finally getting back to reading my physical TBR... | TBR TAKEDOWN

[00:00:00][music] >> I'm already predicting that this one's going to be a book that will make me cry.

[00:00:06]I haven't seen anyone read this book.

[00:00:09]But [music] what kind of love triangle book doesn't feel a little bit silly sometimes?

[00:00:14]Hi everyone, it's me. Welcome to today's video. Now in last week's reading vlog, we actually ditched the monthly TBR for about a week to read some very very exciting arcs that I just received. Now this week we are going to get back to the monthly TBR. We're going to get back on track and we're going to prioritize our July TBR. So this is the July TBR stack behind me. We're going to see how many of these books I can read in this next week and that's pretty much it.

[00:00:41]Let's just read together.

[00:00:43]So the book in the stack that I really want to pick up first is not on the top.

[00:00:48]Of course, we can't make things too easy, can we? It's this one right here.

[00:00:53]Okay, wait, let's build the stack back up. There we go. Stack is back in place.

[00:00:59]First book in my hands that I want to read, Good Joey, Bad Joey by Mickey Brentner. Now I mean, hopefully you guys saw my July TBR video, but just in case you didn't, if you don't know the synopsis of this book, this is a contemporary fiction that just sounds like it'll get so deep into the emotions. I'm already predicting that this one's going to be a book that will make me cry because we're following two best friends in their 80s and I just I can't remember the last time that I read a book with an older protagonist where I didn't end up crying. There's something about following characters in their older stages of life, kind of like at the end of their life, that just I mean obviously gets me so emotional for so many different reasons. But in this one, yeah, we follow two best friends, Joey and Hazel. They're both in their 80s now. They've been best friends their entire life and Joey has always been the quieter friend, the more reserved one.

[00:01:50]She's always been good Joey and then Hazel, her friend, has always been the more adventurous one, the one that takes more risks. But at the beginning of this story, Joy finds out that Hazel only has weeks left to live, months left to live.

[00:02:04]How long does Hazel have left to live?

[00:02:06]Months. Hazel has months left to live.

[00:02:08]And so, at this point, Hazel's just kind of at peace. She's like, "You know what?

[00:02:13]I have lived my life to the fullest. I'm okay with everything. I've accepted it.

[00:02:16]I'm happy with the way that I have lived." But, Joy realizes that she can't say the same for herself. So, she goes on this journey where she kind of embraces the bad Joy inside of her. She starts doing things, you know, making decisions that she wouldn't normally make. She starts kind of channeling this wilder side in herself, trying to live her life to the fullest so she can experience these last few months with Hazel the absolute best way that she can. And so, I think we follow her as she tries to find, I guess, this balance of like how much of bad Joy does she want to channel, but also how much of good Joy does she want to like [snorts] keep, but like what kind of legacy does she want to leave behind? Stuff like that. So, I mean, right off the bat from the synopsis, you can tell that this is going to be an emotional read. You can tell we're going to be doing a lot of soul-searching in this, and I just I can't wait to read it. I have no idea what the writing style or anything is going to be like because I've never read a Micky Brimmer book, but I've heard some wonderful things. I know Lottie absolutely loved this book so much, and I definitely trust Lottie's book taste.

[00:03:21]So, I'm excited to get into this. Let's start Good Joy, [music] Bad Joy.

[00:03:40]>> [music] >> I feel like this is going to be such a quick read because I have been sitting here for not too long, and I'm already at the 100-page mark. It's just it's really, really easy to read. The story is very easy to follow. We don't have like that many characters that we're meeting as well. So, yeah, it's just like it just feels good. It's a very pleasant and tender read so far.

[00:04:01]Honestly, the first chapter of this gave me kind of A Man Called Ove vibes, but in a very different way. Like same thing, different font kind of a thing because we had Joy kind of reflecting on her age, obviously. I mean, on one hand she was thinking about how at this age a lot of the people that she was close with in life are no longer around. Like they're no longer here with her, and that while on one hand is sad to think about, she has kind of accepted this as something that will happen. It's inevitable. It's just life. It's part of the cycle. So, she kind of reflects on that, but also at the same time she's observing the younger generations and the people the younger people that have kind of spawned up around her and taking up the places of kind of the people closer to her age that she has lost. And she's just noticing the differences, you know, of like, "Oh, young people now value things like this. Young people now think this way, and they prioritize this." And in that sense, I feel like that was a very similar way that we met Ove in A Man Called Ove, but definitely in a less grumpy way. Because while Ove was kind of going at it with a more critical attitude, saying things like, "Oh, the young people, they're not as efficient. They're not as hard working.

