this was supposed to be a reading vlog, but then i got COVID...

I'm so excited to read more from her in the future and continue on with this series and I honestly I don't know I can't predict what's gonna happen in the rest of this book to be honest like it's one of those times where like I feel like we've gotten the main climax but there also feels like there's so much more just on the horizon so I'm really excited to snuggle up and get ready for whatever is coming next. Good morning, I just finished Queen of Vaults so I'm excited to give you guys some end of book thoughts and I unfortunately fell asleep pretty quickly while reading last night I'm now up to page 481 so didn't read much but I'm determined to finish today. I made myself a very yummy breakfast because as I'm sure many of you can tell, breakfast is like my favorite meal of the day so I'm just gonna sit down and read and enjoy.

First off, I am just really happy that I finally got to these two books, like next installments in fantasy series that I love so much and it has been putting off for ages. So, it was really nice to be back in like a fantasy mood and get some answers that I had been prolonging for a really long time. I've said most of my thoughts on Queen of Vaults already, it was an odd reading experience from when I got ill, but also I just feel it wasn't the strongest of the series unfortunately. I struggled with some of the character arcs in this series because it picks up on like such a brutal ending of King of Fools so there was obviously a lot for the characters to process and go through.

I really enjoyed Harvey who if you remember, I couldn't even remember who he was at the beginning but it was really nice getting to know him and I enjoyed reading from his perspective with Lola. I was really looking forward to getting Lola's point of view because I loved Lola but I just wasn't super satisfied with like the things her character did in this installment and with then Levi like they also had some really good growth but I was just frustrated because I wanted to see like the characters working together and so much of it was conflict and betrayal and it just wasn't what I personally wanted from this series. I liked how they expanded on the magic in this world because I just love the Ace of Shades magic system and everything about it.

But, because it became so focused on developing the magic some of the initial things I really loved about the series like the gangs and mobs and whatnot weren't as present but I did really like the ending. Like we got some good plot twists and all of the answers that we wanted building up from the first two books were like wrapped up very nicely so it wasn't like a horrible book by any means. It just didn't live up to my own expectations or the potential that I feel the series had with Blood and Honey though, I have no critiques like I'm trying really hard but I just thought this book was so well done.

I'm gonna give it 5 out of 5 stars and I feel like it might make my list of favorites at the end of the year just because it was so good. The whole last quarter of this book felt very high stakes for me, there's a huge plot twist in the last couple of pages and I'm just like I have no clue what's gonna happen in the third book as the story was ending it was revealed that like a character was going to die and I kind of predicted who it was going to be. Like it was the obvious choice. The plot was super fun and compelling to follow and like I said earlier, like the magic of this world just gets so much bigger and more complex than some other why series.

So, serpent and dove is another way series that I just feel the magic system is really complex and more mature than some other why a series, so I'm just super pleased with everything about this book. I'm excited to read the last book when it comes out this year. I can't believe that this one is ending too. Oh my gosh. But if you are a Y fantasy lover like myself, I highly recommend both the Ace of Shades series and serpent and dove.

Thank you for joining me on this reading vlog, it's probably not my favorite that I've ever filmed just because it felt so disjointed and there were a lot of uh obstacles I encountered while reading. But I enjoyed these books and I hope you enjoyed this video in the comments below, let me know what you've been reading or what you thought of these books in series if you have read them.

I'll see you soon for a new one bye

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey what's up hello my name is emma and today i am starting a new reading vlog welcome to the first reading vlog of 2021 and the reason i wanted to film this reading vlog is because number one i just haven't been making reading as much of a priority lately and reading vlogs totally encouraged me to do that as number one i just haven't been making reading as much of a priority lately and reading vlogs totally encourage me to do that and also i have not been reading a ton of fantasy lately i do consider fantasy one of my favorite genres but over the last year i've just picked up way more contemporary fiction and thrillers and whatnot so i thought it would be fun to film a reading vlog of me catching up on some of my favorite fantasy series before i dive into the reading blog i want to give a big thank you to book of the month for sponsoring today's video i talk about book of the month a lot on my channel because they are an amazing fiction based subscription service that helps you discover the best new releases every month they give you a selection of five different new and early releases to choose from and they appeal to all readers with genres like science fiction fantasy romance historical fiction thrillers and more so you choose the book that interests you the most to receive and they also have a risk-free skip policy so if you're not interested in any of the choices for the month or you can't afford it you are able to carry over your membership for next month's choices so i'm gonna show you all of the choices they have for a february's box and we're starting off with one of my personal most anticipated books of the year which is honey girl by morgan rogers this novel follows a recent phd graduate named grace who decides that she wants to go to vegas with her friends to celebrate and does something completely out of character which is getting married to a woman that she doesn't know in an attempt to escape all of the pressures building up in her life she decides to spend the summer in new york with her new wife who again she doesn't really know and she learns a lot about herself along the way next up we have the four wins by kristin hannah and this is a historical fiction novel set during the great depression in texas our main character's name is elsa and she decides to also marry a man that she doesn't really know in order to create a better life for herself but about 10 years later the great depression has taken over america the farm she lives on is dying as well as her marriage next we have infinite country by patricia engel and this is the story of the obstacles faced by a family set between the united states and colombia it details the events leading up to the father's deportation back to colombia and one of the present stories follows one of their youngest daughters who is being held at a correctional facility and it's sort of a race against time if she can catch her flight to the united states before it's too late another choice for their february box is the kindest life by nancy johnson this book is set during the 2008 financial crisis and follows a black engineer named ruth who is attempting to start a new life with her husband but when she returns to her hometown she finds out that it is plagued by economic despair unemployment and racism and finally we have girl a by abigail dean which seems to be a mystery that has a lot of psychological family themes our main character's name is lex and she is known as girl a because as a child she freed her younger siblings from their family's house of horrors but as adults the house becomes left to them and it's really about coming to terms with their shared childhood and what they experienced i think they have a really eclectic group of books to choose from this month so if you're interested in trying out book of the month you can get your first book for only 9.99 using the code feb reads with the link in the description i love book of the month and i read a ton of amazing books from them so i hope you enjoy them as well so the first book i am reading for this reading vlog is queen of vaults by amanda foody and this is the third and final book in the shadow game series this is a super fun y fantasy set in a scandalous city with lots of mobs and gangs and dangerous adventures and it's one of my absolute favorites i did film a reading vlog maybe like a year and a half ago for the second book in the series king of fools so if you're also a fan of the series i'll link those down below i have started queen of waltz this morning as i was in the shower and getting ready so i'm now 13 into it which like we're off to a great start and i'm really liking it so far i was a little afraid going into it that because it had been so long since i had been in this world that it would be difficult for me to get a grasp on like how the magic works and all the character relationships but i feel like this book has prepared me really well i didn't even read the synopsis actually i don't know what the plot of this book is so a major plot in the series is the shadow game which is a game where the players that their lives and so the plot of queen of volts is that there are 20 of like the most notorious figures in new reigns who have all been invited to participate in shadow game and so it's all about them trying to win and survive while also there is a new villain who is like a legend in new reigns called the bargainer who can supposedly like grant your any wish depending on what you're willing to give him so it sounds really interesting and i'm excited to continue reading and then the other book i am about to start is blood and honey by shelby maherin which is the second book in the serpent and dove series serpent and dove was one of my favorite books of 2019 it is set in like a 16th century parisian inspired setting where there is a witch hiding her identity and a witch hunter who get forced into a marriage and like the witch hunter doesn't know that she's a witch it is a beautiful magical world with super amazing characters and i've just been dying to get back into it i have heard some mixed reviews of blood and honey where people like myself who loved serpent and dove didn't feel the sequel really held up but i love shelby maherin's writing and so i'm really excited to see what the sequel holds right now i'm going to make some breakfast and then start blood and honey and we'll see what happens after that