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The Great Book Debate: same books, different opinions 👀📚 · Gorls Unplugged

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  They say opposites attract, but what happens when you and your
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  book Talk bestie have completely different opinions on some of
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  your favorite books? Today we're diving into books
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  that united us, books that nearly destroyed our friendship,
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  and how we get all of our best book recommendations.
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  So I feel like because me and Tor read similar genres, like we
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  both like romanticy, we both like fantasy romance, there is
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  inevitably some crossover. Yeah, of course.
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  Of books that we both just absolutely love.
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  But there's also the books that we don't love.
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  But I think if we go into the books that we both absolutely
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  loved first. And then you can watch us argue
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  the toss over who has the worst book taste.
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  It's definitely tall. It's.
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  Not it's that. I feel like an obvious book that
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  we both love that everyone already knows is Zodiac Academy.
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  Oh my God yeah 100%. We're both a fucking stand for
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  an Academy book in general. Yeah, I don't know what it is.
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  I absolutely love some kind of college or school setting, and I
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  feel like Zodiac Academy was what started both of our book
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  Top Journeys as well, so there's also that nostalgia.
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  It started our book Top Journeys.
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  It's what brought us together as friends.
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  Like actually, I think not the first time I saw we saw each
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  other, but like one of the first couple of things we did together
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  was to go to that book signing where the twisted scissors were
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  so kind of, you know, a pivotal point in our friendship.
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  Yeah, like even if we didn't like the books now, there would
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  still be so much nostalgia and, like, memories attached to them.
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  100%. But I do still like them now.
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  Yeah, I mean, I literally just did a reread and I am still
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  absolutely obsessed with the series.
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  It's amazing. Not for everyone.
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  Yeah, not for everyone, but they're just so funny.
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  And like, I get why people don't like them because the writing
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  style is basic. I guess it's one way to say.
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  Like they're not complex. I wouldn't say the writing is
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  basic, but like, it kind of is in that that like the stories
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  don't have a massive amount of complexity to them.
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  Yeah, they're very easy to like sink into the world.
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  It's not like a reading like a high fancy where you're like,
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  what's this place and where's that?
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  It's all simple in that respect. Yeah, but that also makes them
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  really, really addictive and fast-paced because it takes like
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  no brain power to get into. Yeah.
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  And I always see people say like, you have to hate read the
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  first couple of books. And that's definitely what I
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  did. Like.
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  I feel like they're like the reality TV show of books.
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  Yeah, it's so true. Because when I read the first
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  one, I got it for Christmas and I was a bit like, it felt a bit
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  YA in the beginning, which isn't a problem, but it just wasn't
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  what I was expecting. And then it got towards the end
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  of the first book and I was like, oh, this isn't YA.
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  No. This is a bit adult.
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  And then as you went and then by the end of the second book with
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  like the stuff going on at the Pitbull match, you're like, this
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  is wild. And then you just cannot put
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  them down. Yeah, I think Book 3 for me is
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  like literally one of my favourites in the series as
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  well, because that's where the relationships ramp.
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  Up 100%. And as well as both liking this
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  book, we actually have the same favorite male love interest,
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  which is funny because the cast of characters is really big.
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  Yeah, but we're both Orion girlies.
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  I think the problem is is that we both have a thing for
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  professors. Yeah, Yeah.
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  Yes, we do. And that's.
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  Why we teacher like Yeah trope if you will.
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  Because the next one we both like let's.
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  Say, carrying on with the Academy theme.
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  Yeah, it fits perfectly. Is Vampire Academy another kind
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  of not professor? He kind of is a professor like
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  teacher. He's had a.
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  Teacher, isn't he? So although he's not an actual
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  teacher, Dmitri is her. Yeah, he trains.
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  Her mentor? Yeah.
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  Yeah, and I feel like Vampire Academy in in my personal
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  opinion, it was like an epic release of like our teen years.
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  But it's also really stood the test of time.
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  Like when I've gone back and reread things like Twilight, I'm
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  like, this is so cringe. I literally couldn't read it.
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  I can still watch the films like background, but I couldn't read
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  them after the first because like this is God awful.
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  Whereas the Vampire Academy when I started my reread last year,
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  which I really need to finish this autumn.
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  You do. They still were just so good.
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  Yeah. I mean, obviously a bit cheesy,
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  but I feel like all YA can be a little bit cheesy because you
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  feel like it's the relationships are a bit young, but that's kind
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  of the whole point. Yeah, 100% agree.
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  I actually did reread all of them last year and I loved it.
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  I would say like the first couple did you actually?
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  Finish the full. Review did all six yes in I I
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  would say like the first maybe two.
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  I was like oh I'm not sure if I'm going to enjoy this reread.
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  Because our friend Amy was a bit like that with them, wasn't she?
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  She was. She didn't read them as a team.
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  Yeah, she was completely new to it.
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  But when you get to the end of the second book, yeah, and then
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  the third book, you're hooked. But then books 4-5 and six
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  actually still felt quite adult when I got to them, and it was a
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  lot happening. She was definitely like growing
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  her writing with her readers at the time. 100% and there was a
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  lot more to those books and they're obviously quite a bit
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  chunkier as well, so 100% agree. That is such a good series,
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  although we're not on the same love interest team in this one.
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  No, we're not, but I do love we both love both.
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  Like we're not like a polar opposing size 1 is a bit like
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  the brooding Lance O Ryan type and the other Adrian.
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  He really reminds me of like Dorian.
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  Yeah, a bit more of a Playboy golden retriever type.
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  And normally I go for the for the brooding one, but there's
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  just something about Adrian that I just look, he just makes me
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  laugh. I think every scene he's in.
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  So yeah, but I. Just love a love triangle, do
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  you? I do love and I know that most
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  people hate them. I just, I just love them.
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  But The thing is actually I was thinking about this recently.
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  I always say I hate a love triangle but vampire Academy
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  legend born like there's actually.
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  Vampire Diaries. Yeah, there's so many things.
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  I love summer, I turn pretty. There's so many things with an
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  epic love triangle. So maybe I'm lying.
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  I need to stop saying I don't like love triangles.
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  I feel like it's there. It brings a level of like,
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  tension and awkwardness, yeah, which make can be uncomfortable
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  to read or to watch, but actually I think it makes a
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  story so much more like do. You know what you mean?
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  Yeah. And I think it can also be
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  stressful because if you really love 1 and you don't want them
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  with the other, and if you if it's something like on TV, for
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  instance, and you don't know how it's going to end, you're like,
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  they better not pick like XY and ZA 100%.
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  Whereas like with Twilight and Summer, I turned pretty.
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  It was fine because I knew how it ended.
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  Yeah, because I've read the books.
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  And I feel like with some things it is just obvious.
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  I actually find it more enjoyable when I'm on the edge
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  of my seat not knowing yeah who it's going to be.
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  Yeah, because it's not as fun when you like outright hate one
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  of them. No, you want to feel torn
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  between them. Like I want to emotionally,
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  mentally be in love with both of those characters.
