we're both very excited for.
- 53:13There's loads I'm really excited for, but those ones, like the
- 53:16top of my head, The Reaper, I really want to finish The Reaper
- 53:18by Jackson P Brown. That's like an urban fantasy set
- 53:24in London, probably to finish that book as well.
- 53:28So there's so much. There's so much I want to read.
- 53:30Yeah, you just got me looking at my.
- 53:31Own stack of proofs, actually, and you've reminded me I also
- 53:34want to do Neverthorn by Shannon Mayer.
- 53:36Yes, if you want to do that, we've got the new new twisted
- 53:40sisters books coming as two. We've got Echo Fort and then we
- 53:43also have hollow, so echo. 4 is book 2 in their spinoff from
- 53:49Zodiac Academy which I'm very excited for.
- 53:52Never Keep was fucking phenomenal and Hollow is a brand
- 53:55new series, isn't it? And then we have the.
- 53:58Sequel to a study and drowning, which is a theory of warming,
- 54:02which I'm very excited about. And then one I have had on my
- 54:04radar for a long time is it was called medieval blonde, but now
- 54:08it's called the Princess and the knight and it's by Kate Jacobs,
- 54:12who is on on booktop Instagram. And it it was like a kind of
- 54:17like. It's like a medieval Rome.
- 54:20Romantic see but like ROM com vibes.
- 54:23Hence why it was called like medieval blonde like Legally.
- 54:26Interesting that sounds. Really good that's giving that's
- 54:29a bit like what assistant to the villain feels like and that
- 54:32third book comes out this year I think yeah there's there's just
- 54:35so. Much coming out this year, like
- 54:37I'm so excited and I also do want to do Metal Slinger because
- 54:42that's been one. Yes, we've been talking.
- 54:44About for a. While that's one that makes me
- 54:46nervous. Though again, because there's so
- 54:48much hype, I'm like, oh, is this the kind of hype I'm going to
- 54:51love or not? I know same.
- 54:53And then I also brimstone. Oh yeah.
- 54:57Oh yeah. Brimstone And then also I would
- 55:00love to do the fifth season by NK Jemison, which is like, yes,
- 55:06we should buddy. Read that we should, but.
- 55:10Yeah, That's like like, because I've got my little 25 to 25 here
- 55:13and I've crossed off like 10, so I'm doing OK.
- 55:17So hopefully the rest of our year is going to be as good as
- 55:21the first half because we've both got so much.
- 55:23We're excited for so many new releases, so many proofs that
- 55:27we've been sent. Like, hopefully we have a really
- 55:30great reading. Yeah, I feel like we will,
- 55:31because we both already are. And I've got 3.
- 55:34Holidays between now and the end of the year so I can hopefully
- 55:38get some good reading, some good reading done while I'm away.
- 55:42This one I've got no kids centre parks.
- 55:44I've got them booked into like a couple of like workshops.
- 55:48They get to go off to like with the with the like workers there.
- 55:52They're going to wizarding school while they're at Centre
- 55:55parks and then Mexico we're going with loads of family and
- 56:00there's kids club so I'm hoping I'm going to get some child free
- 56:02time on those trips. So hopefully I will get a lot of
- 56:05reading done on them. Yeah, sounds great.
- 56:08But yeah, I think that's everything guys.
- 56:10Don't forget to let us know what your top book has been.
- 56:13So if we haven't read it, we can add it to our TBR and let us
- 56:17know if there's anything else you would like to see as well.
- 56:20In terms of podcast episodes, we're always open to ideas.
- 56:23Obviously you can find us on Instagram, TikTok, we're like on
- 56:27Spotify, YouTube as well. So don't forget to like and
- 56:31subscribe. But otherwise, we will see you
- 56:33in our next episode.