so i've only read the first episode episode the first chapter of blood and honey so not much to report on but i'm definitely excited to continue the first actual task on my to-do list today is to get a covid test i don't have any symptoms but there is like a very very small chance that i might have been exposed i didn't come in contact with the person who tested positive but i was in the same space so i figure it's better to be safe than sorry so i'm going to go listen to queen of volts while i drive to the test here we go seven eight nine 14 15. ah okay 14 15. all done so i have not done like an absurd amount of reading today i did get more into queen of volts but i continued listening while i started playing some games on my phone and then i realized that i wasn't really paying attention so i'm gonna backtrack a little bit and go back a few chapters because i don't like like passively listening to audiobooks like i like being able to focus on them so it doesn't really bother me to like go back like 10 minutes 30 minutes an hour like i'd rather actually get the content then i took the instagram photo that i needed to i read a little bit more of blood and honey while i ate lunch so i'm currently on page 45 pretty good for one day of reading so far i think and then i observed a group at my internship site so i could get a little bit of an idea of like how their groups are run because i'll be starting to run groups in february and march and i have also just been watching a webinar so i've been watching one that is on diagnosing anxiety and ocd and whatnot and it's really good so far so for dinner i made some chicken with cherry jam vinaigrette and some carrots and almond garlic couscous oh i really like it so far though i didn't mention that i'm only 45 pages in but like there's already been some action scenes and i just love seeing all these characters interact again i haven't read this enough since i don't know what the plot of this one is lou and reed and their whole gang are kind of on the run from a coven and so in order to like escape them they have to form an alliance with like lou's like arch nemesis coven and it seems like it's gonna be an interesting story i'm excited to continue hey so uh remember that like fun time when i said i wasn't really concerned that i got covered there's like a very very small chance that i might have been exposed guess who got coved so yes miss rona got me i'm fine like i'm really really lucky that i've been feeling really fine i have a headache that comes and goes and my nose feels a little funky i'm a little congested and the worst of it is that i've just been really fatigued so i haven't done like anything over the last two days which is why i haven't been vlogging it's so much better than it has been for a lot of people so my fingers are just really crossed that it doesn't get any worse what i'm gonna do now is i'm gonna paint my nails because i haven't gotten them done in a while and i don't know the next time i'll be able to get them done so i'm just going to put some paint on over this while i watch a session from my internship so i'm going to paint my nails while doing that and hopefully i will get back to some physical reading leader that i can update you on so jake and i are having a long distance movie night say hello gang gang kobe movie now and movie night we're watching the hunger games which i'm so excited yeah jake has never actually seen the hunger games so i'm excited to see what he thinks and i also decided to order in some dessert for myself because i'm tired of being stuck in my bedroom and not eating any good things so i ordered a strawberry milkshake cupcake and an oreo cheesecake and jake is jealous that he can't steal any i'm jealous jake is very jealous i'm excited to indulge in some goodies and i'm gonna get face down call from mike welcome back to the vlog of no reading my days have been so mundane this past week i literally do nothing but stay in bed i started my first full week of school this week which also has just been totally boring and unnoteworthy i'm lucky that i've been feeling well enough that i'm able to see clients so i've had a couple of new clients at my internship this week which i've really enjoyed that's really all my energy this week has just been doing the sessions and trying to catch up on all the paperwork i have i have not listened to like any of queen of vaults i'm like 25 in and like audiobooks are great when i'm feeling at the top of my game but when my like mental capacity is so low like this like audiobooks are the last thing on my mind i've been watching so much buffy though i'm on my like zillionth rewatch of buffy the vampire slayer i've been watching it since i was a kid and i've probably gone through at least like three full seasons since getting sick been loving it though it's like the only thing that's been keeping me sane as i've been completely like quarantined in my room but it's been working though because my mom tested negative today so like we're doing the good thing also my health is still really good like i probably feel physically better than i have in a couple of days still like just moving slow that's really how i describe it like i'm just like not at full emma capacity and that's fine also haven't read much of blood and honey i have read more since i last updated you so now i'm on page 109 breaking the triple digits i'm still like getting used to it and remembering like all the rules and limitations of it and whatnot but i love the serpent and dove magic system because magic has a price that's like a really common role in magic lore but it's like a very physical tangible price so like for example in like the first book lou is trying to do magic and she has to break her finger first and something that happened in blood and honey is that lou had to sacrifice one of her memories so like she conjured up a memory now it's completely wiped from her brain and she'll never have access to it again but it's really cool i love that aspect of it and i just feel like the magic system of this world is super well constructed and strong i can't say i'm super far into like the plot of the novel yet there's been a lot of action already though which i really enjoyed some really good fight scenes probably like the worst time for me to try diving back into fantasy but we're pushing through so my plan for right now is that i really want to do a nice stretch because i'm feeling capable of that i have some paperwork that i really want to like finish and bang out tonight but i've just sort of like hit a lull with it or like i don't want to do anything so i know that by being more active it's going to motivate me to finish it up so i'm going to do a little stretches finish that paperwork and then i'm going to play some games tonight online with some my booktube friends which would be really exciting now i'm just tired though and i just want to lay in bed and watch buffy but i shed it i should be active so i said it's the vlog and that gives me accountability so that's what i'm gonna do but i don't think she would do any of the like locations there's too many there's too many i'm feeling like i think i'm feeling delta and i think i'm feeling drunk to be honest oh yeah i would say oh nar elias said sabotage to just like accidentally pick one i almost actually did i want to remove my names and you guys can pick and you guys can suffer the consequences i think you should listen to francina this is emma's first time being spymaster and she might not have realized all the things that correlated with travel on the board i did not i'm nervous even going with trump good morning i am feeling just a little bit more like myself today which is really great i really enjoyed reading blood and honey last night let's see how far i am i'm on page 184 so feeling good about making some progress and now that i finally picked up my book again i'm feeling more motivated to continue reading i also do back into queen of volts today which i'm also feeling so good about i re-listened to the last chapter i was listening to just to get myself like reoriented into the story i feel like that's really helpful and i've listened to a little bit more since i have a huge pile of clothes in my office that i need to put away so i'm thinking it would be really good if i could put my laundry away while listening to queen of waltz and something else i really need to get started on today is i am kind of doing like a little ted talk someone from tedx mavilie square in greece reached out to me as they're hosting like an online conference event and so they wanted me to create a video talking about like my experiences with mental health and again it's been really hard to get myself to do it but i need to do it this week so i have convinced jake to have like a little productivity session with me later where we're gonna like facetime and just like do our own independent work so i am looking forward to finally getting started with that oh also i did a little bit of makeup today and i got dressed in more than just like pajamas so it's feeling like a good day i'm also starting to get like pretty sick of having to like eat at home so i decided to order duncan today for breakfast even though it's like one o'clock now i decided to get a couple new things today so i got an everything bagel which i love but i'm trying their strawberry cream cheese for the first time i got this like cheese croissant thing and my classic hash browns i made a cup of tea i have lots of water and i'm gonna eat while reading some more blood and honey quick review of my breakfast first off made the perfect cup of tea this morning i love the strawberry cream cheese i'm normally like a plain cream cheese girl i love a tofu cream cheese long island bagel cafe by me has this bacon cheddar garlic cream cheese which is amazing i don't do strawberry often but this is so good and i'm totally going to get it again the cheese croissant not my favorite my expectations were a little higher but like it's a croissant i'll eat any croissant and hashbrowns ultimate as always hi folks so i honestly had a really great day and that's mainly because it has been the first day in like quite a while that i've been able to do like normal emma stuff most importantly today i had like a 40 minute call with the new york state contact tracing department or whatever that is helping reduce the spread of covid and they told me that i am free to leave isolation tomorrow because my 10 days are up and i don't really have symptoms anymore so i'm very excited to just like move around my house um not going out anytime soon but it just feels nice to know that like i can actually do things for myself and i'm not restricted to my bedroom anymore after i did my laundry i ended up editing an entire video start to finish so i'm really excited to upload that book haul that is up now if you haven't watched it yet i ended up