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  And like minor spoiler alert, like that's why I love Legend
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  Born because they are both so great.
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  Yes, I do agree. I can't wait for the next
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  question. That's literally was just
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  thinking I'm so excited. I need it right now.
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  Oh God, that's not even one of the ones on on our list, but we
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  might as well use it because we did both.
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  And I only just read it this year after Bronte telling me our
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  entire friendship that I would be absolutely obsessed with this
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  series. Yeah, there's a lot of books
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  where I'm not sure if Tor is going to enjoy them, but this
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  was one that I absolutely knew she would A, because of the
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  school setting. B because there's a lot of high
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  fantasy elements to it, like it's very well written for Aya
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  book. And then the characters are just
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  super interesting. And yeah, I I read the first one
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  and then had a break because I knew that the third one wasn't
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  going to be published for ages. And then I did a reread of book
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  1 and then did books two and three back-to-back.
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  And it was just the best time. It was.
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  Oh my God, I'm so glad I finally read them.
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  I also love, I'm not a big historical fiction person, but I
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  love when a bit of like historical fiction is woven into
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  a fantasy. That's something I've really
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  realized recently. So I love that like Arthurian,
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  like Knights of the Round Table element in the Legend Born
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  series because it kind of makes it almost more like magical.
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  Like imagine if this was really real.
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  Do you know what I mean? And I also feel like it's quite
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  unique because a lot of books have like Greek mythology, Norse
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  mythology, this was Welsh law. And then you also, on the other
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  side, have like Southern black culture and like the mesh of the
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  2 is really, really interesting and really interesting.
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  Yeah. Like there was stuff that, but
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  not necessarily that I didn't know, but stuff I was like, this
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  is a really different experience to read about.
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  Yeah. Yeah.
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  Amazing. Although it has elements of
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  things that you find in a lot of like YA or just like standard
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  fantasy books, it was very much its own story, which made it so
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  interesting to read because you I didn't feel bored at any.
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  Point No, never. And I feel like even the slower
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  paced bits are just like building.
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  So you're not yeah, you're never bored.
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  And also like Selwyn Kane, guys, he is one of my favorite
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  characters ever. He's so he's just so complex and
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  interesting to read about and you're like rooting for him.
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  And then, of course, we get that Book 3 cliffhanger.
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  I can't wait for book 4. What I also love about that
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  series is it is very thought provoking.
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  I feel like people that go about their daily lives that don't
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  take as a second thought for how like people are prejudice in
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  real life, like day-to-day books like that put in front of
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  readers eyes, people that wouldn't normally think about
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  it, things that are happening all the time, everyday.
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  Like it's very thought provoking.
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  And I feel like that's really, really, I love a book that does
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  that. I felt exactly the same about
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  HMRC with like trans rights race, like I just feel like
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  books like that just it brings a whole another layer of like
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  complexity and like emotional depth to a story which I really.
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  Enjoy 100%. I think like reading when you
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  get books like this, they make you such a more empathetic
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  person and you're able to be like a better friend or a better
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  stranger to people going through experiences that aren't like
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  yours. And this is like the perfect
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  example of that. This is why reading is so
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  magical. So if people have enough
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  emotional intelligence to really think about the real life
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  elements that come out of their fictional stories.
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  Yeah, and not just it just doesn't go over the head.
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  Yeah, yeah, 100%. So, OK, so completely coming
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  away from the academic settings, cool down three, we're only
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  supposed to do 2. Another one that I only read
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  this year on Bee's recommendation, which was the
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  unmaking of June Faro. Yes, this is a phenomenal book.
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  I'm pretty sure that it will be my top book of the year.
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  I love that because I was again unsure for a little.
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  Well, no, I was. I did keep telling you to read
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  it, I did, but then she started it and I was like, because you
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  were a little unsure at the beginning?
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  Or was that Ellie? No, So I I just think that the
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  beginning, you're a bit confused and you're not really sure
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  what's going on. But it wasn't too far into it
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  that I was like, even though I still wasn't sure what, where I
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  was going to rate it, I was hooked.
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  I couldn't. I did it on audio.
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  I just couldn't stop listening to it.
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  Yeah. So for those that don't know,
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  because it is quite a unique book, it's essentially like a
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  hybrid of fantasy, tiny bit of sci-fi.
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  I would say a tiny bit of sci-fi, Yeah, Tiny love,
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  mystery. And romance.
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  So it's also a stand alone and it's quite small, but you have
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  this almost like time traveller's wife like storyline
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  flick between timelines. And like Tor said, you're not
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  quite sure where it's going all of the time or how the timelines
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  marry up. But the way it comes together at
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  the end is so good. And I, yeah, I personally love
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  all of her books that I've read so far.
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  I think she's a really talented author.
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  I can't wait. She actually the new one coming
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  out soon. That's fantasy this month or
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  next month. But yeah, that book and like
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  it's so perfect for summer because.
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  Yeah, I agree with that. Although I feel like if you read
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  it in the autumn, it would give like, it's like that.
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  It's the type of book that you could easily pick up a rainy
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  October Saturday morning curled up on the sofa, pick it up in
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  the morning and just read the whole thing through the day like
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  you. It's such a page Turner and it's
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  small enough, like you say, that you could enjoy just like a cosy
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  day on the sofa reading something like that.
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  Yeah, 100%. I think I actually did read it
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  in one sitting. It was either that or her other
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  book that I did. But I would also say that this
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  book is really great for fans of The Invisible Life of Addie
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  LaRue. Such a similar vibe which I know
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  you haven't read. Yet haven't.
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  I don't know why I don't want to read.
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  It. I know.
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  I actually think now that you've read on making of June Farrow,
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  I'm like sure that you will like Addie LaRue.
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  I've got the audio book downloaded as well and I've
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  heard amazing things about the audio book, so probably.
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  Yeah, maybe I'll put. It on my 26 or 26 yeah, 25 for
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  26 What we're doing guys, someone tell us.
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  It's going to be 26 for 26, but we need to stop doing this when
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  it gets to 30, otherwise the numbers are getting higher and
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  higher. And honestly I probably I never
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  even get halfway through them to be honest.
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  I think I've done about half this year, which is probably the
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  best I've ever done. OK, last one that we both loved,
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  which is this is really showing our card tip because it is
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  another academic setting. What is it off campus?
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  Oh God, yeah, yeah. Oh my.
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  God, we have to pull in a romance.
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  We've talked a lot about fantasy.
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  We have, we're actually academic obsessive for 2 girls that I
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  wouldn't say are the most academic people either like I
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  am. I'm very creative and I would
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  say you're more on the creative side as well.
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  I'm not creative at all. Creative Brain.
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  Yeah, I do have a creative brain.
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  I credit that to the ADHD. Well actually the series Briar U
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  has ADHD Rep as well does. It's just, I mean, there's not
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  really like a lot to say about the off campus in Briar U like
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  the whole like world because there's now so many series and
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  she's putting standards into it. But this is also coming to TV
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  soon, which is very exciting. Very.
