slow reading days ✧ short books, odd stories & quiet moments

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:07][clears throat] [snorts] Good morning guys. I have already read a book for this vlog. Hold on. There's a cat trying to come in. Cats do not know how to go around. You have to open every door. They have to be They have to have full access at all times. I have read Lost Lambs by Meline Cash. I do think this cover is very cute. This is a dark comedy satirical litfic. It focuses on a wildly dysfunctional family who spiral into conspiracies, crime, and emotional chaos when the youngest daughter becomes convinced that their creepy local billionaire is up to something sinister.

[00:01:06]But really, it all begins when the mother of the household decides to open up the marriage, even though her husband really isn't on board with it. Besides the mother and father, there are three daughters. So, you have Abigail. She is the eldest, and she begins to date this guy who's known as war crimes.

[00:01:27]Red flags much. Then you've got the middle child, Louise. Rather overlooked in the family. Uh, and thus she finds herself with a terrorist pen pal. And then you have Harper, who is the youngest, and she is a genius. and she is the one who becomes convinced that they are under surveillance by the town's billionaire Paul Alabaster. I feel like I'm about to sneeze.

[00:01:52]Naturally, uh the parents who are preoccupied with their own domestic issues ignore Harper's concerns and instead they send her to a wilderness reform camp for troublesome teenagers because nothing fixes paranoia like forced camping. But it turns out Harper might actually be onto something. Soon the family is uh neck deep in conspiracies uh crimes, small town corruption, proving that families that felony together stay together. This is mostly about the dysfunctional family, even though they do get up to high jinks and some absurdity creeps its way in.

[00:02:26]Some of the chaos does feel a little bit random. The themes, main themes in this book were of family dysfunction and reluctant loyalty, conspiracy theories and real corruption, modern internet culture, power and wealth in small towns, radicalization and loneliness, sisterly sibling drama and chaotic millennial/ Gen Z adulthood. Vibe check for this book. We have awkward family dinners, chaotic sibling energy, conspiracy board with red string, wilderness reform camp. I did enjoy the dead pan humor in this and the observational social commentary. It had an overall playful tone. I didn't really believe anybody was truly in harm's way at any point. I don't love infidelity in marriages. And I know that the wife wanted to open up the marriage consensually, but her husband was clearly not agreeing to it. And then he ends up having sex with this other woman out of spite. And then she gets angry about it. And she has sex with a lesbian repair woman. And it just I just don't like it. I didn't like the snipiness and the back and forth and hurting each other and miscommunication and all that sort of thing. I'm just like either work on your marriage and yourselves. Work on yourselves too. Okay. Okay. When you were in a marriage, you were still obligated to work on yourself whilst in a marriage, you know, or break up. Why get why make it messy and hurtful? So, yes, I don't love that factor. Um, what I really didn't like is the stylistic choice that this book took. So, the first chapter, sorry guys, I had to change the camera angle. The tripod is slowly going down. The author did a stylistic choice in this. So the first chapter of this book, we were told about how the church has a gnat infestation thanks to some pot plants that were put in it for decoration. Afterwards, the author chose to write every word that had n a t in it with a beginning, middle, end spelled g n a t. So words like naturally and donated. And I don't know why, but it just really irritated me. It aggravated me. Every time I read it, I would read it incorrectly and I was like, "Oh, she's doing nat thing again." Why? I don't I don't get it to try and make the book more quirky. I don't understand the purpose of that.

[00:04:44]Ultimately, I ended up thinking this book was just okay. I gave it 3.25. At first, I was optimistic about it. I thought, "Oh, this is going to be fun and weird and quirky," but I just felt like I was reading about a bunch of dysfunctional idiots that I don't know how they've survived thus far.

[00:05:02]Then the billionaire dodgy stuff just felt very out of place as well as war crime west.

[00:05:10][sighs] I don't know. I can see what this book was trying to do. It just didn't land for me. I think if you are endeared to this kooky collection of characters, you will enjoy it. But because I didn't really care about any of them except the only character I really liked was the youngest Harper, the genius. I found her the most uh entertaining and likable and switched on, I guess. So, everybody else I was just fed up with their shenanigans. So, yeah, I didn't enjoy it. I think you would enjoy it if you like books that are about dysfunctional families and that have a bit of a chaotic humor to them or just books where things go bonkers uh and are also laced with a lot of conspiracy theories. For me, it was giving the vibe of the royal tenon balms. So, it felt like a bit of a Wes Anderson movie, especially because of the eclectic cast of characters. Uh, or maybe something like Big Swiss perhaps.

[00:06:04]Yes, that was the first book I read. I will also let you know that I did DNF Welcome to Nightvale. So, I picked that book because of my tarot card pull, which was read a book in a series. I had accidentally read the third in the series and loved it. This one was not for me. Night Veil is a town where there are paranormal creatures and things are just really, really weird. And we begin with a character who works at a porn shop, but she's odd and the people that go in there are odd and the whole porn shop is odd and everything's just really confusing. So, this guy comes in with a piece of paper that says King City, I think it was, and he wanted to sell it to her. And she always buys what people bring in, and she has her prices, but then after the guy leaves, she's just very disconcerted and put off by this piece of paper that says King City, and she wants to return it to the guy. She wants it out of her store. So, I I don't know. It was just I tried to give it a shot, but I was just [ __ ] confused. I found it so confusing, and not in a fun way. Not in a fun way. And I was like, "Yeah, I'm not getting into this. I don't care." So, I did DNF it. I went to the library and I grabbed some books.

[00:07:09]So, I've grabbed I'll Find You Where the Timeline Ends by Kylie Lee Baker. This I'm pretty sure this is a YA sort of time travel romance. Oh, young Mina descended from a Japanese dragon god was born with the power to travel through time. Yeah, I was intrigued because Kylie Lee Baker did Batita and I did actually enjoy that. I thought let's see how this horror writer does a YA romance. I've got How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder by Nina McConnelly perhaps. This is about It says Georgie and Agatha Krishna killed their uncle and they blame the British set in 1986.

[00:07:48]So it's historical as well. And then I got this in thanks to my subscribers. So this is Speak of the Devil by Sweeney Boo. So this is a sequel to Over My Dead Body, which my eldest absolutely loved.

[00:07:59]She doesn't really like to read, but she really loved that book. So, when I saw the sequels out, I liked it, too. I think I gave it a four stars. When I saw the sequels out, I thought, let's get it. These are some options. I've also got the books that Charles sent me, so I could pick those as well. But, let's just do a tarot card pull for a prompt and see what I'm going to pick up next.

[00:08:19]Apologies for the the hair. It's wet. I just got out of the shower and I don't blow dry my hair. I really don't like the noise and the heat. So, I always let it air dry. So, the card, this is a picture of my mom, dad, and I when I was a baby. So, we've got six of cups. And the prompt for this is starts with a letter C for Chanel. For Chanel or for child because sometimes the six of cups is to do with childhood stuff. Okay, let's have a look. What starts with C?

