reading anticipated books on my first solo trip to the coast 🌊☀️🏝️🐚 [reading vlog]

追加: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Where's the horror? I don't know if I'm being dramatic, but like this book actually made me angry. Hey, how's it going? My name is Gabby. Welcome back to my channel and welcome to a very exciting reading vlog because in today's reading vlog, I'm going to be taking my first ever solo trip to this little coastal town in Washington called Anacortis. I mean, if you were wondering, I have traveled by myself in the past. I've gone to California, I went to Japan, I went to New York, and I traveled by myself on the way there, but on all of those previous trips, I was like meeting up with friends or family on those trips. So, I wasn't fully alone. And so, this is actually going to be my very first time traveling completely by myself and doing my own solo trip. And I decided to go with this cute little town called Anacortis because I have been there once before. I actually did make a book shopping video with my mom in Anacortis a few years ago now. So, I'll have that link down below if you wanted to see that. But, I am so excited to finally be doing my first ever solo trip because this is something that I've been wanting to do for a very long time now. Like, literally for years. And a few weeks ago, I finally found the courage to just do it, you know, because I'm like life is too short. Time is passing me by. I'm 31 years old. Like, what am I waiting for, you know? So, I'm going to be staying two nights at this really cute inn that's called the Majestic Inn and Spa in Anacortis. I'm also planning to visit both of the bookstores that I went to previously. Hopefully, I can do some book shopping while I'm there, and I'm hoping to do a lot of reading this weekend while I'm there. The main two books that I'm hoping to read while I'm in Anacortis, one of them is going to be Nowhere Burning by Katrina Ward. This is a new horror book that I have been so freaking excited to read because I originally heard of this book getting pitched as Riley Siger meets yellow jackets and I was so intrigued. So, this is probably going to be the first thing that I'm going to read in this vlog. I think I'm going to get started on the audiobook as soon as I leave this morning. And then I'm also going to be reading The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez. This is definitely one of my most anticipated romance books of the year because of how much I love Abby Jimenez. I mean, even though I wasn't the biggest fan of her book that she came out with last year that was called Sale, Remember Me. I think I gave that one like two and a half stars and it was the lowest rated that I've had from her so far, but this is one that I'm still so excited to read because I've had so many five-star favorites from this author. And this one especially intrigues me because of the premise.

[00:02:02]Apparently, we're following this girl named Lissa and she's dating this guy named Mike. And then the story is about how she's starting to catch feelings for Mike's best friend, this guy named Chris. It sounds so juicy and I've been really loving like juicy love triangles lately. So, I feel like this one definitely has potential to be a new favorite of mine. I'm also going to be bringing my Kindle with me on this trip just in case I want to read even more cuz I imagine in the 2 and 1/2 days that I'll be there, I can probably read a little bit more. So, those are all of my plans. We have about an hour drive to get down there. I think the first thing that I want to do this morning is find a coffee shop to go read in. So, let's get this solo trip started and let's hit the road.

[00:02:46]I am an asteroid.

[00:02:48]I'm soaring through.

[00:02:53]>> Okay. Hi. Hello. I just pulled up into Anacortis now and it is a really beautiful day out here. I just pulled up to this little coffee shop that's sitting behind me that I've never been to before. This coffee shop is called Penguin Coffee LLC. So, like we'll have to check it out and see if it's any good. But anyway, while I've been driving down here, I started listening to Nowhere Burning on audio. And the drive was actually really nice. It was just a little bit over an hour to get down here. And I was able to get 73 pages of the way through this book so far. And so far, I am having mixed feelings on this one. Like, I don't know if I'm loving it so far. You know, all I really knew about this book was what it talked about in the premise when it said that Nowhere Burning is a harrowing tale of survival that places the dark fairy tale of Peter Pan in the ruthless dangers of Lord of the Flies into the unforgiving ma of the Colorado Rockies.

[00:03:37]And what I do like about this story is that we're following this girl named Riley and her younger brother Oliver. It seems like they're in this really like terrible abusive situation with their cousin who's watching them. And so this story is about how they're going to be like fleeing their home cuz one night there's this girl that shows up and tells them about this place called nowhere where they can like escape to.

[00:03:54]And it says Riley quickly realizes that while she and Oliver may have escaped the devil they knew something darker lurks in the burnt shell of nowhere. I mean something that I didn't personally love is that the first chapter was so long. I think the first chapter was like 32 pages. And then something I wasn't expecting was that the second chapter was told from a different perspective and like a different character. And I was like who the heck is this? And so far, each one of the three chapters that I've read have been told from different character perspectives. And so, I wasn't really expecting to get all of that in this book. I actually thought this entire story was going to be told from Riley's perspective. And she's definitely my favorite of the three point of views that I've had so far. It just seems like they've both been like really brainwashed and really manipulated because her younger brother Oliver is like convinced that he has like the demon in his head that like tells him what to do. And it's actually pretty sad so far. I don't know. This definitely does have like the dark fairy tale kind of writing to it. Anyway, I just pulled up at the coffee shop. I think my plan for the afternoon is that I would love to get an iced coffee here and like maybe a scone and I'll do some reading in the coffee shop for a little bit and then I would love to go and visit the local bookstores in the town.