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  Exciting. We did actually did an episode
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  on the dramatics of the casting of that, but actually have you
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  seen, did you see the most recent clip drop yesterday?
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  So I only the two girls, Ali and Hannah, I only saw the very
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  short bit that was on your story.
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  I didn't actually get a chance to watch the full thing.
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  Just like look good even just seeing it.
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  I'm like Oh my God, I can't wait to watch this.
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  So for those that don't know which I mean anyone watching
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  this probably does know about it if they haven't read it, The
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  Briar universe is set. Briar is a university in the
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  States and the off Campus series, which is the first set
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  in the universe, is about a bunch of hockey players and
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  their romances, love interests, super cute, little bit of spice,
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  not too much that you just feel like you're reading a smarty
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  book. They do.
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  The thing that I personally quite like about Kennedy is that
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  it isn't just fluff. There is normally like something
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  quite like dark or traumatic that's happened to some of our
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  characters. They're all just kind of like
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  finding their way through their lives as they like becoming
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  adults. And I like that in a book,
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  although sometimes I can find them a bit emotional.
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  I just they have that extra layer of depth which makes them
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  more interesting for me to read personally. 100% agree.
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  I think that's what it is I like about them as well as it does
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  have that perfect balance between romance, spice and plot.
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  And like Tor said, they do handle like quite sensitive
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  topics. Like the first one, which is the
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  deal, which is arguably the most popular, has really good
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  handling of essay and domestic violence.
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  And I think that just kicks the series off to, like, a perfect
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  start. So you know what you're going to
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  get with every book. And obviously they are quite
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  similar, but they do also have, like, different tropes each
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  time. So there's basically something
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  for everyone. Yeah.
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  Without. Feeling too trophy?
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  Yeah, and like, she handles the tropes really well in the sense
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  that there's a book, you know, that's accidental pregnancy,
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  which is something I personally normally don't like, but she
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  does it so well. I think when it's intentional,
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  like it's the plot of the book, it's a bit more like, OK, I can
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  deal with this. Yeah, I know that for you, it's
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  more like a. You don't like it when it's just
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  like dumped in there in the middle of the book, just like as
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  a. Conflict yeah yeah, 100% that's
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  exactly it I don't mind it in the epilogue.
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  I don't mind it when it's the main plot point, but it's like
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  when it's a third act breakup trigger, it's kind of just a bit
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  like come on something. But no, to go back to off
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  campus. They're just they're so relaxing
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  as well. You just you.
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  They are the quickest and easiest things to read in the
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  world in great palate cleanses. 100 percent, 100%.
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  And her writing is actually really nice.
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  A lot of romance books I feel like can be a bit cringy, but
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  hers aren't I don't think. And oh, I've listened to most
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  I've read. I've read them, but I have also
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  listened to them. And all of the narrations of the
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  ones that I've listened to have all been fantastic.
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  Yeah, yeah, I actually did. I think I did the score, the
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  mistake, the play and the dare all on audio and 100% agree.
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  And I struggle with romance on audio.
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  Yeah, and they're all like dual narration.
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  Unfortunately, they're not Duet, which is my personal favorite,
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  but I like the fact that you have the the female and the male
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  voice actors because it makes it more interesting.
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  But yeah, such great series. Yeah, definitely.
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  So now for the books that we do not agree on, because they are
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  quite a few actually, which is surprising because it does feel
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  most of the time like our tastes are quite aligned.
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  But there are some that we disagree, and when we disagree,
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  we like viscerally. Yeah, it's really funny.
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  It's like we're either completely aligned or like
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  absolutely. There's not much middle ground.
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  No, but the one that I feel like I'm most passionate about, that
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  I like and tour does not. And that's fine because we can't
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  all have a good book taste. As me, it is Ali Hazelwood.
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  I am an Ali Hazelwood Stan. Never miss a book release.
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  I think she's only published one book that I haven't enjoyed,
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  whereas Tor is very much like the opposite.
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  There's probably only one book that she has enjoyed.
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  Yeah, it's true. I'm just not.
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  I don't think that she's a terrible writer by any means.
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  Yeah, I just don't vibe of her books at all.
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  What is it you don't like? Is it the stem?
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  It's. Definitely partly the stem and
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  for whatever reason I don't buy into the romances.
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  I think it's definitely like a confidence thing for me as well
• 19:36
  now to be able to admit that I don't like them because I feel
• 19:39
  like when I first started reading them they were so
• 19:41
  popular. I still in that phase of my like
• 19:43
  content create journey where I felt like had to agree with what
• 19:46
  the rest of book talk was saying, otherwise I was gonna
• 19:49
  get cancelled. But so when I read them, I was
• 19:52
  like, yeah, they were great. And then as I step back a little
• 19:56
  bit further and I look back on reading those books, I'm like, I
• 20:00
  did not enjoy that at all. There was nothing memorable
• 20:04
  about it. I can't even remember the like
• 20:07
  names of the characters. The only one that I did vaguely
• 20:11
  enjoy was the love Hypothesis. Like that was enjoyable, but I
• 20:13
  think even that and maybe still only rated it like 3 1/2, maybe
• 20:17
  four stars if I was being generous.
• 20:20
  Whereas I'm like 4.55 even a six star from Ali.
• 20:26
  Like Not in Love is probably one of my all time favorite romance
• 20:30
  books. I love the STEM setting.
• 20:33
  I think also they're like my dad is works in the sciences and any
• 20:38
  time there's some sort of sciency or stem based set and it
• 20:41
  just reminds me of him. I'm like his nerdy self.
• 20:45
  Yeah, that's why I love Big Bang Theory and stuff as well, so
• 20:49
  that I kind of have a slightly different attachment to it.
• 20:52
  But then also love on the brain, the main character has the same
• 20:56
  health condition as me, so then I also have that relatability.
• 20:59
  So I think it is, I can see why people don't like them and I do
• 21:04
  think they are all very similar, which is like not necessarily a
• 21:09
  great thing because then you're either going to love them all or
• 21:11
  not like them. All bit like Catherine Cowles,
• 21:13
  where you're a bit like, like, it's good like, but when you're
• 21:18
  rereading the same thing, it's not so enjoyable.
• 21:21
  I did like one of her little Christmas novella that she did
• 21:24
  that I listened to last year, which was fun.
• 21:26
  That was probably because it literally lasted like an hour.
• 21:29
  Yeah, I was like, cool. That was a great little love
• 21:31
  story for my drive around town. And like she has started to do
• 21:35
  new things like bride and deep end, obviously one's paranormal,
• 21:39
  one's sports romance, but even then they still have this STEM
• 21:43
  undertone and setting still that I was like, well, this is still
• 21:47
  not going to be different enough at all.
• 21:48
  Yeah, no, I didn't. I tried Brides because it was a
• 21:51
  book club pick, wasn't it? And I still just didn't get on
• 21:55
  with. It that's actually the only Ali
• 21:57
  Hazel one one that I don't like are.
