**Reading Vlog: Exploring Thought-Provoking Fiction**

I recently completed a reading session featuring three diverse and engaging books, each with its unique concept and writing style. The first book, "The Great Circle" by Maggie Shipstead, was a fascinating exploration of parallel timelines and the female experience. I read 250 pages of this book and was immediately drawn into the world of Marion, a young woman growing up in Montana in the early 20th century. Shipstead's writing style is straightforward and unapologetic, making for a compelling read. The character development is exceptional, particularly in Marion's chapters, which feel like diary entries at times. The book tackles sensitive topics such as female agency, power, and sexuality with nuance and thoughtfulness.

As I delved deeper into the story, I was struck by the parallels between Marion's life and that of a modern-day woman. Despite the significant differences in time period and societal context, both characters face similar challenges and struggles. The writing is strong, and Shipstead expertly weaves together multiple narrative threads to create a captivating tale. I appreciated the use of trigger warnings throughout the book, which added to the overall sense of realism and urgency.

The second book I read was "The Trader" by Barbara Karsch, a unique and thought-provoking fantasy novel. This series is one of the most political and intelligent fantasy books I've had the pleasure of reading in a long time. The story takes place behind the scenes of international trade and politics, with a military aspect that emerges later in the book. What sets this series apart is its focus on power dynamics and the complexities of human relationships. The protagonist, Bridget, is a dynamic and enigmatic character whose motivations are impossible to pin down. I loved being outsmarted by her and the author's masterful storytelling.

The third book I read was "10,000 Stitches" by Olivia Wilder Gaddis, which was an absolute delight. This Cinderella-inspired fairy romance is a modern take on the classic tale, with a dash of charm and wit. The characters are lovable and relatable, and the setting is idyllically picturesque. I flew through this book, devouring every page in one sitting. It's like reading a Charming Lifetime rom-com in book form – exactly what I was hoping for.

**A Variety of Reading Experiences**

Throughout my reading session, I was struck by the diversity of these three books. Each one offered a unique reading experience, with different writing styles, genres, and themes. The Great Circle's parallel timelines and focus on female agency resonated deeply with me, while The Trader's political fantasy elements and Bridget's enigmatic character kept me engaged and invested. Meanwhile, 10,000 Stitches' lighthearted tone and fairy romance elements provided a welcome contrast to the more serious themes of the other two books.

**A Lasting Impression**

As I wrapped up my reading session, I couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. These three books may have been vastly different in terms of genre, style, and theme, but they all shared a common thread – exceptional writing and compelling characters. Whether you're a fan of thought-provoking fiction or lighthearted romances, there's something on offer here. I'm excited to explore more of these authors' works in the future and to share my thoughts with you, dear readers.

**Reading Stats**

Throughout this reading session, I managed to read 700 pages across all three books. While it may not seem like a lot, I found that each book had its own distinct pace and reading style, which kept me engaged and invested throughout. As I mentioned earlier, The Great Circle took up the majority of my time (250 pages), followed by The Trader (200-300 pages), and finally 10,000 Stitches (150-200 pages).

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enguys it's Regan and welcome back to another reading Vlog this reading Vlog is another challenge based reading blog because I'm taking a bit of a mental health day so in honor of that I thought I would do as much reading as possible in this 24 hour span to not only catch up on my TBR celebrate the first day of fall and just in general relax yes I decided to give myself the day off work after having just a variety of kind of troublesome and truthfully 8-bit painful doctor appointments this week so you know I said let's just PTO my friend and let's read uh that being said I'm really excited about all the books I want to read over this 24 hours fans without further Ado let's chat about them so the first book I am currently reading and I have about 200 pages left which is the trader baru kamarant this book is all politics economic maneuvering Rebellion it is amazing honestly it swept me away from the get-go I'm fascinated by it I love the main character the setting there's just so much to say truly been excellent it's definitely like slower paced but I also haven't been able to put it down as I said 200 pages of this book are left the final stretches of it as well so I feel like I'll be able to fly through the final pages of this and this will be the first book I complete for this Vlog from there I want to pick up something a little lighter a little more fun so I decided to add 10 000 stitches by Olivia Atwater this is the second book to Olivia at Waters like Faye Regency romance lower spice romance series it's so cute it's so Charming it's just over 200 Pages as well so I feel like I will be able to fly through it and honestly I feel like I need a little bit of a palette cleanser and then the last book that's on my TBR is actually a literary fiction tour I feel like I have quite the range of stories here but it is great circle by Maggie shipstead this is a literary fiction story I just feel like I'm gonna really like bass structurally what it's about it's basically kind of paralleling to story lines one of a very famous pilot and then the other storyline is an actress who has been hired to play this famous pilot in a movie adaptation of her life so I've heard really great things about the writing and the characters it's about 500 pages so who knows how far I'll be able to get um I'm also rather chaotic and you never know if I'm gonna throw in like a fourth book into the mix via audiobook but nonetheless these are the books I hope to read over the next 20 24 hours or so it is 10 30 in the morning so we're gonna start off the day strong I had a little bit of work I really needed to squeeze it before I took the rest of the day off but clay also picked me up some Cheetos and we got donuts so it's been a very um what's the word like I don't know not relaxing but like cozy like these are my favorite things and so I'm happy to have them around it is also the first technical day of fall in Texas it is going to be a high of 99 degrees today so not very fall Vibes but I still decided to put on a sweater for the occasion and I will show you it might not actually be cold enough to wear this outfit but you know a little sweater vest blouse layered moment and then some of my recent favorite jeans so yeah I had to move my lamp a bit I feel like sometimes it feels like a hat when I sit down now to Vlog but I'm just gonna jump right in to reading that is but I want to talk a bit about the trader Bahu Kamara because I am going to sit down and try to almost finish it now and obviously I've read a good chunk um about 50 so I can give you my initial thoughts and feelings so the Baro comrant is a very politically oriented fantasy story um