[00:04:54]You know, right now it's about 12:30 in the afternoon and I don't have to check into my hotel until around 4:00. So, like I definitely have a few hours to kill. So, let's get the day started.

[00:05:07]>> Nice.

[00:05:10]I give him hell, but heaven sent him. I come down.

[00:05:19]There's no more second guessing.

[00:05:22]Coming to my senses. He's been here all along. And yeah, he's all mine right here where I left him. Not taking any chances.

[00:05:37]Coming in hot asteroid.

[00:05:52]I crumble in the quiet, but he knows how to hold me. And I burn to temp bright.

[00:06:00]He stays right beside me. He sees through all my flames. When I try to hide it, I crash, I break, I scream. But I still drive him crazy.

[00:06:16]I haven't played nice yet. He still wants me. I give him hell.

[00:06:23]But heaven sent down.

[00:06:29]There's no more second guessing. I'm coming to my senses.

[00:06:35]been here all along.

[00:06:37]>> All right, so checking in again because it is now 3:00 in the afternoon and I have some updates cuz I did end up going to two bookstores in the area and it's really cool because these bookstores are like literally down the street from each other. Like they're within walking distance and then the place where I'm staying at is literally right across the street from this used bookstore. So like how perfect that this area is so walkable. But if you were wondering which books I picked up, I did get three books from the bookstores. I only ended up getting one book from the first bookstore because that one's kind of like an indie bookstore where almost everything is like new releases. And I ended up getting this book called This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Paige. You know, I had actually never even heard of this book up until about like a month ago because I recently asked on YouTube and on Instagram. I asked for any book recommendations for books that you think that I'll give five stars. And this one got mentioned a decent amount of times. And before that, I had honestly never even heard of this book. So, it definitely piqued my interest for like why people think that I would like this. And I am planning on doing a video in May where I read a bunch of books that you think that I'm going to give five stars. So this is definitely going to be included in that video. So when I saw it there, I was like, "Okay, this is the perfect time for me to buy this one." And then I did end up going into the used bookstore and I found two books in the used bookstore.

[00:07:42]That used bookstore is really incredible, by the way. I just hate the fact that their horror section is so small. Their horror section is basically like all Stephen King and then there's like one Darcy Coats book. But one of the books that I did find that I'm really excited about is the sequel. And this is actually a sequel to the book that's called The Plot. This one's like a thriller sequel. I've been so curious about this one for a while. And I found this paperback there for only $10 cuz I loved the plot. Like the plot was a five-star thriller for me. So I've been so curious to read this one. And then I also ended up finding a book of the month copy of Lost Lambs. This one was actually a book of the month pick earlier this year. And I think this one is a literary fiction novel that follows this family. It sounds like it would be really good and like right up my alley.

[00:08:20]my friend Ally from All I Do Is Read, she just recently read this one and she really enjoyed it, so it had me extra excited to check it out. But anyway, as far as a reading update goes, while I was sitting in the coffee shop this afternoon, I was reading more of Nowhere Burning and I got like 107 pages into this before I decided that I think I'm going to DNF this. Like, I really, really, really, really don't care. I really don't like the writing in this at all. I'm not connecting with the characters. There's something about this that is also feeling so pretentious to me. I mean, I think it's the fact that they're going to this place that's called nowhere and then like everybody has these obscure like ridiculous names.

[00:08:52]Like we've met these characters named Leaf and like Midnight, just to name a few. But I also feel like there's something about this book that is really like hard to follow what's even happening. Like there have been so many sections where I'm like, "Oh my god, like who is this new character?" Like we keep getting introduced to like new people. And there's something about the way that this book is being written.

[00:09:08]It's just really hard for me to even like visualize like what they're talking about. And you know, as much as I do like Riley's character and like the relationship that she has with her younger brother, Oliver, I just think it's a little bit annoying at the same time reading from her perspective cuz she keeps doing the nickname thing for her brother. She'll say Oliver Olive every time she addresses him. And it's just like really obnoxious. It's actually wild, too, because I'm pretty sure this book is being marketed as a horror book, and I'm like, where's the horror? 100 pages in, it reads a lot more like dark fairy tale, almost like fantasy. And this is probably my least favorite thing that I've tried from this author so far. I really want to love this author's books. And I don't think I've loved anything the way that I loved The Last House on Needless Street.

[00:09:43]Everything else that I've tried from this author, I thought it was just okay or I ended up dnfing it. So, I don't know what's going on with me and this author, but this is not the book for me.