[00:08:51]Do I have any of these books starting with C?

[00:08:54]Nine. Nine. Okay, so let's have a look.

[00:08:58]Let's have a look cuz I'm also on a time crunch. I have to take Nova to the vet today, but she's got something going on with her boobies that doesn't look good.

[00:09:07]So, better safe than sorry. Caretaker, I would love for that to come in. Oh my goodness. I would love to that to come in. I've also got Crueltyfree, which I would also love to come in. And Crushed Wild Mint, that's a book of poetry that I do have. So if the others are not available right now, I can just read that one. I might just read that one.

[00:09:30]I've also got Come see the living dryad.

[00:09:32]So one of these books will complete my C prompt and I will see you guys once I yeah have read something.

[00:09:42]Hello darlings. Let me update you. So I did actually end up reading a book. I read Little Moments of Love by Katana Cetwin which I received as a gift. This was a comic strip book about relationships. It is a collection of cute comics about the chaotic, cozy, real moments that make up being in love.

[00:10:04]They fight over blankets. They refuse to leave the house. They love each other's deeply gross habits. It's just it was just a nod to the mundane intimacy of relationships. The comic style was very simple. It was minimalist black and white with the occasional splash of color. The main themes in this were everyday intimacy, the comfort of emotional safety, introverted love, domestic silliness, vulnerability, and we're both weird, but we're weird together. Vibe check. Cozy pajamas at 300 p.m. Sharing snacks on the couch.

[00:10:42]Warm mug and rainy afternoons.

[00:10:45]relationship means but wholesome. I ended up giving this a three stars. It wasn't really my style in terms of the art and the content was just super super simple. The people that I think would like this book are fans of web comics and people who like very cozy, quick, sweet reads. Something of a similar vein but with a paranormal twist that I liked was Fangs. I am now going to read Speak of the Devil by Sweeney Boo. This is a sequel, so this should be pretty quick because it is a a graphic novel. I'm still thinking about what I'm going to do for the letter C. I haven't decided yet. So, I might do a library run. I don't know if I have time today. Today's busy. I've got to take the kids to the dentist. So, we'll see. We'll see. We'll see. But I will see you next time once I have an update for you. I wish you guys could smell these roses right now. So good.

[00:11:42]Hey guys, I have not read anything, but I've got a library haul, a book haul.

[00:11:47]Let's do it. For my letter C prompt, I am going with Chrommora: How Color Changed Our Way of Seeing by Ricardo Falchinelli. And I love color. I love color theory. So, I'm hoping this might be a non-fiction that I enjoy reading.

[00:12:05]It looks pretty cool. So, this will be my letter C prompt.

[00:12:10]This is one of my most anticipated reads. She made herself a monster by Anna Kbachva. Kobachva. I'll find out later. I like the other cover more than this one. Jana, a vampire hunter, rides into Koplichi, promising salvation. The villagers curse has persisted for many years. And rumor has it that Anka, whose parents died on the night of her birth, is to blame. But enduring the villager's suspicion is the least of Anka's worries. She's reached womanhood and she can no longer avoid the odious marriage that seems to be her only option. But animal corpses start to appear. Eggs filled with blood are found in the chicken coupe. Panic arises. She knows all about monsters that she can vanquish. But Jana is a liar and monsters come in different forms. Oh, that's right. I think she is a pretend monster slayer, but then monsters are real and what's she going to do? So, I'm hoping this One second. I'm going to sneeze.

[00:13:05]Okay. Uh, Sylvie. Oh, you're so cute.

[00:13:08]You're so cute, Sylvie. You're so cute, Sylvie.

[00:13:12]Hello. [laughter] Hello, baby. Yes. Uh, I will rearrange the shot to get her in there. What was I going to say? Uh, yes. So, this was on my most anticipated reads. Hopefully, this one is fantastic. That will be a priority. I will be picking it up next.

[00:13:29]I was going to read the graphic novel.

[00:13:31]Actually, I might do the graphic novel first because I can knock it out really quickly and my daughter wants to get on to that. So, I'll do that and then I'll do this. Uh, I got The Hill in the Dark Grove by Liam Higginson. So, this says, "Cardan and Ryan, the last in a long line of sheep farmers, are living out a brutal year on their hillside farm deep in the mountains of Eay, North Wales.

[00:13:54]That's probably not how you spell." When Caravan discovers a buried prehistoric ruin in one of the fields, his curiosity descends into obsession. His wife, Ryan Oran, meanwhile, is confronted with a realization that the man she shares her life with is becoming a frightening stranger. She finds herself alone with her peculiar husband and the mountains and the looming megalithic stone. So, it sounds very atmospheric. Uh, I'm sure it'll be filled with names. I can't pronounce the Welsh names, man. Not phonetic whatsoever. Don't even guess.

[00:14:25]you may as well not be reading English letters, I have found. So, I'm sure I didn't pronounce them correctly. But yeah, with um the library, as usual, I don't read the blurbs. I just go by the cover and I take them home and then I read the blurbs. I've got so little time when I go out, so I just grab I also just want to yeah uh diversify my reading a bit, just be a bit more risk-taking. I want to read some things that probably are not what I usually read. So, I might be a bit more adventurous in my cover grabs going forward. See if I can find something marvelous. We've got Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown. When Alice Hail leaves a career to become a writer and follows her husband to New York suburbs, not city to say city. She's unaccustomed to f she is unaccustomed to filling her days alone in the house. And then she finds a vintage cookbook buried in the basement and becomes captivated by its previous owner, a 1950s housewife, Nelly. As she cooks her way through the past, she realizes that within the pages Nelly left, clues about her life. She learns that while a baked soon she learns while a baked Alaska may seem harmless, Nellie's secrets are anything but. Ooh, interesting. So, is this a thriller? Maybe it's a thriller.

[00:15:39]We'll see. I will find out as I read. I also grabbed Destruction and Sorrow Beneath the Heavens, translated by Oti Molzette, written by Lazlo Kraokai.

[00:15:50]That was an attempt. That was an attempt. He brings us on a journey through China. At the dawn of the 21st century, on the precipice of its emergence as a global power, China is experiencing cataclysms of modernity as its harsh mauru strictctures meet the chaotic flux of globalization. Can a westerner truly understand China's past and present? It's a travel memoir and a chronicle of a distinct intellectual shift. We'll have a go. This might be out of completely out of my wheelhouse as in above my pay grade. It sounds intellectual, but this is what I mean. I made the choice today to grab something that um I thought might not be for me, but it's free. So, I'll sample it. I'll taste test it. See how I feel. And the last book I got is for my Booker Prize and in oh my god women's prize fiction vlogs. I wasn't going to read this one because I wasn't really interested in it. But I saw it on the most wanted as in I can grab it straight away because this one had like a weight list of 60 people. So I wouldn't have been able to get to it even if I wanted to because it's short.

[00:16:55]I thought you know what just grab it.