we're introduced to our main character baru at the beginning of this book she lives on like an island nation um with her family and on the island she grew up with it's very like communal in terms of raising children she has two fathers and a mother she's very loved she's very smart but everything changes once this Empire comes to basically take them over in this fantasy world there is this all-powerful Empire called the masquerade and they basically go about their Conquest through like economic exploitation they come first with trade contracts and then they make you reliant on their paper currency then they introduce things like illnesses and they slowly begin to take control of not only the government but the people and slowly and then all at once they're completely taken over with their arrival they bring things not only like their economic policies but also their social and religious policies as well and baru as a child is basically brought into one of their schools because she is so smart there she's basically taught what they view is the correct way to live they have very intense policies on like CIS hetero views on marriage they also have very intense policies on things like eugenics in terms of all of their different colonies as well it's very dark it's very intense and our main character baru recognizes this at a very young age and she basically has decided to take this Merit exam um as one of the kids in the school to get a very powerful position because she decides that she's going to work her way up in this government to essentially tear it apart this is basically a Revenge tale with our main character baru and kind of at the beginning of this book she essentially passes this exam with flying colors and she's assigned as a royal uh accountant for the empire in another colony which has been very rebellious for a very long time and she's sent there to basically try to keep it in check with their like major policies of economy when she arrives though it's obviously much more complicated than she initially thought but structurally how this book is written again it's very politically heavy our main character baru is very like calm cool and collected she's incredibly intelligent and again like how she's sort of viewing the players on the board is from a very like policy oriented point of view this is not a book with a lot of like combat or fighting or or like a gruesome scenes this is a story full of like Tyrion Lannister or glocca from the blade itself like the characters who are using their like conniving intellect to get what they want out of the world like this is what this story is set up to be and it is incredible watching baru basically try to navigate a political situation where she's basically doing what was done to her people but she's trying to like weigh the costs of it like is it worth the cost for her to achieve like her greater end story itself really really escalates borrower doesn't know who to trust she doesn't know who to really turn to and just like the twists and turns and the political aspects of this book are so fascinating again so much of the story hinges on the economy and what the author sort of explores is really fascinating a quote on the back says a breathtaking Contender with George RR Martin's A Game of Thrones perfect for those who thrive on fantasy with Machiavellian overtones that is like exactly how I would describe this book it's definitely slower in aspect X but the builds tend to be very very satisfying and just the setup is very very fascinating and again with Revenge being at the heart of it it's so great this Empire is evil and they have so many different types of evil policies to you know achieve their ends um and seeing our characters have to confront those and also just exist in a world where they where those policies are carried out like it's absolutely brutal but this book is really really really engaging and I'm very curious to see like how it's going to end because Rebellion is on the horizon and I am just truly fascinated so that is what this book is about it's the first book to I want to say a series like even more than a Trilogy so I'm very impressed by this first book I will for sure be checking out later books in this series as well I'm very pleased so anyway this is the first book I'm gonna try to complete again I have only 200 pages left so I better get to it I have completed my first 120 pages of my 24 hour readathon Vlog I have so little of this book left exactly 80 pages to be you know very clear um and oh my goodness this book is so good there are like so many names there's so many like alliances there's so much history like everything is really being explored and obviously baru herself is in the midst of it but she's also kind of an outsider which one makes her an asset but obviously she's trying to navigate a very complex political situation not really knowing who to trust and all the strategy and the alliances like everything is really like explained this book can be like difficult to follow at times but in like the best way possible I feel like it's outsmarting me I feel like also the brutality of the decisions that have to be made are like not glorified if that makes sense um and it's just coming together in a really smart way I'm so close to finishing and finishing my first book of the 24 hour readathon Vlog I'm gonna sit down and read more now it's so funny because I really also cannot wait to pick up a romance book because I feel like it's going to be very needed after I complete this but nevertheless just wanted to let you know I have read 120 pages or Megan Headway we are making Headway Leia's prepping lunch we got sent for Clay's birthday like a cool special package from Kat's Diner in New York we get to make a little uh sandwich recreation in her own house should be pickles delicious should be delicious duh delicious hi hi I finished the trader baru comrant this book was so good the ending incredible and the thing is that's interesting about this book is it really took it took us to some unexpected places trying to be as vague as possible here in fact at one point I was kind of like but where are we gonna go from here and then and made some choices and now I'm like what in the world it was so good brutal oh my God so brutal Cutthroat politics and even a little bit of military strategy in here as well amazing so good I've just been pacing around my kitchen I really should do some cleaning but instead I'm just reading instead um that means I have read 200 pages of this book for this Vlog to be honest they took me a little longer I think than what I would schedule reading 200 Pages normally would because it is like 3 P.M right now but uh this is a book I kind of just have to read a little more closely a little more carefully there's lots of names there's lots of Shifting alliances I just wanted to make sure I was tracking everything and boy oh boy was this good uh that being said I'm gonna start book two which is going to be a much more maybe like an easier fluffier lighter read of a fey romance which I think I will literally Breeze through and I'm looking forward so my goal is to try to actually finish another book before dinner tonight before I break for making dinner that's my goal and then I'll have read over 400 pages today which I'll be really pleased with um that being said though I need coffee I also need to like go outside and just scream into the void for a second no no but this was so good oh my gosh I'd heard really good things about this book but I also haven't heard that much about this book