[00:05:11]They're just silly. They're whatever."

[00:05:13]Joy on the other hand thinks of it more like, "Oh, like look at the young people. They're so cute that they think that way."

[00:05:19]>> [laughter] >> She's a lot more accepting of the change. So, kind of the same vibes, but in very different way, as I mentioned.

[00:05:25]And she's just a very cute character to read about. She's very pleasant. She's so nice. She goes out of her way to like sacrifice comforts in her own life to help other people feel better. And so, there's just a lot to love about her.

[00:05:38]Like she's just she's so sweet. She's so kind. Like nothing to complain about with her character. I do like how we are getting a couple chapters from the past where we're getting kind of Joy and Hazel meeting each other and seeing how they became friends in the first place.

[00:05:52]I feel like a story like this definitely needs to show you those moments. And then yeah, just kind of seeing Joy slowly open up to things, slowly kind of like finally act on her intrusive thoughts in a way starting to do these like little things, like little petty crimes or misdemeanors or whatever you want to call it. Like little things that aren't like that serious, but in her eyes, it's like she's never broken a rule before. So, every little thing that she does gives her this little thrill, but then at the same time she's like, "Oh, I kind of feel guilty. Did I put anyone else out?" It's really cute that every time she's kind of stepping out of line and doing these things to like make her feel a little bit more alive. She's at the same time still thinking of how she's affecting other people and like she doesn't want to ruin someone else's day. And so, in that way yeah, she's just a really cute character to read about and honestly kind of relatable because I am also the type of person who will follow the rules to a T. Like I'm not a rule breaker myself at all. So, in a lot of ways I do relate to Joy and I can see how she feels. But yeah, like even me, like the little sometimes I do break the rules and sometimes I do feel these little thrills that Joy is feeling as well. I don't know, it's just it's very cute to read about. So, I'm really enjoying this so far. I'm curious to see like how far these little crimes will go, like how far this rule breaking will go before or she kind of like takes a step back. So, yeah, I am curious to see the direction that the rest of this book goes in, but so far so good.

[00:07:35]>> [music] >> You guys, I almost binged this entire book last night. I was in bed and I realized I only had 30 pages left to read. Like this has gone by so so so quickly. If you want a book that you can read in a day, honestly, this one would be great. And I wasn't even trying to like read fast or read a lot yesterday.

[00:07:55]It's just very very very easily readable, which honestly, we love. I love when books just fly by. You don't even really think of how fast you're reading or how much you're reading. It just happens and it happens so easily.

[00:08:09]So, I mean, that's a really good sign. I feel like with 30 pages remaining in this book yet, like I haven't really felt overly emotional and like I'm really really loving this book. I am enjoying the path, the journey that we're going on with our characters and also we're doing some deep dives into their past and I'm liking all of the ups and downs that we're seeing. I think we have some very powerful characterization going on, but I feel like I'm not getting super super emotional because the writing style is very gentle. I feel like it's playing it a little bit safe.

[00:08:44]It feels almost censored in a way and I don't know if it's because I've been reading a lot of emotional books that have just a very blunt writing style.

[00:08:53]Things like Heart the Love Her, things like Into the Blue. I feel like those books were all kind of written a little bit more brutally and we're just a little bit more blunt. But yeah, in this one I feel like we're we're almost kind of censoring our emotions a little bit and everything's being told to us in a very very gentle tender way, which honestly makes a lot of sense because we are in Joy's head throughout this book and that is something that is very true to Joy's character is that she will kind of tamper down her feelings and just kind of put on this brave happy front.

[00:09:24]And so the writing style matches her personality very well. But because of that, I'm not feeling like very visceral emotions with this one. So that's kind of a a pro and a con. It's kind of a feature and a bug at the same time because it is very well done like in terms of capturing Joy's essence, but I'm not feeling like deeply sad or anything. Which also maybe, you know, maybe this book wasn't meant to be a very, very sad book and you know, I I still have 30 pages remaining. So, who knows how the the last 30 pages will affect me, but that's kind of my impression at this point in the book and also I am actually just having a lot of fun reading in Joy's perspective. There is a lot as I mentioned that I relate to her being a rule follower, being kind of like a goody two-shoes. That's always kind of how I've lived my life. So, I do actually relate to her in a lot of ways.