writing 1600 words for my ted talk which i am so happy about i so often will just like struggle to start a project because i'm so concerned with like doing it properly and in this case you know it feels like a big deal to me so i want to make sure i'm telling my story right and expressing myself well and it was just the perfect opportunity for me to sit down and start writing it so that i can finish it up this week and film it and edit it so i'm just feeling so good to have that like first hump of it over with i did not really listen to a lot of queen of volts today as i said i am currently 34 into it so a little bit more um and i just feel like i don't have a lot to say about it right now and i think that mostly stems from the fact that i'm not feeling super engaged like i said i kind of need to reorient myself to audiobooks and i haven't been listening to them for a while but i feel like i was feeling a little less engaged than normal even before i got coven i think that mostly stems from the fact that there are like a lot of different perspectives in this book like in book one ace of shades it was just levi and n's perspective and then in book two we also got jack's perspectives which i ended up enjoying but now in this book we also have harvey's perspective who like i don't even know who harvey is and there's just like a lot of different stories going on at once what i do like is i really enjoy this whole concept of like this big shadow game where many different characters are involved and each character has a target whose shadow card they have to acquire and the way you acquire it is by killing the person so i'm finding that all very interesting and where we are in this whole saga like the close character relationships that i really have loved in the first two books are all really strained so that's also why i'm maybe not enjoying it as much i just like want to see everyone like in love and having these really close friendships and everyone's kind of mad at each other i think i really just need to like get more into it so hopefully tomorrow because i'm starting like a normal work week i'll like be listening to queen of bolts when i'm getting ready in the morning and hopefully as i get more into the story i'm sure i will enjoy it more because i love the magic of this world i love the whole plot of it so there's a lot to love i think i'm just like a little out of sorts at the moment with blood and honey i am 206 pages in and i'm also really loving blood and honey i don't even know what the negative reviews of this book were i just know that some people who loved the first one weren't enjoying the second one as much and i just don't agree i am a little tired of the trope in sequels with romances where like the main couple is fighting and having problems like it's so overused and in this one reed and lou have a bit of a strain because reid thinks that she's using too much magic and being reckless with it and it's changing her and then also reed and lou are like separated at least at this point in the story but i actually really like that because we have two compelling storylines of lou and coco being with the blood witches which is an aspect of this world we haven't explored a lot and then reid is with this like traveling performance group and like the next chapter i'm about to read is called the performance so i'm assuming it's his first one so i'm like really excited to read it i also love the new character named cloud diplo which he's just like so fun and there's so much comic relief with his character because this does come from like a heavy book that starts with a lot of darkness and trauma from past characters so i think he's been a good addition and i'm also like really really hoping that cloud and beau have like a little romance maybe a little smoochy smoochy coming on that looming doom of a really powerful force coming after the main cast of characters combined with like the fun light-heartedness of the characters and some of the shenanigans that they get themselves into i had been avoiding blood and honey for a long time just because i wasn't in a fantasy mood which was the whole reason for me starting this reading vlog but i'm so happy i'm reading it and i'm super excited to continue so it's currently 11 30 which is like when i should really be like getting ready for bed in an ideal world but because i had such a wonderful productive day i'm going to treat myself to reading in the bath before bed and i think it'll just be a really good way for me to settle down for the night i'm going to do some more reading and then hopefully i can wake up refreshed and just like keep this train going feeling better and doing the work that i need to do so so so i told you i was so excited to read about reid's first performance as the red death he was doing like a knife throwing act and it was going to be suspenseful and exhilarating and before we can even get a line about the performance starting it cuts to and i threw my last knife and i'm like no it would have been such a fun scene and i'm so upset we didn't get to read it a very sadly missed opportunity if you ask me roll credits okay so the following chapter does show like in real time one of reed's performances and it's like very significant and important to the story so i can let it slide that the first one like wasn't shown on page i have a feeling that shelby maherin probably wrote it and it was cut out during the revision process but i just feel like the book like wouldn't have been changed all that much if we had like four pages dedicated to reid's first performance because i feel like it was important but like i'm still loving this book so much it is so good good morning it is monday and i've had a perfectly normal and good day so far i had two sessions with two of my clients that i think went really well and then i have one more for the rest of the day so only three clients today very manageable i just cooked myself lunch because i can finally leave my room which feels great so i made myself some taquitos from hello fresh that i'm really excited to eat i also listen to more of queen of volts while cooking i'm feeling a little bit more engaged not where i want to be but again just going to keep pushing through so i'm going to eat lunch and like thoroughly take a break and enjoy myself read some blood and honey and then afterwards i'll have some time to do my client notes before my last session of the day and then i have to do my reading for class after my last session because i did not read for class tonight so that's like my day so far um it's going good i'm feeling good and just excited to keep on this path not too shabby if i do say so myself also look at how much it's snowed today i think we're in the middle of a northeaster there's so much snow out here that we can't even open the door to the deck i love it hello good evening or i guess good morning because it's midnight and on mondays i have school until 10 which sounds like a lot and like it is a lot but since starting the semester last week i am like so exhausted after class like i've been doing this for three years and i'm more exhausted than ever i think so after class i really just needed like two hours to decompress and do absolutely nothing and i think it was the right decision for myself i actually don't know the last time that i gave you like a solid reading update but i'm currently on page 320 i'm doing so good feeling so good with how much i've been reading kind of the same thoughts that i've been reiterating like the action and magic in this book is just so good i am intrigued to see like how the plot of this story is going to end like what is going to be the big confrontation between morgan and the dane planches and lou and reid and their whole crew but i've loved this little like camaraderie cast that they have going on of all these different like main characters but i'm really most interested in read and lose like individual character relationship more than anything else like they're just both in really unique situations and being really challenged by like their past experiences and also like the ways that like magic is sort of changing them and i feel like serpent and dove was like kind of like lighthearted and fun and blood and honey does have like a bit of a darker element to it and i feel like it's really working for like the maturity of the novel also no more thoughts on queen of volts but i'll let you know how far along i am so i'm not 44 and halfway there really hoping that i just get more like invested in it and i can have a better perception of what's going on i really just think that there's like so many different characters and plot lines that it's starting to overwhelm me a little bit and i'm having a bit of trouble catching up with all of them i don't know if i said this already but just like the tone of it really shifted for me like it's kind of similar to blood and honey like the first books in the shadow game series were really really fun and exciting and now it's all very serious and like i said before like all the character relationships are really strange so it's missing some of that fun and i wonder if that's maybe why i'm not as engaged so yeah just gonna keep pushing through i am liking it i just don't have as good of a grasp on the whole story as i would normally like to so we're just gonna keep seeing how it goes so now i'm like all ready for bed and i'm just going to snuggle up in bed and do more blood and honey reading before i fall asleep for the night okay so i have not vlogged in quite a few days because i have just gotten so busy like everything i haven't been able to do when i had kovid is just coming up on me and it's all due immediately so i have not really been reading and therefore not vlogging but i have made a lot of progress in queen of vaults and i'm super happy to say i am finally feeling connected with this story it's a little weird because i feel like the reason i finally got engaged is because the tension between the main couple like finally subsided and people are working together but like this these are the feelings that i wanted to feel while reading queen of votes and it came a little bit more than halfway through the book but it's here and i'm ready to like just dive in and find out what happens in one of my favorite series i still feel like i'm missing out a little bit on the things that i wasn't as focused on in the beginning so i might try and either backtrack a little bit more or if there's a summary online i love using that when i'm reading a book and i'm like forgetting a little bit of the events that have happened right now though i am really excited because i've gotten done a lot of the things that i really needed to and i'm going to see my boyfriend jake for the first time in quite a few weeks which is a change for us because i've seen him like almost every single week since quarantine started so