so interesting like my kind of fantasy you know what I mean my kind of fantasy oof interesting stuff but anyway coffee liquid salvation and my next book which is basically okay basically what this book is about is a maid falls in love with the Lord she's like I can't fall in love with the Lord but then she makes a bargain with a Fae like fairy Godfather who's kind of bad at his job she basically has to stitch um a bunch of stitches in his favorite coat and I think things begin to go awry it sounds delightful and just what I need so I'm gonna pick it up now and I truly can't wait hold that absolutely serving uh he is too cute with a reading update I've read 60 pages of 10 000 stitches and this book is so adorable so cute so funny I would honestly describe this book as like fairy Downton Abbey we follow our main character Effie she is a maid in a household um and it's rough not only are her hours long her boss or the lady of the house is really not great um they're overworked they're underpaid they're underappreciated for sure and fvr main character is in love with like the youngest son of the household um and she runs into a fairy during a party and he is like on trying to be virtuous kick and he was told that the way to be virtuous is to help the powerless and be cruel to the powerful so he's trying to help Effie out and um I I'm not sure like how this book is gonna go but he's so endearingly like dumb that it's just so great like he is trying so hard to be helpful but he's a fairy so he only knows like Bargains and like let's just say complicated situations knows nothing about Humanity or humans so he's trying to help but he's also like not doing a great job and he's also like so naive and Effie is so practical that their interactions are pretty hilarious so Effie understandably is pretty skeptical and suspicious of Faye and of um our main character Lord Blackthorne um because Faye are notorious for making very bad Bargains with humans and humans tend to suffer at their hands um but she has made a bargain with him despite this because she was kind of in a down moment super frustrated and she just wants like her own fairy tale also in a lot of ways this book kind of feels like Cinderella and it's just really Charming um Downton Abbey meets Cinderella with Faye like it's just great I love that it also includes a lot of the behind the scenes of like other Maids how the household Works um Effie's close friend and also co-workers like all these things are involved and then obviously Lord Blackthorne is like getting mixed up in all of this and his efforts to help um I don't know it's really cute so far it's very Charming I'm curious to see how it's going to continue to evolve basically Effie is becoming like a daughter of a baron or she's pretending to be with Lord blackthorne's help so I'm also assuming there's going to be a lot of complicated stuff occurring with that but this book is 250 Pages I'm 60 pages in I might have been a little over optimistic about how much I'd be able to finish before making dinner but I'm gonna sit down and read more now um but I am running out of time I took I took too long reading but that book was so good so it was okay I'm still flying through this I'm gonna finish this book today for sure and start my next book but uh I need to stay focused but I'm also getting hungry so what are you gonna do past 150 page Mark and oh my gosh this book is just so delightful what I really enjoy about Olivia at Waters romances is that they're not quite what they appear based off the synopsis they're so wholesome and like you're just rooting for everyone involved and that is definitely the case between our two main characters I'm obsessed with them so much actually like a little sweaty because clay and I were doing I did yard work in this outfit like why because we got a new like yard cleaning tool so we wanted to test it out and then we ended up just doing a bunch of yard work for like an hour but I'm gonna shower get ready for bed make dinner start maybe House of the Dragons tonight because clay and I have not started that show and I think it's gonna be a good night obviously finished my book and start my third book for this 24 hour readathon blog too so anyway that's the update you might not know it because you didn't see the before but our yard is looking rather spiffy right now we got like a new Leaf situation because we do have lots of big trees and we wanted to get a handle on that before fall comes in full force Clay's just putting stuff away but it's all the hates these blowers but she loves fetch hi friends I'm freshly laundered and it's time to start dinner well that was loud step one is to peel and chop up this giant sweet potato which is gonna accompany everything else I'm making basically making like steak bowls you know with sweet potatoes and lettuce and black beans so should be good foreign step one seasoned at least I'm just gonna cook these sweet potatoes for 30 minutes and now I'm gonna start marinating the steak and chopping up the rest of the veggies done and now it's time chop and while I wait for timers to go off I read and my bowl is done and then I also have my hot sauce to put on top Bon Appetit so we are finally starting House of the Dragon clay how do you feel about it how do you feel good really good personally I'm very curious to see how I'm gonna feel I just feel like everyone on tick tock's like rooting for this uncle and niece to get together and it's I feel like I just gotta be there to understand so I mean listen I love he was one of the Doctor Who doctors I know it's uh Matt Smith Matt Smith wow the most basic last name and we couldn't even remember it Smith Smith anyway okay we're gonna watch now hi guys I have all my stuff my one episode break from reading is complete honestly pretty impressed with the first episode of House of the Dragon clay and I really put it off um because honestly I wanted to wait till there's more reviews out because of how badly we were burned by obviously like the rest of the World by Game of Thrones but I don't know I guess I'm back in it I'm back I'm curious I love the sets they're so cool it's cool it's cool that they do like physical sets costumes are great I'm very curious about the storyline I try to stay away from spoilers and also just like references that are brought up in Game of Thrones so we'll see you've seen the first episode but now it's time to get back to reading I'm gonna finish 10 000 stitches now I have about 120 pages left and then I'm gonna start great circle so let's do it hi I am 200 pages into this book I only have 50 pages left and it's continuing to be so endearing I mean I would say this book is I would say this book is very straightforward this is by no means gonna like blow your mind it is also like a really cute and kind of more adorable leaning romance there's no Spice in this it's much more about like long looks like fluttering Hearts you know nervous chatter like that sort of vibe um what I also am really appreciating about this book too is kind of our main character's Arc um at the beginning of this book she harbored a lot of anger and she's just in general been mistreated in her profession always kind of treated as background almost like Furniture um and throughout the story it's a lot about her like finding her voice finding her purpose finding her place and like being comfortable taking up that space which I think is great on the flip side of that we have Lord Blackthorne who's kind of like learning how to have a human heart and human emotions and them working together