**A Weekend of Reading and Relaxation**

As I sat down to record this week's vlog, my cat looked at me with utter disdain and confusion. It seems that I was sleeping, and sometimes that gets me every time. Or, on other occasions, it's coffee and a bit of a backstory arc - in this case, the infamous Kakashi arc from Naruto. This little short sleeve sweatshirt says "Mom, I'm fine," which I thought was really funny.

I quickly changed into my evening comfortable clothes - gray leggings and socks - and put on a show of being just a normal person, like putting out a challenge on social media. But what everyone didn't see was that I was actually about to start cooking dinner, while watching the Challenge (more on that later). To be honest, pasta is in the works, but it's not exactly the healthiest option - very unhealthy, if you ask me.

While getting ready for the day ahead, I realized that I had been presented with a non-elimination storyline from The Challenge. It was one of those moments where I hate Bear right now and also can't stand the non-elimination storylines in general. But hey, at least there's pasta to distract me!

Before starting my workday, I just wanted to quickly shout out the book that I'm going to pick up tonight. After a long week of reading three books, I think it's time for something a little easier and breezy - maybe some Tessa Dare? That's right; I've got a new book in mind, one that promises to be "hilarious" and full of witty banter.

As I continued with my morning routine, I couldn't help but feel like what am I doing right now? Is there something special about this moment? Is there something waiting for me just beyond the horizon? It's a question that seems like it should have an answer, but sometimes the truth is that we'll never know.

And so, with that existential crisis out of the way, let's talk about some actual books! This weekend, I picked up a few new titles to read over the next couple of days. One was part of The Castle Ever After series by Tessa Dare - specifically, Matilda, which is the second book in the series. Another one that caught my eye was When a Scot Ties a Knot, which promises to be a fun and lighthearted romance.

But first things first, I had to finish off the last 130 pages of Shortfall by Robert Jackson Bennett. This book had its ups and downs, but overall, it was really well-written, with some fantastic plot reveals at the end. It's no surprise that I ended up loving this book - after all, Robert Jackson Bennett is one of my favorite authors of all time.

Last but not least, I tackled the entirety of The Guest List by Lucy Foley. This thriller-mystery novel turned out to be a real page-turner - more like a whodunit than your typical thriller, with plenty of twists and turns along the way. Overall, I ended up enjoying it, despite it not being exactly what I was in the mood for.

And that's where our conversation came to an end - or rather, began again. With three new books under my belt (or rather, three new pages read), I'm excited to dive into them over the next couple of days. Of course, with work and other responsibilities calling my name, we'll see how long it takes me to finish each one.

**Books Read This Weekend**

* Matilda by Tessa Dare

* When a Scot Ties a Knot (part of The Castle Ever After series)