i'm really excited to continue working because like your girl is not done with her to-do list but also to hang out with jake for the first time in a while and keep reading and jake lives in brooklyn so i'm gonna be listening to more of queen of vaults while driving there and i'm feeling better the last couple of days were like a blur of busyness and stress but i'm at a good point i think and just gonna continue trying to ride this wave good morning y'all love the drill by now i haven't read in a couple of days i haven't vlogged in a couple of days i've been spending my weekend just hanging out with jake at jake's where i am now and it's been really nice because i haven't seen him in quite a bit i have a really busy day today which i'm not really looking forward to because i didn't sleep well last night i have four clients two new ones which should be interesting and i'm excited to meet them and then i have class uh later at night and in between all of my breaks i have to constantly be doing work so it's gonna be a busy day but i'm happy because i actually got up like relatively early today and had enough time to get ready and i've been listening to queen of vaults and i'm now on 82 of the way through we're getting down to the wire now i feel that like this reading experience is a big reflection of me and what i'm going through and not necessarily like the writing but the one thing i will say is there's just so many characters which i've said before but i'm really happy to be more captivated by the story and motivated to continue i feel like it's going to end off in like either a really heartbreaking way or a really heartwarming way so i'm excited to see what happens hey jake what's up how was your day you were there yeah well i was it was good i got stuff done and made pulled pork oh my god it was delicious man and my day was good it was just long and busy but now we are in bed gonna get to sleep early because we're tired and we are going to end our night reading because we have been up late the past couple nights watching the first two seasons of skins it's very good skins is one of my all-time favorite shows and i'm introducing it to jake it's really good and i hate it before i get hate for the record i hate it because it hurts me that's because i don't want to hear about it i'm reading the office the untold story of the greatest account because i'm not watching tv i'm going to read about tv and those of you who watched my new york city book shopping vlog that's the book that i bought for jake yes it was and he's now reading it and what are you thinking of it so far i love it it's i've just been like a lot of people i think in the last couple of years the office is a real happy place for me it's a comfort zone and i've just been consuming as much media because i just find it to be a really fascinating story story of how like uh this show came together and this just reinforces a lot of that it's a lot of interesting tidbits and it shows the passion behind these people and i'm at a point now where they're kind of getting into several of the like key episodes and i'm actually reading about my favorite episode right now which one the injury um where michael grills his foot it's a great one and what page are you on 109 and i am reading blood and honey and the last time i picked it up i was on page 361. wow so we're making we're making progress hi jake has a really cool bed that moves it has the adjustable so i am almost done with both of my books which is really exciting because i've been working on them for quite some time so i thought i would give you guys like one final reading update before my final thoughts i'm a little bit closer to finishing queen of volts i am like 93 of the way into the book i have like 38 minutes of listening done i think what i like about queen of volts is that it is really reminiscent of the feelings i had when reading ace of shades for the first time which was just like so fun and exhilarating whereas king of fools was more political and i really enjoyed all of the political plot lines like i think king of fools might be my favorite of the series it was really good but i like when a series can revert back to like the original reasons why i started reading it and loving it because i'm so frequently disappointed by conclusions because the tone of it and like the purpose of the story has just shifted so much since the beginning and although i've really struggled to connect with all of the many different characters in this book and the multiple new perspectives i really like the character growth showcased in this book for levi and i also really love poppy and grace and talk like the entire gang of ends is like an absolute favorite point for me i did end up reading like a really extensive recap of ace of shades today which i enjoyed i really wish i could have found another one for king of fools and especially one for queen of waltz with how much i've forgotten from the story already but hopefully in time some of those will be online so yeah it's just not my favorite of the series because on one hand my reading experience was really disjointed and number two like the characters and like how many different plot lines there were were really difficult for me to follow but i'm excited to finish it off and see where things go like i recently read the big climax of the story and i thought it was really well written but blood and honey is definitely my favorite of this reading vlog i am now on page 452 and there's like i think 530ish pages so i'm getting to the end of it and my hope is that i would love to finish it tonight like my plan is just to lay in bed and read and i would like to set a goal for myself to finish it tonight the character development is something i've also really loved in blood and honey lou has gone like off the rails like she has changed a lot and gone into some darkness which is different from her but i think it's been really well written and i think like we're getting past the point of it so that when we read the final book gods and monsters like my girl will be a little bit more stable and i've also grown to really love reid like i liked him in the first book he was just like the cute love interest that was interested in lou and i was like so focused on lou but i've gotten way more connected to him in blood and honey through reading about like his trauma and how he's reacting to the changes in lou and there was also like a really beautiful scene about like reed's grief of what he's lost throughout these past two books so i've come to like him like as his own individual character which is really nice i just do feel that we haven't gotten as much development on the other characters like i love coco so much like i'm typically the person that's like let's have as little point of views as possible but i desperately want more from coco i just feel like she has not gotten enough page time in this book and she's so much more potential that i was really hoping to get explored in blood and honey and that's just something that i haven't gotten as much ansel as well he's kind of in the same boat as i was with reed in the beginning like he's cute he's nice i like him but also has just not gotten a lot of development i've started to really enjoy madame labelle who is also someone i wasn't expecting to like but she plays a way more prominent role in blood and honey and she was like a lot of unexpected comic relief which was nice and bo is also like some good comedic relief he's like angsty and sarcastic and whatnot and i would have liked a little bit more peach time from him as well so when i was reading serpent and dove there were like a couple of things that happened where i just sort of had to suspend my disbelief and was just like okay like i guess this is the thing that happens now so i'm really happy that there was a way less of that in blood and honey except for one situation so attempting to discuss this without spoilers there is a character who is dying and lou saves them and so now this group has like a blood debt to pay to i think read and i'm just like in my mind i'm like okay but like they were the reason that this character was dying in the first place and it felt like a little convenient to just have them like join on um with our main cast because they now have a blood debt that was like their fault for creating but it's so good and i've also just really loved the way that it expands on the magic system it gets way more in-depth about like how it works and the consequences of it and like how big and powerful and dangerous it really is so i just love sheldon maher and i'm so excited to read more from her in the future and continue on with this series and i honestly i don't know i can't predict what's gonna happen in the rest of this book to be honest like it's one of those times where like i feel like we've gotten the main climax but there also feels like there's so much more just on the horizon so i'm really excited to snuggle up i'm gonna make myself a hot cup a coco and just read and enjoy myself and after like the past couple of days that i've had i think this is what i really need good morning i just finished queen of vaults so i'm excited to give you guys some end of book thoughts and i unfortunately fell asleep pretty quickly while reading last night i'm now up to page 481 so didn't read much but i'm determined to finish today i made myself a very yummy breakfast because as i'm sure many of you can tell breakfast is like my favorite meal of the day so i'm just gonna sit down and read and enjoy so i have finished both of my books and this reading vlog comes to an end first off i am just really happy that i finally got to these two like next installments in fantasy series that i love so much and it has been putting off for ages so it was really nice to be back in like a fantasy mood and get some answers that i had been prolonging for a really long time i've said most of my thoughts on queen of vaults already it was an odd reading experience from when i got ill but also i just feel it wasn't the strongest of the series unfortunately i struggled with some of the character arcs in this series because it picks up on like such a brutal ending of king of fools so there was obviously a lot for the characters to process and go through i really enjoyed harvey who if you remember i couldn't even remember who he was at the beginning but it was really nice getting to know him and i enjoyed reading from his perspective with lola i was really looking forward to getting lola's point of view because i loved lola but i just wasn't super satisfied with like the things her character did in this installment and with then levi like they also had some really good growth but i was just frustrated because i wanted to see like the characters like working together and so much of it was conflict and betrayal and it just wasn't what i personally wanted from this series