is just so cute obviously there's going to be a bit of conflict there um miscommunications Finn humans are obviously very very different um but it's just very endearing on top of that there is a sort of Magical Mystery component um and I actually am really appreciating how it's being handled in this book it's one very fitting to our main character and two it's not so huge that it's like distracting from the Romantic plotline if that makes sense like it it Nestles itself in there very nicely where the romance can still kind of continue to take Center Stage but needless to say I 50 pages left I flew through this book this was a delight super easy to read a great palette cleanser and I'm enjoying it pleated confirming I've now read 400 and 450 Pages for this Vlog and Matilda has joined me uh but I'm now going to start create Circle um this is just such a nicely constructed novel I always appreciated nicely made literary fiction book they just make them different something about these hard covers I don't know what the these two two-tone situations they feel so nice even the dust jackets nice which I took off but I'm gonna start this just try to get as far as I can though I am getting sleepy and I do have to work tomorrow so I can't stay up too late nevertheless I'm gonna get to it good morning friends so happy to report I read um over 500 pages yesterday which I think is pretty solid um obviously I have all of this morning left to read and I'm hopeful to read about another goodness like 200 Pages or so of the great circle great circle is good it's definitely quite the genre shift from Reading 10 000 threads um it's very what's how would I would describe obviously it's literary fiction but far it's just opening on a bunch of different vignettes following a variety of characters connected to our main character's lives kind of a beginning if you will a family Saga perhaps and it is definitely not holding back any punches I definitely would want to caution for a variety of trigger warnings already um it's just very like straightforward in the like traumatic elements of various people's lives and like how that is like leading them to make certain choices in their life in these moments um but yeah it's definitely been very engaging so far and I'm very interested uh and the first or two pages I did read rather quickly so we're gonna keep letting this Curl we're gonna drink this coffee and we're gonna read I made some blueberry waffles delish I got dressed oh I was about to sit down and do a reading Montage but I'm realizing now I have not given you an update of what I've read so far so just pause time out let's do that so I have passed the 100 page Mark actually I'm like 150 pages into this book and this is really gripping um I really structurally am enjoying how it's written we're really shifting back and forth but a bit more about what this book is about so again this is a story that kind of parallels the storyline of this very famous pilot and her life and then an actress in sort of present-day Hollywood who is playing her in a movie so I think what's supposed to happen is like the intertwining of their experiences and how like the past is informing the present one of our main characters is Marion this very famous pilot at the turn of the century and a lot of the early chapters you're kind of just reading like Snippets of her childhood first a legacy of her parents like all of these small scenes that build up into like the tapestry that is her life personally where I'm at now like she's still pretty young um but then you kind of intersperse between these chapters you also get present day chapters from our other main character Hadley who was an actress and she at the beginning of this book is like embroiled in Scandal she's kind of like tanking her own life in some ways but it's also this movie which she's given an opportunity to be in is like an opportunity to sort of turn things around it is said like in the synopsis and you kind of get this sense that these two women's lives are very very different but aspects of their experiences similar to a lot of women in this world like begin to Echo each other as they're both kind of navigating spaces um that are filled with a lot of prejudice and expectations there's a lot of Fame there and how that book is written I'm really enjoying this style it's very blunt in a lot of ways I would describe it like it is I don't know like everyone is a very intense character their vices even their like good aspects of their character though it always seems like everyone kind of slides into like the negative a bit um but even still though it's just like everyone is like very Dynamic and everyone that's kind of present in this book is at least very fascinating um and I'm enjoying it I also feel like I'm reading it pretty quickly one because the chapters are pretty short and I also enjoy how we're kind of Shifting Through Time really quickly in Marion's chapters are moving very quickly through time like every time we encounter her perhaps a year has passed another six months we're just kind of moving to a new moment in her life but then obviously in between those we have present day and I like how as we move further and further along like things begin to sort of like overlap with each other which I think is pretty interesting um and yeah I don't know I'm just liking this book A Lot the writing is great the concept is great and it's definitely very very engaging so far I am on track to I want to say read about 200 pages of this book which would hit me squarely at about 650 675 Pages which I don't think is too bad at all but as I said I was gonna do a reading session but I realized I never actually updated you guys about this book so let's set this up get to reading and then I will check in in a bit oh Matilda is stealing my seat as we speak oh no she's leaving me all together foreign hi guys it's Reagan and welcome to the end of the Vlog the next day let's pop in and wrap up all three books I was able to read over the course of this Vlog all in all I want to say I read 250 450 700 pages over the course of this Vlog and honestly it was such variety is truly the spice of life all of these books were so different for one another and they all provided um just like a really interesting Tale in their own unique way so first off I want to talk about the great circle because I was able to read 250 pages of this book and wow this book is a force the characters that reside in this book are a force and the parallel timelines are just absolutely fascinating to digest um I would say Marion's chapters and her character are just so fascinating to read as a young woman as a woman growing up in the time period she is and just her tenacity and conviction to pursue something that really doesn't even have like a clear career path and obviously as a woman she's very limited in in her pursuit of it at all but she is not one to give up large chunk of this book uh in the beginning at least takes place in Montana in a small town and you also see like small town Dynamics playing this too you see Miriam grow up grow into a young woman face society as a young one for the first time and then kind of face those headwinds as she sees fit and then obviously we have to present day chapters of our main character kind of going through a scandal finding like a second chance in life and career more so by playing Marion in a movie and it's really interesting to see the parallels of like the female experience like female agency female power female sexuality in these two characters separated by