[00:16:57]Just try it. You don't like it on to the next book. So I'll be reading that in my prize award fiction vlog. Yes, for this vlog. This one and uh the Sweeney Boo graphic novel. And I'll see you when I finish something. I thought I press the stop button. Let me try that again. Hey, good morning guys. I have read another book. So, I did finish reading Speak of the Devil by Sweenie B. This was a YA paranormal fantasy graphic novel. Let's go and move this further away. And this is about about a guiltridden witch who is at a magical institute and she attempts to repair this dangerous magical fissure or rift that has occurred. but instead she ends up awakening a very vengeful entity that is tied to the school's dark history. So the school's grounds are literally splitting open. There is a glowing rune covered crack. Uh there's also earthquakes shake in the campus and none of the powerful witches at this school can seal the fissure. They can't close the crack. So, Abig Abigail Abigail decides, you know what? I, a student with unresolved trauma and questionable impulse control, can fix this myself.

[00:18:24]But her ritual ends up going super duper wrong. And instead of sealing this magical festering wound, she wakes up the entity with a grudge. So, she ends up investigating the Institute's past and trying to figure out why the fissure exists and survive the chaos that she has accidentally unleashed. The artwork is gorgeous in this as usual. The characters are very expressive. There are autumal and wintry vibes in this one and just it's it's a feast for the eyes.

[00:18:54]I do love the artwork. The main themes in this were of magical consequences of reckless choices, hidden institutional history, identity and forgotten pasts, friendship and loyalty, and responsibility for your own power. I didn't love this one. I've given it a 2.75. I found it [snorts] very hard to follow along with the story in this particular one and the boss fight ended up being over very fast, very quickly, very easily. It just it didn't have any of the magic of the first book. So, this one didn't hit for me, but vibe check.

[00:19:27]Candle lit libraries, winter witch school, forbidden archives, and runes carved into stone. I think people who would like this book are ones who like witch school stories. Once again, I'm a bit aged out. This is a younger a younger book or people who like reading about magical mysteries something similar would maybe the witch boy and Wednesday I watched a movie yesterday so I watched 10in Hero which I gave three stars this is about four friends who work at a sandwich shop who search for love and happiness and belonging and acceptance bro okay so look this is a very very h it's a bit corny okay it's a bit of a corny movie.

[00:20:11]The background music was giving Hallmark movie very weird background music choices. I can see that the the theme of the book was meant to be just be who you are and you'll find your people. You know, the right the right people will find you. However, the main one of the best characters in this was priestly.

[00:20:27]So, it's Jensen Ackles and he's an alternative person. He dyes his hair, he has piercings, he wears makeup, he wears skirts.

[00:20:36]Everybody else gets to be who they are and they get accepted except at the end of the movie. So, he's been trying to get the [ __ ] chick the whole time. And I will say there is a nude scene. I wasn't expecting sort of a nude sex scene in this. I was like, "Oh my god, what is this doing in this movie?"

[00:20:50]Eventually, he gets her to notice him by completely changing his physical appearance. So, he gets rid of the colored mohawk and he takes all his makeup off. He takes all his piercings out and he goes to Banana Republic to dawn some khaki pants and a blue button-up shirt. And I'm like, what?

[00:21:08]They're eff.

[00:21:12]I'm trying to say like everyone's just got to be who they are and they'll find their people and they'll accept them as they are. But not for him. Not the alternative guy cuz that's too much.

[00:21:20]That's too much. He's got to bland himself down and make himself into the type of guy that this chick likes. Come on. No. That made me really angry. That made me really angry. So, didn't love that. But yeah, it's a three stars. It's just a very typical late 90s, early 2000s kind of teenage movie. But like I said, I wasn't expecting the nudity sex scene. And there's also onscreen essay.

[00:21:46]So, I was like, okay, that got a bit dark considering all of, like I said, the very Hallmark movie background music that was playing and very like chill vibes ended up getting a bit dark in that respect. But yeah, I was just upset with what they did to Priestley. So, the next book I'm reading is Clear by Carrie Davies. This is a historical litfic, and it's about a solitary islander who rescues a stranded stranger, but unbeknownst to him, this man that he has rescued has been sent to evict him from the only home he has ever known. So, I'm looking forward to that. I might go to the library today as well to pick up some new books. So, we'll see what they've got going on there. Otherwise, I'll pick one from my physical stack here. But, uh, going to take the kids to view some houses, some inspections, and I'll see you later.

[00:22:54]Okay, we're back. Um, we saw the houses.

[00:22:57]We popped into a mega mansion to have a look, just to see how the other half live. Not impressed with the workmanship whatsoever. Used to be a property developer and uh the door to the theater room was scraping the ceiling. I'm like, "Wow, if I was going to spend $7 half million on a house, I wouldn't want to make sure my doors open without scraping on the ceiling." But yes, it was nice to see a fancy house. Picked some books up. We've got Derek. These are in options for indie and bunny. There's a bunny in your book.

[00:23:34]This one might be a bit too too young for probably uh I picked up Memorial Days by Jeline Brooks. So, this is on the stellar prize list and I picked up One Aladdin, Two Lamps by Janette Winteren. But I think the book I'm going on to next is going to be The Hill in the Dark Grove by Liam Higginson. I might also go to the library tomorrow and pick up some more options in case this is no good. But I will see you then.

[00:24:06]Hey, cutie.

[00:24:09]Thank you.

[00:24:16][sighs] Good morning, guys. So, I am 25% of the way through Clear. I'm enjoying it thus far. It's still too soon for me to talk about it though, but I think I probably will finish this one off because it's just so short. Uh, I am going to have a lot more time to read going forward [clears throat] again because my daughter has decided to return to school. To sum it up very quickly, she experienced bullying last year. The school took 3 months to take her out of the class with the bullies. They said just suck it up and ignore them or try to work things out with them. Anyway, she was eventually moved. this year, two days before she was due to start school, we found out they had allocated her into a class with the same bullies.

[00:25:10]We immediately said, "Hey, we want to have her moved." Uh, they eventually came back said, "Okay, we've moved her."

[00:25:15]They moved her into a class with ESL students. So, ESL is English as a second language. And in the school, pretty much the ESL students stick to themselves and the non-ESL students stick to themselves. They don't really mix. So, Valentine did not know any of the children that were in that class. And to make matters worse, all six of her friends, her friendship group, were all placed in the same class. She was the only one that wasn't in that class. And yeah, she was placed in a class with her bullies originally. So, she decided, I don't want to go to this school anymore.

[00:25:45]They obviously don't care about me. I want to home school. So, we just started doing that. And it was a rocky at first, but we were getting our grip. Obviously, it did have drawbacks. I couldn't teach her French. She's done French for 9 years. I don't speak French, so I couldn't teach it. were looking into getting tutors, private tutors for French. Obviously, all of her electives that she wanted to do this year, like photography and things, I would have to pay for private lessons for her to do that. And obviously, she wasn't seeing her friends every day. I still made sure her friends were coming over two to three times a week, so that she was still socializing, but obviously she was used to seeing them every single day.