i liked how they expanded on the magic in this world because i just love the ace of shades magic system and everything about it but because it became so focused on developing the magic some of the initial things i really loved about the series like the gangs and mobs and whatnot weren't as present but i did really like the ending like we got some good plot twists and all of the answers that we wanted building up from the first two books were like wrapped up very nicely so it wasn't like a horrible book by any means it just didn't live up to my own expectations or the potential that i feel the series had with blood and honey though i have like no critiques like i'm trying really hard but i just thought this book was so well done i'm gonna give it 5 out of 5 stars and i feel like it might make my list of favorites at the end of the year just because it was so good the whole last quarter of this book felt very high stakes for me there's a huge plot twist in the last couple of pages and i'm just like i have no clue what's gonna happen in the third book as the story was ending it was revealed that like a character was going to die and i kind of predicted who it was going to be like it was the obvious choice the plot was super fun and compelling to follow and like i said earlier like the magic of this world just gets so much bigger and serpent and dove is another way series that i just feel the magic system is really complex and more mature than some other why a series so i'm just super pleased with everything about this book i'm excited to read the last book when it comes out this year i can't believe that this one is ending too oh my gosh but if you are a y fantasy lover like myself i highly recommend both the ace of shades series and serpent and dove thank you for joining me on this reading vlog it's probably not my favorite that i've ever filmed just because it felt so disjointed and there were a lot of uh obstacles i encountered while reading but i enjoyed these books and i hope you enjoyed this video in the comments below let me know what you've been reading or what you thought of these books in series if you have read them but that's it for this video thank you guys so much for watching and i'll see you soon for a new one byehey what's up hello my name is emma and today i am starting a new reading vlog welcome to the first reading vlog of 2021 and the reason i wanted to film this reading vlog is because number one i just haven't been making reading as much of a priority lately and reading vlogs totally encouraged me to do that as number one i just haven't been making reading as much of a priority lately and reading vlogs totally encourage me to do that and also i have not been reading a ton of fantasy lately i do consider fantasy one of my favorite genres but over the last year i've just picked up way more contemporary fiction and thrillers and whatnot so i thought it would be fun to film a reading vlog of me catching up on some of my favorite fantasy series before i dive into the reading blog i want to give a big thank you to book of the month for sponsoring today's video i talk about book of the month a lot on my channel because they are an amazing fiction based subscription service that helps you discover the best new releases every month they give you a selection of five different new and early releases to choose from and they appeal to all readers with genres like science fiction fantasy romance historical fiction thrillers and more so you choose the book that interests you the most to receive and they also have a risk-free skip policy so if you're not interested in any of the choices for the month or you can't afford it you are able to carry over your membership for next month's choices so i'm gonna show you all of the choices they have for a february's box and we're starting off with one of my personal most anticipated books of the year which is honey girl by morgan rogers this novel follows a recent phd graduate named grace who decides that she wants to go to vegas with her friends to celebrate and does something completely out of character which is getting married to a woman that she doesn't know in an attempt to escape all of the pressures building up in her life she decides to spend the summer in new york with her new wife who again she doesn't really know and she learns a lot about herself along the way next up we have the four wins by kristin hannah and this is a historical fiction novel set during the great depression in texas our main character's name is elsa and she decides to also marry a man that she doesn't really know in order to create a better life for herself but about 10 years later the great depression has taken over america the farm she lives on is dying as well as her marriage next we have infinite country by patricia engel and this is the story of the obstacles faced by a family set between the united states and colombia it details the events leading up to the father's deportation back to colombia and one of the present stories follows one of their youngest daughters who is being held at a correctional facility and it's sort of a race against time if she can catch her flight to the united states before it's too late another choice for their february box is the kindest life by nancy johnson this book is set during the 2008 financial crisis and follows a black engineer named ruth who is attempting to start a new life with her husband but when she returns to her hometown she finds out that it is plagued by economic despair unemployment and racism and finally we have girl a by abigail dean which seems to be a mystery that has a lot of psychological family themes our main character's name is lex and she is known as girl a because as a child she freed her younger siblings from their family's house of horrors but as adults the house becomes left to them and it's really about coming to terms with their shared childhood and what they experienced i think they have a really eclectic group of books to choose from this month so if you're interested in trying out book of the month you can get your first book for only 9.99 using the code feb reads with the link in the description i love book of the month and i read a ton of amazing books from them so i hope you enjoy them as well so the first book i am reading for this reading vlog is queen of vaults by amanda foody and this is the third and final book in the shadow game series this is a super fun y fantasy set in a scandalous city with lots of mobs and gangs and dangerous adventures and it's one of my absolute favorites i did film a reading vlog maybe like a year and a half ago for the second book in the series king of fools so if you're also a fan of the series i'll link those down below i have started queen of waltz this morning as i was in the shower and getting ready so i'm now 13 into it which like we're off to a great start and i'm really liking it so far i was a little afraid going into it that because it had been so long since i had been in this world that it would be difficult for me to get a grasp on like how the magic works and all the character relationships but i feel like this book has prepared me really well i didn't even read the synopsis actually i don't know what the plot of this book is so a major plot in the series is the shadow game which is a game where the players that their lives and so the plot of queen of volts is that there are 20 of like the most notorious figures in new reigns who have all been invited to participate in shadow game and so it's all about them trying to win and survive while also there is a new villain who is like a legend in new reigns called the bargainer who can supposedly like grant your any wish depending on what you're willing to give him so it sounds really interesting and i'm excited to continue reading and then the other book i am about to start is blood and honey by shelby maherin which is the second book in the serpent and dove series serpent and dove was one of my favorite books of 2019 it is set in like a 16th century parisian inspired setting where there is a witch hiding her identity and a witch hunter who get forced into a marriage and like the witch hunter doesn't know that she's a witch it is a beautiful magical world with super amazing characters and i've just been dying to get back into it i have heard some mixed reviews of blood and honey where people like myself who loved serpent and dove didn't feel the sequel really held up but i love shelby maherin's writing and so i'm really excited to see what the sequel holds right now i'm going to make some breakfast and then start blood and honey and we'll see what happens after that so i've only read the first episode episode the first chapter of blood and honey so not much to report on but i'm definitely excited to continue the first actual task on my to-do list today is to get a covid test i don't have any symptoms but there is like a very very small chance that i might have been exposed i didn't come in contact with the person who tested positive but i was in the same space so i figure it's better to be safe than sorry so i'm going to go listen to queen of volts while i drive to the test here we go seven eight nine 14 15. ah okay 14 15. all done so i have not done like an absurd amount of reading today i did get more into queen of volts but i continued listening while i started playing some games on my phone and then i realized that i wasn't really paying attention so i'm gonna backtrack a little bit and go back a few chapters because i don't like like passively listening to audiobooks like i like being able to focus on them so it doesn't really bother me to like go back like 10 minutes 30 minutes an hour like i'd rather actually get the content then i took the instagram photo that i needed to i read a little bit more of blood and honey while i ate lunch so i'm currently on page 45 pretty good for one day of reading so far i think and then i observed a group at my internship site so i could get a little bit of an idea of like how their groups are run because i'll be starting to run groups in february and march and i have also just been watching a webinar so i've been watching one that is on diagnosing anxiety and ocd and whatnot and it's really good so far so for dinner i made some chicken with cherry jam vinaigrette and some carrots and almond garlic couscous oh i really like it so far though i didn't mention that i'm only 45 pages in but like there's already been some action scenes and i just love seeing all these characters interact again i haven't read this enough since i don't know what the plot of this one is lou and reed and their whole gang are kind of on the run from a coven and so in order to like escape them they have to form an alliance with like lou's like arch nemesis coven and it seems like it's gonna be an interesting story i'm excited to continue hey so uh remember that like fun time when i