so much time like what has changed what has stayed the same and it's just really interesting the writing is very strong um it really sucks you and I would say very straightforward again and there's again so many trigger warnings in this book um it's not very flowery in its writing style the chapters are almost staccato in nature like you're just kind of jumping jumping jumping from scene to scene from year to year Marion's chapter specifically almost feel like diary entries in some aspects and it just all really works so well uh Maggie shipstead just writes a really strong character point of view and you just immediately get drawn in by both of these women and girls um so so far quite the success obviously I also read the trader baru kamarand which is just one of the most unique very political fantasy books I've read in a long time it's interesting it's all about like the behind the scenes string polling but there is like a military and combat aspect in this later in the book as well but it never loses its heart and like where the power lies and that is what makes this series so unbelievably fascinating borrow is a main character so Dynamic not able to pin down her motivations where she's gonna take us next I just love the feeling of being outsmarted by characters and books and I feel like this is one of those series just so smart if you love slower moving political oriented fantasy books like this is such a great series to check out and then obviously I read 10 000 stitches by Olivia Atwater Bridgerton Cinderella fairy romance cute adorable loved the characters loved the setting absolutely flew through this it's like it's just like a Charming lifetime rom-com in a book and it delivered on everything I was hoping it would truly and honestly so so there you go honestly quite the home run if you ask me 700 pages of excellent books across the board I hope you guys enjoyed this video and I will see you soon with another one soon goodbyeguys it's Regan and welcome back to another reading Vlog this reading Vlog is another challenge based reading blog because I'm taking a bit of a mental health day so in honor of that I thought I would do as much reading as possible in this 24 hour span to not only catch up on my TBR celebrate the first day of fall and just in general relax yes I decided to give myself the day off work after having just a variety of kind of troublesome and truthfully 8-bit painful doctor appointments this week so you know I said let's just PTO my friend and let's read uh that being said I'm really excited about all the books I want to read over this 24 hours fans without further Ado let's chat about them so the first book I am currently reading and I have about 200 pages left which is the trader baru kamarant this book is all politics economic maneuvering Rebellion it is amazing honestly it swept me away from the get-go I'm fascinated by it I love the main character the setting there's just so much to say truly been excellent it's definitely like slower paced but I also haven't been able to put it down as I said 200 pages of this book are left the final stretches of it as well so I feel like I'll be able to fly through the final pages of this and this will be the first book I complete for this Vlog from there I want to pick up something a little lighter a little more fun so I decided to add 10 000 stitches by Olivia Atwater this is the second book to Olivia at Waters like Faye Regency romance lower spice romance series it's so cute it's so Charming it's just over 200 Pages as well so I feel like I will be able to fly through it and honestly I feel like I need a little bit of a palette cleanser and then the last book that's on my TBR is actually a literary fiction tour I feel like I have quite the range of stories here but it is great circle by Maggie shipstead this is a literary fiction story I just feel like I'm gonna really like bass structurally what it's about it's basically kind of paralleling to story lines one of a very famous pilot and then the other storyline is an actress who has been hired to play this famous pilot in a movie adaptation of her life so I've heard really great things about the writing and the characters it's about 500 pages so who knows how far I'll be able to get um I'm also rather chaotic and you never know if I'm gonna throw in like a fourth book into the mix via audiobook but nonetheless these are the books I hope to read over the next 20 24 hours or so it is 10 30 in the morning so we're gonna start off the day strong I had a little bit of work I really needed to squeeze it before I took the rest of the day off but clay also picked me up some Cheetos and we got donuts so it's been a very um what's the word like I don't know not relaxing but like cozy like these are my favorite things and so I'm happy to have them around it is also the first technical day of fall in Texas it is going to be a high of 99 degrees today so not very fall Vibes but I still decided to put on a sweater for the occasion and I will show you it might not actually be cold enough to wear this outfit but you know a little sweater vest blouse layered moment and then some of my recent favorite jeans so yeah I had to move my lamp a bit I feel like sometimes it feels like a hat when I sit down now to Vlog but I'm just gonna jump right in to reading that is but I want to talk a bit about the trader Bahu Kamara because I am going to sit down and try to almost finish it now and obviously I've read a good chunk um about 50 so I can give you my initial thoughts and feelings so the Baro comrant is a very politically oriented fantasy story um we're introduced to our main character baru at the beginning of this book she lives on like an island nation um with her family and on the island she grew up with it's very like communal in terms of raising children she has two fathers and a mother she's very loved she's very smart but everything changes once this Empire comes to basically take them over in this fantasy world there is this all-powerful Empire called the masquerade and they basically go about their Conquest through like economic exploitation they come first with trade contracts and then they make you reliant on their paper currency then they introduce things like illnesses and they slowly begin to take control of not only the government but the people and slowly and then all at once they're completely taken over with their arrival they bring things not only like their economic policies but also their social and religious policies as well and baru as a child is basically brought into one of their schools because she is so smart there she's basically taught what they view is the correct way to live they have very intense policies on like CIS hetero views on marriage they also have very intense policies on things like eugenics in terms of all of their different colonies as well it's very dark it's very intense and our main character baru recognizes this at a very young age and she basically has decided to take this Merit exam um as one of the kids in the school to get a very powerful position because she decides that she's going to work her way up in this government to essentially tear it apart this is basically a Revenge tale with our main character baru and kind of at the beginning of this book she essentially passes this exam with flying colors and she's assigned as a royal uh accountant for the empire in another colony which has been very rebellious for a very long time and she's sent there to basically try to keep it in check with their like major policies of economy when