[00:09:51]But instead, today I was like looking through some of the other things that I had available to listen to on audio. And I decided to start reading After Hours at Dooryard Books by Cat Sebastian because this one was actually available as a Libro ALC this month, which was so exciting to see because this is one that I've had my eyes on recently after how much I've been loving Cat Sebastian recently. I've previously just given two of her other romance books five stars and she's like a new favorite author of mine. So, I decided to start listening to this one this afternoon and I'm now about like 40% of the way through this book on audio. And something that I'm loving about this book is that this one is also taking place in New York. And this one is a bit of a historical romance as well because it's taking place in 1968. And what I'm loving about this book is that we're following this character named Patrick and he is a book seller at this place called Dooryard Books. And it says that he's a book seller in the gayest neighborhood on the east side. And Patrick is very queer and it's something that he's very proud of, but it's still also kind of like dangerous times, you know, because this is taking place in 1968. And it's really cool because from what I understand, he's living in the apartment that's like directly above the bookstore. And he also has this best friend that recently moved into the apartment upstairs, like right above him, and she has this newborn baby. And then the story is about how this guy named Patrick ends up taking in this drifter, as he calls him, this guy named Nathaniel. And so he's not only a new tenant, but he's also going to be working with him in the bookstore. And Nathaniel is definitely the type of love interest where he's like a little bit rougher around the edges. He seems to have this very like mysterious past that he's running away from that you're learning a little bit more about throughout the book. What's different about this book compared to the other books that I read from this author is that the audio book actually has dual narrators, which is a first because I think all the other audio books that I've listened to from this author, it's usually just the one guy.

[00:11:23]But I actually do like that this book has the dual narrator thing happening and the first part of the book was told by one of the narrators and now I'm on part two, which is told by the other guy. But I am really liking the bond already between Patrick and Nathaniel.

[00:11:34]Like they're just really cute. And I also love the bond that this guy Nathaniel like has with this baby. It is so sweet and it's so wholesome. And this has just been really cute to listen to today. Like I'm just having a really good time. I feel like Cat Sebastian just writes the cutest banter. I think I'm just going to go ahead and head to the place where I'm staying, the Majestic Inn and Spa, and I'm going to see if they have my room ready. I mean, it said I couldn't check in until 4:00, but it's about 3:00 in the afternoon, so like we'll see. If I have to wait around a little bit, that's okay. So, let's go check it out and I'll give you a room tour once we get in. Okay. Hello. I have made it to the room and it's so cute.

[00:12:06]It's so cute and cozy and very small.

[00:12:08]I'm staying on the third floor, by the way. And it's so cute because when you're coming up from the lobby, you can take these really beautiful stairs. I mean, they do have an elevator, but I was like, "These stairs are majestic."

[00:12:18]They did not lie about it being very majestic here. And what I didn't realize about this place is that there's also a restaurant down on the bottom floor that's open until 9:00 tonight. And they have a really cute coffee shop that's also on the bottom floor. So maybe I'll have to check out that coffee shop tomorrow. I don't know. It looked really cute. Anyways, let's look at the room.

[00:12:35]So this is how it looks when you walk in. And right off to the right, we have a cute little bench where I put all of my stuff. I already opened the windows cuz it was kind of actually getting warm in here. And they do have a ceiling fan if you can hear it. I turned that on.

[00:12:47]But these ceilings are really tall. I don't know if you can see how tall. Um but yeah, this is the cute little cozy bed. Um, I love that it has these huge open windows that are like shutter windows. So, it actually should be really nice in the morning that it'll block out the sunlight until I'm like ready to wake up. But, it's really cute.

[00:13:02]And as you can see out the window, I have a really cute view of like downtown Anacortis down there. But yeah, how cute. I'm like right across the street from a local restaurant. It's kind of adorable vibes in here. And then, of course, we do have bunch of little goodies in there. We have a TV as you pan over here. Um, this is where the on suite bathroom is. And the bathroom is so cute. Look at it. The walls are blue.

[00:13:23]I love blue walls. And it's very cozy in here. I I really like this place. It is small, but it's very cute. Like, it's everything. It's everything that I need for a little weekend getaway. And I can only imagine how cozy it's going to feel in here at night. I did bring one of my blankets so I can be even more cozy all snuggled up in bed later. And as far as any plans that I have for the rest of the afternoon, I don't really know what the rest of the night is going to hold for me. Um, it's only about 3:30 right now, so I think I might just like chill here in the hotel for a little bit.

[00:13:50]Maybe do some more reading, maybe get some stuff done on my laptop. I don't really know what the plan is, but I think later tonight for dinner, I might go and try this ramen spot that's like down the street from here. Apparently, it's the best ramen in Anacortis, and I've been dying to have ramen because the town where I live, we don't have any ramen places there. So, it would be a nice treat to be able to go to a nice ramen restaurant tonight. So, like maybe that's what I'll do.

[00:14:27]I never been to this part of town.

[00:14:35]Everyone is dressed up here, but look so dumb.

[00:14:43]Lost in a room where my shadow jumps.

[00:14:51]So glad I found you there in the ground.

[00:14:59]All I wanted was a little connection, but they only care for your reflection.

[00:15:06]I tried to but I'll never be like them out here.