[00:26:21]So, after a few months of yeah, homeschooling, she's asked me, "I want to return to school. can you get me changed just into a class with kids I know? So I rang the school I said hey these are the classes I have kids she knows we want to move into these classes or I'm going to go through the department of education and make a complaint. They came back and they were like those classes are full. We're sorry but they are capacity. I said give me the class lists so I can say for myself no we can't. So I got Valentine to ask her friends to give me the class lists because the students have access to the class lists. Lo and behold, I just started with the class that has all of her friends in it. There was a student in there that does not go to the school anymore. And I knew this because it was one of Valentine's former friends, and she had left the school at the end of last year. So, I rang the school, and I said, "Hey, this girl doesn't even go here anymore. Pull Valentine into the class. Take that kid's name off the class list." And they said, "Sorry, but it's in the system. We can't do that.

[00:27:14]Class is full." So, I got Valentine to message this girl to ask for that girl's mother's number so I could tell the mother, "Hey, your daughter is still enrolled in this school. She's on this class list. It is stopping Valentine from being put into that class. Can you please call the school yourself and tell them to remove your daughter's name from that class list?" She did me a solid.

[00:27:36]She rang the school said, "My kid doesn't go there anymore. Take her off the list. Valentine, her friend, wants to move into that class. Maybe you should do that." The school messaged me to say Valentine has been moved into that class with all of her friends and she can start tomorrow. Look, I don't like this school. If it was my choice, my daughter won't go there. Uh, I'm not really happy with any any of the traditional schools in Victoria. I think they're all [ __ ] and they don't care about the well-being and safety of their students. They really don't. Any parent that has issues with bullying or violence at school or abbleism and everything else will testify to that, I'm sure. But I back my kids, so whatever it is they want to do, I will do my best to support them and to make it happen. She wanted to go back to school. I've made it happen for her. Do I think she's going to finish her schooling there? I don't think so. But for now, she's gone back to school. Did I waste hundreds and hundreds of dollars on buying homeschooling curriculum and resources and everything? Yes, I did. But what can you do? It's the way the cookie crumbles. Like I said, I will always support what my kids want to do instead of just saying, "This is what you're doing. This is what I think is best. I don't want to hear anything about it. I just don't like that way of parenting."

[00:28:47]So, it is what it is. At the moment, I'm now no longer a homeschooling mom. I still think it's going to be on the cards in the future. I just have a feeling. But, it does mean that I yeah have time again to read because guess what? But I'm also not working right now because when there is a war on the stock market is volatile and I just don't want to be stopped out 10 times a day because it is completely unpredictable. It's a war. So, what are they? Oh my god, there's different kinds of parrots in my backyard, bro. So cool. Okay, back on track. So, yes, uh I am going to have more time. I'm not bringing back the old blogs, though. I'm just not going to.

[00:29:28]But I might be able to read more books per vlog than I was previously going to be able to. And now I should be able to get to hopefully all of the Booker Prize and International and Women's and Stella Fiction books. Fingers crossed. Uh so I should get almost all of them from my libraries in time. I'm going to head out to the library today to get a book. Uh as I mentioned previously, I won't be going out and about much anymore just because of petrol prices, guys. It's nearing $3 a liter and I just can't afford to keep topping up. I have to just only use it for groceries and school and the odd library run, but I might in the future just try and take public transport like two buses or whatever to get there instead. So, this might be the last time I drive there.

[00:30:11]Forgot to mention I will not be doing any more cobalt vlogs. They just take too long, dudes. I love reading, but I don't want to read for over 12 hours a day. It's just too much. So, I will what I'll do is in all of my mood reading blogs, I will go and scroll down to the oldest book on my e-reader and I will try it. So, every reading vlog, I will delete one book from my from my Coobo.

[00:30:39]So, when I get back from the library haul, we'll see what that book is, what I'll be attempting in this this mood reading vlog. Okay, so my eldest is still listening ready to go to her dad's. So, let's just find out what the um It's really cold. I got my head beams on. Uh, what the oldest book on this is, what am I going to attempt this time around? Midsummer by Alatha Fast.

[00:31:07]There's a picture of a bear and a girl.

[00:31:09]Is this fantasy? Let's find out. Oh, what's new? Do not do not finish shelf.

[00:31:15]Thanks. Good reads. Midsummer. Mid Athea.

[00:31:21]Okay, let's see what this is about. So, this has got a 3.88.

[00:31:25]It's 52 pages. Is it? It says it is a nolla. It's a lesbian shape shifter romance. [laughter] [gasps] >> Sorry about that. My kids are home. Um, Jenna had planned a trip of a lifetime for her and her boyfriend Travis. an opportunity to hike through northern Finland, witness the midnight sun during the summer solstice, buck like rabbits, and hopefully salvage their struggling relationship. But when Travis invites some of his friends without telling her, disappointments begin to pile on. Fed up and unsatisfied, Jenna turns to a midsummer ritual for guidance on finding her one true love. one that leads her away from the human midsummer festivities and into a fay celebration full of danger man magic and just possibly her one true love. A bear woman. [gasps] Oh my god. Okay. Yeah. You know what?

[00:32:23]Let's do it. Um what's the first sentence? Like I said, if I don't like this one, I won't be doing anymore for this vlog. I'll do it again in the next vlog. The door of the hut creeks open, rousing me from my sleep and a very pleasant dream.

[00:32:59]What are you doing?

[00:33:07]Hello, my darlings. I have read and watched a lot. So, as you saw, I watched Aladdin with my kids. This is a rewatch.

[00:33:13]Aladdin is literally top tier movie.

[00:33:15]It's one of my It's actually my favorite Disney princess movie. Number one, you just can't beat Robin Williams. And surprisingly, as someone who normally hates music in movies, I love every song except A Whole New World. I love all the other songs. So, love that movie. If you don't know what Aladdin is about, it is about a common thief who falls in love with a princess, but he cannot marry her as he is not marry her, marry her as he is not a prince. And then we have um a royal vizier, a bad guy named Jafar, who has a hidden agenda and he enlists Aladdin to help retrieve a magical lamp that contains a genie that grants wishes. That's the gist of it. Genie voiced by Robin Williams ising iconic.

[00:33:56]This is a six-star movie for me. I love it. I then watched The Moment with Charlie XCX. I gave this a three and a half. This is about it's a faux well, it's a mockumentary about Charlie X's Charlie XCX's arena tour for her Brat Summer album. And as you know, Brat Summer became a phenomenon. It was a bit of a part of the Zeitgeist. Uh, and this was a fake look at how she was struggling to like keep up the momentum of Brat Summer. I thought this was going to be funnier. I don't know why I was getting a comedic hint from the trailers, so I was expecting a bit more silly, but it was actually more dramatic. Uh, I guess it is an A24 film and I don't think they do comedy that much. Sorry, my hair's still wet. I'm straight out the shower. Straight out the shower. Uh, so yeah, I ended up giving it a three and a half. It was fine. I then watched Taylor Tomlinson's new comedy special, Prodigal Daughter.

