It's Summerween And I'm Locking In

[00:00:00]Hello you guys and welcome back to Lily Reads. Now, usually when I start these vlogs, I have the books that I want to come and discuss, but it is summerween.

[00:00:11]I'm going to put all of the information up here. And we are doing summerween. I do summerween every single year, [snorts] but summerween last year is kind of loadbearing because I made a promise in the last summer video that I have to keep right now. I cannot believe it has been a year since I made this video, but I'm going to insert this clip right here. Boom. I am back from the bookstore and I usually show you guys what I purchased after the fact, but since I'm leaving now and I told you guys about it, let me show you what I got. I got four books on discount and I feel like everything is a full circle moment because you guys look at the book that I was able to get on discount.

[00:00:59]They had the Thursday Murder Club.

[00:01:01][laughter] So, the Thursday Murder Club is written by Richard Osman. He's the person who wrote the book that we've read first. And no, I did not like that.

[00:01:09]But I told you guys I'd be willing to read The Thursday Murder Club because I have heard really good things about this series. So, we're going to see if I like Richard Osman's writing at some point.

[00:01:20]Maybe next summer we will pick this up.

[00:01:23]Who knows? But this felt like a still in a full circle moment book.

[00:01:28]So, the first thing is the book that I came for. Yeah, I got it. Yeah, I got it. How to seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Parin. It was $5 off, too. How freaking fun. I got it. Maybe we'll read this next summer. That's what we'll do next summer. We will read this and we'll read Thursday Murder Club. Yes, I am planning a video a year in advance. I even So, which means that literally the [snorts] fact that I plan on reading this in a full year. I could have waited for this to come out in hardback. I could have waited for this to get discounted. So, literally I just wasted my money since now I'm like, let's read this a year from now. So, we're going to read this in Thursday Murder Club next summer. We already have our next summer wing slate.

[00:02:15]So, as you can see in that clip, I went to two bookstores and I got my hands on two books that had something to do with the prior summer. And so, I need to go to my bookshelf and find those books and we need to read those two books because I have to keep my promise like I said.

[00:02:34]And look, it took me I never once even thought about reading those books throughout the entire year. That's what's so crazy about buying books because I don't buy books anymore. It's so crazy how I would just buy books last year and know for a fact that I just wasn't going to read them for an entire year. If you know you're not going to read it no time soon, what's the point in you buying it? But then I think to myself this like the point is that like now I have them and I can go upstairs to my bookshelf and we can go get the book.

[00:03:01]Those are the two books we are going to be reading for Summerween. I love Summerween, you guys. It is just a time to just read. To me, it's a time to read like, you know, more silly type of thriller mysteries type of books. MAYBE LIKE NOT anything too like out of the way. Not anything too horrific or too thrilling. It's just a time to just have fun during the summer and, you know, have a nice little vibe.

[00:03:29]I like doing summer every single year.

[00:03:32]Hopefully I remember some to do some of the little tasks that are assigned to Summerwing because I always be forgetting to do that. But anyways, let's go up to the bookshelf. I'll probably see you guys in a couple days before I go do that. But I just wanted to start this video. It is Summerween.

[00:03:49]We are going to be reading two books that I told you guys I was going to read a year ago. Time does surely fly. And yeah, I'll see you guys upstairs in front of the bookshelf. Peace. Hello you guys. This is an entire view of my bookshelf. Believe it or not, this bookshelf is organized chaos. Like I know where every single book on my bookshelf is. You could tell me a book.

[00:04:17]Like Kenya, where is such and such? And I know what what vicinity of my bookshelf that book is in. So we are looking for two books that I got a year ago. I took you guys with me to go get those books as I showed you guys in the old clip. I cannot believe it has been a year, but I am going to go on my bookshelf to go find those books. Now, if I had I don't have to guess. It's o they're over here. They are over here and they are definitely on this fourth shelf. over here in my bookshelf. From here on down are books I haven't read.

[00:05:01]So everything from about here over on every single shelf I have read. And it's just this one little sliver right there on down of books I haven't read. So it's actually easier for me to find unread books on my bookshelf than it is for me to find read books on my bookshelf. But we are going to go. I'm going to zoom you guys in right there because that's where it is going to be. But let's go. Let's go get the book.

[00:05:49]Okay, we are back. As you can see, I have Richard Osman, the Thursday Murder Club, and I have How to Seal Your Fate by Kristen Parent. I don't know which one of these we are going to start first, but these are our summer books.

[00:06:07]We are going to be reading the same authors that we did last summerween. And let's see what we get up to this week.

[00:06:15]Let's go.

[00:06:17]I just want everyone to know that this puzzle is beating my ass. What if I told you guys this is a thousand piece puzzle? Thousand.

[00:06:31]It took me hours and hours just to do this. And you want to know why? All of this looks the same. Does it go over here or does it go over here? Who's to know? Who's to know? And I still have even more little pieces of I don't even know where the hell this stuff goes. I'm not bothering with it. I swear to God, it's too much. It's too much. But I'm about to lock back in and do some more.

[00:06:59]I'm finishing this by the end of summer.

[00:07:02]I promise you this puzzle will be done by the end of this vlog. Okay, peace.