said i wasn't really concerned that i got covered there's like a very very small chance that i might have been exposed guess who got coved so yes miss rona got me i'm fine like i'm really really lucky that i've been feeling really fine i have a headache that comes and goes and my nose feels a little funky i'm a little congested and the worst of it is that i've just been really fatigued so i haven't done like anything over the last two days which is why i haven't been vlogging it's so much better than it has been for a lot of people so my fingers are just really crossed that it doesn't get any worse what i'm gonna do now is i'm gonna paint my nails because i haven't gotten them done in a while and i don't know the next time i'll be able to get them done so i'm just going to put some paint on over this while i watch a session from my internship so i'm going to paint my nails while doing that and hopefully i will get back to some physical reading leader that i can update you on so jake and i are having a long distance movie night say hello gang gang kobe movie now and movie night we're watching the hunger games which i'm so excited yeah jake has never actually seen the hunger games so i'm excited to see what he thinks and i also decided to order in some dessert for myself because i'm tired of being stuck in my bedroom and not eating any good things so i ordered a strawberry milkshake cupcake and an oreo cheesecake and jake is jealous that he can't steal any i'm jealous jake is very jealous i'm excited to indulge in some goodies and i'm gonna get face down call from mike welcome back to the vlog of no reading my days have been so mundane this past week i literally do nothing but stay in bed i started my first full week of school this week which also has just been totally boring and unnoteworthy i'm lucky that i've been feeling well enough that i'm able to see clients so i've had a couple of new clients at my internship this week which i've really enjoyed that's really all my energy this week has just been doing the sessions and trying to catch up on all the paperwork i have i have not listened to like any of queen of vaults i'm like 25 in and like audiobooks are great when i'm feeling at the top of my game but when my like mental capacity is so low like this like audiobooks are the last thing on my mind i've been watching so much buffy though i'm on my like zillionth rewatch of buffy the vampire slayer i've been watching it since i was a kid and i've probably gone through at least like three full seasons since getting sick been loving it though it's like the only thing that's been keeping me sane as i've been completely like quarantined in my room but it's been working though because my mom tested negative today so like we're doing the good thing also my health is still really good like i probably feel physically better than i have in a couple of days still like just moving slow that's really how i describe it like i'm just like not at full emma capacity and that's fine also haven't read much of blood and honey i have read more since i last updated you so now i'm on page 109 breaking the triple digits i'm still like getting used to it and remembering like all the rules and limitations of it and whatnot but i love the serpent and dove magic system because magic has a price that's like a really common role in magic lore but it's like a very physical tangible price so like for example in like the first book lou is trying to do magic and she has to break her finger first and something that happened in blood and honey is that lou had to sacrifice one of her memories so like she conjured up a memory now it's completely wiped from her brain and she'll never have access to it again but it's really cool i love that aspect of it and i just feel like the magic system of this world is super well constructed and strong i can't say i'm super far into like the plot of the novel yet there's been a lot of action already though which i really enjoyed some really good fight scenes probably like the worst time for me to try diving back into fantasy but we're pushing through so my plan for right now is that i really want to do a nice stretch because i'm feeling capable of that i have some paperwork that i really want to like finish and bang out tonight but i've just sort of like hit a lull with it or like i don't want to do anything so i know that by being more active it's going to motivate me to finish it up so i'm going to do a little stretches finish that paperwork and then i'm going to play some games tonight online with some my booktube friends which would be really exciting now i'm just tired though and i just want to lay in bed and watch buffy but i shed it i should be active so i said it's the vlog and that gives me accountability so that's what i'm gonna do but i don't think she would do any of the like locations there's too many there's too many i'm feeling like i think i'm feeling delta and i think i'm feeling drunk to be honest oh yeah i would say oh nar elias said sabotage to just like accidentally pick one i almost actually did i want to remove my names and you guys can pick and you guys can suffer the consequences i think you should listen to francina this is emma's first time being spymaster and she might not have realized all the things that correlated with travel on the board i did not i'm nervous even going with trump good morning i am feeling just a little bit more like myself today which is really great i really enjoyed reading blood and honey last night let's see how far i am i'm on page 184 so feeling good about making some progress and now that i finally picked up my book again i'm feeling more motivated to continue reading i also do back into queen of volts today which i'm also feeling so good about i re-listened to the last chapter i was listening to just to get myself like reoriented into the story i feel like that's really helpful and i've listened to a little bit more since i have a huge pile of clothes in my office that i need to put away so i'm thinking it would be really good if i could put my laundry away while listening to queen of waltz and something else i really need to get started on today is i am kind of doing like a little ted talk someone from tedx mavilie square in greece reached out to me as they're hosting like an online conference event and so they wanted me to create a video talking about like my experiences with mental health and again it's been really hard to get myself to do it but i need to do it this week so i have convinced jake to have like a little productivity session with me later where we're gonna like facetime and just like do our own independent work so i am looking forward to finally getting started with that oh also i did a little bit of makeup today and i got dressed in more than just like pajamas so it's feeling like a good day i'm also starting to get like pretty sick of having to like eat at home so i decided to order duncan today for breakfast even though it's like one o'clock now i decided to get a couple new things today so i got an everything bagel which i love but i'm trying their strawberry cream cheese for the first time i got this like cheese croissant thing and my classic hash browns i made a cup of tea i have lots of water and i'm gonna eat while reading some more blood and honey quick review of my breakfast first off made the perfect cup of tea this morning i love the strawberry cream cheese i'm normally like a plain cream cheese girl i love a tofu cream cheese long island bagel cafe by me has this bacon cheddar garlic cream cheese which is amazing i don't do strawberry often but this is so good and i'm totally going to get it again the cheese croissant not my favorite my expectations were a little higher but like it's a croissant i'll eat any croissant and hashbrowns ultimate as always hi folks so i honestly had a really great day and that's mainly because it has been the first day in like quite a while that i've been able to do like normal emma stuff most importantly today i had like a 40 minute call with the new york state contact tracing department or whatever that is helping reduce the spread of covid and they told me that i am free to leave isolation tomorrow because my 10 days are up and i don't really have symptoms anymore so i'm very excited to just like move around my house um not going out anytime soon but it just feels nice to know that like i can actually do things for myself and i'm not restricted to my bedroom anymore after i did my laundry i ended up editing an entire video start to finish so i'm really excited to upload that book haul that is up now if you haven't watched it yet i ended up writing 1600 words for my ted talk which i am so happy about i so often will just like struggle to start a project because i'm so concerned with like doing it properly and in this case you know it feels like a big deal to me so i want to make sure i'm telling my story right and expressing myself well and it was just the perfect opportunity for me to sit down and start writing it so that i can finish it up this week and film it and edit it so i'm just feeling so good to have that like first hump of it over with i did not really listen to a lot of queen of volts today as i said i am currently 34 into it so a little bit more um and i just feel like i don't have a lot to say about it right now and i think that mostly stems from the fact that i'm not feeling super engaged like i said i kind of need to reorient myself to audiobooks and i haven't been listening to them for a while but i feel like i was feeling a little less engaged than normal even before i got coven i think that mostly stems from the fact that there are like a lot of different perspectives in this book like in book one ace of shades it was just levi and n's perspective and then in book two we also got jack's perspectives which i ended up enjoying but now in this book we also have harvey's perspective who like i don't even know who harvey is and there's just like a lot of different stories going on at once what i do like is i really enjoy this whole concept of like this big shadow game where many different characters are involved and each character has a target whose shadow card they have to acquire and the way you acquire it is by killing the person so i'm finding that all very interesting and where we are in this whole saga like the close character relationships that i really have loved in the first two books are all really strained so that's also why i'm maybe not enjoying it as much i just like want to see everyone like in love and having these really close friendships and everyone's kind of mad at each other i think i really just need to like get more into it so hopefully tomorrow because i'm starting like a normal work week i'll like be listening to queen of bolts when i'm getting ready in the morning and hopefully as i get more into the story i'm sure i will enjoy