[00:34:48]So, this one features material deconstructing her religious upbringing and processing her religious trauma and exploring her sexuality after coming out in her 30s. I normally really enjoyed Taylor's stuff. This is probably though my least favorite comedy special. I thought I would love it more because highly relatable. I have religious trauma too from my upbringing in the Baptist church and I too came out in my 30s as by and also demi. So, I thought I would love it more than I did. I would probably give it a three and a half.

[00:35:22]Just Yeah, it didn't hit as much as her previous ones did for some reason. So, I watched that. Uh, I do absolutely want to see I can't remember the the name of it. I'll put the film up here. This is next on the docket for me as priority.

[00:35:36]So, I would like to see that film next.

[00:35:39]Uh, I've read a lot. So, I listened to Clea by Caris Davies. I realized I think I was calling her Carrie before. I'm sorry when I'm not wearing my glasses and I'm filming. I can't read that well.

[00:35:50]Uh, but I I know that glares annoy me, but hopefully they don't annoy you. Uh, I'll try and make sure I can see my notes clear in the future. But this was narrated by Russ Bane. I gave this a three stars. This, to refresh your memory, I think I've already talked about it, but it was about a man who is happily living alone on a windswept island with not but sheep for company until he finds a half dead stranger washed up on the beach and nurses him back to health. Unfortunately, Strange's job is literally to remove him from the island, this life that he is known, this only place that he has lived and called home. Uh, but because they don't share a language, the loner on the island speaks an old dialect. Um, instead they share a lot of awkward meals and uh confused hand gestures. It's basically a game of charades between the two of them, but they get this slow growing friendship uh which is very inconvenient when you're trying to evict somebody. Meanwhile, on the mainland, the stranger who washes up on shore, I think his name was John, uh his wife is waiting for him to return, and she's very worried and she's uh unaware of what is going on on this island between her husband and this mountain island man. Looking back, there was only one thing that was completely clear to him, and that was that he had loved the time he had spent with John Ferguson. The main themes in this were of displacement and land ownership, colonialism and rural clearances, language barriers, and communication.

[00:37:14]isolation versus connection and kindness between strangers. So this was about the Scottish clearances where land owners, landlords uh began removing people and clans from the highlands and islands.

[00:37:28]They were just evicting everybody. A lot of them had to immigrate to other countries and places. There was also uh a merging uh religions. So the Christian religion or Catholic religion was branching off into different offshoots.

[00:37:43]There was a lot of internal monologuing in this book. Obviously, there's few characters there. And for me, I just didn't care about the characters and I didn't feel the emotional depth and the ending came out of [ __ ] nowhere, bro.

[00:37:56]Uh the relationship developments are very sudden and unrealistic. So, Iva, the loner on the island, obviously has never had really much human interaction, you know, in in a long time since his parents passed away. He's only had the sheep for company. He's probably banging the sheep. Let's be for real here. most likely. But I understand it for him when all of a sudden a human being comes along. But John, John is not only a married man, but a man of the cloth where he talks about how he doesn't even uh dance because the Bible says it's bad. And you're telling me that this is going to go down? I don't buy it, bro. And then the Yeah. Once the wife joins, blah blah blah. I can't I don't want to spoil it all, but I was like, what? What in the world? It didn't feel realistic to the story, to the time period, to the place, to the people. So, yeah. Uh, ended up giving this a three stars. Vibe check. It is giving windswept island solitude, sheep everywhere, small fire, shared bread, awkward silence. I think you would enjoy this book if you like books about unlikely relationships, or if you like historical books about displacement, similar books. Look, it has a similar vibe to Cla Keegan's book. So maybe small things like these. Then I read Stoner by John Williams. This was an audio book and it was narrated by Alfred Molina. I gave this a 3.75. This is a classic litfic and it is about a shy farm boy who becomes an English professor and lives an ordinary life full of small heartbreaks, quiet dignity and devotion to literature. So, William Stoner goes on to study farming and he then accidentally falls in love with academia and marries the wrong woman.

[00:39:46]Uh, he gets bullied by his academic associates. He has one meaningful love affair and he just continues teaching right until the very end. It is basically a lifetime of emotional damage but experienced politely. So, Stoner is this very famous novel. It's famous for being a very quiet story that features the slow accumulation of disappointments that make up a human life. An ordinary average human life. You must remember what you are and what you have chosen to become and the significance of what you are doing. There are wars and defeats and victories of the human race that are not military and that are not recorded in the annals of history. Remember that while you're trying to decide what to do. The main themes in this were of the dignity of ordinary lives, academic politics and quiet cruelty, failed marriage and emotional isolation, love that arrives too late and inconveniently, devotion to art and literature, stoicism and endurance, and the difference between success and meaning. It was very melancholic, contemplative, and lonely. The writing is great. My issue with it is Stoner. He is just too passive for me, especially in regards to how his wife not only treated him, but their daughter. He was just very cocked by her. His wife, Edith, was self-centered and harmful to both Stoner and their child. And it's just I understand that divorce probably wasn't really done in those days, and he's not the man to do that, but man, he allowed his wife to make their whole family miserable, to isolate his daughter from him, and all of these things have repercussions. The book is [ __ ] depressing. I think the reason that I was so frustrated by it is because I was a person who did not stand up for themselves for the first 34 years of my life. I was not in control of my life. I allowed other people to boss me around and tell me who I was and I lived for others and I never spoke up for myself or stood up for myself. And I think because of that, even though it's been 6 years of living life on my own terms and having boundaries and such, I am still, I guess, slightly triggered by people who are people pleasers and too polite and doormats essentially for everybody else and they don't want to ruffle feathers and they don't want to speak up or make a fuss. And yeah, I I find it frustrating and upsetting and aggravating, especially because Ste just doesn't I feel like he had multiple opportunities to make a better choice and not just for him, for the people around him. And he didn't. He wasn't brave enough to upset the status quo and to, like I said, cause drama, I guess.