[00:07:06]Hello you guys. I am back for our first reading update. And it's a big reading update. And you can tell by my clothes, I'm still wearing the same clothes I was wearing when I got the book. So, I've been reading today. And we are starting with The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Now, Richard Osman is not a friend of mine. If you remember last year, I read How to Solve Your Own Murder.

[00:07:38]I did not. How to Solve Your Own Murder.

[00:07:40]No, let's start that over again. I read this book. Whatever this book is, that is what I read. How to solve your own murder is another book that we going to talk about later on. But I read this book. And you guys, this book was awful.

[00:07:59]This is one of those books that is like highly rated, but I promise you, no one is actually passionate about it. Like I feel like people read it and give it a good score because like why not? But if anyone sat back and actually engage with the book in earnest, they'd realize like this was kind of silly. Now, I did a little bit more than that. I said the book was poorly written. It was convoluted. It was messy and the characters were flat. I did not enjoy this. But I knew that this author had a book, a book series, I believe, that other people enjoyed. So, when I went to the used bookstore and I got my hands on the Thursday Murder Club, I was like, maybe this is my Richard Osman. Like, this book has gotten rave reviews.

[00:08:42]There's no way everyone has just decided to give Richard Osman good reviews even though the book sucks. So, I picked up The Thursday Murder Club and I read the first 100 pages of The Thursday Murder Club. We're making our way through this and you guys, let me tell you what this book is about. In this book, we start by reading a journal by this woman named Joyce. She is telling us about these people who live at a retirement community that she is a part of and how they have taken her into a group. They start to ask her questions about someone being stabbed. And because she is a nurse, she has seen, you know, stab victims. And so they're like, "We want to get your expertise." And so she gives it to a woman named Elizabeth who lives at the retirement community and they're like, "You know what? You will be perfect for the Thursday murder club."

[00:09:34]And we find out at this retirement community, there is a group of four people who meet up and they talk about murders. And one person has left the group. So it leaves space for a new person to come in and that's where our girl Joyce is going to become a part of what is going on. Now there is a murder of someone who came to the retirement community. So this retirement community is ran and owned by this guy named Ian who is like a city contractor. And he is going to fire the person who he went into business with because he wants to do his own thing. But he's nervous. This is Ian. Ian is nervous to fire this guy because this guy used to be a drug dealer. He used to kill people and all types of stuff. So he's just like, I don't know if I should fire him. So he decides to fire the guy in public on the grounds of the retirement community. So everyone sees these two people arguing with each other. Well, the guy who he fires, whose name is Tony, Tony ends up dead. And so now the people in the Thursday Murder Club, they're going to solve the murder. They they have a real murder for the first time that is in their backyard that they get to solve.

[00:10:45]And that's pretty much the setup for this book. This book is oh so enjoyable.

[00:10:49]This book is reminding me of Vera Wong.

[00:10:52]It's reminding me of that of just like these old people trying to solve a murder. But I will say this book is less the the characters are less silly than in Vera Wong. Like you are to believe everyone in this book is like on their on the up and up. Like there's a reason why they're all in the Thursday murder club is because they all have like skills that make it so like they would be able to solve a murder. So like Ver Wong is literally just a pedestrian, but they have more skills than that and they're a lot more savvy and they're a lot more cunning, but they also have like, you know, the whimsy fun traits. I feel like social media has ruined the word whimsy. Whimsy and whimsical is a word I've been using since I was like 12 years old. Now, when I use it, I feel like I'm using like Tik Tok jargon, but stay with me. They they still have those elements which you want in like a mystery type of book like this, but they are a little bit more cunning, a little bit more clever, and a little bit, you know, just a little bit smarter than that. But that's what is going on so far. What are my opinions on this book?

[00:11:57]I think I already told you it's also enjoyable. Um, this is what I thought the other book I read by Richard Osman was going to be. These characters have interesting backstories and they have interesting lives and also there's more to them that meets the surface. The murder in this book is also intriguing and I really really love the different POVs. In the other book I read by Richard Osman. I hated all the POVs.

[00:12:22]Like it became too much in this book.

[00:12:24]Every POV shift is so well done. Like we get POVs from the guy who died. We get POV from the contractor. We get POVs from Joyce, Elizabeth, Ron, who's our other Ibrahim. That's all the people in the Thursday Murder Club. We get We have a detective who is in this. We actually have two detectives who are part of this. So, we've gotten like eight POV chapters and all of them are good. All of them add to the story and it makes the story like read just really really fast and really really good. So, I'm enjoying myself and I hope I continue to enjoy myself so we can get a successful [gasps] summer. That's what I'm hoping.

[00:13:04]Anyways, I'm going to keep on reading and I will talk to you guys a little bit later. Okay, peace. Hello you guys. I'm about to sit here and do a little sprint.