she arrives though it's obviously much more complicated than she initially thought but structurally how this book is written again it's very politically heavy our main character baru is very like calm cool and collected she's incredibly intelligent and again like how she's sort of viewing the players on the board is from a very like policy oriented point of view this is not a book with a lot of like combat or fighting or or like a gruesome scenes this is a story full of like Tyrion Lannister or glocca from the blade itself like the characters who are using their like conniving intellect to get what they want out of the world like this is what this story is set up to be and it is incredible watching baru basically try to navigate a political situation where she's basically doing what was done to her people but she's trying to like weigh the costs of it like is it worth the cost for her to achieve like her greater end story itself really really escalates borrower doesn't know who to trust she doesn't know who to really turn to and just like the twists and turns and the political aspects of this book are so fascinating again so much of the story hinges on the economy and what the author sort of explores is really fascinating a quote on the back says a breathtaking Contender with George RR Martin's A Game of Thrones perfect for those who thrive on fantasy with Machiavellian overtones that is like exactly how I would describe this book it's definitely slower in aspect X but the builds tend to be very very satisfying and just the setup is very very fascinating and again with Revenge being at the heart of it it's so great this Empire is evil and they have so many different types of evil policies to you know achieve their ends um and seeing our characters have to confront those and also just exist in a world where they where those policies are carried out like it's absolutely brutal but this book is really really really engaging and I'm very curious to see like how it's going to end because Rebellion is on the horizon and I am just truly fascinated so that is what this book is about it's the first book to I want to say a series like even more than a Trilogy so I'm very impressed by this first book I will for sure be checking out later books in this series as well I'm very pleased so anyway this is the first book I'm gonna try to complete again I have only 200 pages left so I better get to it I have completed my first 120 pages of my 24 hour readathon Vlog I have so little of this book left exactly 80 pages to be you know very clear um and oh my goodness this book is so good there are like so many names there's so many like alliances there's so much history like everything is really being explored and obviously baru herself is in the midst of it but she's also kind of an outsider which one makes her an asset but obviously she's trying to navigate a very complex political situation not really knowing who to trust and all the strategy and the alliances like everything is really like explained this book can be like difficult to follow at times but in like the best way possible I feel like it's outsmarting me I feel like also the brutality of the decisions that have to be made are like not glorified if that makes sense um and it's just coming together in a really smart way I'm so close to finishing and finishing my first book of the 24 hour readathon Vlog I'm gonna sit down and read more now it's so funny because I really also cannot wait to pick up a romance book because I feel like it's going to be very needed after I complete this but nevertheless just wanted to let you know I have read 120 pages or Megan Headway we are making Headway Leia's prepping lunch we got sent for Clay's birthday like a cool special package from Kat's Diner in New York we get to make a little uh sandwich recreation in her own house should be pickles delicious should be delicious duh delicious hi hi I finished the trader baru comrant this book was so good the ending incredible and the thing is that's interesting about this book is it really took it took us to some unexpected places trying to be as vague as possible here in fact at one point I was kind of like but where are we gonna go from here and then and made some choices and now I'm like what in the world it was so good brutal oh my God so brutal Cutthroat politics and even a little bit of military strategy in here as well amazing so good I've just been pacing around my kitchen I really should do some cleaning but instead I'm just reading instead um that means I have read 200 pages of this book for this Vlog to be honest they took me a little longer I think than what I would schedule reading 200 Pages normally would because it is like 3 P.M right now but uh this is a book I kind of just have to read a little more closely a little more carefully there's lots of names there's lots of Shifting alliances I just wanted to make sure I was tracking everything and boy oh boy was this good uh that being said I'm gonna start book two which is going to be a much more maybe like an easier fluffier lighter read of a fey romance which I think I will literally Breeze through and I'm looking forward so my goal is to try to actually finish another book before dinner tonight before I break for making dinner that's my goal and then I'll have read over 400 pages today which I'll be really pleased with um that being said though I need coffee I also need to like go outside and just scream into the void for a second no no but this was so good oh my gosh I'd heard really good things about this book but I also haven't heard that much about this book so interesting like my kind of fantasy you know what I mean my kind of fantasy oof interesting stuff but anyway coffee liquid salvation and my next book which is basically okay basically what this book is about is a maid falls in love with the Lord she's like I can't fall in love with the Lord but then she makes a bargain with a Fae like fairy Godfather who's kind of bad at his job she basically has to stitch um a bunch of stitches in his favorite coat and I think things begin to go awry it sounds delightful and just what I need so I'm gonna pick it up now and I truly can't wait hold that absolutely serving uh he is too cute with a reading update I've read 60 pages of 10 000 stitches and this book is so adorable so cute so funny I would honestly describe this book as like fairy Downton Abbey we follow our main character Effie she is a maid in a household um and it's rough not only are her hours long her boss or the lady of the house is really not great um they're overworked they're underpaid they're underappreciated for sure and fvr main character is in love with like the youngest son of the household um and she runs into a fairy during a party and he is like on trying to be virtuous kick and he was told that the way to be virtuous is to help the powerless and be cruel to the powerful so he's trying to help Effie out and um I I'm not sure like how this book is gonna go but he's so endearingly like dumb that it's just so great like he is trying so hard to be helpful but he's a fairy so he only knows like Bargains and like let's just say complicated situations knows nothing about Humanity or humans so he's trying to help but he's also like not doing a great job and he's also like so naive and Effie is so practical that their interactions are pretty hilarious so Effie understandably is pretty skeptical and suspicious of Faye and of um our main character Lord Blackthorne um because Faye are notorious for making very bad Bargains with humans