• 21:59
  You going to is mate a fuller one from that?
• 22:01
  Yeah. So it's part of a series.
• 22:03
  Yeah. Interesting.
• 22:04
  I don't think I'm going to read it unless Amy, our friend, reads
• 22:08
  it before me and says it's better than book what?
• 22:10
  I'm not going to read her Because I was like when I
• 22:15
  finished Bride, it was kind of the same thing you said about
• 22:17
  what everyone else was saying. And I was like, oh, everyone's
• 22:20
  loving this. So I was like, oh, it's like a
• 22:22
  four-star. Then like, I enjoyed the end and
• 22:25
  then I was like, it's definitely not a four-star because for most
• 22:28
  of the book I wanted to DNF. Yeah, no.
• 22:30
  So I end up settling on that 3. I find that's always such a
• 22:34
  difficult thing to deal with when you're writing a book like
• 22:37
  mid, mid, mid, mid, and then the ending is really good and you're
• 22:40
  like, you end up toning it up in your rating because the ending
• 22:43
  is so good. But then you think, actually the
• 22:45
  amount of effort and Will Parrot took to get me there, Was it
• 22:48
  really worth that? Probably not.
• 22:49
  Exactly. But then like her, she has other
• 22:52
  books where it was like first, like instant first love kind of
• 22:56
  thing and like not in love where the whole way through I was
• 23:01
  hooked. I was crying.
• 23:02
  Like, you know, when you finish it, you just like, Oh my God, I
• 23:05
  need to reread that immediately. And that happened.
• 23:07
  Yeah. That happened.
• 23:08
  We're not in love. And then love on the brain.
• 23:10
  I've reread like 3 times. And then I really enjoyed her
• 23:14
  recent one problematic summer romance as well, which was age
• 23:16
  gap, which I love. So yeah, I'm a stand tour is
• 23:21
  not. But this is one that I do
• 23:22
  understand. Yeah.
• 23:25
  Another one fantasy one that we This is a bit of a funny one,
• 23:29
  but caravel because I loved the whole series.
• 23:34
  Grunty Loved the first book, really didn't like the rest of
• 23:39
  the books. Did you actually read book
• 23:41
  three? You did.
• 23:42
  So basically I read book one and Oh my goodness, it was a five
• 23:46
  star. I was like, Oh my God, I get the
• 23:49
  hype with this. I loved it.
• 23:50
  I love Scarlett, I love Julian. It is so whimsical.
• 23:53
  And fun and like so. Whimsical.
• 23:55
  Very the thing that I love about Stephanie Garber is when you
• 23:58
  read her so visual, like you can just see everything that she's
• 24:03
  talking about in her world. Definitely.
• 24:05
  And obviously it's quite a unique Magic concept as well,
• 24:08
  like with the kind of travelling circus and the tarot cards and
• 24:11
  stuff that come in later. So I loved book 1 and I was
• 24:15
  absolutely gassed to continue the series.
• 24:18
  And then I got on to book 2 and I was like, I don't really like
• 24:21
  Tellers POV that much, but it was fine, I'll keep going.
• 24:25
  So that was like a three star. And then book 3 the plot was
• 24:29
  just so convoluted and like all over the place.
• 24:32
  I absolutely hated it. I ended up listening to it in
• 24:34
  like 3 times speed to get through it.
• 24:36
  I don't even really remember what happened in the end of it 3
• 24:39
  which is which is not uncommon for me.
• 24:41
  Couldn't tell but I just I quite liked tellers POV personally.
• 24:46
  I kind of related to her in just certain aspects of her
• 24:50
  personality which I really enjoyed.
• 24:52
  I feel like if this was real life she probably has ADHD.
• 24:57
  I feel like it's kind of like actor where it's like the sister
• 25:00
  thing of Feyer and Nestor. You're either one or the other.
• 25:03
  And so like it's true. I prefer slash relate to Scarlet
• 25:07
  Moore, you would prefer slash relate to Teller more and it's
• 25:11
  same with actor. So I just have that issue in
• 25:14
  general when books change POV. Like I find it really difficult.
• 25:18
  I don't like change. She can't switch.
• 25:23
  I just think for me with and and I, it's definitely like a
• 25:28
  personal preference thing because I could read something
• 25:30
  super similar but just still not get on with it like you didn't.
• 25:33
  I think it can really depend on like what's going on in my life
• 25:37
  at the time, what time of the month it is.
• 25:40
  Because like I sometimes just find if I loved the first book,
• 25:45
  life for me can be so hectic. So especially when I'm listening
• 25:47
  to on audio where I've got the familiarity of like the same
• 25:53
  narrator voices and it's just like easy to listen to, It's not
• 25:57
  so complex that I'm like getting frustrated because I'm having to
• 25:59
  start and start. Yeah.
• 26:01
  It just becomes like a bit. It's like, it's like rewatching
• 26:03
  friends. It just becomes like a comfort
• 26:05
  thing. Yeah.
• 26:05
  Because I just get what's going on.
• 26:07
  Yeah. But it did.
• 26:08
  That doesn't take away from how much I enjoyed the series
• 26:10
  because I absolutely did. But it does.
• 26:13
  It is sometimes that like it's not a series that I would be
• 26:16
  like I have to have like the special editions.
• 26:19
  Although did you see the fairy loot?
• 26:20
  While they were stunning, they were.
• 26:21
  Stunning and the restraint it took me to not buy them, but
• 26:26
  it's not the type of book that I'm like I must talk about it in
• 26:30
  every single video. It's not that level of not God
• 26:34
  here. No, it's not God's here, but it
• 26:36
  is like a very. Enjoyable one, Yeah.
• 26:39
  Yeah. I mean, book three, I think I
• 26:41
  ended up giving that two stars like it was, it was a hate.
• 26:44
  It was a hate experience. And then, obviously, Tor loved
• 26:48
  the second kind of series, the one ballad of what's it Once
• 26:52
  Upon a Broken Heart. Oh yeah.
• 26:54
  She loves those and then I just decided not to read them because
• 26:57
  I heard so many people saying the same thing, which which was
• 27:00
  that the final book was a let down.
• 27:02
  So I personally didn't feel that because I I can actually
• 27:06
  understand where people come from with Caraval, but it's a
• 27:08
  bit like the ending was slightly wishy washy, but I didn't really
• 27:13
  get that with the once planet broken heart series personally.
• 27:16
  But, you know, each to their own.
• 27:17
  Each to their own, but yeah, I won't be reading them I don't
• 27:20
  think. It's so funny because a lot of
• 27:22
  the ones we're going to talk about, actually, no, there are
• 27:24
  there are a few that you like that I didn't, but the next one
• 27:27
  I would say is the bonds that tie.
• 27:32
  But again, I feel like this is another one where my opinion
• 27:34
  kind of changed over the years. I really enjoyed the series.
• 27:37
  Yeah, I did really enjoy the series books.