[00:13:18]I'm going to read until I don't feel like reading no more. That might be 10 pages. That might be 50 pages. I don't know. I just need to get some pages done. But baby, we are moving. This is how much I have left. I am on the other side of this book. I'm on page 200 of this book. So, I have read a 100 pages since the last time I talked to you guys about this book. And one of my favorite things in like a murder mystery, kind of like a cheeky murder mystery, is that next person who dies. So, in every murder mystery, there is always like a second person who shows up dead. Like, you have the first person who dies that gets the murder mystery rolling and then usually there's a second murder. And that is my favorite part of the murder mystery book. Now, the thing about this book is I think I know who did it. And so, I think I don't know who did it, if that makes sense. Because [laughter] I think I know the person who did it and why they did it. I'm probably wrong because this book gets rave reviews. So, I can imagine that it's probably more than what meets the eye. The murder is probably really good. So, I think I know who did it, but it's probably not what I think. Um, I'm still very much so enjoying this book. If this book ended right now, I would give this book four out of five stars. It's so easy to read.

[00:14:37]All of the POVs are good. The characters are like funny and like cutesy, but they're not annoying, you know?

[00:14:45]Everything is just working with this one. So, I am going to just sit here.

[00:14:49]I'm going to do some reading. I have a banana, which I'm going to eat. I have some coffee, which is behind y'all. I'm going to drink that at some point. And I'm just about to sit here and chill out and read my book. I love reading a book that I am thoroughly enjoying. And this is just such an easy to me like summer type of book. Like, it's a little too um light for like Halloween. Like, it's not like scary. It's all It's not even all that mysterious. Um, but it's perfect for summer. Like, it's kind of It's more lighthearted, you know? So, I'm about to read and I will talk to you guys later.

[00:15:26]Actually, I'll probably talk to you guys when I like finish the entire book cuz I don't think I need to come back and say anything more. So, yeah. Peace.

[00:15:37][music] >> [music] >> You guys, I have put blood, I have put sweat, and I have put tears.

[00:17:12]into this puzzle. It may not look like it, but we are on the home stretch.

[00:17:20]I would say of this a thousand a thousand piece puzzle, we probably have about only 150 more pieces. Some down there, child.

[00:17:34]150 more pieces to place.

[00:17:37]And I pretty much have my footing. I see I see the finish line. This is the first day of working on this puzzle where I see the finish line, baby. So, I'm about to make me a smoothie and I'mma finish up this puzzle. Yes, I am because I'm ready to be done, y'all.

[00:17:56]I've had enough. I have had enough of this puzzle. Okay, but let me go make that smoothie. Y'all can watch me. I'll let y'all see it. Okay, let's do that.

[00:18:05]And we finishing this puzzle.

[00:18:11]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Hey, [music] hey, hey.

[00:19:03]>> [music] >> Hi you guys. We are in the car. I am about to go into Ulta and take this back. Remember this palette I told y'all I was taking back? Yeah, it's been sitting in my car forever.

[00:20:04]And so I need to go take this back. But I also need to give a reading update. I have finished the Thursday Murder Club. We are one book down. It only took me two days to finish this book, which feels really good. It's been a while since I finished a book in just two days. So like I'm back in my reading groove. You guys, this book was perfectly enjoyable. Let me tell you something though. Richard Osman, I don't know if I'm going to read anything else by you. I think if I were to pick up the sequels for the these books, it will be a vacation thing. I don't see myself sitting around the house and reading the next two books in this series. I would though like go on vacation. And I'm actually going on vacation in a couple of weeks. And like I could see myself sitting by the pool and pulling up the next book of this on my Kindle or like on the airplane. I could see myself listening to it. But my issue with Richard Osman and why I'm going to give this book a 3.5. Perfectly enjoyable. Nothing wrong with a 3.5. Is that Richard Osman likes to have way too many characters in his books. This is the second time that this has happened where like Richard Osman always has one and a half too many story lines. Like this book once we start getting to like things unraveling and figuring out what's going on. There was like one and a half things I did not care about. Like I did not like it had one too many like story lines and it's just like why is this story line in this book? It didn't add to anything. So I don't know. And this book also went down a like organized crime um angle that I also did not enjoy. I don't like organized crime mysteries is not my thing. So it also went down that angle and once it started going down that path, I knew I wasn't giving this book four stars cuz I'm just like eh I never like that in book. I never I never like organized crime. Um but overall though, this book was actually really enjoyable. Actually really easy to read. I like this group of characters. And I think the most heartwarming thing about this book is this idea of these old people finding community in each other. This idea that your life doesn't have to be over even though your life is almost over. I thought that was really, really enjoyable. So, I'm actually really happy I picked this book up secondhand. How much did I pay for this book? I only paid a couple dollars for this book secondhand. So, anyways, we are going to move on to How to Seal Your Fate is I think the name of the next book. and I will talk to you guys later. I'm going into Ulta to go get my $54 back. It's that serious for me. Okay, peace. Hello you guys. Vlogmas is continuing. I am continuing to read. I am about to go work out, but I need to give you guys a reading update because I have started How to Seal Your Fate by Kristen Parin.

[00:22:59]I am a hundred pages through with this book. I'm moving rather quickly through this book. I'm reading it like 50 pages at a time. So, honestly, I kind of should get to page like 200 of this book by the end of today. I do I am going out to eat, I believe. We'll see how that goes. So, like I might stop reading it, but if I get to page 200 by the end of the day, that means I will wrap this thing up in the morning and this vlog will be done and Summer Wayne will be over and I'll be proud of myself because I read two books in four days, that means I'm back into my reading groove.