[00:15:14]Okay, hello. Checking in for another update because it is just after 7:00 at night and as you saw, I did end up going to that ramen spot and I'm so glad that I went because it was so good and I got guozas and I got show you ramen which is my favorite and it was actually really nice to like go out to a restaurant by myself because that's not something that I do very often. I was just sitting there reading my book the entire time and now it's just after 7:00 at night. I just got back to the hotel room and I just finished taking a shower and the shower was also incredible and I am just like ready to be tucked in for the night. I did end up bringing my blue, you know, blanket from my car and I'm just ready to get so cozy. But I do actually have a reading update because I was able to finish listening to the audiobook for after hours at Dooryard Books. I ended up downloading the ebook version of it on my Kindle so that I could follow along. I really enjoyed this book for the most part. I think I'm probably going to give this one four stars. Just in comparison to the other books by Cat Sebastian that I've read, I don't think I loved this one quite as much as I loved the other two that I've read from her. But I really did love the story for the most part. Like I just absolutely love the way that Cat Sebastian writes her romance novels and the way that she writes the banter between her characters. It's just my favorite thing. I think something that was actually really different about this one compared to the other books that I've read from this author is the age gap between these two. Because I didn't realize when I started this book, but Nathaniel is actually 12 years older than Patrick. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it said at one point that Nathaniel was going to be turning 40 soon. So I'm like, damn, this other guy's like 28 years old. Like that is a pretty significant age gap. So that was pretty interesting. But I think the reason why I wanted to rate this one a little bit lower than the other two is because in the story, not only is there like not really a lot of plot in this one, and I guess one of the only like major plot things that's happening in this book is how you're trying to figure out more about Nathaniel's mysterious past. I just didn't really care as much about Nathaniel's history. And I feel like we spent a lot of time on that throughout this book. And I know that this one's a historical romance, but at least in my opinion, this one read a lot more like a historical romance compared to like We Could Be So Good. Because We Could Be So Good actually takes place in the late 50s. But for some reason, this one felt even more historical. And I think it's because in this book, they do talk a lot about like the different historic events that were happening during this year. Like you get to see these characters react to the news about like Martin Luther King and like JFK and all these things that were happening in that time period. And I guess for me and my personal taste in books, it got a little bit heavy-handed with like the politics in the second half of this book, which I don't normally mind, but I guess it was just starting to feel a little bit repetitive for me in the second half. But all of that to say, it's still a four-st star book. I still really enjoyed this one a lot. There were so many scenes that had me like kicking my feet and screaming over them.

[00:17:43]The way that every book that I've read from Cass Sebastian, like this is my third book from her, and I just can't believe how much I enjoy this author's writing. Like genuinely, it's so good. I also really loved that this book was mostly taking place in the bookstore.

[00:17:55]And I love that the apartments that they were living in were like right above the bookstore. So it just had a really cozy vibe for most of the story. This book also had some really great side characters that were really fleshed out as well. And so I'm glad that I had the chance to read this one today. I was watching the news on the TV earlier because unfortunately this TV that I have in this room, it's not like a smart TV. So I can't watch like Netflix or YouTube on the TV in the way that I want to. But I was watching the news earlier because Artemis 2 right now is like going around the moon. These four astronauts have officially traveled farther than any human has ever gone in space and it is just so cool. Like you have no idea. Like my space heart has been dying these last few days. Like I was actually crying looking at the videos that they were taking of the moon. It was just so beautiful. Like it's so heartwarming. There's something about space. Like I could literally talk about space forever. I was talking about this with my family actually a few days ago because I was like I really want to take an astronomy class again cuz the last time that I took an astronomy class was when I was in my freshman year of college and that was back in like 2013 2014. And I'm like, it's been 12 years.

[00:18:52]Like, there's probably so much more, you know, like updated information with astronomy now. And I mean, I've always been really fascinated by space, you know? I mean, when I was a kid, I literally wanted to be an astronaut.

[00:19:01]Like, that was the first thing that I wanted to be when I was a child. But I feel like, especially recently with like loving Project Hail Mary, the movie, and then Artemis 2 actually happening and being able to witness history like this, it's really making me fall back into like my space obsessed self. The other day, while I was hanging out with my family, I couldn't even help myself. I was like looking up all of these different random facts about space. I was probably annoying the [ __ ] out of everybody at that table, but I was like, "Did you guys know that Jupiter has 95 moons?" And I was like, "Did you know that Jupiter has four moons that are bigger in size than our moon?" And the fact that Jupiter is not only, you know, the biggest planet in our solar system, but it's also the one that is spinning the fastest because compared to Earth, you know how it takes our Earth 24 hours to do an entire spin? It only takes Jupiter 9 hours. Like, I can't even visualize that in my head. And I'm like, Jupiter is spinning so fast. So anyway, I've just been looking up a lot of different space trivia recently and just like falling back in love with space. I swear I could literally talk about outer space for hours. But tomorrow, I have very exciting plans because I want to read the new Abby Jimenez tomorrow, The Night We Met. Anyway, traveling on my own has been a really great day so far.

[00:20:05]Like I'm just having the time of my life. And I'll see you in the morning.

[00:20:12]Heat. Heat.

[00:20:27]pretend to see concrete jungle where dreams are sitting next but your lips are worse. Hey, hello.

[00:20:50]Good morning. It is day two of my solo trip and last night I didn't really end up doing too much except for watching Friends on the TV which honestly just like sent me back to my childhood because that's like all that I used to do when I was a kid. Late at night on the TV I would just watch reruns of Friends over and over and over again. So like that was actually really fun. It was really nostalgic. There was also a little bit of like a windstorm last night because I was keeping the windows open and there was a lot of wind like tunneling through this place. This morning I decided to go downstairs and try the coffee shop that's like on the first floor of this place. And I ended up getting this iced coffee. I think it was called a sticky cinnamon bun iced latte. Oh my gosh, it's really good. And I got a whole breakfast. And I basically had that entire coffee shop to myself.