* Shortfall by Robert Jackson Bennett

* The Guest List by Lucy Foley

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi everyone it's regan and welcome to another reading vlog as you can see it's very sunny and beautiful today in new york city and clay and i both have finished up our work day today so the weekend has officially begun um nothing wild planned for this weekend much of the same but we do have a few new activities we're excited to try but first and foremost i'm going to chat about my reading plans in full transparency i really don't know what i want to read after i finish the book i am currently reading but the book i'm currently reading is shortfall and i'm on page 370. so i have about 130 pages of this book book left and i hopefully will finish it tonight i'm really liking it a lot i talked about it a lot in my past reading vlog i didn't read very much this past work week unfortunately but i do plan to finish it obviously um second book to a fantastic fantasy series it has a super unique magic system great and lovable characters just so many great things going for it where i'm at in the book is definitely the like peak of the plot so things are happening and it's super exciting and i did not want to put it down um so i feel like i'll have no issue finishing it tonight this weekend clay and i have two game nights we have our normal game night tonight and then my game night with my brother tomorrow which is a much more serious trivia situation he i got sent this super long email outlining everything and i forgot my brother and his friends love trivia and they they put money down we're gonna lose but we'll have a fun time my brother is very smart and so are his friends yeah they're like not just saying that we're not smart but matilda's on our team so we have we that's she's our ace in the hole the theme is 90s and there's all these different categories my brother reads like wikipedia for fun he's like the master of fast facts but anyway yeah they love trivia i love trivia very much so it should be it should be a good time even though i'm a little intimidated i'll hide the answers in my beard um that being said so we have two game nights and then also all of my sushi making stuff came in i think i mentioned this on instagram but i bought a bunch of sushi making stuff off instagram i took a sushi making class um late last year with work and it was so much fun it was delicious and so i was like well let's make some sushi at home i made some veggie rolls for lunch today at work but clay ordered some sashimi grade salmon for us to make some like full rolls um tomorrow so we made some really good sushi today oh thanks i appreciate it it was super it was not surprising surprisingly good you always make really good food it was just i've only ever had sushi from a restaurant like it wasn't made of my home growing up anything like that and it was like a real sushi roll and it was a veggie one normally i'm like veggie roll no thank you because like vegetables take it back but yeah it was actually really tasty so i'm definitely gonna be doing that more at work um i got like rice seasoning and all of that i got my little roller it's a lot of fun so i'm excited to do that tomorrow um read animal crossing milly's looking at us like what we got some stuff to make apparel spritzes you know we're just trying to keep things fresh in this household uh should be a lot of fun but yeah i don't know what i want to read after shortfall so that'll be just like a journey we'll go on together tomorrow probably so i'm just not gonna even think about it right now it'll come to me when it comes to me but in the meantime uh i think we're about to watch the great because that's premiering tonight on who the world's already premiered dropped on hulu so we're gonna watch the first episode of that which i'm thrilled about have an app are all spritz oh and i'm just rambling this opening clip is so long tonight is our food ordering night so we ordered barbecue so that will be really tasty so those are our immediate plants so welcome to this vlog let's begin so i decided to go for a warm tone rainbow well i guess not rainbow but gradient these are all the warm colors i bought and maybe i'll do a cool tone next probably would still include the yellow but i think it looks really nice also making some aperol spritzes barbecue has arrived wow what a beautiful sight barbecue consumed and so we're obviously getting some naruto time in before game night begins it's an end to a beautiful day but guys it was so beautiful outside but obviously gotta get that naruto kakashi number one hottie in naruto don't at me actually let me know down below i would say the two hottest people in naruto shippuden kakashi shikamaru clay who would you say the two hottest dudes yeah that's brewski's um definitely kikashi he's he's smoking hot um and you don't even see his face ever i know he's smoking hot with literally yeah the most big the most face action you get are two eyes second hottest guy in naruto hmm shikamaru's brain super mario pretty hot economist because i'm a sasuke stan he is a sasuke stan he's gotta come back you love an emo boy but anyway we're gonna get back to it it's game night every sunday and matilda the salon is all right post game night can only mean one thing it's late and i'm going to do some reading and clay's playing call of duty with um the people from game night um but i'm really excited as i said earlier i have 130 pages left of shortfall i'm gonna try to finish it tonight i don't think i'm gonna be able to finish it tonight but i'm hoping to get a good chunk of the way through and then i can wake up tomorrow morning and finish it in the morning and then figure out what to read next because i still have no idea what i feel like reading but for now i'm just gonna focus on finishing shortfall which i'm very excited about so i'm gonna read until i ultimately fall asleep good morning everyone happy saturday i'm up i did my full skincare routine i feel very glowy i even have sunscreen on 10 a.m um i am about to sit down and do some reading i was able to read 60 pages last night but that does mean i have about 70 pages left to finish this book it is wild right now and i just feel like i want to pick it up right away read it right away and just get a book finished for the weekend and plus like i don't know i've been in the whole like the end game of this book it feels like for a long time so i feel like to do it justice i just need to finish it i have a pot of coffee brewing right now i'm actually going to put some music on to listen to little peaceful morning reading sesh if you will um so yeah i'll keep you guys posted but yeah i'm going to read this it's a little after 10 a.m we have sushi to make this afternoon and trivia to play tonight with my brother those are our grand plans for the day i think we'll watch naruto as well and then um i know i'm saying naruto wrong when i say naruto i think it's naruto um but sorry um and then oh goodness what else oh tomorrow i want to make some banana chocolate chip muffins because they're so good and i have bananas so those are my extended plans for the next couple of days hope you enjoy it should be a good time but for now i'm just gonna put some phoebe bridges on some very chill sad music and read the last bit of shortfall which i'm really excited about look at it just like just that little bit there and then i need to figure out what i want to read next i still have absolutely no flipping idea but we'll deal with that later i'm not even thinking about that right now guys i finished shortfall the end was so good it was very emotional i teared up at multiple moments and honestly i was like as i was reading i was like how are they gonna make a book three so a lot of you guys commented on my last vlog that goodreads says there's a trilogy so i was like i'm getting to the end i was like how's this gonna be book three and then and then it established how there's gonna be a book three and oh my gosh it's gonna be another agonizing year of waiting sorry to eat a bunch of croutons i need to go get a sip of water anyone else just snack on croutons just me i love bread okay anyway i changed into some comfy daytime clothes including my scrunchie can you see i bought a bunch of scrunchies so this is a new thing i'm trying out um wish me luck but now we're gonna watch top chef because we haven't seen this week's past episode and then he's gonna go pick up our order of fish for our sushi that we're gonna make this afternoon so just gonna do a lot of chilling this afternoon i am gonna figure out what i want to read next but i need to marinate a bit on shorefall a bit more because of how emotional and just action-packed the that book was it really picks up i would say like the the beginning it's kind of just like getting its bearings based off the end of the first one and there is that three-year time skip so you're kind of like all right what's going on what are we doing and then it just like picks up speed picks up speed picks up speed and then it's this