[00:10:13]Particularly throughout the story, she's having these realizations of like she's able to get away through the story doing these little small little crimes and the reason that she's getting away is because she tends to be overlooked because through her entire life she has built this reputation around her where, you know, she will do no wrong. Everyone knows her as a goody. Everyone just trusts her so fully and I can relate so much because, okay, story time. When I was in high school, I was pretty like goody two-shoes I would say. Like not on I wasn't I wouldn't call myself a teacher's pet because I was too shy to go out of my way to actually like be a teacher's pet, but I definitely followed all of the rules and so for that reason like no one would ever suspect me of doing anything wrong and there was one day like in grade 12. We were in our senior year. We were kind of like in that phase where we all had gotten into university already. Like we were just living out the rest year and there was a day where like a lot of us skipped a lot of classes. I don't remember exactly what was happening that day, but for some reason a lot of us were skipping classes and I was one of those people gasp that skipped class that day and I remember we all like went back to class like the next day or maybe late. We were maybe we showed up late or something and I walked in with a group of like five other girls. Like we had all skipped together and the teacher noticed every girl except for me. Like every other person that showed up late to that class got in trouble and I just slipped in and like no one noticed me and I did not get in trouble for it. And it's definitely because I had built like over the course of my four years in high school built this reputation with this teacher of never breaking the rules and that was just such a joy a good joy bad joy experience. So anyways, that's just my little story time all that to say I can relate to Joy so much. Let's just finish the last 30 pages though and see what happens.

[00:12:09]>> [music] [music] >> Okay, this was cute. This was cute. It was it's so warm. It is one of those books that just feels like a hug. It's Oh, it's so sweet. It's so sweet. It's as like expected not that like heart-wrenching like gut-wrenching painful kind of a story, but really just it does celebrate the joys in life instead of dwelling on the sadness and all of that and yeah, this it's making me feel good. It's making me feel happy.

[00:12:45]This was really cute. If you're looking for a book where you follow characters with really close bonds, but you don't want it to hurt like you just you want a book that will make you actually feel optimistic and good in life. Read this one. This one would be a perfect one for you. It's yeah, gentle even with the writing style. There are some wonderful platonic friendships in this. There are also some unlikely friendships, which is a trope that I always love and we just follow Joy as she like finds herself comes into herself even at the ripe old age of 89 turning 90. She's the type of character that you will feel bad for like she was you know, she's just so nice. She was so nice her entire life, but people around her continued to take advantage of her because she was just so willing to bend for others and yeah, we just saw her come into herself, start valuing herself and choosing herself first over others at times and it was just really really wonderful to read about. So, I did really really enjoy this. I think I'm going to rate it a 4.25. Really really strong read. Yeah, if you're feeling slumpy, if you're feeling down, if you're feeling kind of like dark and you want your spirits lifted, I feel like this one would be the perfect read for you. That was uh That was so good.

[00:14:00]>> [laughter] >> Okay, should we out of the TBR, should we dive into something that feels kind of polar opposite? That's I do tend to like that, just switching moods. Let's get our next book that we're going to read this week. Okay, I've selected my next book. Also, don't mind this like huge stack of books up here that you see behind me. I'm saving those for a certain video. So, I'm just like gathering them there for now. Anyways, I'm going to pick up Wasps' Nest next by Cat's Daughter. This is a book I've like I haven't seen anyone read this book. I haven't seen anyone else talk about it, but I chose it on my monthly TBR with the prompt a book that I know nothing about. This was sent to me by the publisher, so it's definitely something I have like I have no idea what this is going to be like. I have no idea what this author's writing style is like, but this is another general fiction and it's a modern retelling of the Philadelphia story, which actually is a story I think it's a movie, right? It's a movie that I have not watched. So, I have nothing to base this off of, but it sounds really really messy because our main character is Tess and she is about to get married.