[00:21:30]Like there was nobody else there. So that was a really great way to start the morning. And I also have started reading The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez. While I was eating my breakfast, I got all the way up to chapter 8. I'm now 72 pages into this one. And so far, I don't know.

[00:21:42]I feel like this book is going fine so far. like I'm not immediately loving it the way that I thought I would. You know, one of the reasons why I thought I would really enjoy this one is because there's a bit of like a messy love triangle because our main girl, Lissa, she's currently dating this guy named Mike. But then the romance in the book is between her and Mike's best friend, this guy named Chris. And like in the opening chapter of this book, you're reading about this guy Mike. You know, he's calling his best friend Chris, and he's like, "Hey man, can you give Lissa and her mom a ride to the hospital?"

[00:22:10]Because he's saying that he's like a little bit drunk and he's not able to drive the way that he thought he'd be able to. So, he's asking him for a favor like in the middle of the night. He's trying to distract her from all of the, you know, anxiety about her mom being in the hospital. Her mom's getting the surgery and so they end up going to this cafe together and he's trying to like distract her from everything going on. I don't know. I'm feeling a little bit like meh about these characters so far and like I don't feel like they have a lot of chemistry. Something that I'm finding to be a little bit like ridiculous and kind of like unrealistic is the fact that right at the start of this book, they find this dog together that's this like tiny little Yorkie dog.

[00:22:41]And it sounds so cute and so adorable, but he's kind of talking about how like he doesn't know if he can like take in a dog right now because he works these like really long hours and he's not able to check in on the dog as frequently as he would like. And so she's like, oh, he's like, I can take the dog some days and like I can help and whatever. And they decide to start co-parenting this dog together when I'm like they barely even know each other. I don't know because in my mind like if I was going to commit to co-parenting a dog with somebody it would have to be somebody that I trust and that I'm really close with. And I do find it a little bit odd that she's like agreeing to co-parent her boyfriend's best friend's dog. And the worst part about this is that they've been calling the dog Woofer.

[00:23:18]Like Wolverine but with like wolf. Yeah, it's pretty cringey as hell. So, I'm trying not to judge it too early on, but like so far this is just kind of like meh. But I will still follow through on my plans to read this entire book today because that's what I came here to do.

[00:23:31]So, I think the plan for now is that I'm going to head over to the beach that's called Sunset Beach. I think it's about like a 15-minute drive from where I'm at here. I was thinking about maybe like stopping somewhere along the way and like getting a little pastry or something like that, but I think I'll wait until later this afternoon. I've got my iced coffee and I also did bring a few different like granola bars that I have in my backpack and stuff like that.

[00:23:50]So, we should be good to go. I do have my blanket in my car in case I need like an outdoor blanket to like lay out and go read on. So, we'll just have to see how it is. But, let's go to the beach.

[00:24:32]Heat. Heat.

[00:24:55]Okay. Hi. Hello. I am still at Sunset Beach. I tried to find a quiet spot where I could come and update you. They had these really cool park benches that are over by these trees. I think the restroom is like somewhere back here.

[00:25:06]But this beach has been so incredibly beautiful. It's now almost like 2:30 in the afternoon, so I've been here for almost like 2 and 1 half hours. And it actually got a little bit cold sitting down by the water, so I had to put my jacket on. Also didn't realize that I would have to walk through so much grass to get down to the sand of the beach.

[00:25:21]And I made the mistake of wearing my white tennis shoes. And like, when I tell you that I was like sinking in the muddiness of that grass, mistakes were made. And my shoes were so wet with mud by the time that I got to the sand. But I'm so glad that I came here because this beach is beautiful. The views have just been unreal. and it's been so nice to spend the afternoon reading out here.

[00:25:38]But the unfortunate part of this update is that this book is not going very well. I just hit chapter 33. I'm now 252 pages into this. And when I tell you that I am really, really not liking this so much to the point where it feels like it could be a one star, which is insane for me to even say out loud cuz this is Abby Jimenez we're talking about, okay?

[00:25:54]Like the amount of disappointment that I feel that I'm not loving this book. I mean, I know that I wasn't the biggest fan of the last book that this author just came out with with Say You'll Remember Me, but because I've loved so many other books from this author, I thought the one that I didn't like was just a fluke. But this book has been really, really, really, really not good.

[00:26:09]I mean, I'm over 65% of the way through this one on audio at this point. So, I'm definitely going to see it through and I'm going to finish it. But, I had to take a little break from it just now because I'm getting so frustrated with these characters. Like, I can't even deal with this. You know what sucks, too, is the fact that there's just no chemistry in this book at all. There's no chemistry between Lissa and her boyfriend Mike. And then there's even less chemistry between Lissa and this guy Chris who we're supposed to be shipping her with. Feel like in my opinion Chris, he's one of those love interests that feel almost like too perfect to even be real. And because of that, he's very boring. And I feel like their banter in this book has been so basic and so like surface level. I'm like, where is the Abby Jimenez that I know and love that can write great banter because this is not it. I feel like it's so glaringly obvious to us as the reader that like Lissa doesn't even really like Mike that much. And like why should she, you know, because Mike is not being a very good boyfriend to her in this book. And you know, right at the start of this book, she's only been dating Mike for like 1 month. You know, like this is a brand new relationship.