runaway train um but yeah i loved it and i'm really excited for the next one in the series and sad that it's not just in my possession already so i need to figure out what i want to read next but i honestly have no idea so i'm gonna watch top chef instead hey clay went to go pick up our fish but i just put some rice i washed some rice i washed it first and now i'm cooking it um we just did like a cup and a half i got specific sushi making rice which worked really well when i made it yesterday i bought some rice seasoning online the only one i could get was a kimchi flavor but luckily i love kimchi so we're just going with it and then i got some rice vinegar to season the rice as well we have our rolling mats cutting board i'm not gonna cut up anything until obviously the fish is here i need the rice to cook and cool first anyway so i'm just kind of starting the process got a bowl got it all it's gonna be so much fun i'm so excited all right things are going down i got the salmon avocado some cucumber wasabi spicy mayo the seasoned rice let's roll some stuff up guys reagan is such a good chef look at hers wow that is chef these are mine boom put the little salmon on the side bad clay you know look at her look at her riding riding and rolling you did a great job do you want any sushi none for you good job well done we did it i made three clay made too but we'll we'll split i tried to do some with rice on the outside which i'll say harder than rice on the inside but she's learning we have been watching naruto we've started a very good new arc but now we're about to go on a walk but now we're about to go on a walk with that one because it's actually a really beautiful day outside hi it's me and then when we get back i need to figure out what book i want to start and prep to lose in trivia tonight so you know oh i have my new scrub i already show you guys my scrunchie i think so but anyway we're gonna head out for a walk around the old neighborhood gotten back from our walk i picked up some more fresh flowers got a little summer bouquet going here i honestly don't know how much height how tall flowers must be in a vase like that but anyway got those and then some more peonies which are my absolute favorite flower it's peony season so i just couldn't say no and i also already have some over there that i bought last weekend so it's a good time but now it's a great time because millie gets her dog ice cream come over here and she does it so intensely and very quickly such a good patient girl sitting enjoy your little ice cream millie she'll not move from the spot i'm gonna give her like two minutes and the whole thing will be gone also made clay and i a little frozen treat and i put i also decided to put a uh yellow summer dress on because i don't know it's beautiful outside and i really like this dress so why not i don't feel like you need a reason to do anything i'd be wearing a snow suit right now so i have departed into the bedroom to play some animal crossing watch some real housewives and hopefully get some reading in before trivia night in a few hours matilda but honestly i have no idea what i want to read i'm kind of deciding between three books right now one the thieves daughter by jeff wheeler which is book two to the king fountain series this is short and i feel like i will just kind of fly through this and i really enjoyed the first one also i want to read the guest list or i'm deciding between a romance novel as well i just do not know what i want to read it's so confusing so i'm just going to kind of sit marinate on these see what happens but i'm going to play a little bit of animal crossing because i can't decide so might as well just you know there's no rush i'll figure it out i think maybe this because i just haven't really read a thriller no i don't know though guys i just i don't know i kind of want to read a romance but then i also kind of want to read that luckily it's a product if i want to read it all at once so you know millie it could be worse i could not want to read anything i won't lie i lost track of time and played like two hours of animal crossing and didn't read it all i think i've decided on reading the guest list so i'm gonna start that later making some additional afro spritzes for round two trivia night tonight also we found out we're actually on my brother's team which it's like teams of five which i'm pretty jazzed about you know we're pooling our knowledge resources uh and i like that yeah some sibling bonding but we're all set up for zoom and uh we're about to we're about to log on matilda and popcorn we ordered delivery for dinner but we're in the midst of playing trivia so i didn't show it trivia was so fun basically how it was structured was one of our friends was the moderator and they like organized this whole thing it was kind of like what you would do trivia-wise at a bar so there was all these different rounds and categories there was an overall arching theme and in zoom you could have like meeting rooms so you have teams and you guess it was a really great time wouldn't you say clay it was it was hard some of the questions were really hard but that kind of makes it fun because if it's too easy then it's like everyone gets 100 that's not how it should work you know but now we're going to watch some naruto and then i'm hopefully going to start my book tonight as well hi everyone so watch some naruto but now i have decided it is time to start reading for the day i honestly couldn't decide between the books but so i just really picked one at random i just stared at them and i'm like whatever i'll just randomly like close my eyes grab one and i'll just read the next one like once i finish the first cannot talk once i finish one of them i'll just immediately pick up the other and the one that i picked up with my eyes closed was the guest list which i'm excited about this is not very long and it's a thriller it's basically i think like a modern reinterpretation of and then they were done by agatha christie it's set on an island during a wedding and it's like a who's who wedding full of like pomp like full of pompous rich sort of people and i think someone dies and there's a murderer on the loose and all in all i love whodunit style mysteries it's definitely like the subcategory of mystery thriller that i personally love the most i think there's like an element of like uh historicalness and almost like a playfulness within those style of narratives like no matter how creepy it is there's something kind of like mustache twirly about it that i think makes it feel less scary for someone like me who's literally scared of everything but anyway i'm gonna sit down and start it i'm really hoping it's like super super fast um because i don't know i'm almost like mildly slumpy because i couldn't make a decision it felt weird so i'm hoping this book is one that just like immediately sucks me in i read it super quickly stay up late tonight finish it early tomorrow and then maybe even start the thief's daughter tomorrow as well we'll see i don't want to count any chickens before they hatch as they say but i'm gonna get to reading now quick check in i am getting sleepy i've had this unfortunate habit of basically almost immediately falling asleep when i start reading at night now but i've passed the 50 page mark this book is not long it's just over 300 pages and so far i'm liking it it's definitely um i knew the characters wouldn't be likable going into it which i have no issue with especially when it comes to a murder mystery um and it's interesting it shifts pov from every chapter and i'm assuming you're kind of just getting grounded i'm in like the day before the wedding and i think we're just getting grounded with all the different povs and their complicated relationships with one another for whatever murder we're about to encounter everyone sucks but that's just kind of what you expect or not everyone sucks but everyone's hiding something or something's going on something dark and they're secret or there's trouble then everyone's like putting on like a false you know outward appearance i would say there's definitely some trigger warnings in this for self harm and i would also say just like body image and things so i would definitely just want to flag that but i am liking it um it's not the best thriller i've ever read so far but it's entertaining for sure hi everyone happy sunday i have been up for a little while i even got dressed i'm really proud of myself because i am wearing pants i'll show you the outfit in a little bit but i don't know i've only been able to put on sweats and dresses recently so i've been trying to put push myself to wear pants because i have so many cute spring summer shirts that i've just you know pulled out from under my bed that i've been so excited to wear and haven't been wearing them because pants were too daunting but anyway it's what time is it it's um probably like 11 30. i woke up and bought some turnips i did some relaxing i watched some random compilation videos on youtube like one about abandoned cities it