[00:15:02]It says she wants nothing more than for her upcoming society wedding to overshadow the failure of her first marriage. So, her fiance Warren is a state senator and they're about to get married, but for whatever reason Tess decides to invite her ex-husband Peter, who was very different than Warren, the guy that she's marrying. Now, Peter was a working-class artist. They had this really passionate, like, really quick crash-and-burn relationship, and then, yeah, they got married, and it didn't work out. They haven't seen each other in 5 years, but, yeah, she invited him, and he decides to show up with his current boyfriend. And so, I don't know, it says something here in the blurb about being a witty, gripping love triangle that unfolds over the course of seven chaotic days at a Cape Cod wedding. And there's also a little bit in this blurb that says Mitch, who is Peter's current boyfriend now, he jumps at the chance to pry into the lives of his WASPy ex-in-laws. So, this sounds like it's going to be really juicy, really messy, really toxic, basically everything that Good Boy Bad Boy wasn't.

[00:16:05]So, yeah, I'm going to dive into this next. I'm so curious as to how this one is going to be for me.

[00:16:15]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Okay, just one chapter in, and I already feel like this book is going to give me what I want in terms of following this rich, toxic family because our main character is already referring to her mom by her first name, and that is something that has always just felt so foreign to me. I don't know. Let me know what you guys because growing up, like, mom has always been mom, dad has always been dad. I would never think of them by their first name. That's just not something that would ever happen. But, I do find that sometimes, especially like following rich fictional families and stuff, they do tend to just refer to each other and their parents and everything by their names versus their relation to them. Where, yeah, like, my mom's always mom, my dad's always dad, my grandma's always grandma. Like I don't think of them as their names. So, I hope this vibe continues and I hope everyone just spirals in this book. I'm ready for some entertainment, if I'm going to be completely honest. So, yeah, all good so far. Also, I completely forgot about this, but when I got this book from the publisher, it came with this like wedding invite print inviting me, myself and I to Tess and Warren's wedding and I just find like it's so simple. It's just printed on a piece of paper. Such a simple little addition, but I love when publishers send little knickknacks and stuff with books. So, I'm currently using this as my bookmark while reading this book cuz I feel like that's just so fitting. Also, there's like a QR code and they said, "Read now or scan the QR code to download the audiobook." And I honestly love that concept. I've been thinking that. I feel like it's so expensive to read, especially if you want to read in multiple formats. Like if you want a physical book, but maybe you want to read on your Kobo or your Kindle. It's just so expensive if you want to like own all formats or multiple formats of books. And I've always thought it'd be a really fun idea if like you bought a physical copy of a book if it could come with an ePub version and also an audiobook version. That would be incredible. So, I love that this book actually did come with an audiobook to go along with it. That's just super super fun. So, I really respect that.

[00:18:37]Who's the publisher of this? Sell it on.

[00:18:38][music] Sell it on books. You go, Sell It On. Anyways, I'm going to keep reading. I have banana bread currently baking in the oven, too. So, it smells so good in here right now. It's kind of a rainy day today. It's hot. We're still in the middle of a heatwave, but it's like kind of gloomy and rainy. So, while this book is giving really like summer poolside vibes, I'm actually living my best cozy [music] life staying inside and just baking today and reading. So, yeah, I'm just going to keep reading this.

[00:19:05]>> [music] [music] >> Good morning, my friends. I did actually over the weekend finish Wasp's Nest by Cat Starling. So, my overall final review here. I This was a little disappointing for me.

[00:19:23]I mean, I went into this book expecting that I would hate all the characters, you know, with the premise. It is that type of book where you're just going into it to follow a juicy toxic story, to have some biting commentary, and I just don't think this book delivered those fun exciting toxic feelings. Like, it didn't feel juicy enough. It also didn't feel like I don't know, everything just felt a little bit half-baked. So, I do think with the writing style, Cat, I think, did do dialogue in some cases pretty well.

[00:19:54]There were a couple of fun kind of dialogue banter back and forth. There were some subtle moments that I think she conveyed quite well. But, apart from that, on the whole, I do think that this book was very much telling not showing.