[00:27:03]It's very fresh. And so many of the scenes in this book have been so repetitive with like Mike being not a very good boyfriend to her. And he keeps failing on all of these things that he said he was going to do. And then Chris has to like step in and save the day and be the hero over and over again. And Mike is only being a terrible boyfriend because he's dealing with a lot of his own mental health stuff. I mean, I know Chris is his best friend and he's like doing his best to try and like get Mike the help that he needs. I feel like all three of these characters, they all kind of suck and I don't care about any of them and I don't like any of them. And I'm sorry, but I still think it's so weird that Lissa and Chris have decided to like co-parent this dog together because first of all, like who does that with their boyfriend's best friend? Like that alone is kind of strange to me.

[00:27:41]Them calling the dog Wolverine is actually diabolical and it's ruining my day. Not to mention the pacing in this book is just so weird and it's so jarring and like all over the place because we'll be reading like one chapter and it's like taking place in the summer and then the next chapter it'll be like it's now the fall time and then the next chapter it's like winter.

[00:27:56]It just kind of feels like whiplash to be honest. Like it doesn't feel like a natural story progression. You know, in this story we do get Lissa's perspective as well as Chris's perspective. And I actually feel like the story could have benefited from getting Mike's perspective as well. I do realize that he's not like the endgame love interest in this book. So maybe people would be like, why do we need his perspective?

[00:28:14]But I do think it would be nice to get into his head more and get to see like why his character does certain things that he does. I guess what I mean when I say that everything about this book feels so surface level is just like the way that it sounds like it's all like a Hallmark card or something. Cuz when Chris is talking about Lissa, he says she was so talented and I don't think she ever sat still. I know it probably didn't feel like it right now, but Lissa was going to succeed regardless of what life threw at her despite it. I think she would defy what takes most people down in the end because she had the ability to shrug things off and keep going, keep smiling. Life tries to bury us. We get heavier and heavier as time goes on. I know he means well, but like God, was that not so boring to listen to? Like, what in the Lifetime movie was that? Like, where's the depth? I also had to put a tab on this ridiculous conversation that they had about their dog's vomit. She tells him that he threw up yesterday and he says he did. What did he eat? And she said his favorite trash. I got him out and he threw up and before I could grab him, he ate the vomit. And he said, "I think Wolferine would tell you that it's better to have eaten something, thrown it up, and eaten it again than to have never eaten it at all." She said, "I feel like there's wisdom in there, but it's too gross for me to see it." Like, why? What are we doing? Why am I reading about your dog's vomit? And why is this writing so juvenile? And then I also added a tab on this section just to show you how bland and vanilla this writing is because this is from Chris's perspective. And he says, "Tonight was by far the best date I'd ever been on. Every time I spent time alone with her, it was the best date I'd ever been on. But this wasn't a date. She could never be a date. This was my best friend's girlfriend." Isn't it just so boring the way that he talks about her? Like, this is supposed to be juicy. Like, I felt absolutely nothing while I read that. So yeah, you could say the story is not going very well for me and at this point I really want to like sucker punch both of these characters right in the throat. I don't really have high hopes for the rest of the book to be honest, but like I have to finish it because this is Abby Jimenez that we're talking about here and this is one of my most anticipated books of the entire year and I paid full price for this hard cover. I genuinely thought that I was going to love this book so much. Like you have no idea how upset I am. I just don't understand how this is from the same author who wrote Part of Your World and Yours Truly and Just for the Summer. And this honestly just like feels like a joke. Anyway, like I mentioned, it's just after 2:30 in the afternoon now. I don't really know what I want to do with the rest of my day. I was thinking that I might actually drive over to the different like viewpoint that I visited last time that I was in Anacortis. It's basically this park that has like a really good view of like the mountains and the ocean. It's back in the direction of where I'm staying anyway. And I feel like it would be really nice to go and see the views out there, even though I'm sure it's going to be really cold up there, too, because it's a little bit higher up. But I'll update you with my final thoughts about this book once I finish it.

[00:30:35]I know we both have something left to say. Can you stay a little longer?

[00:30:42]Can I make you change your mind?

[00:30:47]Yeah, I know that it's over.

[00:30:51]But can we stay here for a while until everything's all right? Yeah. That's cool with you. Cool with you. Cool with you. Cuz that's cool with me. Cool with me. Cool with me. Is that cool with you?

[00:31:07]Cool with you. Cool with you. Cuz that's cool with me. Cool with me. Cool with me.

[00:31:14]Maybe I am selfish.

[00:31:18]Cuz I want you to myself.

[00:31:23]I know your friends are waiting.

[00:31:27]We both know you want to stay. Just like nothing has changed. No matter how hard I try, you cannot push me out. So just listen.