• 27:41
  Was it 5 and six or four and five?
• 27:43
  I think it was five and six. They could have been one book
• 27:46
  for sure. I do think if I look at it with
• 27:50
  a slightly more like critical thinking hat now, having read so
• 27:55
  much the last few years, that she had such a unique and
• 27:59
  interesting idea that could have been made fantastic because it
• 28:03
  kind of had that dystopian esque, what supernatural vibe to
• 28:08
  it. But I still really enjoyed them.
• 28:12
  And you were not so keen. No, when I think about that
• 28:15
  series it just makes me do that roll my eyes.
• 28:19
  Book 1 I did actually enjoy. I, like Tor said, was really
• 28:22
  intrigued by the world in this dystopian vibe.
• 28:25
  It almost reminded me of Darkest Minds, which I know you've not
• 28:28
  read but watched though. Oh, you have watched it films
• 28:31
  crap, but you know, understand the premise.
• 28:33
  It reminded me of that of like these kids with or not.
• 28:36
  She's not really a kid, but they have these powers that are sort
• 28:39
  of out of control and being controlled and stuff.
• 28:42
  And then in comes the why choose plot, which I wouldn't say I'm a
• 28:48
  why choose girly anyway, because then the plot smart ratio is
• 28:53
  inevitably like flipped. It's the only way it works to
• 28:56
  give each character equal time. But I can cope with why choose
• 29:02
  if I like the characters? That guy, I can't remember his
• 29:06
  name, who calls us Sweetness every two minutes.
• 29:10
  Griffin, Is that his name? I don't remember the nickname.
• 29:14
  The love interest has the man born.
• 29:16
  He was calling her a cringy nickname every two.
• 29:20
  He's the trainer, like he's the one that's like, not in the
• 29:23
  Army. But yeah, I think it might be
• 29:25
  him. I'm not sure.
• 29:26
  Somebody let us know. But he was doing my knotting, he
• 29:32
  was so cringed. And then gradually the main
• 29:35
  character. Is it Ophelia?
• 29:37
  Is that a name? Something like that.
• 29:40
  It is something like that. Anyway, that's how memorable
• 29:42
  this is. And she started to become
• 29:45
  really, really fucking whiny. And I was like, girly, you've
• 29:49
  got six guys, 55, whatever, five guys, five guys fighting over
• 29:55
  you. All of them are attractive, all
• 29:57
  of them are fit. What are you whining about?
• 30:00
  That is a life, isn't it? My child doesn't watch this one.
• 30:06
  She's literally just like lying in bed all the time as well.
• 30:08
  Like the second book I was like, what is the point?
• 30:12
  So yeah, that was I just didn't continue after book 2.
• 30:16
  And again, I think it's just one of those like personal
• 30:18
  preference things, isn't it? Like I because I have read
• 30:21
  series that are similar that I've been like this is this is
• 30:24
  fucking terrible. I'm not carrying on with this,
• 30:26
  but I am a slight more of a wide choose guy than you.
• 30:29
  Like I do have a few wide choose series that I do enjoy, whereas
• 30:32
  you've probably got like 1. Yeah, only the dark, Fey,
• 30:36
  twisted, ruthless boys. That's the only why choose that
• 30:40
  I've ever actually loved and I think that's purely because it
• 30:43
  has the twisted Sisters humour. So yeah, not not my favorite
• 30:48
  trope. So there is a book that I love
• 30:52
  which is like comes up on my autumn recommendations every
• 30:56
  single year, especially Halloween, and that is a diary
• 30:59
  of blood. But but Tor is not the biggest
• 31:02
  fan of that book. What did you actually even rate
• 31:05
  that one? I don't.
• 31:07
  So I wouldn't say that I disliked this book because I
• 31:10
  would still like, it's the type of book that I'm not like
• 31:13
  enamoured by, but I would recommend like because I do
• 31:18
  think it's a really interesting story.
• 31:20
  I think it's really well written and I love the whole concept.
• 31:24
  But I wasn't, I just wasn't obsessed with it when I was
• 31:27
  reading it. So it's kind of like a weird one
• 31:31
  for me. I don't really know what it was
• 31:33
  about it that I didn't click with.
• 31:36
  Yeah. But it was just a bit.
• 31:39
  I was just a little bit bored at times.
• 31:42
  I. Think I think that's fair
• 31:44
  because it's not the most plot first book.
• 31:47
  It's definitely like more of you kind of leaning towards literary
• 31:51
  contemporary fiction, a character study.
• 31:54
  And I think if you go into it thinking you're going to get
• 31:56
  like loads of romance or loads of fantasy as well, that yeah,
• 31:59
  that might impact reading experience.
• 32:02
  But for me it was like mind blowing as a book, like when I
• 32:06
  was reading it, could not put it down.
• 32:08
  I was tabbing constantly, like underlining so many quotes.
• 32:12
  I honestly still think to this day I've not read a writing
• 32:15
  style that I love more. And like the book is Dracula's
• 32:20
  Bride's retelling so it has that gothic element which is very me
• 32:24
  overture anyway. And then it's also second person
• 32:27
  POV, which is she's like writing a letter, which I loved.
• 32:32
  So I feel like it was almost just like made for me versus
• 32:36
  it's not even something tall would normally kind of, yeah,
• 32:40
  gravitate towards. Yeah.
• 32:42
  But honestly, I think about that book all the time.
• 32:45
  If there is anyone watching this who hasn't read it, you have to
• 32:47
  do it this autumn because it's like the perfect spooky season.
• 32:50
  If you like that kind of. Yes, if you like that kind of
• 32:53
  thing. If you are more like tall and
• 32:55
  prefer like proper fantasy, yeah, and you need a fantasy
• 32:59
  kind of element or a strong romance element, then you're not
• 33:02
  going to like it. Yeah, yeah, I agree.
• 33:04
  Yeah. And then the final, the final
• 33:08
  book, I know what she's going to say.
• 33:09
  We disagree on this is this is going to end in 50 cups because
• 33:15
  this this nearly broke our. Friendship.
• 33:17
  Try about it. Look, my eyes are welling up.
• 33:20
  There is a book series that I personally cannot stand and also
• 33:25
  our friend Amy, and it just so happens to be like she's got
• 33:29
  tears in her eyes. I can't go with the stress of
• 33:31
  this conversation. It also happens to be tours like
• 33:35
  favorite romance series and that is Chestnut Springs by LLC
• 33:40
  Silver. This should be something I enjoy
• 33:43
  based on like genre and tropes because I love cowboy romance,
• 33:48
  small town romance, love all the tropes that are in it in terms
• 33:52
  of like found family and stuff like that.
• 33:55
  No guys, I hate it. It wasn't just a little bit as
• 34:00
  well like book 1 Heartless I got.
• 34:03
  No, Book 1 is flawless. Sorry, flawless.
• 34:07
  She's so useless. So I got to a scene, I remember
• 34:12
  it was like the first spy scene between them.
• 34:15
  I can't remember what he does. There's something to do with
• 34:17
  either like milk or cream or something.