[00:23:30]But let me talk to you guys about how to seal your fate. Let me sit down, baby.

[00:23:35]So, in how to seal your fate, we are picking up where this book left off in the sense that our main character has been left in a state that she got from the first book. In the first book, she had to solve a murder that her grandmother was killed and she had to solve that murder. And so, whoever solved the murder got her estate.

[00:23:58]Spoiler alert, she was the one who solved the murder. She was the one who got the estate. Well, a big part of the first book was that there was this fortune teller that gave her grandmother a um you know, told her that she was going to die. That's what made her think she was going to die. Well, this fortune teller is back and she wants to tell the fortune of our main character, the young lady that we are following. And our main character is just like, "Leave me alone." Well, lo and behold, that lady, she was involved in a murder of her own.

[00:24:32]She believes that she might have been responsible for this family of three dying because there was this guy who basically I don't know how to explain this without giving like too much information on the first book. So, I guess spoiler alert. So, the estate that our main character has inherited used to be owned by this man, but this man ended up dying and he left the estate to his um to one of his sons um and because the son got it because his brother and his dad died and so it got left to him and then it got end up being left to her grandmother. Read the first book to figure out why. But long story short, she thinks that she this fortune teller thinks she's responsible for the death of the the the the family in the car accident because she ended up vandalizing his car and she believes that she cut his brakes. Well, there is a guy who has been working on this estate named Archie. Archie was there when all of this stuff was happening. He knew the grandma. He knew the fortune teller. He knew the people that's dead.

[00:25:35]He knew everybody. So, our main character goes to Archie and it's just like why is this fortune teller coming to me? Like, what's going on? And we realize Archie is keeping some secrets.

[00:25:46]Long story short, the fortune teller ends up dead in the house that in the estate that she the main character lives in. And so, now we're trying to figure out what happened with this car accident. What happened with this guy who like does the the landscaping of this estate? What does he know about all this stuff? What did this fortune teller know? What did her grandma know? What's going on? And also, there's a new police detective in town who seems like he's a part of all of this. Okay, that is convoluted. And I am also just as confused as you might be. I do not like the setup of this book. And if this book wasn't for Summerween, I don't know if I would finish it. Stay with me. I do not like murder mystery books. I don't really like many books that are series, first of all, but I definitely don't like series, especially murder mystery series, where the book relies too much on the stuff that happened in the book before. I don't like that. I like the idea that you could read a murder mystery book and like you don't necessarily have to read the first book to be able to fully understand at least most of the plot points. Yeah, you'll miss some of the subtle nuances, but like you still could get a story. That's the one thing about The Tainted Cup, A Drop of Corruption, the next book. You do not have to read necessarily uh The Tainted Cup to read A Drop of Corruption. You would still understand the mystery that's at the root of that book. You would not understand a single thing going on in this book if you did not read the first book. You'll be completely lost. I read the first book and I'm still lost about some characters going on. So, I don't like the setup of this. It's relying way too much on you remembering everything that happened in the first book. And I'm sorry, nobody remembers all of that stuff. So, I'm like halfway in it, halfway not. Um, it's just not as interesting as the first book. The first book had so many things that I was curious about. In this one, I'm really not because we're with the exact same characters. Like Archie the Gardener, we had him in the first book. We're still dealing with the grandma in her notebooks. We did that in the first book. Like we still had these weird like shady ass detectives. We did that in the first book. Like all of the mother might be involved. We had that in the first book. Like it it just seems like a rehash and I'm just like I don't know. But I'm going to keep on reading and hopefully it gets better. Hopefully I get more invested in it. But I'm not right now. But I'll talk to you guys a little bit later. And yeah. Okay. Peace.

[00:28:23]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Hello you guys and I'm here to give you guys a reading update because I have read a hundred more pages of How to Seal Your Own Fate. I will I will say that I'm a little bit more positive about this book than I was the last time I checked in with you. We still are in the same world dealing with these same people that we were dealing with in the first book except for the fact they are a little bit more uninteresting in this book. And also you have to remember a lot of stuff from the first book to really grasp what's going on in this book. This is not a book that you can just pick up and you didn't read the first book. And I think it almost relies too much on the lore of the first book because even I and I remember I like the first book. I gave the first book like 4.5 stars. Even I'm like I don't even remember how these people connect to one another. And if I would have known that, I would have reread the first book. It would have been no skin off my back to just brush up on the first book. But I was able to get my footing. I was able to get my footing. And the more that I read, the more things started to click.