happens um i've also read a little bit more of the guest list this morning i've now passed the 100 page mark of this book i really feel like i'm gonna be able to finish this this afternoon clay has work today um so i'm gonna try to just hunker down chill do some reading the guest list is definitely entertaining it is what i anticipated in that like it's uncomfortable because you don't like anyone and you have this feeling that like i've already mentioned they're all hiding something but i'm pretty sure they've all done bad things and we're going to uncover that especially like again this is set during a wedding so the groom is this tv survivalist personality and all of his school boy friends are there and there was a lot of like rituals at their all-boys school and it's very like blizzardly boys kind of mentality you're not supposed to like them um but it's it just makes me especially uncomfortable like these like puffed-up men who just like think they can do anything and have done bad things to each other and other people kind of thing um but yeah again you're switching from different povs and everyone comes from like a different background like you follow like a married couple and the man is was really good friends with the bride growing up and they were both like in love with each other and they seemingly still have this weird relationship that also makes me uncomfortable especially for the wife whom i like if there's anyone in this book i like it's hannah um and she is a trooper she's at this wedding she's won a bs she's around all these terrible people her husband has this weird relationship with the bride and i don't know any hoosies it's entertaining for sure and it's a fast read um given the pacing and i like that it's switching from present to like just a few days before the wedding to kind of set everything up i still don't know who's died and we don't know like no investigation has started but i'm exactly one third of the way through so i feel like it's going to be happening soon right now though i'm going to make some chocolate chip banana muffins because honestly i can't stop thinking about them this is probably like my favorite recipe i have found they're so good and i have a bunch of bananas that i literally just buy and let get older so i can make these muffins um so i'm gonna make some right now and enjoy them today i have some soup i'm gonna heat up for lunch as well and then dinner i'm gonna make one of our hello freshes but first i'm gonna make some chocolate chip and animal muffins because they are so good so i'm gonna do that right now making my muffins i have all my ingredients out i even have extra bananas per clay's request voila they're in the oven and i am so excited i have more batter than usual because i use that extra banana and i think they're going to be like the best batch yet oh let me show you my quick ootd it's me this is what i'm wearing these paper bag jeans which are like fake jeans and then this little my washing machine is done place this cute song um and uh this embroidered madewell shirt from many many years ago but it's really soft and i like the cotton and it's just very casual and comfy these jeans are the best purchase i've ever made and i got them on sale so i hope i can have them for the rest of my life they're literally like fake pants i love them they would not be sunday without a fresh batch of muffins per usual i did have chocolate chip half blueberry so good i've got a muffin i've got my coffee and i'm going to sit down and get some serious reading in i feel like for the past couple of weeks i haven't been very good at reading during the afternoon so i'm trying to resolve that i've also already read like 40 pages while waiting for these muffins to cook so i'm just gonna keep on trucking maybe i'll finish this mid-afternoon and i'll start a third book which would be kind of shocking i haven't read so much in a weekend in a while so i'm just gonna keep reading this it's definitely intriguing me i hate everyone but the mystery is there and there's a sense of like eeriness that i think is really engaging i still don't know what the actual mystery is which is a little surprising that i don't even know who's dead yet but i'm uncomfortable which i feel like is partially the goal also look at matilda she's been here all day just in her little basket by the sun on the blanket just living her best sunday life i'm gonna sit right there and read so let's start hi everyone so i am flying through this book i'm almost two thirds of the way through i'm just under the 200 page mark and i have to say this book is really entertaining it has this sort of like dark enchanting quality to it it's very mesmerizing and foreboding it has this unease that you feel throughout it i definitely would say it wasn't exactly what i was expecting going in i anticipated this to be maybe having a little more humor in it and again i still don't even know who is dead so i'm a little surprised how long so it's not so much of a hugh donet as i thought it would be in that normally books like this open on a murder which it did but i think part of the mystery is who died less of like who did it like who has the motive so we're kind of like very much reading from all these different povs and there's all these like secrets and i'm sure it feeds into the murder and it will still be a very satisfying reveal i hope so but it's less about like trying to solve the mystery i'll i do enjoy the setting it's on this like very remote island off the coast of ireland it definitely has some like great spirit to it there's also this element of like this dark disturbing like sexual tension over everything like predatory so i would definitely flag that going into it there's just this group of there's just this group of men that are just the worst just the worst and it's definitely like a large part of the story and they're supposed to make you feel uncomfortable i just want to flag that it's entertaining it's really good and i'm very curious to see how it's going to wrap up but i did think it was going to be a bit more funny a little more cheeky and i thought the mystery would be more central to like trying to figure out what happened kind of like a knives out or a seven and a half deaths of evelyn hardcastle we're not really solving the mystery at all but they're it's still very mystery centric just different than i was expecting but anywho i'm gonna keep reading and try to figure out what the crap is going on it's a great book just to fly through on a sunday i'm really jazzed that i'm reading so much this afternoon it's been a minute since i've read in the afternoon like this on a sunday um so yeah i definitely think i'm gonna finish this pretty easily and then i'm gonna make lunch which is gonna be gumbo tasty tasty guys i finished this book just it was 313 pages long i could not put it down it's definitely not a perfect book but it is entertaining and it is dark and it is satisfying i would say i really liked how the whole thing wrapped up the last like 50 or 60 pages were really well paced and i would say the the beginning feels a little slow and then it just gets faster and faster and faster and then you're jumping perspective like some pers most perspectives are they are only a page long and you're jumping from all these characters and i just feel like it kind of came together in a really satisfying thunder cloud some of the things i did guess and see coming but there was definitely some pieces i did not put together until i was confronted with them and i found it to be very satisfying in that way this is definitely a very dark book with a laundry list of trigger warnings so this is not like a fun campy whodunit style story this is definitely a dark book about some very screwed up people trapped together on an island with some lots of secrets but all in all obviously i read this book really quickly in like 24 hours and it was highly entertaining and if anything kind of what i wanted in a lot of ways like i wanted to be entertained i wanted to have a good mystery i wanted to read a book and just marathon it through and i was definitely able to do that with this and it's been a minute since i feel like i've read a book so quickly um so yeah i finished it read the 313 pages of this i'm now gonna make lunch it is like past three i did not mean to make lunch so late but i wanted to finish the book you know we have like 50 pages left of like i don't i'm just gonna finish it like i'm not gonna do anything else until this is done kind of thing but now i'm now i run it so wow maybe i'll start my third book of the week in here soon it's like i have the whole day ahead of me still it's time for lunch and i'm gonna heat up some gumbo from good stock it's so good this had a little leak in it had sweats in a pack but i'm heating up some rice this will be like a five minute lunch and then i think i want to watch some reality tv i'm not sure i still can't believe i read a whole book this afternoon basically lunch is served reagan in her element i'm giving an island tour you are no