[00:20:07]And honestly, that style of writing can work for a lot of books, especially books in this kind of subgenre, because I feel like with telling not showing, you can kind of move the pace a little bit quicker. You can also develop this very like present narrator as its own personality with a writing style like that. But, I don't think that this book did either of those things. I also think that this book felt very meandering, which was very strange to me, because with this book, with the premise of being set over only 7 days, and the 7 days were very clear. Like, we literally had little headings throughout the book being like, "It's Monday now. It's Tuesday now." Like, just found one of the pages. Like, it's very clearly Tuesday. Each day was very much separated clearly. Usually with books like this, they feel like they move very quickly, but this one didn't. It felt very much like we were meandering through the story. And unfortunately, it just didn't feel exciting. I also think with the telling not showing kind of a writing style, we didn't like I mean, I I really understand the characters. And obviously, again, I knew I would go into it hating the characters. It's that type of a book, so I didn't expect to relate to them very much, but even with books that I, you know, where I don't relate to the characters, I still expect to at least understand a little bit, like partially understand their motivations and what they're thinking when they're acting on certain things, and I didn't understand a lot of why the characters did things in here. For one, there was a character in here that like confessed their love for another character after knowing them for like two days. And I was just like, wait, what? Like, we don't even know each other. You two don't know each other, and I don't know you as the reader. And it was just, yeah, there were a lot of moments like that where really intense, like seemingly intense things were happening, but the build-up to those moments didn't feel very fully fleshed out, and so those moments when they happened felt very not deserved. So, not the best read for me. It wasn't completely terrible.

[00:22:05]Like again, some of the little banter moments and dialogue moments were fun, and there was some potential in there. I think with this book, while reading it, I was just kind of in this constant state of waiting for that moment to click, waiting for something to happen that would really pull me into the story, because it very much is one of the stories where you kind of have, like, you know, it feels a little bit normal, but there are like subtle things happening throughout the way that build up to this ultimately chaotic ending to the story and outcome of the week. And in a sense, that did happen, but I just kept waiting for like so much to happen, and I feel like in the end, even the chaotic moments, I was like, if it just feels so undeserved, and it does feel like not fully baked. And then in the end, like the ultimate overall resolution of this book, I feel like it just felt like a bit of a nothing situation. I just don't think this story overall worked for me, unfortunately.

[00:22:58]So, that's a two-star for me. Now, we're going to flip moods entirely again, and we're going to read something feel-good again, because that's just how I like to read my TBRs. It's just flip-flopping back and forth with all of my moods. So, I'm actually going to pick up One and Only by Maurene Goo next. I'm excited about this one. It looks really cute. I mean, the cover looks really cute first and foremost, but the idea of it sounds really cute, too. It's a magical realism romance story, and we follow Cassia, who grew up kind of with her family business of matchmaking based on your past lives and your soulmate. So, the way it works is that you dive into your past lives, find who I guess like your soulmate is through kind of all your past life loves, and then they find who your soulmate is like in this current life. I think you get like their name, but then after that it's up to you to like actually find your soulmate. And so, Cassia, growing, you know, amongst this family business, really does believe in it. She really does believe in this whole soulmate thing. So, she did get her soulmate like read to her. She did get her matchmaking done when she was younger, but she has not met her soulmate yet to this point, and she is still trying to locate him, to find him.

[00:24:10]When one day in the story, she meets Ellis. She has a fling with him. He's 28 and decently handsome, but Ellis is actually not the destined like soulmate of her life. So, she kind of has to like find out should she just forget about her soulmate, stay with Ellis, or is Ellis possibly secretly her soulmate, and there are just some pieces of the puzzle that haven't come together yet.

[00:24:34]She's like trying to find clues maybe of like trying to find out who her soulmate actually is. And oh my goodness. Wait, I completely missed this part of the synopsis when I read it the first time, but she's surprised by their her and Ellis's connection, and their fling feels like something more up to the moment he introduces her to his boss, Daniel. Oh my goodness. Wait, so Daniel, okay, what I'm getting from this. Daniel is totally her past life soulmate, right?

[00:25:01]>> [gasps] >> So she likes Ellis, but Daniel's the one on paper, but Daniel's also Ellis's boss. Okay, you know what? I'm ready for this. I've heard some good things. I think after reading Wasp's Nest and not loving it very much, I'm in the mood for something wholesome again. So I think this one will fill my craving. Let's read One and Only by Maureen Goo.

[00:25:29]Okay guys, [music] I did just do a reading sprint with the Patreon. So I read a good chunk of this. I am over 100 pages in, page 112.