[00:30:30]I'm like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:30:31]That's how all of this works." So once again in this book, we are going back in time to the 1960s to get more information about this grandma. The our main character has a grandma who left her house when we're getting more information about her. And that storyline was really good in the first book and it's also the most interesting part of this book as well because so many of the characters in the present day, whatever they're doing has to do with the past. It makes the past story line more interesting because you're getting to know their motives. So, I like being in the past story line more than I like being in the present story line. I'm gonna be honest with you. For some reason, the writing in the present story line is very elementary. In the past story line, we get writing that is a little bit more clever, a way better put together and thought out. But in the present story line, the present story line almost reads a little bit middlerraish. everything is like overexplained and so you know that whatever is being overexlained has something to do with the mystery because the book wants you to know like okay this is how this works and so it's a little bit it's a little bit middlerish young adultish in that way. So I don't also like the writing as much as I liked in the first one. I don't know why I'm having so many more issues with this book than I had with the first book. This mystery though, I actually think is more intriguing though. So, I talked about this in the first book, The Thursday Murder Club. I always love when the second murder is a foot. I always love when the second murder is a foot. And we got our second murder. And a book like this is always a second murder. This one murder that gets everything going and there's going to be a second murder halfway through the book. And we have gotten our second murder. [snorts] And the second murder, the person who died in this second murder is not that interesting. It's somebody who's so on the like periphery of like the story. I'm just like, we could have got a better second murder if we was going to get a second murder, you know? So, I don't really care who killed the person, but I will say there's actually a good murder. Like, there's a good murder mystery of foot. We have this wreck that killed three people like 50 years ago. And then there's this idea of like, did it kill everyone? Was somebody else in the car? Then we have this guy who was in the first story.

[00:32:54]He's in this story now. He knew all the people who was dead. All the people who was dead, he knew them. Like, did he do it? And the thing is, we know he didn't do it. There's a clear person that everyone thinks did it. We know he did not do it. He can't. He's too much of a character you're supposed to like. So, it is a curious conversation of who in this book did this murder. I don't know.

[00:33:17]I I genuinely do. There's actually like I want to know what's going on. That's what's keeping me reading. I just think I have some issues with the writing and I think this book relies too much on characters of old when they should have just opened up a new mystery.

[00:33:33]So, I don't know. Those are my thoughts so far, but I need to pull up the summer um stuff because this is it. The next time I talk to you guys, I will be done with this book. So, we need to see if we've accomplished any of the prompts or can I accomplish some of the prompts before this video closes. So, first we have read a book in the dark or at night. Have I read any of these books at night? Okay, I will read the last 100 pages of this book at night. Um, will I do it in the dark? Maybe. Maybe I'll use my um flashlight and give you guys a little flashlight montage so we can check that one off. So, that's one we um we'll do read a thriller or horror book.

[00:34:22]None of these books constitute thriller or horror, but I feel like mystery thriller, mystery thriller can all be the same to me. So, I'm giving myself a half a point on that. Um, read a new to you author, someone you're never read before. I will not be able to do that because both of these authors I have received. I should have looked at the prompts before I chose the two, but like I ain't going to complete none of these.

[00:34:47]I decided to read from two authors that I have read from before and I just don't have the time to like pick another book that could be like a thriller.

[00:34:58]Like I guess I could uh do I want to add another book to this video? No, I really don't.

[00:35:05]Let's move on. Read a book with pink on the cover. Neither of these books have pink on the cover. Read a book with less than 250. I'm screwed. So, but the thing is if I was able to find a short thriller, if I was able to find a short thriller, I could try to accomplish read a book under 250 pages. I could try to make it pink and then it could be a author I never read from before and it could be a thriller and I could do it all at night.

[00:35:34]I literally, if I wanted to lock in right now, I could find something that fits all of these. Could I find it on my bookshelf? I don't think so. I don't think I could find it on my bookshelf, but maybe I could. Should we go up to my bookshelf? Let's Let's hold on. I don't think I have I don't buy a lot of mystery thrillers here. Here is the thing. If you follow me on my um if you follow this channel, you know this could actually be something. This is an author I've never read from before. This is Pink.

[00:36:11]Um, it's a thriller and it's not under 250 pages, but that would be the only thing I didn't complete. And I have this on audio if you guys remember my whole song and dance with this book. So truly, I should try to read this on audio. I should just bite the bullet, maybe play the Sims and try to read this on audio.

[00:36:34]I could cut all the lights off. So this, you know what? I'm not even going up to my bookshelf. I might try to read this fully on audio. I might pick back up the audio book of this and we would accomplish everything except reading a book that's under 250 pages and this could be another book off my TBR. So stay tuned. Stay tuned to see if I you'll know by the the time stamp, but stay tuned to see if I'm able to pick this one up. Okay, I'll talk to you guys later. Peace.

[00:37:12]New angle unlocked.

[00:37:15]We are sitting on the floor of my office. You see my vanity back there and you can see the bookshelf reflecting.

[00:37:21]Then you have fireplace right there.

[00:37:24]Anyways, I have finished How to Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Parin. And you guys, if I wanted to, I could do a full rant review on this book. I am going to go ahead and give this book one out of five stars. And that is what this book deserves. This book doesn't make any sense. This book is poorly written. This book doesn't make any sense. This book also doesn't even solve its own mystery.

[00:37:55]So, let's start with this book being poorly written.

[00:37:59]You guys, I am not reading the Game of Thrones series. I am not reading Lord of the Rings. There is no reason why I should be expected to remember all of the details of the first book of a murder mystery series. I read quite a few murder mystery series and it is common practice if you are going to make a mystery have to piggyback on the first book to give a synopsis of the first book like to sneak in a synopsis so we all are caught up. This book just throws you in there. It just throws you in there. And you guys, this book is heavily affected by the things that happened in the first book. If you don't remember the smallest of details, you don't know what this book even is trying to do.