[00:42:31]And like the whole speech he gave to the woman that he did love about why it would be just better for them to go their separate ways. It just it was a cop out to me. I'm like, "Bro, just be for real. You don't want to [ __ ] with your job. You don't want to [ __ ] with your home dynamic." And you're just saying she's not worth blowing everything up. And it's just like, look at what you have. Blow it up. Okay? It's not worth holding on to. You can do better. You can make a better life for yourself. You can still live your dreams. You can actually do that if you take the chance and if you suck up and just [ __ ] do do it. Yeah. So, look, I understand why people absolutely love this book. Unfortunately, because of, like I said, my personal history, I don't do well with stories where the the characters just don't have agency and they just allow themselves to be bullied by everybody around them and they are given opportunities for happiness and they don't take them. I will also say obviously it's a classic. With any classic you're probably going to get dated language and that is the case with this but I can see why people do love it. Vibe check. So this was giving lamp light on stacks of books, quiet Midwestern farms, long silences at the dinner table and Edward Hopper paintings energy. I think you would like this book if you really do like those quiet literary novels or if you like stories where nothing much happens but it still matters. Something similar. Once again, this was reminding me of CLA Keegan. I don't know if that's just the thing. I go to Clare Keegan whenever I read something that's a bit sad but beautifully written. Uh Foster maybe for this one. Oh, maybe to the death of Ian Illich I think it's called. Can't remember. Maybe that one as well to be honest. Okay. Uh, for the next read, as you know, I did my coobo cull for this vlog and it was Midsummer by Althia Fast. I gave this a three stars. It is a queer erotic fantasy novela and it is about a woman who goes to Finland to save her failing relationship and she accidentally crashes a supernatural midsummer solstice party and discovers that her soulmate might just be a magical bear lady. Jenna planned the perfect romantic trip, hiking through northern Finland and basking in the midnight sun and reconnecting with her boyfriend Travis. But Travis pulls a [ __ ] wild card and decides to bring along a bunch of his friends, turning Jenna's dreamy couple's retreat into this very awkward group holiday where she feels like the third wheel. After one disappointment too many, one too many times being rejected by Travis every time she, what's the word?

[00:45:10]Something that you do in a relationship.

[00:45:11]You tried to ping the other person. It's not pinging them. My god, that's going to bug me. A bid. Every time she made a bid. Is that Is that the phrase? I'm just going to leave it there. It was ignored. So, she ends up just joining this very big Midsummer festival and participates in this ritual that is meant to show you your one true love. It was very much giving the scene from Charmed when Phoebe does the apple peel in the water and it's a sea and Cole was her soulmate. That whole [ __ ] with that was it [ __ ] Cooper? No, it was Cole. Okay, I will die on that hill.

[00:45:44]Cole was her true love. He loved her.

[00:45:47]They were starcrossed. Unfortunately, because he was a demon and she couldn't accept his demonic nature. He did Oh my god. He did the most. He did the most to be with her and I will be forever salty that they weren't Endgame. Anyway, I digress.

[00:45:59]uh instead of so after this little vision that she has, she wanders into this fa celebration and it is full of magical creatures and beings who think humans are very interesting snacks and play things. So whilst she's now in this precarious situation, she meets the mysterious bear woman who might just be the soulmate the ritual promised to her.

[00:46:24]The themes in this were finding love in unexpected places, letting go of bad relationships, folklore and ancient rituals, self-discovery through chaos, queer identity and attraction, and nature and wild magic. Uh, this has BDSM mostly in regards to punishments and spankings. The sex was fine. I would call it, I guess, ma because it involves some kink. Uh, it was very fast-paced.

[00:46:52]It's a novela. things escalate quite quickly. I don't love the dynamic when you've got a very dominant person and and dubcon. Uh but I can see she was consenting but it was just happened very quickly without any sort of prior discussion things. I don't know. It was a bit much for me. Uh it's not my kind of romance. I It was very easy to read though. What did I give it again? Did I give it a three? Yeah, I gave it a three. And it was good for her to leave the unhealthy, unsatisfying relationship and yeah, go local and uh do some of that wild foraging. The vibe check for this is forest magic, midnight sun weirdness, fa party chaos, and bear hugs. I think you would like this book if you are a fan of monster/creature romances. None of the bear stuff is done in this. I just want to put that out there in case you were wondering. No, everything is done human human. Uh, and I think you'd also like it if you like books where the protagonist upgrades from a terrible boyfriend to a mythological creature. Something similar that time I got drunk and saved a demon.

[00:47:55]I'm trying to think if I I've read so much stuff, guys, like like the other erotica I read that involves a mythological creature as a love interest. The next book I picked up was Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown. I gave this a three stars. This is a domestic historical suspense. It is about a lonely modern woman who uncovers a 1950s housewife's secret hidden inside a cookbook and realizes that the perfect recipe might include murder. So this is jewel timeline. You have modernday Alice who is moving to the suburbs with her husband so he can chase his career and his idea of a nuclear family while she is staying home and tries to be a writer. Instead, she mostly just becomes really lonely and resentful towards her husband. And then she finds this dusty cookbook in the basement of their new house that formerly belonged to Nelly.

[00:48:47]And Nelly was a very cheerful 1950s housewife who believed every problem in life could be solved with gelatin and casserles and emotional repression as was the norm back in the 1950s. But Nellie's notes in the margins slowly reveal that her marriage wasn't an idyllic domestic dream. And the more she cooks Nellie's recipes, the more she realizes that Nelly's's husband was most likely a chauvinistic, awful domestic abuser. Uh that Nelly might have handled that problem rather creatively and that Alice's own marriage isn't as perfect as she thought it might have been. It's typical Steepford wife style expectations of the 1950s juapositioned with modern marriage where women technically have more freedom but sometimes the old power imbalances still linger a bit. The main themes in this were of the myth of the perfect wife, domestic abuse, female autonomy and control, marriage expectations across generations, secrets buried in domestic life, and reinventing yourself. I could see where this book was going. a mile away. It was very heavy-handed. The the foreshadowing was dense.

[00:49:57]You could not see the sky through the the foreshadowing of what was to come.

[00:50:01]Uh it just beat you over the head with it a little bit. Alice isn't likable.

[00:50:06]I'm sorry. I actually felt sorry for her husband in my opinion. She was the more man manipulative, abusive one in this.

[00:50:13]Alice was the modern day chick. I was like, "This isn't cool, Alice. You're not being reasonable." and I don't like what you've done. Nelly was in a typical situation with a husband that is typical of that time and era. This trigger warning a lot of things, especially terminating life that has not yet come to pass. And uh on page marital grape was in this. Uh so yeah, I ended up giving this a three. Vibe check. It's giving suburban setting with creeping menace. Feminist rage simmering under polite dinner parties and Steepford wife aesthetic but with poison in the pie.

[00:50:53]Who would like this book? I think people who really like dual timeline mysteries that overlap and stories about complicated marriages. Similar film or books. The Steepford Wives and Mad Wife.

[00:51:05]I want to read one more Sorry, my hair's still wet. One more book for this vlog.

[00:51:11]I don't know what that is yet. I'm going to have to go through Libby. I might go to the library today. I did not go to the library as I said I was going to. I just couldn't justify the use of petrol to get there and I didn't want to take 2 hours of public transport to get there.