it more because i love the magic of this world i love the whole plot of it so there's a lot to love i think i'm just like a little out of sorts at the moment with blood and honey i am 206 pages in and i'm also really loving blood and honey i don't even know what the negative reviews of this book were i just know that some people who loved the first one weren't enjoying the second one as much and i just don't agree i am a little tired of the trope in sequels with romances where like the main couple is fighting and having problems like it's so overused and in this one reed and lou have a bit of a strain because reid thinks that she's using too much magic and being reckless with it and it's changing her and then also reed and lou are like separated at least at this point in the story but i actually really like that because we have two compelling storylines of lou and coco being with the blood witches which is an aspect of this world we haven't explored a lot and then reid is with this like traveling performance group and like the next chapter i'm about to read is called the performance so i'm assuming it's his first one so i'm like really excited to read it i also love the new character named cloud diplo which he's just like so fun and there's so much comic relief with his character because this does come from like a heavy book that starts with a lot of darkness and trauma from past characters so i think he's been a good addition and i'm also like really really hoping that cloud and beau have like a little romance maybe a little smoochy smoochy coming on that looming doom of a really powerful force coming after the main cast of characters combined with like the fun light-heartedness of the characters and some of the shenanigans that they get themselves into i had been avoiding blood and honey for a long time just because i wasn't in a fantasy mood which was the whole reason for me starting this reading vlog but i'm so happy i'm reading it and i'm super excited to continue so it's currently 11 30 which is like when i should really be like getting ready for bed in an ideal world but because i had such a wonderful productive day i'm going to treat myself to reading in the bath before bed and i think it'll just be a really good way for me to settle down for the night i'm going to do some more reading and then hopefully i can wake up refreshed and just like keep this train going feeling better and doing the work that i need to do so so so i told you i was so excited to read about reid's first performance as the red death he was doing like a knife throwing act and it was going to be suspenseful and exhilarating and before we can even get a line about the performance starting it cuts to and i threw my last knife and i'm like no it would have been such a fun scene and i'm so upset we didn't get to read it a very sadly missed opportunity if you ask me roll credits okay so the following chapter does show like in real time one of reed's performances and it's like very significant and important to the story so i can let it slide that the first one like wasn't shown on page i have a feeling that shelby maherin probably wrote it and it was cut out during the revision process but i just feel like the book like wouldn't have been changed all that much if we had like four pages dedicated to reid's first performance because i feel like it was important but like i'm still loving this book so much it is so good good morning it is monday and i've had a perfectly normal and good day so far i had two sessions with two of my clients that i think went really well and then i have one more for the rest of the day so only three clients today very manageable i just cooked myself lunch because i can finally leave my room which feels great so i made myself some taquitos from hello fresh that i'm really excited to eat i also listen to more of queen of volts while cooking i'm feeling a little bit more engaged not where i want to be but again just going to keep pushing through so i'm going to eat lunch and like thoroughly take a break and enjoy myself read some blood and honey and then afterwards i'll have some time to do my client notes before my last session of the day and then i have to do my reading for class after my last session because i did not read for class tonight so that's like my day so far um it's going good i'm feeling good and just excited to keep on this path not too shabby if i do say so myself also look at how much it's snowed today i think we're in the middle of a northeaster there's so much snow out here that we can't even open the door to the deck i love it hello good evening or i guess good morning because it's midnight and on mondays i have school until 10 which sounds like a lot and like it is a lot but since starting the semester last week i am like so exhausted after class like i've been doing this for three years and i'm more exhausted than ever i think so after class i really just needed like two hours to decompress and do absolutely nothing and i think it was the right decision for myself i actually don't know the last time that i gave you like a solid reading update but i'm currently on page 320 i'm doing so good feeling so good with how much i've been reading kind of the same thoughts that i've been reiterating like the action and magic in this book is just so good i am intrigued to see like how the plot of this story is going to end like what is going to be the big confrontation between morgan and the dane planches and lou and reid and their whole crew but i've loved this little like camaraderie cast that they have going on of all these different like main characters but i'm really most interested in read and lose like individual character relationship more than anything else like they're just both in really unique situations and being really challenged by like their past experiences and also like the ways that like magic is sort of changing them and i feel like serpent and dove was like kind of like lighthearted and fun and blood and honey does have like a bit of a darker element to it and i feel like it's really working for like the maturity of the novel also no more thoughts on queen of volts but i'll let you know how far along i am so i'm not 44 and halfway there really hoping that i just get more like invested in it and i can have a better perception of what's going on i really just think that there's like so many different characters and plot lines that it's starting to overwhelm me a little bit and i'm having a bit of trouble catching up with all of them i don't know if i said this already but just like the tone of it really shifted for me like it's kind of similar to blood and honey like the first books in the shadow game series were really really fun and exciting and now it's all very serious and like i said before like all the character relationships are really strange so it's missing some of that fun and i wonder if that's maybe why i'm not as engaged so yeah just gonna keep pushing through i am liking it i just don't have as good of a grasp on the whole story as i would normally like to so we're just gonna keep seeing how it goes so now i'm like all ready for bed and i'm just going to snuggle up in bed and do more blood and honey reading before i fall asleep for the night okay so i have not vlogged in quite a few days because i have just gotten so busy like everything i haven't been able to do when i had kovid is just coming up on me and it's all due immediately so i have not really been reading and therefore not vlogging but i have made a lot of progress in queen of vaults and i'm super happy to say i am finally feeling connected with this story it's a little weird because i feel like the reason i finally got engaged is because the tension between the main couple like finally subsided and people are working together but like this these are the feelings that i wanted to feel while reading queen of votes and it came a little bit more than halfway through the book but it's here and i'm ready to like just dive in and find out what happens in one of my favorite series i still feel like i'm missing out a little bit on the things that i wasn't as focused on in the beginning so i might try and either backtrack a little bit more or if there's a summary online i love using that when i'm reading a book and i'm like forgetting a little bit of the events that have happened right now though i am really excited because i've gotten done a lot of the things that i really needed to and i'm going to see my boyfriend jake for the first time in quite a few weeks which is a change for us because i've seen him like almost every single week since quarantine started so i'm really excited to continue working because like your girl is not done with her to-do list but also to hang out with jake for the first time in a while and keep reading and jake lives in brooklyn so i'm gonna be listening to more of queen of vaults while driving there and i'm feeling better the last couple of days were like a blur of busyness and stress but i'm at a good point i think and just gonna continue trying to ride this wave good morning y'all love the drill by now i haven't read in a couple of days i haven't vlogged in a couple of days i've been spending my weekend just hanging out with jake at jake's where i am now and it's been really nice because i haven't seen him in quite a bit i have a really busy day today which i'm not really looking forward to because i didn't sleep well last night i have four clients two new ones which should be interesting and i'm excited to meet them and then i have class uh later at night and in between all of my breaks i have to constantly be doing work so it's gonna be a busy day but i'm happy because i actually got up like relatively early today and had enough time to get ready and i've been listening to queen of vaults and i'm now on 82 of the way through we're getting down to the wire now i feel that like this reading experience is a big reflection of me and what i'm going through and not necessarily like the writing but the one thing i will say is there's just so many characters which i've said before but i'm really happy to be more captivated by the story and motivated to continue i feel like it's going to end off in like either a really heartbreaking way or a really heartwarming way so i'm excited to see what happens hey jake what's up how was your day you were there yeah well i was it was good i got stuff done and made pulled pork oh my god it was delicious man and my day was good it was just long and busy but now we are in bed gonna get to sleep early because we're tired and we are going to end our night reading because we have been up late the past couple nights watching the first two seasons of skins it's very good skins is one of my all-time favorite shows and i'm introducing it to jake it's really good and i hate it before i get hate for the record i hate it because it hurts me