[00:38:59]There are relationships between people.

[00:39:01]You're just like, who the [ __ ] is this person? How did we end up here? And it's just because it is just random little things that happened in the first book.

[00:39:11]So, that's one way that this book is poorly written. Another way that this book is poorly written is that we have a before timeline, 1967, I believe, and we have a present day timeline. The present day timeline and the before timeline, they're trying to solve the exact same murder, which if we know the murder hasn't been solved in the present timeline, we obviously know they didn't solve it in the before timeline.

[00:39:35][laughter] Like literally the person who they think could be involved in the murder in the present timeline is literally in the past story line trying to solve the murder and he's just as [ __ ] confused. So we know he clearly didn't do it in the present timeline. LIKE WHAT IS happening here? [laughter and gasps] And so be and also because these two timelines are doing the same thing.

[00:39:59]They're just repetitive and redundant and confusing and simply confusing. Another thing that is very odd about this book, this book just decides to like give you a red herring, which is like normal in a mystery book, but this red herring you 100% know was supposed to be a bigger part of the book, but the author just throws it away. there's this new detective in town and he um is being really weird and cy and he's trying to steal fouls and all this stuff and it's presented in the beginning of the book like this matters and then in like just a random sentence they're just like oh no there's nothing wrong with him. They literally are just like there's nothing wrong with him. He's just you know he's just hard on people and they just throw away the whole story line. They throw away the whole story line. There's this weird story line between like detective and our main character. Are they going to date? The book never ever wants to actually do anything with this storyline. Another thing that's weird about this book, the detective in this story, the guy who wants to date our girl, I know I live in America, and in America they take the police too goddamn serious, but it become it gets to a point. She literally is like doing detective work. He literally is trying to solve murders where like it would be normal that she's a suspect. Someone died in her house, you guys. And then the second person in this book got died like their body was found in the back of her car. So two murders were in two things that she owned. So clearly she would be a suspect. She is being taken on ride along. She breaking into people houses with detective. He giving her information on what's going on down at the precinct. And it's just like y'all.

[00:41:40]It's just like y'all. Another thing that's odd about this book there there's some teleporting going on. So the big like who done it of this book rest on the idea that somebody disguised themselves and broke into her house. The person who did the disguising and the breaking could not have been able to get to the house in time because they the [laughter] is why the writing sucks. The person who does the breaking in are is established in a place. Someone says that they saw this person at the beginning of the book in a place like it's just something that is just said and then all of a sudden at the end of the book this person was able to break into a house and then go back to it just they were teleporting. They had the only way for this to have happened is if they were teleporting and then another thing another thing that's weird about this book. So the first person who dies in this book is the fortune teller. That's not a spoiler.

[00:42:34]She dies, right?

[00:42:36]Um, a big part of her dying is that she meets our main character and then for some reason she comes back to the main character's house and that's when she dies. But the book never explains why she comes back to THE HOUSE. I PRO MAYBE I MISSED IT. [laughter] Like literally when they were explaining the murder, I was sitting there like, "Okay, now explain to me why she came back to the house. Like why was she still at the house?" And like so much of this the book like the book rests on this idea that she dies in this house and she's still there. And I keep wondering TO MYSELF WHY THE HELL WAS SHE STILL AT THE HOUSE? [laughter] And like I I some ways they may try to explain it, but it's never clearly stated why the hell she was just still at their house. And then we get to the actual who done it. You guys, the who done it of this book is why it actually gets a one star. It is so [ __ ] silly. The book actually tries to play you for the [ __ ] fool. It tries to play you for the [ __ ] fool. Like, it almost feels like a mockumentary of a murder mystery novel in a way that like the person is saying what they did and it's just like this don't even make no sense, dog.

[00:43:50]Like, you literally do not know what his motive is. Like, what is his motive for doing any of this? And then because the crime is so intricate, there's like more people involved and their reasoning is just because they wanted to. Like so many of the reasons why the murder happened is because they wanted to. LIKE NOTHING MAKES SENSE. LIKE YOU GUYS, nothing in this book makes any sense. It this book this book is just it's this it's just ridiculous. It's convoluted.

[00:44:18]The perfect word to describe this book is ridiculously convoluted. And there's no payoff. There's no payoff. stuff just doesn't make sense. And maybe if you were to map it out, you could try to make it all make sense, but I shouldn't have to do that in a murder mystery book. Like, it just genuinely does not make any sense how any of this stuff tries to work. It almost tries to get overwritten, so you'll just be confused.

[00:44:39]The main character of this book, and by the way, you can clearly tell I won't be reading any more books in this series.

[00:44:45]Um, the main character of this book is so like flat. Like, there's nothing interesting about her. There is nothing interesting about her. I am so curious.

[00:44:53]And I said this earlier, I am so curious if this book is considered young adult or is that every character in this book is an adult, but it reads so this book specifically reads so young. I cannot believe I gave the first book in this series five stars. I loved it. I genuinely loved it. And this is just a hot pile of garbage. Like it's genuinely a bad book on all fronts. On literally all fronts. It was It was And it's crazy because it just nose dives. The first hundred pages of this book are not bad.

[00:45:28]It sets up for an interesting mystery.