[00:31:36]I've been thinking of you since you broke it and moved to LA.

[00:31:40]>> Okay. Hello. It is just after 4:00 in the afternoon and I am sitting at the viewpoint right now on top of the mountain. This is the most gorgeous view ever. I also I ended up stopping at this place called the store on the way up here and I wanted to stop by there because I saw on Google Maps it said that this place has some of the best muffins in the area. And these muffins are made fresh daily and they offer like so many different kinds of flavors. So I got four different flavors while I was there. I couldn't help myself. I mean, I'm heading back home tomorrow, so I figured I would just bring the rest to my parents. But I ended up getting four different flavors. And the ones that I tried, I got a white chocolate one, I got a strawberry cheesecake, I got like a cinnamon caramel one, and then I got a caramel apple one. And I tried all of them, and they're so good. I think the strawberry cheesecake one might actually be my favorite out of all of them. That was really great. And that store was so cool. It was so nice in there. And then I've been sitting here at this viewpoint for like almost an hour now. And there's not a lot of people out here. Like, it's pretty dead today. And I was able to finish reading The Night We Met. And like, oh boy, I really didn't like this one. I think I'm actually going to give this one star. I don't know if I'm being dramatic, but like this book actually made me angry. And I don't know if it's just because I've been reading a lot of really exceptional romance books recently, but like this was glaringly bad in comparison to the romances that I've been reading lately. Like, I just had such high expectations for this.

[00:32:50]There was one line in this book that actually had me like laughing out loud.

[00:32:54]She says, "Do you ever think about why we're attracted to the people that we are?" And he says, "Sometimes it's just chemistry and you can't explain it at all." And she's like, "You can't explain chemistry." And he's like, "Not really.

[00:33:03]The thing with chemistry is that we just don't know much." And I'm like, "What chemistry? What chemistry are we actually talking about because you two don't have any chemistry." There was just something about this book that was actually giving me the ick. Like, I really didn't like Lissa and I really didn't like Chris. And I low-key thought the way that they treated Mike was kind of awful. I know that Mike wasn't the best boyfriend and I know that Mike had a lot of issues that he was dealing with, but the way that these characters treated him was so frustrating. Like, oh my god, we get it. Lissa has a nut allergy. Like, if I had to read one more time about her nut allergy and how considerate Chris was about her nut allergy, I was going to lose my mind.

[00:33:36]Feel like Lissa in this book. Like, she is literally that meme of Spongebob where he has like the handcuffs over his hands. That is literally her throughout this entire book because she has all of the control in her relationship. Like, girl, nobody is forcing you to stay with Mike if you're not happy with Mike. I also just think the writing in this book was so juvenile and just so generic when it comes to romance. Like it literally made me feel nothing because we get the most generic lines of all time. Like how could we have ever fought this feeling?

[00:34:00]And there's this one line where she says maybe this isn't the kind of love that's supposed to exist. The kind that topples empires and never leaves the world better than it found it. And he says then let it all burn. Oh my god, it is so dramatic. And then in the next chapter it's so repetitive because then it says like the same thing. We had a love that would never leave the world better than it found it, but it was what we had and it was better than nothing.

[00:34:20]Like, cut the dramatics. Like, what is this, a theater production? It was just so cringy and these characters pissed me off. I also feel like this book had so many like Tik Tok things. Like, there was a point where he like took her to a bookstore and he was like, "All right, you get 2 minutes to buy as many books as you can," which is like that really obnoxious trend right now that I've been seeing on Tik Tok. And these guys are dropping like hundreds of dollars unexpectedly because they didn't realize how many books their girlfriends could grab within 2 minutes. It was just so cringey to include something like this in the book because it's so obvious that Abby Jimenez is so chronically online. I also feel kind of similar to this one as I did with like Say You'll Remember Me, but I feel like the tone of this book is also like all over the place because it's trying to be really like light-hearted and have like a romcom vibe, but all of these characters are dealing with such intense trauma that it just has this like weird tone where I really feel like this author struggles to find that balance between like light-hearted and some like heavier stuff. And I actually felt a lot of sympathy for Mike's character throughout this book. And like at the end, I was actually fuming on his behalf. I honestly think he deserved so much better and he was really like depicted as a villain. I think because of his mental health in this, or at least that's how I felt about it. I can't even tell you how disappointed I am that this is a one star. Like, what the heck?

[00:35:25]Where did we go wrong? Especially because Abby Jimenez is an author that I've given five stars to so many times in the past. Like, I know what she's capable of. So, anyway, sorry for being such a negative Nancy about this book, but like I had to speak my truth. You know, it's so crazy because I was so excited to be reading The Night We Met and now we're burning on this little trip for myself. And the trip itself has been going very well, but the books could not be going worse. But even though the book was one star and the book was actually really terrible and like the worst thing that I've ever read from Abby Jimenez so far. It's been a really great day otherwise. Like I've been having a really nice time today.

[00:35:54]The weather has just been perfect.

[00:35:55]Muffins were so good. The coffee was so good this morning. The beach has been so nice. Like I really can't complain. It's just after 4:00 in the afternoon at this point and I don't really know what I want to do with the rest of my day. I might actually just head back to the inn soon.