and humans tend to suffer at their hands um but she has made a bargain with him despite this because she was kind of in a down moment super frustrated and she just wants like her own fairy tale also in a lot of ways this book kind of feels like Cinderella and it's just really Charming um Downton Abbey meets Cinderella with Faye like it's just great I love that it also includes a lot of the behind the scenes of like other Maids how the household Works um Effie's close friend and also co-workers like all these things are involved and then obviously Lord Blackthorne is like getting mixed up in all of this and his efforts to help um I don't know it's really cute so far it's very Charming I'm curious to see how it's going to continue to evolve basically Effie is becoming like a daughter of a baron or she's pretending to be with Lord blackthorne's help so I'm also assuming there's going to be a lot of complicated stuff occurring with that but this book is 250 Pages I'm 60 pages in I might have been a little over optimistic about how much I'd be able to finish before making dinner but I'm gonna sit down and read more now um but I am running out of time I took I took too long reading but that book was so good so it was okay I'm still flying through this I'm gonna finish this book today for sure and start my next book but uh I need to stay focused but I'm also getting hungry so what are you gonna do past 150 page Mark and oh my gosh this book is just so delightful what I really enjoy about Olivia at Waters romances is that they're not quite what they appear based off the synopsis they're so wholesome and like you're just rooting for everyone involved and that is definitely the case between our two main characters I'm obsessed with them so much actually like a little sweaty because clay and I were doing I did yard work in this outfit like why because we got a new like yard cleaning tool so we wanted to test it out and then we ended up just doing a bunch of yard work for like an hour but I'm gonna shower get ready for bed make dinner start maybe House of the Dragons tonight because clay and I have not started that show and I think it's gonna be a good night obviously finished my book and start my third book for this 24 hour readathon blog too so anyway that's the update you might not know it because you didn't see the before but our yard is looking rather spiffy right now we got like a new Leaf situation because we do have lots of big trees and we wanted to get a handle on that before fall comes in full force Clay's just putting stuff away but it's all the hates these blowers but she loves fetch hi friends I'm freshly laundered and it's time to start dinner well that was loud step one is to peel and chop up this giant sweet potato which is gonna accompany everything else I'm making basically making like steak bowls you know with sweet potatoes and lettuce and black beans so should be good foreign step one seasoned at least I'm just gonna cook these sweet potatoes for 30 minutes and now I'm gonna start marinating the steak and chopping up the rest of the veggies done and now it's time chop and while I wait for timers to go off I read and my bowl is done and then I also have my hot sauce to put on top Bon Appetit so we are finally starting House of the Dragon clay how do you feel about it how do you feel good really good personally I'm very curious to see how I'm gonna feel I just feel like everyone on tick tock's like rooting for this uncle and niece to get together and it's I feel like I just gotta be there to understand so I mean listen I love he was one of the Doctor Who doctors I know it's uh Matt Smith Matt Smith wow the most basic last name and we couldn't even remember it Smith Smith anyway okay we're gonna watch now hi guys I have all my stuff my one episode break from reading is complete honestly pretty impressed with the first episode of House of the Dragon clay and I really put it off um because honestly I wanted to wait till there's more reviews out because of how badly we were burned by obviously like the rest of the World by Game of Thrones but I don't know I guess I'm back in it I'm back I'm curious I love the sets they're so cool it's cool it's cool that they do like physical sets costumes are great I'm very curious about the storyline I try to stay away from spoilers and also just like references that are brought up in Game of Thrones so we'll see you've seen the first episode but now it's time to get back to reading I'm gonna finish 10 000 stitches now I have about 120 pages left and then I'm gonna start great circle so let's do it hi I am 200 pages into this book I only have 50 pages left and it's continuing to be so endearing I mean I would say this book is I would say this book is very straightforward this is by no means gonna like blow your mind it is also like a really cute and kind of more adorable leaning romance there's no Spice in this it's much more about like long looks like fluttering Hearts you know nervous chatter like that sort of vibe um what I also am really appreciating about this book too is kind of our main character's Arc um at the beginning of this book she harbored a lot of anger and she's just in general been mistreated in her profession always kind of treated as background almost like Furniture um and throughout the story it's a lot about her like finding her voice finding her purpose finding her place and like being comfortable taking up that space which I think is great on the flip side of that we have Lord Blackthorne who's kind of like learning how to have a human heart and human emotions and them working together is just so cute obviously there's going to be a bit of conflict there um miscommunications Finn humans are obviously very very different um but it's just very endearing on top of that there is a sort of Magical Mystery component um and I actually am really appreciating how it's being handled in this book it's one very fitting to our main character and two it's not so huge that it's like distracting from the Romantic plotline if that makes sense like it it Nestles itself in there very nicely where the romance can still kind of continue to take Center Stage but needless to say I 50 pages left I flew through this book this was a delight super easy to read a great palette cleanser and I'm enjoying it pleated confirming I've now read 400 and 450 Pages for this Vlog and Matilda has joined me uh but I'm now going to start create Circle um this is just such a nicely constructed novel I always appreciated nicely made literary fiction book they just make them different something about these hard covers I don't know what the these two two-tone situations they feel so nice even the dust jackets nice which I took off but I'm gonna start this just try to get as far as I can though I am getting sleepy and I do have to work tomorrow so I can't stay up too late nevertheless I'm gonna get to it good morning friends so happy to report I read um over 500 pages yesterday which I think is pretty solid um obviously I have all of this morning left to read and I'm hopeful to read about another goodness like 200 Pages or so of the great circle great circle is good it's definitely quite the genre shift from Reading 10 000 threads um it's very what's how would I would describe obviously it's literary fiction but far it's just opening on a bunch of different vignettes following a variety of characters connected to our main character's lives kind of a beginning if you will a family Saga perhaps and it is definitely not holding back any punches I definitely would