[00:45:30]You're curious how all of this is going to come to a head, but it's almost like the author didn't know how she was going to make all this stuff come to a head.

[00:45:38]No, no, no, no, no, baby. I said I wasn't going to do a rant review and 8 minutes later, HERE WE ARE. SO, I kind of have to turn the wigs around. Um, this is a summer weeen video and I went through the summer all the things we're supposed to read for summer do for summer, all the task and I ain't did none of it. Nothing I read checked no boxes. [laughter] I have not done anything. So, I've decided, y'all remember this book? Y'all remember this book? I just talked about it with you. Girls who played in? I got the audio book when I tried to read it in another video. I still have that audio book. There is a prompt that's like read a book that has a pink cover. That is this. This is a thriller. Um I can read it in the dark because I'm going to read it on audio. I have the audio book. It's going to it's going to check off everything and we'll completely The only thing it's not going to check off is I'm not going to read a book that is less than 250 pages. You guys, they don't make books that are less than 250 pages and make them thriller and mystery. Like, I genuinely think that we need more thriller novellas, but people don't make thriller novellas no more. And that's unfortunate. So, I don't even have anything on my bookshelf that would even fit that. Like, I'm literally looking at my bookshelf and I would I couldn't even find something that fits that if I wanted to. So, that's what I'm going to do. BUT BUT WHILE I'm reading the audio book, cuz I'm not a person who just I don't really listen to audiobooks.

[00:47:09]That's not a thing I do anymore. Um I have to be doing something to do like there. I have my I have to be doing something that's kind of mindless. So me for me to uh pick up an audio book. And so that's a puzzle. I am going to do a spooky Halloween puzzle. I've already done this puzzle. This is a 500er. So we're going to do two puzzles in this one video. Look at us. But this is a spooky monster mansion puzzle. And I think that's fun. I think it's fun that we are going to do a spooky Halloween puzzle in the middle of July. And that's how we will end our summer. Hopefully this book gets a little better than it was when I first started reading it. I'm just going to start over from the beginning. It's the audio book. It doesn't matter. I'm going to start over from the beginning on this. And yeah, that's what we're going to do. So, I will see you guys at the puzzle table. Yes, I will. Once again, by the way, I'm not taking apart my thousand puzzle. That's staying, YOU GUYS. THAT PUZZLE beat my ass. That's staying put together for at least a month, okay? But I'm going to do this on top of it. That's the good thing about having a puzzle table. You can put the thing on top of it and then you can just do another puzzle. Anyways, I'll talk to you guys at the puzzle table. Peace.

[00:48:17]Hello you guys. We are back. [laughter] We are back, which you guys should be proud of me that we are back. The fact that I am genuinely going to read this book, you should be proud of me. So, I did start that Halloween puzzle and I did get through a big chunk of this book. I am doing the audio book, of course. And I am on chapter 20 of the audio book. So, that places me where in the book? Let's see. Chapter 22.

[00:48:51]Chapter 20. So, I am I was able to get 216 pages through this book via audio, so don't be that proud. And I did some of the puzzle. Now, I'm going to insert clips of me with the puzzle. It might not look like I got a lot done on that puzzle, but for me to listen to two hours of this audiobook, I did get a lot done because this is what I did. I decided to separate out all of the pieces. Like, every single piece I separated out so I know exactly where it goes on the puzzle. So now with the rest of the audio book, all I have to do is just place the pieces. There's no real mystery. I know where every single piece goes. So I really only probably have like an hour left of that puzzle, even though it doesn't look like it. For all my puzzle doers, you know what I'm talking about. If you take the time to like look at where every single piece goes. Yes, it takes you like more time necessarily, but you know now where every single piece goes. So now you kind of can reach a flow state. But anyway, let me tell you what this book is about.

[00:49:49]In this book, we are following two characters. So, there was this young white girl in this town who died really young. I think she got pushed over a cliff or something. She died on a beach or something, whatever. Nobody knows how she died. No one knows like who tried to kill her. So, she has a best friend who is this black girl. Her family owns like a crematory business and she is the new like head chick in charge because actually these two girls were not nice people. The girl who was dead wasn't nice and the girl who is now like our main character, she was not nice. They used to bully people. They used to be mean to people. And they did something that got them kind of like in the like foes of this cosmetics company. And so we know that our main character is keeping a secret. She knows more to this girl's murder than she is letting on.

[00:50:35]And we're trying to figure out what the hell she knows. And then we have her brother. Her brother has moved back in town. her brother lives with their mom, but now he has moved back in town because he has decided he needs to see what his sister got going on. Her friends dropping dead. What's going on?

[00:50:50]He starts going to this school and he realizes that his sister is a is a bully. She's a bully. She's mean. She's awful. And he's thinking that the murder of this girl is the reason why this girl is acting his sister is acting like this. So he him and his new friends because he's back in town and he has this boy he has a crush on, they're going to try to solve the murder. so the sister can like, you know, start acting normal again and, you know, she can get her life back on track. That's pretty much what is going on in this book. This book is just not all that enjoyable. The tone of this book is really, really bizarre. It's really mean-spirited. So, I just told you the girl the the girl who we're following, she's mean as hell.