• 34:20
  And I was like, this is so cringe.
• 34:22
  It's not for me. It's going to be a DNF.
• 34:24
  So I DNF D it. Then all the rest of the girls
• 34:27
  in the group who had read I think.
• 34:29
  You read it before me, didn't you?
• 34:31
  Potentially, but then there was like a little break and then
• 34:34
  eventually the other girls read them and they were like no, no,
• 34:37
  no, no. Like Heartless is so much
• 34:40
  better. You at least need to give that
• 34:42
  one book to yes. Polly had read them before all
• 34:45
  of. Us yes that's right.
• 34:47
  So then me and my friend Amy were like let's buddy read
• 34:50
  heartless then and give it a go and she also wasn't that keen on
• 34:52
  flawless. Oh.
• 34:53
  No, I had read it when you read it.
• 34:54
  Yeah, and you got read. It just fucking sent me into
• 34:59
  another orbit, the things that were happening in this book.
• 35:02
  The purple bikini guys. Well, before we even got to the
• 35:06
  purple bikini. She drops her bloody knickers on
• 35:09
  page one. In some sort of coffee shop or
• 35:11
  something. He picks them up.
• 35:13
  They're not even met yet. And then later you get a.
• 35:16
  Woman after my own heart is she really is.
• 35:20
  And then later you get to this like hot tub scene, and he's
• 35:24
  just describing the way her, can I say that word flaps.
• 35:31
  He's describing the way her flaps and her current.
• 35:33
  YouTube, we're not gonna get so penalized to this kind of
• 35:36
  conversation. Yeah, we're not making any money
• 35:38
  from this anyway. He's explicitly describing how
• 35:42
  her camel toe looks over and over again, and I feel like at
• 35:47
  this point. Over and over again.
• 35:48
  She is so over exaggerating there.
• 35:52
  It was at least twice, twice too many, and then.
• 35:58
  And then there's a plot point later on which my friend Amy
• 36:02
  pointed out the timeline doesn't actually work for.
• 36:05
  Spoiler alert. I don't know if that's true.
• 36:07
  I need to go back and reread and double check that.
• 36:09
  I reckon Amy's just fucking gaslit herself.
• 36:11
  And to be honestly, yeah. She was looking for a reason to
• 36:14
  hate it. Yeah, but so I ended up giving
• 36:17
  that. At the time I really didn't want
• 36:19
  to upset the girls as well. So I gave it like 3.5 and then
• 36:23
  later I was like, no, it's a two star.
• 36:26
  And now I actually purposely love to wind a rough about.
• 36:31
  Listen, it is the best romance series of all time.
• 36:35
  That's all. I mean, to be fair though, the
• 36:38
  girls know how much I love it. You see this right here?
• 36:40
  I'm just gonna show you. Even though we have not pulling
• 36:43
  books off so far. I mean, off the shelves, Polly
• 36:46
  and the girl. Well, Polly did this.
• 36:47
  Yeah, because, because she's an Angel.
• 36:49
  But the girls name me this for my wedding and it's got my, it's
• 36:52
  got my wedding date on it. It's a it's my own personally
• 36:55
  bound copy of Heartless because that's the wedding present I
• 36:58
  got. You relate to that one I.
• 37:00
  Do I do? It's got all the That one
• 37:03
  specifically is basically me and my husband.
• 37:06
  Except, you know, I'm not a nanny and he's not a cowboy.
• 37:09
  He's a chef and I'm a HR business partner.
• 37:12
  You were ginger at the time. I.
• 37:13
  Was ginger at the time and just like single dad opposites
• 37:16
  attract like their banter like the kind of like backwards and
• 37:20
  forwards between them. Was is very very US coded.
• 37:23
  So special place in my heart. And I can see why other people
• 37:26
  like them because they are super easy read, the setting is great,
• 37:31
  the found family is there. It's just something about Elsie
• 37:35
  Silver's writing style and her spice.
• 37:37
  Her. Spice specifically I feel like
• 37:39
  for you. Yeah, it's the spice.
• 37:41
  Because there's another scene that she heard about and
• 37:42
  everyone went on hopeless with the shaving and when they heard
• 37:46
  about it, even though they didn't read it.
• 37:48
  It just sent me again into orbit, like I just want to have
• 37:52
  a chat with Elsie and just see where these spice scenes come
• 37:55
  from because they are too funny. It is, it is a constant point of
• 38:02
  like discourse in our group chat because we have some real anti
• 38:07
  Elsie girls and some real Elsie girls in the group chat so.
• 38:10
  Yeah, we're very divided on this one, by the way, guys, if you
• 38:14
  can. See.
• 38:15
  If you can see this situation here and you're like what the
• 38:17
  hell is going on? My mic is magnetized to my
• 38:21
  necklace which is just like a metal chain with a padlock.
• 38:25
  But anyway, so we talked about the books that we both like and
• 38:30
  dislike and like our different opinions on them.
• 38:33
  But we thought it would also be good to share how we find the
• 38:36
  books that we love. Because obviously if you guys
• 38:39
  are here assuming that you basically find books from
• 38:43
  recommendations on book talk or YouTube.
• 38:46
  And like for me, I do look at book talk and Booktube
• 38:50
  occasionally, but I would say the main way I find books that I
• 38:57
  really want to read or like how I build my TBR is like a new
• 39:01
  release is an auto by authors, which I feel like we probably
• 39:05
  both do. 100%. Yeah.
• 39:07
  So like, say, Adrian Young releases a new book now I know
• 39:12
  when it's coming out and I know that's going on my TBR.
• 39:14
  And that happens with like a lot of authors, you know, like Sally
• 39:17
  Rooney, Lila Sage, Twisted Sisters, Emily Henry, Like
• 39:21
  there's so many authors who I just automatically add every new
• 39:24
  release to my TBR. Another way I find books that I
• 39:29
  want to read is actually Pinterest.
• 39:32
  So Pinterest has such book, such good book recommendations, guys.
• 39:37
  Like I don't even remember how I first started finding book
• 39:39
  recommendations on there, but now they just obviously
• 39:41
  automatically come up on my feed on my homepage and they are so
• 39:45
  good. I don't know who is making these
• 39:47
  posts, but I need to find this person.
• 39:49
  It's probably multiple, but they're really, really good.
• 39:54
  Are you listening to this? Pinterest starts showing me book
• 39:57
  recommendations. And then another thing which I
• 40:00
  think like is quite underutilized by people is the
• 40:05
  explore page on Goodreads and Story Graph.
• 40:09
  And I feel like Story Graph specifically really recommends
• 40:13
  me books so. I'm really learning stuff here.
• 40:17
  Story Graph specifically really recommends me books that I think
• 40:19
  I'm going to love because it uses your actual data of what
• 40:23
  you've already read really well, I think.
• 40:26
  So I find books mostly like through that.
• 40:29
  And then another way is just honestly, just like, literally
• 40:32
  by browsing. Yeah.