[00:51:25]So, I don't know if I'm going to be getting many of books from that particular branch because it just takes such a long time. It depends on my energy levels if I can be bothered with the public transport or not. H [sighs and gasps] the fuel crisis here ain't going well. There are petrol stations in the more rural areas that have already run out of petrol. So [laughter] [gasps] yeah, I just I'm just a bit worried, especially because my ex-husband is taking my children overseas and I'm like, don't planes need fuel, too? Is that a possibility that planes will be grounded because there's no fuel? I don't know. Uh, so yeah, I don't know what I'm going to be reading next, but I will see you once I've picked something and that will be the final book for this reading vlog. Okay, I'm back. I just went to my local library. So thankful that I have shops and libraries within walking distance. This is why it's important to support and shop local so that you always have local stores. In the case where you might only be able to walk or cycle places, you know, it's important to have things close by that you can get to. Uh, but I picked up Flashlight by Susan Choy. It's a oneweek loan. These are really saving my butt with the prize list vlog. So, I've got one week to read it. It's a It's a big book. Yeah, it's almost 500. Um, but yes, grabbed it. Skipped the queue. So, that was fantastic. Also got a book for one of my screen to pages. That's coming up. I also got my eyes retested. So, I used to have a prescription of minus 4.25 and it has steadily been going down because I started doing eye exercises.

[00:53:02]Last year it was a minus3. This year it's gone down again. It's a minus 2.75 which is annoying in terms of having to replace all the lenses in my glasses because I was noticing that I was getting a bit of a headache and I was thinking, "Oh, has my prescription changed again?" And it has.

[00:53:20]So, I won't replace them all at once.

[00:53:23]It's just too expensive. But the glasses I wear the most, I'll replace them now.

[00:53:26]So, at least I have a pair that I can wear comfortably all day long. But yeah, I'm now a minus 2.75.

[00:53:33]And that's just from doing these like eye exercises. If I can remember who it's by, it was like some doctor that invented them. I'll link it down below because yeah, it's improved my eyesight by a huge amount. So, I wish I'd gotten on to it sooner because I was just getting worse and worse. my l my lenses were getting so thick, guys. So thick. I was like, I'm going to be blind soon if this keeps happening. And then now I'm I'm reversing it. Flipping and reversing it. So, and I still have good um close-range vision, too, cuz the optometrist thought, well, maybe it's not the exercise. Maybe you're just becoming longsided, so you'll need reading glasses instead. But no, as you guys know, I read all the time. Got no issues. So, that's what happened today.

[00:54:14]Did not Yeah, did not go out to that other library. I might just go there tomorrow because we still have petrol here and I'll just fill up my car to the top again on the way back and then that will be the last long trip I do until this petrol situation is sorted. So, I might do that just so I can grab the books that came in one last time.

[00:54:34]Otherwise, then I'll just take public transport only for the meanwhile. But, uh, have I decided what to read? I could try that Gilded Blood series, those special edition books. I might try that.

[00:54:46]I don't think it'll be for I looked them up online. They seem to be like a steamy romanty series, which isn't tends to be something I enjoy. Uh but they're so beautiful. I will give it a go. So, I might do that. I might Yeah. What's it called? Silver Blood. I think I'm going to try that out. And if that's no good, I'll find something else. Bro, we've just started. We've just started. So, pretty much what happened, this chick with her blue hair, so quirky, so cute, and her rainbow Converse, so unique. Uh, she spilled coffee everywhere and bent down. And he's like looking at her jeans. He's like, I got to rip them off and be inside her straight away. Throw it away. So, I assume he's some sort of sex creature, I'm assuming. And he's fighting his nature. But turns out she cries golden tears, guys. So, she's special. What page are we on now?

[00:55:38]>> 18. And here we go again. I think it's going to be much of the same for this.

[00:55:44]Yeah. Okay. So, he's an incub. Got it.

[00:55:47]Yeah. Yeah. This is uh not my kind of uh book, but the pictures were nice. Okay.

[00:55:56]So, obviously I am dnfing this book, but one more funny picture to go out on.

[00:56:01]Okay. Also watched the new season of One Piece live action. I don't love this show. I'm going to be honest with you.

[00:56:07]It's I don't love it, but as a bisexual, I eat well. There's just a lot of attractive men and women on this show.

[00:56:15]Okay. So many new crush definitely Nico Robin. Absolutely. Uh one of my new favorite characters, Leon, the whale. But I am shipping Sanji and Nami. I don't know if it's because the actors have chemistry, but I just feel the vibe there. And I'm pretty sure I don't think this is a romance manga.

[00:56:35]Like I don't think they do romance. I'm not sure. I have not read the One Piece among. But yeah, Nami and Sanji. Is it Sanji? Sometimes I doubt my memory.

[00:56:48]There's a vibe. But I did watch it all the whole season 2. Like I said, uh Nikico Robin definitely my new favorite character. I want to know more about her. But yeah, everyone's [ __ ] banging, man.

[00:57:02]>> Why is he Why is he throwing me under the bus, bro?

[00:57:14]Good morning, guys. I've got some updates for you. I'll start with the movie I watched. So, I did see No Other Choice. This is about a This is a Korean film and it is about a man who becomes desperate when he's fired from his paper company and he decides to kill off his competition in order to secure a new position and maintain his family's way of life. Uh, I thought it was okay. I gave it a three. At first, I was rooting for him and then I was very much not rooting for him, but yeah, I thought it was decent. There's obviously some cultural stuff that I think I just didn't get, but three stars. And then I was listening to Green and Deadly Things by Jen Lions, narrated by Torian Brackett. This is a dark high fantasy, and it is about a knight in training who resurrects a legendary necromancer upon which she tells him that the real threat isn't her death magic. it's something else and that perhaps history has been lying to him. I listened to 5 hours and then the audio book stopped mid-sentence and I'm like what the [ __ ] [ __ ] is going on? So I went on to Libby no it's okay you're done now you finished 5 hours that's it and I'm like h for a 400page book I don't think so. So then I went and checked out how long the audiobook really is and it's over 15 hours. So I'm guessing that it just wasn't uploaded correctly onto Libby. Uh which sucks because the earliest I can get either an ebook or physical copy of this is 3 weeks. So I'm about a third of the way through and I have to wait 3 weeks to continue on, which is definitely not how I like to read books.

[00:58:59]So I will tell you more about it later.

[00:59:01]It does involve plant magic as well, like Eldrich plant beings, but I was kind of enjoying it. Uh, and I really like the necromancer chick, but I'm just going to have to tell you about this book in 3 weeks time. So, I I was like, you know what? I just need to get something immediately because there was some other things that could be coming in today, might not be coming in today, and I was like, no, let's just get something now. So, I went on to NetGally and I requested The Dragon Has Some Complaints by John Wizell. This is a cozy fantasy and it is about a deeply unwell dragon with multiple personalities who accidentally bonds with a human and becomes her emotionally confused semifunctional war weapon. So we have Grodi. I think that's how it's pronounced. I'm not sure. And Grod used to be a terrifying fourheaded dragon, but now he's missing one head. He's stuck with three wildly incompatible personalities. and he's pretending to be a good boy for food. So to do that, he infiltrates a dragon academy and he's like, "Good day, fellow kids." Yes. Hello. Hello there. I am a normal dragon. Definitely no war crimes here. Please give me food.