[00:25:39]This is so cute so far. It's really cute. So right off the bat, things that I like. We opened up the book with a really fun looking to how the matchmaking actually works and how that kind of magical realism part of the story works and it was really fun. It honestly felt very magical. Obviously not like a full-blown fantasy, but it definitely felt like more magical than some of the other magical realism books that I've read before. Like we actually got a little bit of a glimpse into how the magic works. So that was fun. And I actually really like how the whole magic side of it and the tradition of the matchmaking and using this format to do the matchmaking. I like how closely that's tied into with the Korean culture in this book with Cassia, our protagonist, being Korean, coming from a Korean family and having this sort of magic, like the soulmate matchmaking magic, being passed down through generations of the women in her family.

[00:26:34]I love that vibe. I love whenever magic is passed down through women in a family. It just tickles me in the best way. Like I I love it. So that was immediately a great sign for me. And then yeah, there is just a lot in here that feels rich with the Korean culture that's included in here where it feels authentic, you know, it feels natural. It doesn't feel like over the top, but it's ever-present. So, that's just making me really happy. There are also There are also some really good food descriptions in this book. I love Korean food, and I love food descriptions, so that's making me happy, too. A lot about this is making me happy.

[00:27:09]>> [laughter and gasps] >> In terms of the romance so far, it does, honestly, it's pretty insta-lovey, but honestly, in a way that I'm enjoying. I think a lot of the time insta-love gets such a bad rap with romance books. And you know, I feel like a lot of us just say, "Oh, we want slow burn. We want whatever. We don't want insta-love." But honestly, I feel like a lot of slow burns haven't been hitting for me lately, because a lot of the time slow burn, in my opinion, okay? I feel like a lot of the time these days, because slow burn is such a popular trope, I feel like it's being written into like every single romance story these days just because they want slow burn, but because they're being written in just to include the trope, the slow burn doesn't feel warranted. It doesn't feel deserved in a lot of like newer romance releases. And a lot of the time the slow burn is just like because of one miscommunication, or because of one silly little thing that didn't have to be there. And it feels very made up and manufactured, is what I'm trying to say. So, I actually enjoy how this one is like not slow burning.

[00:28:10]It's like that's not what our characters want to do. They don't want to slow burn. They just They feel attracted to each other. They like each other. And it does feel realistic in the way it's written. And I think because their connection feels just so genuinely authentic and cute, and their banter is so good, I love the insta-love in this book. So, that is wonderful. I really like Cassia as the main character, as well. She is turning 40, and I can't remember the last time I read a romance book with characters in their 40s. Like usually with adult romance, I see characters in their 30s, and I feel like she does feel realistic in the sense of like she's struggling with coming to terms with her age and coming to terms with having a birthday but still being single, still not having found her soulmate Daniel that she's been trying to find her entire life and just feeling the pressures of society and also of her body like biologically she wants to find her life partner, she wants to start a family, she wants to pass down her magical matchmaking ability to a daughter. So I think just like the those pressures of adulthood are being depicted pretty well in this book and I I'm enjoying it. So all good things to say about this so far. The writing's also like very very easy to read.

[00:29:27]There's some mixed format of communication between our characters with obviously like in person face to face dialogue but also a little bit of like DMing and texting going on and so it's really cute. I am curious to see how this love triangle situation will play out because love triangles can either make you feel giddy and happy or they can just be so annoying and so far it's like a little bit of an awkward love triangle situation. It's like a little bit bumbling and a little bit cute in a way but I just hope it doesn't like string on for too long. So we'll see what happens but so far I am enjoying One and Only.

[00:30:06]>> [music] [music] >> Page 200. Okay you guys, I I know in my last update I was literally just saying I don't want this love triangle to like get dragged on too long. I don't want her to be like stringing on these two guys and like she is but I'm kind of invested in it.

[00:30:33]It's hard. It's one of those situations where I do like them both. Like there's one that I obviously like more than the other and I think it's clear that she should choose that one over the other one, but that also just could be because we've spent more time with that one.