don't show them it's not ready hey millie how you doing i love you when matilda just suddenly wakes up and looks at you with utter disdain and confusion she's like what i was sleeping gets me every time or coffee and a kakashi backstory arc i've changed into my evening comfortable clothes this little short sleeve sweatshirt says mom i'm fine which i thought was really funny then i'm just wearing gray leggings and socks hey just put the challenge on and i'm actually about to start cooking dinner i'm watching the challenge because i find emily i'm gonna turn it off now before you hear a bunch of uncensored cursing in the background just wanted to say pasta is in the works challenge is being consumed so this is what i'm making very healthy did my chopping cooking the onions and the peppers watching the challenge i hate bear right now i actually hate all of the non-elimination story lines right now and she's done super unhealthy cannot wait to dive in so i'm going to watch more challenge in here and play some animal crossing but i also just wanted to quickly shout out the book i'm going to pick up and i think i'm actually going to download a new tessa dare book to start tonight i just want something a little easy a little breezy to read throughout my work week and i feel like what is this like there's one called the marquee it's the second book in the castle ever after series is the one i'm on so i think matilda i am going to read that but first i'm gonna watch more challenge and i'm gonna work on the entrance to my island and make it look a little better hey everyone and welcome to the end of the vlog the next day so all in all i would say i am very very pleased with all the reading i was able to accomplish this weekend i started three books well i either started or finished three different books so i feel like i had a huge range of things i've read as well i'm actually going to start with the book i started last night because i don't think i did an additional check-in i did end up picking another tessa dare book up i was going to pick up the second book and the cast was ever after series but i read the synopsis and i think it had cheating in it so i just jumped to the third one and that one is um when a scot ties a knot and the promise of this one i thought sounded hilarious it's basically about a girl in british society who's like super super shy so to avoid having to go to like balls and go out in society she made up a fake um like fiance like a scottish fiance fighting in the war and she's been like writing letters to him for years um to like no one she just assumed they wouldn't go anywhere so she just wrote all these letters and they got sent out into oblivion blah blah blah um turns out he's a real person and he shows up like 10 years later after the war with all of her letters and he's like time for us to get married so it's a really really funny setup and so far it's very entertaining um set in the highlands and all of that shenanigans it has all like the trappings of a tessa dare book good witty banter romance this one is a little different i still think the girl meets duke series is the best one i've read but i read 60 pages of this and it was obviously a super fast read very entertaining exactly what i wanted so i started that and i'm excited to finish it over the next couple days and the premise i think is one that is just like extra special i love it i love this idea of like letters and they keep referring to them it's really funny um obviously outside of that i also read 130 pages of shortfall the last remaining pages of this i ended up loving this book it's picked up speed wonderfully at the end maybe a little slow in the beginning but it just built on itself so so so well had so many great plot reveals and i just cannot wait for the third one i don't know how i'm gonna wait robert jackson bennett is just just one of my favorite authors of all time all of his books are just exceptional and then lastly of course i read the entirety of the guest list which is a thriller mystery novel um kind of a whodunit but definitely more like the thriller mystery relationship based book um i ultimately thought this was very entertaining i gave it like a 3.75 out of 5 stars it kept me turning the pages even though it wasn't exactly what i was looking for i still enjoyed it so those are all the books i picked up this weekend i think i read over 500 pages but i'm really just jazzed that i read so many different types of books romance thriller fantasy um anyway i hope you guys enjoyed this video and i will see you soon with another one soon goodbyehi everyone it's regan and welcome to another reading vlog as you can see it's very sunny and beautiful today in new york city and clay and i both have finished up our work day today so the weekend has officially begun um nothing wild planned for this weekend much of the same but we do have a few new activities we're excited to try but first and foremost i'm going to chat about my reading plans in full transparency i really don't know what i want to read after i finish the book i am currently reading but the book i'm currently reading is shortfall and i'm on page 370. so i have about 130 pages of this book book left and i hopefully will finish it tonight i'm really liking it a lot i talked about it a lot in my past reading vlog i didn't read very much this past work week unfortunately but i do plan to finish it obviously um second book to a fantastic fantasy series it has a super unique magic system great and lovable characters just so many great things going for it where i'm at in the book is definitely the like peak of the plot so things are happening and it's super exciting and i did not want to put it down um so i feel like i'll have no issue finishing it tonight this weekend clay and i have two game nights we have our normal game night tonight and then my game night with my brother tomorrow which is a much more serious trivia situation he i got sent this super long email outlining everything and i forgot my brother and his friends love trivia and they they put money down we're gonna lose but we'll have a fun time my brother is very smart and so are his friends yeah they're like not just saying that we're not smart but matilda's on our team so we have we that's she's our ace in the hole the theme is 90s and there's all these different categories my brother reads like wikipedia for fun he's like the master of fast facts but anyway yeah they love trivia i love trivia very much so it should be it should be a good time even though i'm a little intimidated i'll hide the answers in my beard um that being said so we have two game nights and then also all of my sushi making stuff came in i think i mentioned this on instagram but i bought a bunch of sushi making stuff off instagram i took a sushi making class um late last year with work and it was so much fun it was delicious and so i was like well let's make some sushi at home i made some veggie rolls for lunch today at work but clay ordered some sashimi grade salmon for us to make some like full rolls um tomorrow so we made some really good sushi today oh thanks i appreciate it it was super it was not surprising surprisingly good you always make really good food it was just i've only ever had sushi from a restaurant like it wasn't made of my home growing up anything like that and it was like a real sushi roll and it was a veggie one normally i'm like veggie roll no thank you because like vegetables take it back but yeah it was actually really tasty so i'm definitely gonna be doing that more at work um i got like rice seasoning and all of that i got my little roller it's a lot of fun so i'm excited to do that tomorrow um read animal crossing milly's looking at us like what we got some stuff to make apparel spritzes you know we're just trying to keep things fresh in this household uh should be a lot of fun but yeah i don't know what i want to read after shortfall so that'll be just like a journey we'll go on together tomorrow probably so i'm just not gonna even think about it right now it'll come to me when it comes to me but in the meantime uh i think we're about to watch the great because that's premiering tonight on who the world's already premiered dropped on hulu so we're gonna watch the first episode of that which i'm thrilled about have an app are all spritz oh and i'm just rambling this opening clip is so long tonight is our food ordering night so we ordered barbecue so that will be really tasty so those are our immediate plants so welcome to this vlog let's begin so i decided to go for a warm tone rainbow well i guess not rainbow but gradient these are all the warm colors i bought and maybe i'll do a cool tone next probably would still include the yellow but i think it looks really nice also making some aperol spritzes barbecue has arrived wow what a beautiful sight barbecue consumed and so we're obviously getting some naruto time in before game night begins it's an end to a beautiful day but guys it was so beautiful outside but obviously gotta get that naruto kakashi