• 40:35
  I realized either last year or the year before that I wasn't
• 40:39
  really reading blurbs anymore. I was literally just going off
• 40:42
  what people said on Book Talk and just like picking those
• 40:46
  books up or picking those books up, never looking at the blurb
• 40:49
  and then just chucking them on my shelf.
• 40:51
  But now I would literally go into a bookshop and just go
• 40:55
  through all of these books and read their blobs and there's.
• 40:57
  A bit more thoughtful approach to things.
• 40:59
  Exactly. And then like whatever stands
• 41:01
  out, you know you really want it and it's something you're
• 41:04
  interested in. Yeah, that's fair.
• 41:05
  I feel like I am definitely. I'm definitely what's what I'm
• 41:12
  looking for here. Like I don't read blobs anymore.
• 41:15
  Yeah. And it's something I need to get
• 41:17
  better at. Like if I go into a bookshop, I
• 41:21
  will look at the covers and if something really catches my eye,
• 41:24
  I'll have a quick scan of it. But I'm not very good for
• 41:28
  actually going into a bookshop. And actually just, I feel like
• 41:32
  the problem for me when I go into a bookshop these days is
• 41:35
  that I go in and I'm thinking about what content am I about to
• 41:37
  make, like my brains on other things, rather than just
• 41:40
  enjoying the experience of going and browsing in a bookshop.
• 41:43
  I would definitely say the bulk of what I buy and what I read
• 41:48
  comes from recommendations from book bookstagram, but actually
• 41:53
  in the main from my closest friends that know and know what
• 41:59
  I read, know what I like, but just also have like fairly
• 42:02
  similar tastes to me. So very much like a word of
• 42:05
  mouth thing or also, you know, when you know the great thing
• 42:10
  about being in the position that we are, like when publishers are
• 42:12
  contacting us about books and you get a kind of like an
• 42:15
  overall summary of what the books about.
• 42:16
  I'm like, well, that sounds like a bit of me.
• 42:17
  And actually, I really would really like to read this, which
• 42:20
  then puts things specifically in front of me.
• 42:24
  But I would, yeah, I think that that is really the only way that
• 42:27
  I find book recommendations these days.
• 42:30
  I don't. Yeah.
• 42:32
  I do, funnily enough. If I go into a bookshop I feel
• 42:35
  like I'm overwhelmed by how many books are.
• 42:38
  I'm pulling things on and off the shelves and I get stressed
• 42:40
  that I'm going to mess up display, but if I go onto
• 42:43
  Waterstones website and it's on a screen in front of me I'm much
• 42:46
  more likely to scroll through what it says.
• 42:49
  Interesting. I know weird isn't.
• 42:50
  It I'm the opposite, I find the Waterstones website useless.
• 42:54
  Like I feel like it only shows you a very select selection of
• 42:57
  like new books. It does, yeah.
• 42:59
  It's hard. Normally when I'm going to like
• 43:01
  see like what new special editions?
• 43:02
  Are coming and I'm. Like oh, that looks quite good.
• 43:04
  Yeah, true. But I feel like it's quite hard
• 43:06
  on there to find like hidden gems, whereas like quite often
• 43:10
  when I'm in my local Waterstones, I'll see like aya
• 43:12
  book that I've never heard anyone talk about before, stuff
• 43:16
  like that. But yeah, I do actually.
• 43:18
  There is a couple of like trusted book talkers as well
• 43:21
  that I will go to. That's the thing, it has to be
• 43:24
  from people that you have. You trust their taste in what
• 43:29
  they're reading. Yeah, like obviously each other,
• 43:33
  but we're like friends now anyway, so it's a bit different
• 43:36
  like. Friends.
• 43:37
  We like friends. We like friends.
• 43:39
  No, but like who are you? We actually talk in real life
• 43:42
  about books, but obviously like people like Smitty.
• 43:46
  We had him on the podcast. He's one of my go to's and
• 43:49
  there's, there's loads like we do posts every now and then
• 43:52
  about people that we I love to follow as well as there's a post
• 43:56
  on our Instagram and then there's a post on my Instagram.
• 43:58
  But yeah, there's there is a few content creators who I know I
• 44:01
  will love a book if they recommend.
• 44:03
  If they love it, yeah. Yeah.
• 44:04
  I feel like the difficult thing with book talk for these days
• 44:07
  and books to Graham is that, and I, I have done this myself,
• 44:13
  people want to please the publishers so they get more
• 44:16
  stuff. So it is very hard to find.
• 44:19
  And that's your job as the consumer of the content, to find
• 44:22
  the content creators that you feel like you have similar book
• 44:25
  tastes in and you trust that they are going to be honest
• 44:29
  about what they are talking about.
• 44:31
  Like I now personally won't do a review on a book unless I'm
• 44:36
  like, I really enjoyed that. If I read, if I get books, I'll
• 44:40
  always post about them on my Instagram stories or my
• 44:43
  Instagram being like, you know, there's some new books I've got,
• 44:45
  but I won't get in front kind of the camera and be like, I loved
• 44:48
  this book if I didn't enjoy it. Yeah, I basically review it,
• 44:52
  whether it's good or bad. So I'll just, I'll actually just
• 44:55
  say like, yeah, these were fine. I was sent them, but I didn't
• 44:58
  really love them. But usually as well, I feel like
• 45:01
  quite lucky that the publishers know my taste quite well.
• 45:05
  So it's very rare that I get something where I'm like
• 45:07
  completely not interested or I really don't like it, which is
• 45:10
  quite lucky. But yeah, 100% agree.
• 45:13
  So what is it that you for you, you look for in a book that not
• 45:18
  necessarily means that you're going to love it because you
• 45:21
  know, inevitably it could have all the things you love in a
• 45:23
  book, but actually just don't enjoy it.
• 45:25
  But what are some of the things that you look for in a book that
• 45:30
  you're like, I'm going to pick this up and read it?
• 45:32
  Yeah, so I feel like there's three things I actually look at.
• 45:35
  Like a Holy Trinity, if you will.
• 45:38
  A trifecta. The first is the blurb, like I
• 45:42
  said, but very specific thing about the blurb is that I have
• 45:45
  learned if the blurb follows a very standard structure of one
• 45:51
  day Jane did this and then she wonders into this person and
• 45:56
  tension unravels and then she's forced into this situation.
• 46:00
  I know I'm probably not going to like that book because the book
• 46:03
  is also going to have a very standard similar formula to
• 46:06
  everything else that's in the market in that genre.
• 46:09
  So I look for quite a unique creative blurb.
• 46:12
  I also look for a unique concept in the plot.
• 46:17
  So like it doesn't have to be super unique.
• 46:18
  You know, I still read like Fay books or whatever, but just
• 46:22
  something that's like, I've not read this before.
• 46:24
  That sounds really interesting. That sounds thought provoking.
• 46:27
  And then the third thing is the writing style.
• 46:30
  I am quite fussy with writing styles these days.