[00:36:17]Heat. Heat. Heat.

[00:36:32]down into the moon. Okay. Hello. Good morning. It is my final day here at the inn. I'm actually getting ready to check out this morning, but I thought I would update you that last night ended up being a really great night. I decided to have a cozy night here at the inn and I ended up getting dinner at the restaurant that's downstairs. I was mostly just like chilling in the room last night. I was watching some How I Met Your Mother on the TV, which I forgot how much I love that show. And I also did read a little bit more on my Kindle last night because I started reading the book that's called A Good Person. My library hold for the ebook actually came in last night. So I was like, okay, like why not just start on this one cuz I've been so curious about this one. Mostly because the premise for this book says that it's Gone Girl meets Big Swiss, which hello, those are like two of my favorite books of all time. I know that this one is actually from a new author. This one's a debut and I'm only like 38 pages into this, but when I tell you that I'm loving this so much, I've already annotated like so many things. I just already really love the voice of this protagonist, this woman that we're following. And right at the start of this book, she's turning 29 years old. It's so funny because the very first sentence of this book is, "When I was 10 years old, I nearly pushed a girl into a gorilla pen at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, Massachusetts." And she kind of tells this like very unhinged story about how she almost pushed this girl to her death when she was younger. And she'll have these like dark and morbid thoughts where she's like, "Sometimes I wondered if it might be nice to actually get sick and die young. I would be remembered forever without having to do anything worth being remembered for." I was like, damn. I love the way that she describes her boss when she says she had the kind of millennial guilt that meant she was generous with time off and she once let a colleague stay home because she was emotionally hung over from watching Squid Game. Oh my god, that's hilarious.

[00:38:07]But I also love how the writing already has this like feminist undertone. And it definitely does feel a little bit inspired by Gone Girl with like the cool girl speech because I love how she says, "As soon as my pants came off, I was a different person. Instead of a neurotic 29-year-old with a mediocre job, I was a cool girl who was down for anything.

[00:38:24]She's like, I drew people in with my false confidence. I moved through the world in a way that said she knows how to [ __ ] I'm just immediately loving the writing in this book so much. I don't know, there's something about it. What's so wild, too, is that the actual synopsis for this book on Goodreads, it says that this is an electric binge of a debut about an anti-hero who seeks revenge on her ex situationship with a hex only for him to actually literally die. Like, that's crazy. I haven't gotten to that part of the book yet. I think on my drive home, I'm going to listen to some of this audiobook on Spotify because I still have like seven hours left of my audiobook listening time for the month. So, I thought this would be the perfect book for me to listen to on the drive home. But yeah, I think that is going to be a wrap on this vlog. I'm so excited that I was able to bring you along with me for my first ever little solo trip. And I had a really great time. I would really like to do this more often. I think the idea of traveling by myself is something that like used to give me a lot of anxiety when I would think too hard about it.

[00:39:14]But actually doing it, I had a really great time exploring on my own. You know, I think the best thing about traveling solo as opposed to like traveling with other people is that you get to decide everything that you want to do. You and only you get to decide like where you want to eat, what time you want to eat, how late you want to sleep in. You're in control of every aspect of the trip. And I just really enjoyed that. I know there's definitely bigger risks with like traveling alone as a female. And I think that's part of the reason why I've always been so anxious to actually do it. But I do feel very lucky that at least on this trip especially, like I felt safe the entire time, this town is really safe that I'm staying in. I also think that something that I've seen online about like women traveling alone that I think I would agree with is that I don't think I would ever get like an Airbnb if I was traveling by myself. I don't know why I feel like it's a little bit safer to like either stay at an inn or like a hotel where there's like a lot of other people around because I feel like an Airbnb you can be like very secluded somewhere like out in the middle of nowhere potentially and like I don't want that. So, I do think that if you're a woman who's like wanting to travel by herself, I would recommend staying at somewhere like a hotel or an inn like this place where there's like a lot of other people around. And of course, you know, like the first rule of traveling alone is to never let anybody else know that you're traveling alone. But I really couldn't have asked for a better trip and a better first experience with doing this by myself. It was a really nice escape, too, from the world these last couple of days because [ __ ] has been crazy. I mean, 2026 as a whole has just really felt like hell on earth is happening. But especially in these last couple of days, it just feels like Donald Trump is absolutely like off his rocker and like more than usual these days. And if you're watching this as somebody who like doesn't live in America, I hope you know that most Americans are deeply embarrassed and deeply ashamed of the way that Donald Trump has been behaving. This does not represent the America that I know. And it is actually so devastating. Anyway, sorry for getting a little bit heavy at the end there, but I feel like the world has been really heavy recently and that's hard to ignore. At least we have the news about Artemis 2, you know, like going to the moon. Like that has been bringing me an insane amount of joy these last few days. I've been actually crying over pictures of the moon. I don't know, but there's something so painfully human about these astronauts like going to the moon and like uniting for all of humanity. It's just really beautiful to see and my space loving heart is on fire. But anyway, thank you so much for watching this video. I would love to know if you've read any of these books. What are your thoughts? I hope that you're taking care of yourself. I will see you very soon with another video. Bye.