number one hottie in naruto don't at me actually let me know down below i would say the two hottest people in naruto shippuden kakashi shikamaru clay who would you say the two hottest dudes yeah that's brewski's um definitely kikashi he's he's smoking hot um and you don't even see his face ever i know he's smoking hot with literally yeah the most big the most face action you get are two eyes second hottest guy in naruto hmm shikamaru's brain super mario pretty hot economist because i'm a sasuke stan he is a sasuke stan he's gotta come back you love an emo boy but anyway we're gonna get back to it it's game night every sunday and matilda the salon is all right post game night can only mean one thing it's late and i'm going to do some reading and clay's playing call of duty with um the people from game night um but i'm really excited as i said earlier i have 130 pages left of shortfall i'm gonna try to finish it tonight i don't think i'm gonna be able to finish it tonight but i'm hoping to get a good chunk of the way through and then i can wake up tomorrow morning and finish it in the morning and then figure out what to read next because i still have no idea what i feel like reading but for now i'm just gonna focus on finishing shortfall which i'm very excited about so i'm gonna read until i ultimately fall asleep good morning everyone happy saturday i'm up i did my full skincare routine i feel very glowy i even have sunscreen on 10 a.m um i am about to sit down and do some reading i was able to read 60 pages last night but that does mean i have about 70 pages left to finish this book it is wild right now and i just feel like i want to pick it up right away read it right away and just get a book finished for the weekend and plus like i don't know i've been in the whole like the end game of this book it feels like for a long time so i feel like to do it justice i just need to finish it i have a pot of coffee brewing right now i'm actually going to put some music on to listen to little peaceful morning reading sesh if you will um so yeah i'll keep you guys posted but yeah i'm going to read this it's a little after 10 a.m we have sushi to make this afternoon and trivia to play tonight with my brother those are our grand plans for the day i think we'll watch naruto as well and then um i know i'm saying naruto wrong when i say naruto i think it's naruto um but sorry um and then oh goodness what else oh tomorrow i want to make some banana chocolate chip muffins because they're so good and i have bananas so those are my extended plans for the next couple of days hope you enjoy it should be a good time but for now i'm just gonna put some phoebe bridges on some very chill sad music and read the last bit of shortfall which i'm really excited about look at it just like just that little bit there and then i need to figure out what i want to read next i still have absolutely no flipping idea but we'll deal with that later i'm not even thinking about that right now guys i finished shortfall the end was so good it was very emotional i teared up at multiple moments and honestly i was like as i was reading i was like how are they gonna make a book three so a lot of you guys commented on my last vlog that goodreads says there's a trilogy so i was like i'm getting to the end i was like how's this gonna be book three and then and then it established how there's gonna be a book three and oh my gosh it's gonna be another agonizing year of waiting sorry to eat a bunch of croutons i need to go get a sip of water anyone else just snack on croutons just me i love bread okay anyway i changed into some comfy daytime clothes including my scrunchie can you see i bought a bunch of scrunchies so this is a new thing i'm trying out um wish me luck but now we're gonna watch top chef because we haven't seen this week's past episode and then he's gonna go pick up our order of fish for our sushi that we're gonna make this afternoon so just gonna do a lot of chilling this afternoon i am gonna figure out what i want to read next but i need to marinate a bit on shorefall a bit more because of how emotional and just action-packed the that book was it really picks up i would say like the the beginning it's kind of just like getting its bearings based off the end of the first one and there is that three-year time skip so you're kind of like all right what's going on what are we doing and then it just like picks up speed picks up speed picks up speed and then it's this runaway train um but yeah i loved it and i'm really excited for the next one in the series and sad that it's not just in my possession already so i need to figure out what i want to read next but i honestly have no idea so i'm gonna watch top chef instead hey clay went to go pick up our fish but i just put some rice i washed some rice i washed it first and now i'm cooking it um we just did like a cup and a half i got specific sushi making rice which worked really well when i made it yesterday i bought some rice seasoning online the only one i could get was a kimchi flavor but luckily i love kimchi so we're just going with it and then i got some rice vinegar to season the rice as well we have our rolling mats cutting board i'm not gonna cut up anything until obviously the fish is here i need the rice to cook and cool first anyway so i'm just kind of starting the process got a bowl got it all it's gonna be so much fun i'm so excited all right things are going down i got the salmon avocado some cucumber wasabi spicy mayo the seasoned rice let's roll some stuff up guys reagan is such a good chef look at hers wow that is chef these are mine boom put the little salmon on the side bad clay you know look at her look at her riding riding and rolling you did a great job do you want any sushi none for you good job well done we did it i made three clay made too but we'll we'll split i tried to do some with rice on the outside which i'll say harder than rice on the inside but she's learning we have been watching naruto we've started a very good new arc but now we're about to go on a walk but now we're about to go on a walk with that one because it's actually a really beautiful day outside hi it's me and then when we get back i need to figure out what book i want to start and prep to lose in trivia tonight so you know oh i have my new scrub i already show you guys my scrunchie i think so but anyway we're gonna head out for a walk around the old neighborhood gotten back from our walk i picked up some more fresh flowers got a little summer bouquet going here i honestly don't know how much height how tall flowers must be in a vase like that but anyway got those and then some more peonies which are my absolute favorite flower it's peony season so i just couldn't say no and i also already have some over there that i bought last weekend so it's a good time but now it's a great time because millie gets her dog ice cream come over here and she does it so intensely and very quickly such a good patient girl sitting enjoy your little ice cream millie she'll not move from the spot i'm gonna give her like two minutes and the whole thing will be gone also made clay and i a little frozen treat and i put i also decided to put a uh yellow summer dress on because i don't know it's beautiful outside and i really like this dress so why not i don't feel like you need a reason to do anything i'd be wearing a snow suit right now so i have departed into the bedroom to play some animal crossing watch some real housewives and hopefully get some reading in before trivia night in a few hours matilda but honestly i have no idea what i want to read i'm kind of deciding between three books right now one the thieves daughter by jeff wheeler which is book two to the king fountain series this is short and i feel like i will just kind of fly through this and i really enjoyed the first one also i want to read the guest list or i'm deciding between a romance novel as well i just do not know what i want to read it's so confusing so i'm just going to kind of sit marinate on these see what happens but i'm going to play a little bit of animal crossing because i can't decide so might as well just you know there's no rush i'll figure it out i think maybe this because i just haven't really read a thriller no i don't know though guys i just i don't know i kind of want to read a romance but then i also kind of want to read that luckily it's a product if i want to read it all at once so you know millie it could be worse i could not want to read anything i won't lie i lost track of time and played like two hours of animal crossing and didn't read it all i think i've decided on reading the guest list so i'm gonna start that later making some additional afro spritzes for round two trivia night tonight also we found out we're actually on my brother's team which it's like teams of five which i'm pretty jazzed about you know we're pooling our knowledge resources uh and i like that yeah some sibling bonding but we're all set up for zoom and uh we're about to we're about to log on matilda and popcorn we ordered