• 46:33
  I definitely like there to be strong technical craft when I'm
• 46:38
  reading because that just helps me.
• 46:40
  So opposites. That just helps me get more
• 46:43
  immersed into the story. If I'm constantly like why is
• 46:46
  there not a comma here? Why is this sentence 4 million
• 46:49
  lines long? Like it takes me out of the
• 46:51
  story. That's the detriment of what you
• 46:53
  do for work, though, is that you probably subconsciously, even if
• 46:57
  you try not to, you're subconscious.
• 46:59
  It must be almost at going into work mode trying to edit someone
• 47:03
  else's book. Yeah, but I think I've always
• 47:05
  done it. Like I remember watching
• 47:07
  Twilight for the first time, and the first time I saw it, I
• 47:10
  spotted the continuity error in the hospital scene where the
• 47:13
  tubes from her face move from here to here to here to here in
• 47:16
  the same clip. And like, that is I was like 10
• 47:19
  years old. Like that's just my brain
• 47:21
  spotting these things, which is why I then was like, I would be
• 47:24
  a good editor. Yeah, so I am not like that at
• 47:27
  all. I'm very good at watching like
• 47:29
  even like really complex things. I can predict an ending.
• 47:32
  Like, I'm terrible to watch stuff with because I know what's
• 47:35
  going to happen, but stuff like that, I'm not thinking about
• 47:39
  what's happening directly in front of me.
• 47:40
  I'm thinking like 10 steps ahead.
• 47:42
  Do you know what I mean, 100? Percent yeah, yeah.
• 47:45
  And like, I wish I wasn't like that because I think I would
• 47:48
  actually then enjoy a lot more things.
• 47:51
  But unfortunately, my brain is just like, it just kind of
• 47:54
  notices things, yeah. And I feel like that usually is
• 47:57
  where like the difference in our opinions on the books that I
• 47:59
  love versus books that you love because I'm just very easy to
• 48:02
  please in that sense. It doesn't take much for me to
• 48:06
  just be like, Oh yeah, this is this is enjoyable.
• 48:08
  I think it helps. I listen to a lot of fantasy on
• 48:11
  audio. So sometimes if there is like
• 48:14
  small plot holes or like grammatical errors, I don't
• 48:17
  notice them because I'm listening to them like I do.
• 48:21
  I don't exclusively do audio, but I do listen to to a lot of
• 48:24
  audio. Yeah, whereas I'm probably the
• 48:26
  opposite again, where I 90% read like 10% audio.
• 48:30
  And even when I listen on audio, it has to be a very specific
• 48:34
  type of book narration style, like everything voice.
• 48:37
  Yeah, it's so tricky to find one that I like.
• 48:39
  But with writing, I just instantly can see those errors
• 48:44
  and it pulls me out of the story.
• 48:46
  So that's that's the kind of three things that I look for.
• 48:50
  What about you? I think it's hard to say what I
• 48:56
  look for because I I it's more about what I really don't enjoy
• 49:02
  once I'm reading something. One of those is really naive
• 49:09
  FMCS. Yeah, it it fucking irritates
• 49:13
  the shit out of me. I think even when it's realistic
• 49:17
  naivety, it just irritates me because I personally am just
• 49:21
  someone that really enjoys reading about strong willed,
• 49:26
  feisty, independent women. Like it's just something that I
• 49:30
  really enjoy in a book, any book with like real girl power,
• 49:33
  strong female friendships. I think because it's so
• 49:36
  important to me in real life, I always enjoy reading about it.
• 49:39
  It's one of my favorite things about the HMRC series.
• 49:43
  It's just so good. I really, really enjoyed that.
• 49:48
  Another thing which I really love it doesn't necessarily have
• 49:51
  to have it, but something that will make me enjoy especially a
• 49:55
  fan. Actually, not even just fantasy.
• 49:57
  All books is a found family dynamic.
• 49:59
  Again, so much for me is about friendships and like those types
• 50:03
  of dynamics are really important for me to really enjoy a story.
• 50:08
  And then I don't really know I just I'm really just like a vibe
• 50:15
  person. It depends like what kind of
• 50:17
  mood I'm in. I I do personally prefer a books
• 50:22
  written in the first person interesting and with different
• 50:27
  POVSI think something else. I actually it doesn't have to
• 50:33
  have it, but something else I do look for and enjoy is short
• 50:36
  chapters. Oh yeah, I think again.
• 50:39
  Well, I don't know why I keep bringing up ADHD today, but I
• 50:42
  think it really it just keeps me more engaged.
• 50:45
  Long chapters. I'm instantly then just one like
• 50:47
  procrastinate and reading a book because I'm like God, it's going
• 50:49
  to take me ages to get anywhere. Yeah.
• 50:52
  And I think like that, that diversity of like characters
• 50:55
  through the book, it just keeps it more interesting for me and
• 50:59
  it keeps me engaged for much longer periods of time.
• 51:03
  I totally get that. I love a multi POV book actually
• 51:06
  as well and I think that's probably another thing of why we
• 51:09
  like these Academy books because they tend to have a really large
• 51:11
  cast of characters. But like actually differently to
• 51:16
  you. I prefer third person unless
• 51:19
  it's multi POV and then I like each separate kind of first
• 51:22
  person. You get a better personality
• 51:25
  switch, but I love third person POV.
• 51:27
  I can enjoy them more now I think I've read a few more and
• 51:32
  ones that have been done really well.
• 51:34
  Again, HMRC only because I've just finished Human Rights was
• 51:37
  like right there in the forefront of my mind.
• 51:40
  I just find it a little bit easier to like sink into like
• 51:44
  the mindset of the character and the first person.
• 51:47
  So those are those are the things that I would I mainly
• 51:49
  look for in a book. Yeah, and actually what you said
• 51:52
  about tropes or like Found Family specifically, I would
• 51:55
  agree with that as well actually.
• 51:56
  We actually have the same favorite tropes, which is Found
• 51:59
  Family and Grumpy Sunshine. I also really love Second Chance
• 52:02
  Romance actually. So those are like when I'm
• 52:05
  looking at a romance book specifically.
• 52:07
  Those are definitely things I gravitate towards for sure.
• 52:10
  Okay guys, we've been yapping away at you about books we
• 52:14
  disagree and agree on. Obviously, as you can tell, we
• 52:17
  could talk about this all day, but I'm clearly in the right.
• 52:22
  Blink twice if you agree with Tor, because clearly you need
• 52:25
  help, Savage. I'm joking.
• 52:29
  But don't yuck someone else's Yum Brunty, yeah?
• 52:32
  No, honestly guys, it's all subjective.
• 52:35
  Love what you love, but let us know actually in the comments
• 52:38
  what you're like, bookish hot takers and if there's a hyped
• 52:41
  book that you disagree with because we would love to know.
• 52:44
  But otherwise, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube, follow
• 52:48
  us on Spotify wherever you are, and we will see you not next
• 52:52
  Thursday, but the Thursday after for another episode.
• 52:55
  Bye.