The Squeamish Reader's Confession: A Look at My Recent Reads

I have to admit, I'm a bit too squeamish for some books, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying them. In fact, it often motivates me to read with caution and attention. Recently, I finished reading two books that pushed my limits in different ways.

One of the books that didn't quite make it through my queue was "The Maze Runner" style novel, set in a school that has been quarantined due to a mysterious plague. I won't go into too much detail about the plot, but let's just say that the author did an excellent job of creating a suspenseful and thrilling story. However, as someone who prefers not to read the synopsis beforehand, I found myself getting increasingly uncomfortable as the story progressed. The thought of a deadly plague spreading through a school made my skin crawl, and I had to stop reading at one point just to collect my thoughts. It was a 10% completion rate for me, but I applaud the author's ability to craft a compelling narrative despite my squeamishness.

My next read, on the other hand, was "Before the Devil Breaks You" by Liveth Bray. This is the third book in The Diviner series, and I had been eager to dive back into the world of 1920s New York. Unfortunately, I had let it sit on my shelf for a while, until Halloween rolled around again. I decided to listen to the audiobook at twice the speed, hoping to make up for lost time. And make up for it I did! The story was just as captivating as I remembered, with a complex web of characters and perspectives that kept me engaged throughout. The author's use of perspective was particularly impressive, as each character had a unique voice that added depth to the narrative. I loved how the audiobook brought these characters to life, making them feel like real people. However, I have to admit that some parts of the story were quite scary, and my scare factor is pretty low. Nevertheless, I'm willing to endure being terrified for the sake of this amazing series.

I must say, "Before the Devil Breaks You" is one of the most well-crafted books in The Diviner series, tackling complex issues like immigration, racism, and domestic abuse with sensitivity and nuance. The author's ability to balance these difficult topics with the rest of the story is a testament to their skill as a writer. As someone who has grown attached to this series over the years, I was thrilled to be back in 1920s New York, but also made aware of the darkness that lurks beneath its surface.

Overall, I'm excited to dive into my next read, "The King of Crows" by Joe Abercrombie. Releasing in February, this audiobook promises to be a thrilling ride, and I'm itching to get started. After all, I've already waited too long for this one!

For those who might be interested in exploring new books, I highly recommend checking out The Diviner series. It's a ghostie mystery story that will keep you on the edge of your seat, with complex characters and atmospheric settings. If you're looking for something similar to "The King of Crows", I'd suggest starting with one of the previous books in the series.