[01:00:13]Thank you. And then we have Rana. And Rana is desperate. She is optimistic and she's willing to overlook all the red flags Grod is presenting. So meanwhile, Grod does have the three heads and center head wants to commit genocide.

[01:00:26]Bottom head is a chaos kitty and upper head is Dulu and thinks that they're human. But somehow all three heads do a gray in one thing. They want to protect Rana. Supposedly, well, not supposedly, but people be speculating that John Wizwell based this on the three-headed dragon meme, but it sounds like a fun, chaotic good time. So, I'm hoping it is.

[01:00:51]I I liked someone to build a nest in. I thought I think I always get that title incorrect. I liked it. Uh it just didn't quite hit for me, but I was willing to give this author another shot because like I said, there was a lot of things I did like about that book. And when I heard the premise for this, it sounded hilarious. As long as no dragons get killed, then I'll be sad. But it's just Yeah, it's giving Gremlin cat energy.

[01:01:16]That's what it feels like to me. So, I'm excited. That's That's the washing machine. I'm excited to get started on this. So, this will be the final book.

[01:01:23]It's an arc. I am going to read it all the way through. I know I said I might consider dnfing, but I think this one I'm I'll read it all the way through. I don't know. I don't think I can dnf arcs. I just don't think I can. Even if I absolutely hate them, I just feel guilty because they gave it to me in good faith. But, uh, I know that I think that's a toxic thing. I think it would be better for everyone involved if I just DNFed books I wasn't liking. But, yeah, I'm reading this. So, don't know why I'm doing that for. Uh, I'll see you soon. Why is my video quality voice so bad?

[01:01:54]>> Hi bubbles.

[01:01:56]Hello.

[01:01:58]>> Why was this so chill in there?

[01:01:59]>> Good morning, guys. I wasn't going to film today because I'm having a flare up, but you know when you're chronically ill, sometimes you just got to do life tired. So, we're soldering on because I did finish reading The Dragon Has Some Complaints by John Wiz. So, this is tagged as cozy fantasy and this was an ARC from NetGalley. As I said, it was about a formerly foreheaded dragon who decides to go tame in order to get snacks and head scritches and he joins a dragon academy and ends up participating in the war that cost him his fourth head. The main themes in this were of identity fragmentation and self-acceptance, found family, a big one, healing after loss, loyalty versus instinct, and learning to care even when you're built to destroy. I ended up giving this a 3.75. So, I did rather enjoy it. It has a lot of disability and queer rep. That is the washing machine.

[01:03:01]Let me just close that door. So, the book is rather humorous. I will read you a passage so you can see what I mean by the type of humor that's in the book. It wasn't exactly to my taste, but it made me smirk a couple of times. Bottom Head added, "Yeah, she read my aura."

[01:03:18]Centerhead said, "Auras are not a real thing." Bottom Head scrunched his brows as though head had just lost his mind.

[01:03:26]Um, then how did she read it? So, that is the example. It's a very mild sense of humor, very PG. Uh, I wish we had gotten to know Lefty. So, Lefty was the fourth head that unfortunately was decapitated and we don't get to know Lefty. We just hear about Lefty. So, it would have been nice to have some flashbacks with Lefty. I think in my opinion, I don't think this is that cozy because there are quite a lot of action scenes and a lot of people and dragons do die. So, there's quite a lot of death for something that is tagged as cozy. So the cozy part of it is the amount of time we spend in the daily minutia in the minutia of his daily life especially with his physical therapy. So I guess that would be considered cozy there is a lot of time spent there. And speaking of I do think this book could have been trimmed down. It is 400 pages and I don't know like I said if you're going for just cozy then I understand the time spent on his daily routine but then if you're going to throw in massive action scenes and high body counts. Do we really need to spend that much time hearing about him being oiled up and tinctures being applied to his wounds and his head being scratched? I also didn't really get a sense of what the world had been like before the point in time that we're dropped into the book.

[01:04:47]How were the wild dragons interacting with the humans? When did they start taming themselves? You know, what was it like? What was going on with the human politics and the the wars? Why were the wars being waged? I will also say that I just wasn't into the human relationships in this. So, human relationships, everyone seems to be uh queer and almost poly. It's very sex positive. Uh there is no on page sex. We just hear about it because the dragons are hearing it happen and are not happy about all of the sounds that the humans make when they copulate. Uh but yeah, I didn't care about the human beings in this book. I wanted more dragon on dragon interactions. So, Grodi interacting with the other dragons, which there was very, very little of. So, I would have preferred that. But otherwise, yeah, a 3.75. It's still, like I said, decent.

[01:05:36]It was I was intrigued by the dragon element, and I would still continue to try this author out in the future. I'll read you one more quote. Humans with their frailty, their backstabbing, their constant lies to themselves about what mattered to them when anybody could see what really did. He wasn't like that, was he? How could this entire barn of dragons reject him when he was clearly a terror? Reject him just as easily as every dragon in the wilds had done. He was the one who defined what a dragon was. He was a real dragon, wasn't he? Vibe check. It's giving chaotic good drafty stone halls with two big ceilings.

[01:06:20]warm hay and shared meals, sneaking extra food like a guilty cat. I think that readers who would like this are ones, sorry, I've got an email, are ones who like books with chaotic companions, uh, with found family bonds. Like I said, this was a big component of this and I think that is one of the cornerstones of cozy fiction and humor mixed with heart. Like I said, the humor wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but I think a lot of other people might enjoy it. Similar books or films. So, Aragon, Fourth Wing, How to Train Your Dragon, that one is definitely the biggest comparison, and Language of Dragons. Let me sum up all the books I read in this reading vlog. So, we've got Lost Lambs by Meline Cash, which I gave a 3.25.

[01:07:06]What if the conspiracy theorist in the family was the sane one?

[01:07:11]Little Moments of Love by Katana Cetwin, which I gave three stars. Relationship goals. Staying home together forever.

[01:07:20]Speak of the Devil by Sweeney Boo, which I gave a 2.75. Step on a Crack, Crack Gets Bigger. Clear by Caris Davies, narrated by Russ Bane, which I gave three stars. Two Men, One Island, Lots of Sheep. Polyplot twists. Stoner by John Williams, narrated by Alfred Molina, which I gave a 3.75.

[01:07:43]Just a guy and his Quietly Sad Life.

[01:07:46]Midsummer by Althia Faust, which I gave three stars. Dump Your Boyfriend, Date a Lady Bear, Recipe for a Perfect Wife by Karma Brown, which I gave three stars.

[01:07:56]Marriage is hard. Murder might be easier. And my favorite read of this reading vlog was The Dragon Has Some Complaints by John Wizwell, which I gave 3.75.

[01:08:08]Three Heads, Zero Chill. If you had a dragon, what would you name it? I'd probably call mine hell after the Norse goddess.

[01:08:20]Until next time, stay wild, Star Child.