[00:51:28]Like, she's bizarly mean to the point like it's off-putting to read. Um, like she's just like this cracker [ __ ] and it's just like whoa. It's really really weird. I do think there are a little bit some things that are intriguing. I like the romance between the brother and his friend. I do genuinely want to know what's going I think I know what the who done it is, but I'm kind of a little curious about what's the ins and out of the who done it. But other than that, it's just fine. It's just literally just fine. The only reason why I'm 100% getting through it is for Summerween. I do think it's going to get a three star though, which is more than I thought I would give it when I first started. I thought it was going to be one or two stars. It's better than that. It has some interesting characters and a interesting world a little bit. It's just not all coming together seamlessly.

[00:52:14]That's the real issue. But it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. So, I am going to continue reading it. I'm not upset about continuing reading. I actually was like having a good time with it. It's kind of mindless. Like you just following these kids as they try to solve this murder. Anyways, I'll talk to you guys later.

[00:52:44]Hello you guys. I'm here to wrap up this Summerween video. I'm actually proud of myself. I did finish Girls Who Play Dead and I did finish the entire Halloween puzzle. I realized that I never took video clips of the puzzle. Like when I was talking about it was sectioned off, I never actually took a video of that clip. So therefore, like you didn't actually get to see me like slowly progress on the puzzle, but I did finish the entire puzzle. It does piss me off.

[00:53:15]I totally forgot with that puzzle. I'm missing a piece of that puzzle because I did that puzzle last year before I had my puzzle table. So, I was doing it like around the house and like I lost a piece. So, I still don't have a piece.

[00:53:28]But, I did finish the puzzle. It was a nice spooky puzzle. I really enjoyed doing that puzzle as well. And it's so crazy because I did a th00and puzzle earlier in this video. Going from a th00and back to 500 is such a huge change. Like, it's crazy that I used to do thousand pu uh 500 puzzles, like 500 piece puzzles, and it was kind of difficult. Now, 500 piece puzzles are like pretty I wouldn't say easy, but like I I can hit a flow state pretty easily. Like I know my way around. It's just crazy how much better you become at things when you challenge yourself to do harder stuff. So, like I'm going to keep the thousand puzzles going because it makes it easier to do 500. And so, I'm happy I got two puzzles done in this video. I also was able to read three books in this video. Now, I wish one of these books would have been a five-st star read, and that is just simply not the case. I did read Girls Who Play Dead on audio. It feels really good to get another book off my TBR. No matter if I love it, hate it. It's another book that I can take off of my TBR. This is a book that I chose to complete some of the prompts for Summerween. And overall, you guys, I think you can skip this one. I think you can skip this one. this mystery is kind of lackluster in how everything you know gets sorted in the end. One of the like mysteries or bad guys doesn't even get squared away like that storyline kind of is open-ended for like you know this series to continue which I won't be continuing in it. one mystery doesn't even fully get, you know, resolved. And then the who done it, I kind of think is a little bit obvious. Not why they did it. Why they did it is actually really stupid, but like I from the beginning since we met this character, I thought this character was the person that was going to be involved.

[00:55:18]And then I think the weakest part of this story besides the like weird dialogue between all the characters is that we are supposed to believe that this main character, this black girl is so like upset because her best friend dies, but the book just doesn't do a good job at relaying that relationship between the best friend and the woman girl who's dead. So it almost feels like like maybe did you do it? Like did you actually like this girl? I don't know.

[00:55:43]The relationships between everyone are just not all that good. The only relationship in this book that is done well is the brother comes back to town and he has a boyfriend. Well, they like become boyfriend. That relationship is really really good and I think it's done well. But other than that, I just don't think this this you, like I said, skip this one. Just skip this one. I do think the cover is really really cute. Um, but that's that on that. Then we read another book. Luckily for Joelle Wellington, this isn't the worst book we read in the video.

[00:56:14]How to Steal Your Own Fate. did a whole rant review on this one. Don't need to say more. This is a one-st star book.

[00:56:19]This book will 100% be leaving my home.

[00:56:22]Unfortunately, I do think this book is also going to be leaving my home. It's just hard with the amount. Eventually, I'm going to give you guys a bookshelf tour and you are just going to see that I just have too many books and I just can't in good faith even with black authors keeping a twostar book that I know I probably will not return to. I will not reference. It's just hard for me to do it. It's hard for me to do it.

[00:56:49]And so now I do have a stack of like lowrated black books, books by black authors. I do have a stack. So maybe I'll just put that in the stack like away. I don't know. I like I told I said in a video, I want to keep black literature. I want black books to be around and I want So I have no issue buying black literature. I just can't keep all of it. I can't keep. So, I'm going back and forth. I'll keep it until like maybe I do a major unhaul. That's all I'll do. But this is definitely leaving one star worst book of the video. And this was actually surprising.

[00:57:22]I think when I go on vacation, I'll probably pick up the sequel to this like on Kindle, read it by the pool. I think that'll be a nice fun time. Hopefully, it's free on Kindle Unlimited. But that wraps up the video. We are done here. We are done here. I have enjoyed my time with you guys. I hope you guys have enjoyed your time with me, and I will talk to you guys in the next one. Peace.