delivery for dinner but we're in the midst of playing trivia so i didn't show it trivia was so fun basically how it was structured was one of our friends was the moderator and they like organized this whole thing it was kind of like what you would do trivia-wise at a bar so there was all these different rounds and categories there was an overall arching theme and in zoom you could have like meeting rooms so you have teams and you guess it was a really great time wouldn't you say clay it was it was hard some of the questions were really hard but that kind of makes it fun because if it's too easy then it's like everyone gets 100 that's not how it should work you know but now we're going to watch some naruto and then i'm hopefully going to start my book tonight as well hi everyone so watch some naruto but now i have decided it is time to start reading for the day i honestly couldn't decide between the books but so i just really picked one at random i just stared at them and i'm like whatever i'll just randomly like close my eyes grab one and i'll just read the next one like once i finish the first cannot talk once i finish one of them i'll just immediately pick up the other and the one that i picked up with my eyes closed was the guest list which i'm excited about this is not very long and it's a thriller it's basically i think like a modern reinterpretation of and then they were done by agatha christie it's set on an island during a wedding and it's like a who's who wedding full of like pomp like full of pompous rich sort of people and i think someone dies and there's a murderer on the loose and all in all i love whodunit style mysteries it's definitely like the subcategory of mystery thriller that i personally love the most i think there's like an element of like uh historicalness and almost like a playfulness within those style of narratives like no matter how creepy it is there's something kind of like mustache twirly about it that i think makes it feel less scary for someone like me who's literally scared of everything but anyway i'm gonna sit down and start it i'm really hoping it's like super super fast um because i don't know i'm almost like mildly slumpy because i couldn't make a decision it felt weird so i'm hoping this book is one that just like immediately sucks me in i read it super quickly stay up late tonight finish it early tomorrow and then maybe even start the thief's daughter tomorrow as well we'll see i don't want to count any chickens before they hatch as they say but i'm gonna get to reading now quick check in i am getting sleepy i've had this unfortunate habit of basically almost immediately falling asleep when i start reading at night now but i've passed the 50 page mark this book is not long it's just over 300 pages and so far i'm liking it it's definitely um i knew the characters wouldn't be likable going into it which i have no issue with especially when it comes to a murder mystery um and it's interesting it shifts pov from every chapter and i'm assuming you're kind of just getting grounded i'm in like the day before the wedding and i think we're just getting grounded with all the different povs and their complicated relationships with one another for whatever murder we're about to encounter everyone sucks but that's just kind of what you expect or not everyone sucks but everyone's hiding something or something's going on something dark and they're secret or there's trouble then everyone's like putting on like a false you know outward appearance i would say there's definitely some trigger warnings in this for self harm and i would also say just like body image and things so i would definitely just want to flag that but i am liking it um it's not the best thriller i've ever read so far but it's entertaining for sure hi everyone happy sunday i have been up for a little while i even got dressed i'm really proud of myself because i am wearing pants i'll show you the outfit in a little bit but i don't know i've only been able to put on sweats and dresses recently so i've been trying to put push myself to wear pants because i have so many cute spring summer shirts that i've just you know pulled out from under my bed that i've been so excited to wear and haven't been wearing them because pants were too daunting but anyway it's what time is it it's um probably like 11 30. i woke up and bought some turnips i did some relaxing i watched some random compilation videos on youtube like one about abandoned cities it happens um i've also read a little bit more of the guest list this morning i've now passed the 100 page mark of this book i really feel like i'm gonna be able to finish this this afternoon clay has work today um so i'm gonna try to just hunker down chill do some reading the guest list is definitely entertaining it is what i anticipated in that like it's uncomfortable because you don't like anyone and you have this feeling that like i've already mentioned they're all hiding something but i'm pretty sure they've all done bad things and we're going to uncover that especially like again this is set during a wedding so the groom is this tv survivalist personality and all of his school boy friends are there and there was a lot of like rituals at their all-boys school and it's very like blizzardly boys kind of mentality you're not supposed to like them um but it's it just makes me especially uncomfortable like these like puffed-up men who just like think they can do anything and have done bad things to each other and other people kind of thing um but yeah again you're switching from different povs and everyone comes from like a different background like you follow like a married couple and the man is was really good friends with the bride growing up and they were both like in love with each other and they seemingly still have this weird relationship that also makes me uncomfortable especially for the wife whom i like if there's anyone in this book i like it's hannah um and she is a trooper she's at this wedding she's won a bs she's around all these terrible people her husband has this weird relationship with the bride and i don't know any hoosies it's entertaining for sure and it's a fast read um given the pacing and i like that it's switching from present to like just a few days before the wedding to kind of set everything up i still don't know who's died and we don't know like no investigation has started but i'm exactly one third of the way through so i feel like it's going to be happening soon right now though i'm going to make some chocolate chip banana muffins because honestly i can't stop thinking about them this is probably like my favorite recipe i have found they're so good and i have a bunch of bananas that i literally just buy and let get older so i can make these muffins um so i'm gonna make some right now and enjoy them today i have some soup i'm gonna heat up for lunch as well and then dinner i'm gonna make one of our hello freshes but first i'm gonna make some chocolate chip and animal muffins because they are so good so i'm gonna do that right now making my muffins i have all my ingredients out i even have extra bananas per clay's request voila they're in the oven and i am so excited i have more batter than usual because i use that extra banana and i think they're going to be like the best batch yet oh let me show you my quick ootd it's me this is what i'm wearing these paper bag jeans which are like fake jeans and then this little my washing machine is done place this cute song um and uh this embroidered madewell shirt from many many years ago but it's really soft and i like the cotton and it's just very casual and comfy these jeans are the best purchase i've ever made and i got them on sale so i hope i can have them for the rest of my life they're literally like fake pants i love them they would not be sunday without a fresh batch of muffins per usual i did have chocolate chip half blueberry so good i've got a muffin i've got my coffee and i'm going to sit down and get some serious reading in i feel like for the past couple of weeks i haven't been very good at reading during the afternoon so i'm trying to resolve that i've also already read like 40 pages while waiting for these muffins to cook so i'm just gonna keep on trucking maybe i'll finish this mid-afternoon and i'll start a third book which would be kind of shocking i haven't read so much in a weekend in a while so i'm just gonna keep reading this it's definitely intriguing me i hate everyone but the mystery is there and there's a sense of like eeriness that i think is really engaging i still don't know what the actual mystery is which is a little surprising that i don't even know who's dead yet but i'm uncomfortable which i feel like is partially the goal also look at matilda she's been here all day just in her little basket by the sun on the blanket just living her best sunday life i'm gonna sit right there and read so let's start hi everyone so i am flying through this book i'm almost two thirds of the way through i'm just under the 200 page mark and i have to say this book