want to caution for a variety of trigger warnings already um it's just very like straightforward in the like traumatic elements of various people's lives and like how that is like leading them to make certain choices in their life in these moments um but yeah it's definitely been very engaging so far and I'm very interested uh and the first or two pages I did read rather quickly so we're gonna keep letting this Curl we're gonna drink this coffee and we're gonna read I made some blueberry waffles delish I got dressed oh I was about to sit down and do a reading Montage but I'm realizing now I have not given you an update of what I've read so far so just pause time out let's do that so I have passed the 100 page Mark actually I'm like 150 pages into this book and this is really gripping um I really structurally am enjoying how it's written we're really shifting back and forth but a bit more about what this book is about so again this is a story that kind of parallels the storyline of this very famous pilot and her life and then an actress in sort of present-day Hollywood who is playing her in a movie so I think what's supposed to happen is like the intertwining of their experiences and how like the past is informing the present one of our main characters is Marion this very famous pilot at the turn of the century and a lot of the early chapters you're kind of just reading like Snippets of her childhood first a legacy of her parents like all of these small scenes that build up into like the tapestry that is her life personally where I'm at now like she's still pretty young um but then you kind of intersperse between these chapters you also get present day chapters from our other main character Hadley who was an actress and she at the beginning of this book is like embroiled in Scandal she's kind of like tanking her own life in some ways but it's also this movie which she's given an opportunity to be in is like an opportunity to sort of turn things around it is said like in the synopsis and you kind of get this sense that these two women's lives are very very different but aspects of their experiences similar to a lot of women in this world like begin to Echo each other as they're both kind of navigating spaces um that are filled with a lot of prejudice and expectations there's a lot of Fame there and how that book is written I'm really enjoying this style it's very blunt in a lot of ways I would describe it like it is I don't know like everyone is a very intense character their vices even their like good aspects of their character though it always seems like everyone kind of slides into like the negative a bit um but even still though it's just like everyone is like very Dynamic and everyone that's kind of present in this book is at least very fascinating um and I'm enjoying it I also feel like I'm reading it pretty quickly one because the chapters are pretty short and I also enjoy how we're kind of Shifting Through Time really quickly in Marion's chapters are moving very quickly through time like every time we encounter her perhaps a year has passed another six months we're just kind of moving to a new moment in her life but then obviously in between those we have present day and I like how as we move further and further along like things begin to sort of like overlap with each other which I think is pretty interesting um and yeah I don't know I'm just liking this book A Lot the writing is great the concept is great and it's definitely very very engaging so far I am on track to I want to say read about 200 pages of this book which would hit me squarely at about 650 675 Pages which I don't think is too bad at all but as I said I was gonna do a reading session but I realized I never actually updated you guys about this book so let's set this up get to reading and then I will check in in a bit oh Matilda is stealing my seat as we speak oh no she's leaving me all together foreign hi guys it's Reagan and welcome to the end of the Vlog the next day let's pop in and wrap up all three books I was able to read over the course of this Vlog all in all I want to say I read 250 450 700 pages over the course of this Vlog and honestly it was such variety is truly the spice of life all of these books were so different for one another and they all provided um just like a really interesting Tale in their own unique way so first off I want to talk about the great circle because I was able to read 250 pages of this book and wow this book is a force the characters that reside in this book are a force and the parallel timelines are just absolutely fascinating to digest um I would say Marion's chapters and her character are just so fascinating to read as a young woman as a woman growing up in the time period she is and just her tenacity and conviction to pursue something that really doesn't even have like a clear career path and obviously as a woman she's very limited in in her pursuit of it at all but she is not one to give up large chunk of this book uh in the beginning at least takes place in Montana in a small town and you also see like small town Dynamics playing this too you see Miriam grow up grow into a young woman face society as a young one for the first time and then kind of face those headwinds as she sees fit and then obviously we have to present day chapters of our main character kind of going through a scandal finding like a second chance in life and career more so by playing Marion in a movie and it's really interesting to see the parallels of like the female experience like female agency female power female sexuality in these two characters separated by so much time like what has changed what has stayed the same and it's just really interesting the writing is very strong um it really sucks you and I would say very straightforward again and there's again so many trigger warnings in this book um it's not very flowery in its writing style the chapters are almost staccato in nature like you're just kind of jumping jumping jumping from scene to scene from year to year Marion's chapter specifically almost feel like diary entries in some aspects and it just all really works so well uh Maggie shipstead just writes a really strong character point of view and you just immediately get drawn in by both of these women and girls um so so far quite the success obviously I also read the trader baru kamarand which is just one of the most unique very political fantasy books I've read in a long time it's interesting it's all about like the behind the scenes string polling but there is like a military and combat aspect in this later in the book as well but it never loses its heart and like where the power lies and that is what makes this series so unbelievably fascinating borrow is a main character so Dynamic not able to pin down her motivations where she's gonna take us next I just love the feeling of being outsmarted by characters and books and I feel like this is one of those series just so smart if you love slower moving political oriented fantasy books like this is such a great series to check out and then obviously I read 10 000 stitches by Olivia Atwater Bridgerton Cinderella fairy romance cute adorable loved the characters loved the setting absolutely flew through this it's like it's just like a Charming lifetime rom-com in a book and it delivered on everything I was hoping it would truly and honestly so so there you go honestly quite the home run if you ask me 700 pages of excellent books across the board I hope you guys enjoyed this video and I will see you soon with another one soon goodbye\n"