that's because i don't want to hear about it i'm reading the office the untold story of the greatest account because i'm not watching tv i'm going to read about tv and those of you who watched my new york city book shopping vlog that's the book that i bought for jake yes it was and he's now reading it and what are you thinking of it so far i love it it's i've just been like a lot of people i think in the last couple of years the office is a real happy place for me it's a comfort zone and i've just been consuming as much media because i just find it to be a really fascinating story story of how like uh this show came together and this just reinforces a lot of that it's a lot of interesting tidbits and it shows the passion behind these people and i'm at a point now where they're kind of getting into several of the like key episodes and i'm actually reading about my favorite episode right now which one the injury um where michael grills his foot it's a great one and what page are you on 109 and i am reading blood and honey and the last time i picked it up i was on page 361. wow so we're making we're making progress hi jake has a really cool bed that moves it has the adjustable so i am almost done with both of my books which is really exciting because i've been working on them for quite some time so i thought i would give you guys like one final reading update before my final thoughts i'm a little bit closer to finishing queen of volts i am like 93 of the way into the book i have like 38 minutes of listening done i think what i like about queen of volts is that it is really reminiscent of the feelings i had when reading ace of shades for the first time which was just like so fun and exhilarating whereas king of fools was more political and i really enjoyed all of the political plot lines like i think king of fools might be my favorite of the series it was really good but i like when a series can revert back to like the original reasons why i started reading it and loving it because i'm so frequently disappointed by conclusions because the tone of it and like the purpose of the story has just shifted so much since the beginning and although i've really struggled to connect with all of the many different characters in this book and the multiple new perspectives i really like the character growth showcased in this book for levi and i also really love poppy and grace and talk like the entire gang of ends is like an absolute favorite point for me i did end up reading like a really extensive recap of ace of shades today which i enjoyed i really wish i could have found another one for king of fools and especially one for queen of waltz with how much i've forgotten from the story already but hopefully in time some of those will be online so yeah it's just not my favorite of the series because on one hand my reading experience was really disjointed and number two like the characters and like how many different plot lines there were were really difficult for me to follow but i'm excited to finish it off and see where things go like i recently read the big climax of the story and i thought it was really well written but blood and honey is definitely my favorite of this reading vlog i am now on page 452 and there's like i think 530ish pages so i'm getting to the end of it and my hope is that i would love to finish it tonight like my plan is just to lay in bed and read and i would like to set a goal for myself to finish it tonight the character development is something i've also really loved in blood and honey lou has gone like off the rails like she has changed a lot and gone into some darkness which is different from her but i think it's been really well written and i think like we're getting past the point of it so that when we read the final book gods and monsters like my girl will be a little bit more stable and i've also grown to really love reid like i liked him in the first book he was just like the cute love interest that was interested in lou and i was like so focused on lou but i've gotten way more connected to him in blood and honey through reading about like his trauma and how he's reacting to the changes in lou and there was also like a really beautiful scene about like reed's grief of what he's lost throughout these past two books so i've come to like him like as his own individual character which is really nice i just do feel that we haven't gotten as much development on the other characters like i love coco so much like i'm typically the person that's like let's have as little point of views as possible but i desperately want more from coco i just feel like she has not gotten enough page time in this book and she's so much more potential that i was really hoping to get explored in blood and honey and that's just something that i haven't gotten as much ansel as well he's kind of in the same boat as i was with reed in the beginning like he's cute he's nice i like him but also has just not gotten a lot of development i've started to really enjoy madame labelle who is also someone i wasn't expecting to like but she plays a way more prominent role in blood and honey and she was like a lot of unexpected comic relief which was nice and bo is also like some good comedic relief he's like angsty and sarcastic and whatnot and i would have liked a little bit more peach time from him as well so when i was reading serpent and dove there were like a couple of things that happened where i just sort of had to suspend my disbelief and was just like okay like i guess this is the thing that happens now so i'm really happy that there was a way less of that in blood and honey except for one situation so attempting to discuss this without spoilers there is a character who is dying and lou saves them and so now this group has like a blood debt to pay to i think read and i'm just like in my mind i'm like okay but like they were the reason that this character was dying in the first place and it felt like a little convenient to just have them like join on um with our main cast because they now have a blood debt that was like their fault for creating but it's so good and i've also just really loved the way that it expands on the magic system it gets way more in-depth about like how it works and the consequences of it and like how big and powerful and dangerous it really is so i just love sheldon maher and i'm so excited to read more from her in the future and continue on with this series and i honestly i don't know i can't predict what's gonna happen in the rest of this book to be honest like it's one of those times where like i feel like we've gotten the main climax but there also feels like there's so much more just on the horizon so i'm really excited to snuggle up i'm gonna make myself a hot cup a coco and just read and enjoy myself and after like the past couple of days that i've had i think this is what i really need good morning i just finished queen of vaults so i'm excited to give you guys some end of book thoughts and i unfortunately fell asleep pretty quickly while reading last night i'm now up to page 481 so didn't read much but i'm determined to finish today i made myself a very yummy breakfast because as i'm sure many of you can tell breakfast is like my favorite meal of the day so i'm just gonna sit down and read and enjoy so i have finished both of my books and this reading vlog comes to an end first off i am just really happy that i finally got to these two like next installments in fantasy series that i love so much and it has been putting off for ages so it was really nice to be back in like a fantasy mood and get some answers that i had been prolonging for a really long time i've said most of my thoughts on queen of vaults already it was an odd reading experience from when i got ill but also i just feel it wasn't the strongest of the series unfortunately i struggled with some of the character arcs in this series because it picks up on like such a brutal ending of king of fools so there was obviously a lot for the characters to process and go through i really enjoyed harvey who if you remember i couldn't even remember who he was at the beginning but it was really nice getting to know him and i enjoyed reading from his perspective with lola i was really looking forward to getting lola's point of view because i loved lola but i just wasn't super satisfied with like the things her character did in this installment and with then levi like they also had some really good growth but i was just frustrated because i wanted to see like the characters like working together and so much of it was conflict and betrayal and it just wasn't what i personally wanted from this series i liked how they expanded on the magic in this world because i just love the ace of shades magic system and everything about it but because it became so focused on developing the magic some of the initial things i really loved about the series like the gangs and mobs and whatnot weren't as present but i did really like the ending like we got some good plot twists and all of the answers that we wanted building up from the first two books were like wrapped up very nicely so it wasn't like a horrible book by any means it just didn't live up to my own expectations or the potential that i feel the series had with blood and honey though i have like no critiques like i'm trying really hard but i just thought this book was so well done i'm gonna give it 5 out of 5 stars and i feel like it might make my list of favorites at the end of the year just because it was so good the whole last quarter of this book felt very high stakes for me there's a huge plot twist in the last couple of pages and i'm just like i have no clue what's gonna happen in the third book as the story was ending it was revealed that like a character was going to die and i kind of predicted who it was going to be like it was the obvious choice the plot was super fun and compelling to follow and like i said earlier like the magic of this world just gets so much bigger and serpent and dove is another way series that i just feel the magic system is really complex and more mature than some other why a series so i'm just super pleased with everything about this book i'm excited to read the last book when it comes out this year i can't believe that this one is ending too oh my gosh but if you are a y fantasy lover like myself i highly recommend both the ace of shades series and serpent and dove thank you for joining me on this reading vlog it's probably not my favorite that i've ever filmed just because it felt so disjointed and there were a lot of uh obstacles i encountered while reading but i enjoyed these books and i hope you enjoyed this video in the comments below let me know what you've been reading or what you thought of these books in series if you have read them but that's it for this video thank you guys so much for watching and i'll see you soon for a new one bye\n"