is really entertaining it has this sort of like dark enchanting quality to it it's very mesmerizing and foreboding it has this unease that you feel throughout it i definitely would say it wasn't exactly what i was expecting going in i anticipated this to be maybe having a little more humor in it and again i still don't even know who is dead so i'm a little surprised how long so it's not so much of a hugh donet as i thought it would be in that normally books like this open on a murder which it did but i think part of the mystery is who died less of like who did it like who has the motive so we're kind of like very much reading from all these different povs and there's all these like secrets and i'm sure it feeds into the murder and it will still be a very satisfying reveal i hope so but it's less about like trying to solve the mystery i'll i do enjoy the setting it's on this like very remote island off the coast of ireland it definitely has some like great spirit to it there's also this element of like this dark disturbing like sexual tension over everything like predatory so i would definitely flag that going into it there's just this group of there's just this group of men that are just the worst just the worst and it's definitely like a large part of the story and they're supposed to make you feel uncomfortable i just want to flag that it's entertaining it's really good and i'm very curious to see how it's going to wrap up but i did think it was going to be a bit more funny a little more cheeky and i thought the mystery would be more central to like trying to figure out what happened kind of like a knives out or a seven and a half deaths of evelyn hardcastle we're not really solving the mystery at all but they're it's still very mystery centric just different than i was expecting but anywho i'm gonna keep reading and try to figure out what the crap is going on it's a great book just to fly through on a sunday i'm really jazzed that i'm reading so much this afternoon it's been a minute since i've read in the afternoon like this on a sunday um so yeah i definitely think i'm gonna finish this pretty easily and then i'm gonna make lunch which is gonna be gumbo tasty tasty guys i finished this book just it was 313 pages long i could not put it down it's definitely not a perfect book but it is entertaining and it is dark and it is satisfying i would say i really liked how the whole thing wrapped up the last like 50 or 60 pages were really well paced and i would say the the beginning feels a little slow and then it just gets faster and faster and faster and then you're jumping perspective like some pers most perspectives are they are only a page long and you're jumping from all these characters and i just feel like it kind of came together in a really satisfying thunder cloud some of the things i did guess and see coming but there was definitely some pieces i did not put together until i was confronted with them and i found it to be very satisfying in that way this is definitely a very dark book with a laundry list of trigger warnings so this is not like a fun campy whodunit style story this is definitely a dark book about some very screwed up people trapped together on an island with some lots of secrets but all in all obviously i read this book really quickly in like 24 hours and it was highly entertaining and if anything kind of what i wanted in a lot of ways like i wanted to be entertained i wanted to have a good mystery i wanted to read a book and just marathon it through and i was definitely able to do that with this and it's been a minute since i feel like i've read a book so quickly um so yeah i finished it read the 313 pages of this i'm now gonna make lunch it is like past three i did not mean to make lunch so late but i wanted to finish the book you know we have like 50 pages left of like i don't i'm just gonna finish it like i'm not gonna do anything else until this is done kind of thing but now i'm now i run it so wow maybe i'll start my third book of the week in here soon it's like i have the whole day ahead of me still it's time for lunch and i'm gonna heat up some gumbo from good stock it's so good this had a little leak in it had sweats in a pack but i'm heating up some rice this will be like a five minute lunch and then i think i want to watch some reality tv i'm not sure i still can't believe i read a whole book this afternoon basically lunch is served reagan in her element i'm giving an island tour you are no don't show them it's not ready hey millie how you doing i love you when matilda just suddenly wakes up and looks at you with utter disdain and confusion she's like what i was sleeping gets me every time or coffee and a kakashi backstory arc i've changed into my evening comfortable clothes this little short sleeve sweatshirt says mom i'm fine which i thought was really funny then i'm just wearing gray leggings and socks hey just put the challenge on and i'm actually about to start cooking dinner i'm watching the challenge because i find emily i'm gonna turn it off now before you hear a bunch of uncensored cursing in the background just wanted to say pasta is in the works challenge is being consumed so this is what i'm making very healthy did my chopping cooking the onions and the peppers watching the challenge i hate bear right now i actually hate all of the non-elimination story lines right now and she's done super unhealthy cannot wait to dive in so i'm going to watch more challenge in here and play some animal crossing but i also just wanted to quickly shout out the book i'm going to pick up and i think i'm actually going to download a new tessa dare book to start tonight i just want something a little easy a little breezy to read throughout my work week and i feel like what is this like there's one called the marquee it's the second book in the castle ever after series is the one i'm on so i think matilda i am going to read that but first i'm gonna watch more challenge and i'm gonna work on the entrance to my island and make it look a little better hey everyone and welcome to the end of the vlog the next day so all in all i would say i am very very pleased with all the reading i was able to accomplish this weekend i started three books well i either started or finished three different books so i feel like i had a huge range of things i've read as well i'm actually going to start with the book i started last night because i don't think i did an additional check-in i did end up picking another tessa dare book up i was going to pick up the second book and the cast was ever after series but i read the synopsis and i think it had cheating in it so i just jumped to the third one and that one is um when a scot ties a knot and the promise of this one i thought sounded hilarious it's basically about a girl in british society who's like super super shy so to avoid having to go to like balls and go out in society she made up a fake um like fiance like a scottish fiance fighting in the war and she's been like writing letters to him for years um to like no one she just assumed they wouldn't go anywhere so she just wrote all these letters and they got sent out into oblivion blah blah blah um turns out he's a real person and he shows up like 10 years later after the war with all of her letters and he's like time for us to get married so it's a really really funny setup and so far it's very entertaining um set in the highlands and all of that shenanigans it has all like the trappings of a tessa dare book good witty banter romance this one is a little different i still think the girl meets duke series is the best one i've read but i read 60 pages of this and it was obviously a super fast read very entertaining exactly what i wanted so i started that and i'm excited to finish it over the next couple days and the premise i think is one that is just like extra special i love it i love this idea of like letters and they keep referring to them it's really funny um obviously outside of that i also read 130 pages of shortfall the last remaining pages of this i ended up loving this book it's picked up speed wonderfully at the end maybe a little slow in the beginning but it just built on itself so so so well had so many great plot reveals and i just cannot wait for the third one i don't know how i'm gonna wait robert jackson bennett is just just one of my favorite authors of all time all of his books are just exceptional and then lastly of course i read the entirety of the guest list which is a thriller mystery novel um kind of a whodunit but definitely more like the thriller mystery relationship based book um i ultimately thought this was very entertaining i gave it like a 3.75 out of 5 stars it kept me turning the pages even though it wasn't exactly what i was looking for i still enjoyed it so those are all the books i picked up this weekend i think i read over 500 pages but i'm really just jazzed that i read so many different types of books romance thriller fantasy um anyway i hope you guys enjoyed this video and i will see you soon with another one soon goodbye\n"