[00:30:49]Like with one of them, it feels like we have spent more like genuine moments and like just kind of chance encounters and stuff like that, but then with the second one, they do seem to have a good connection and have good banter. Like it's it's not like one of them feels so wrong and one of them feels so right, and it's obvious which one she should choose. It's like I feel like she could win I think the way. So now I'm in this pickle of a situation where I'm going to feel bad with whatever ends up happening in the end. So I don't know how the author Marine Goo is going to wrap this little love triangle situation up by the end of this without making me feel just like a little bit of pain for one of the characters, like the one that gets left out. So we'll see what happens, but I mean the great thing is I haven't felt this invested in like a love triangle contemporary setting romance in a very long time. So that's definitely being done well. It's just yeah, it's done in a way where both characters, like both love interest options seem like they would be good options. I guess I'll just continue reading, and hopefully I don't get like heartbroken by the end of this.

[00:31:56]Like not heartbroken in the sense that I'll be like sobbing by the end of this book, but more heartbroken like I'll just feel bad for the other guy.

[00:32:03]Okay, I'm going to keep reading.

[00:32:09]>> [music] [music] >> All right, I did finish One and Only last night. This was cute. It was cute.

[00:32:24]I do like how it all turned out in the end. Did it get absolutely ridiculous and silly at one point or other in this book? [music] Yes. Yes, it did, but what kind of love triangle book doesn't feel a little bit silly sometimes? There were definitely moments in this where I was like I felt like I wanted to scream at Cassia because of the things she was doing. But again, what kind of a respectable love triangle story wouldn't have at least a few of those moments. And I feel like the way they were done in this one felt like respectable, tasteful. Like it didn't feel too over the top. And I think by the point that this story started to feel a little bit absurd and ridiculous and silly, I was already so invested in it because of the pressures that our protagonist was feeling with kind of trying to figure out if she wanted to follow this tradition that she's believed in her entire life with her family and their history with finding their soulmates and how like that's supposed to guarantee your perfect love and your perfect life versus like what she's actually experiencing in real life time. It was really fun seeing her navigate through that. And yeah, like by the end, at the end of the day, was this book entirely unpredictable?

[00:33:37]No, but it's a romance book and we tend to not read romance books for their unpredictability.

[00:33:44]I think honestly one of my favorite parts in this book was also just Cassia's family and reading about their dynamics. It's definitely a family filled with women with very, very, very strong personalities in the best way possible with their long-running tradition and them being so attached to their heritage and this magical power that's, you know, been passed along the women down the line in this family. They just all felt so close, so tight-knit.

[00:34:10]It was like they were all keeping the secret. And it was yeah, them against the world in a lot of ways and they felt so relatable in terms of like, number one, the family pressures, but number two, also their immense support for one another and care for one another. And number three, they just had this wonderful family banter in the sense that when you trust someone so much, you can be a little bit mean sometimes. Like not mean, but you can kind of challenge each other sometimes and I feel like this family was done very well in that way. I think honestly one thing, the main thing that took me out of this book was Cassie, our protagonist, called so many people bro. Like she used the word bro so many times and that is just such a personal kind of a pet peeve picky thing of mine, but that just took me out of the story every time she called someone bro.

[00:34:59]But that's definitely a personal preference thing. Very very nitpicky of me. So I'm going to rate this a four star. It was very very enjoyable. I liked the banter. Again, it was insta-likey I want to say. Not completely insta-love, but insta-like, but in a way that felt very natural. The way it happened. It didn't feel like we were trying to force our characters to like not kiss. It was like sometimes that just happens in real life. This was really really cute. One and Only by Maurene Goo. Okay. I am going to leave you guys here for now. It's been a fun week reading three of the books on the monthly TBR. I have Hold on. I'll I'll grab the rest of the books. For the rest of my July TBR, I do still have The Road of Bones by Demi Winters and Somebody Worth Killing by Jessica Payne. I am going to read The Road of Bones I think in my next reading vlog. Don't fret. I will read this one on camera. I know this one's been very anticipated. I think I'm going to do like a starting new series reading vlog next because my series roster is basically empty. So I need some new series to get into the middle of. And so I think I'm going to start this one in my next reading vlog doing that and I'll probably read this fun Mr. & Mrs. Smith type thriller just on my own off camera maybe after I start all of the series as a little bit of a pallet cleanser genre switch after that.

[00:36:16]So yeah, we're well on our way with our monthly TBR. Definitely going to read them all by the end of this month as I usually do. But that being said, I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please leave me a like and a comment. If you don't know what to comment down below, let me know what book you just finished or what book you're currently reading. If you like me, subscribe, do that bell thing, and I will see you in the next one. Bye.

[00:36:42]>> [music]