That's all for now! I hope you enjoyed this little peek into my reading life, and don't forget to subscribe to my channel for more content. As a special treat, I'll be posting regular reading blogs throughout November, so be sure to check those out as well.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everyone its Hayley and today I'm going to be talking about some of the books that I have read recently so first of all it's been forever since I filmed in this setup like I don't like standing for videos because it just seems like so much effort but I also do like standing for videos so that's a bit of a conundrum but I decided to film in this setup today and I'm really happy about it because I do love the background this is like my favorite background to film with especially with like the candle in the background you know setting the ambience and such it's fun it's a mood but this recent reads video is essentially going to be an October wrap up because all of the books that I have to talk about today are spooky creepy and Halloweeny in some sort of ways so I don't like Halloween I know it's just it's not for me I don't like scary things but I do like reading things that kind of set the tone for the Halloween season and I felt like I did so badly with keeping up with my fault EBR but I actually read half of the books that were on my fault TBR so that's pretty good and a lot of them I read in October and I got to like most of the ones that I really wanted to get to so I'm very proud of myself Gomi so there is one book that I've read recently that wasn't particularly spooky so I'm actually going to include that book in my next recent reads video which will be coming I don't know when but hopefully I read enough to have it out soon but as per usual for my recent reads video I'm not going to be spoiling these books I'm going to be giving my spoiler free little mini review and I will have timestamps in the description box down below in case there was a particular book you were looking to hear about so without further ado let's get into it so the first book that I have to talk about today is capturing the devil by Carrie Maniscalco so this is the fourth book and the final book of the stocking Jack the Ripper series that is one of my favorite series I loved it so so much and the conclusion was very bittersweet I'm sad that it's over but also so glad that I got the chance to read it so I'm not really going to be giving you a summary for this book as it is the final book but stalking Jack the Ripper is kind of very romantic mystery series that is set in Victorian times and it's really really good you follow Audrey Rose who she's a very Riven woman and she is fascinated by forensics and studying that but she's living in a time where she's not really allowed to study that and she has her love interest Thomas Cresswell who is like the ultimate book boyfriend and together they go on all sorts of different adventures each book is set in a different place this book was set in America and you follow them as they are sorting out different murder mysteries so really fun and perfect for the fall season I listen to this book on audiobook as I did with the rest of the series and it was a fantastic conclusion I thought it was very well done however it did kind of veer in a different direction than the previous books I will say the second book what's it even called hunting Prince Dracula Wow that one is still my favorite out of the series that one is set in Romania and it was just very good I loved that one and escaping from Houdini is my least favorite this one would fall in like the number three spot for me in terms of like my liking of them what I think happened in the later books is it started veering more toward the romance which I didn't necessarily mind because that is something that I was pretty invested in but this book in particular was super super romance heavy I felt like the romance was the ape lie and the murder mystery ended up being the BEP lie and I kind of forgot that there was even a murder mystery going on at times but I liked the fact that the romance was given precedence because I didn't like how the romance went in the previous book I felt like there were a lot of issues with it there so I think that this definitely fixed those issues now the romance plotline did kind of give me Jane Eyre vibes in a way and if you've read it you know what I'm talking about if you've read both of the books then you definitely know what I'm talking about so that was very interesting to read about I think there was a lot of tension and the romance was overall very well done the murder mystery was well done as well it just wasn't really the storyline that I was super invested in like I mentioned this book is set in America so it's set in Chicago and it's actually set at the World's Fair which was an interesting setting to be in I liked the kind of whimsy that that brought to the story so I felt like the atmosphere was very well done once again I think Carrie Maniscalco does a great job of that and I think it wrapped things up nicely I feel satisfied with the conclusion that I got and I think that it ended where it should have ended it's over I gave this a 4.5 out of 5 stars maybe a 4 out of 5 stars I'm not too sure on my braiding next I finally finished truly devious by Maureen Johnson now I say finally finished because I had started the audiobook at one point and the audiobook was super confusing so I put it down but now I finally actually physically read it and really enjoyed it - truly devious is once again a murder mystery that is set at Ellingham Academy and Ellingham Academy is this boarding school that is set in Vermont in like the middle of this mountain and no one can really get to it and it was founded by this tycoon who made this school to be like kind of a labyrinth there's all sorts of secret passages and winding roads and there are things that he doesn't even know about it was made to be a place where some of the most prestigious minds could go and study without having to worry about the cost of tuition but it's not all fun and games at Ellingham Academy because shortly after opening the founders wife and daughter are actually kidnapped and there's a note left behind that has this riddle on it signed by the pseudonym truly devious now that all took place in 1930 fast-forward to modern day when Stevie Bell is a true crime aficionado who is accepted to Ellingham Academy and is going and she has the mission of trying to solve this cold case that no one was ever able to solve but before she can even try to solve it it happens again dun dun duh so this book features dual timelines you get the 1930s timeline but it's mostly focused on the modern-day timeline and I will say both of them I think we're very well done I liked how as interwoven but the 1930s timeline interested me a little bit more and I think that's just a personal preference thing where I really like historical fiction and the setting was fascinating but the setting in modern day was also fascinating like Ellingham Academy I just built it up in my mind to be this very wild place with all these like secret passages and stuff and I think that's such a fascinating setting for a murder mystery it's just so cool this was kind of set up to be a puzzle piece sort of mystery where in both timelines you're kind of putting together the pieces of what happened and trying to figure it out now I'm not very good i piecing together mysteries it's just not my thing I don't my brain doesn't work that way honestly so I was surprised by all the twists and turns that took place in this novel and Stevie was a great character to follow really loved her I found her to be very interesting the one thing I will say about her is I don't think the romance was necessary and I guess that's not really a comment on her but the romance plotline didn't do much for me didn't care for it and it kind of came out of nowhere in my opinion so that was the one downside to it overall I felt like it was a sort of Sherlock Holmes II story and super atmospheric the setting did a lot to add to the atmosphere I felt like it was just the perfect read for fall it's also mostly set in fall because like you know beginning of school and everything so the fall atmosphere just worked for me all of the characters in the story were very interesting it's sort of a Breakfast Club thing where each character is defined by one central thing that is what they are known for but I do wish that the side characters had developed a little bit more maybe that's something that we'll get in future books I know that the second book is already out the third book is coming out in 2020 I've not decided yet if I'm going to continue with the series because as much as I really enjoyed this book I don't know how I felt about the ending I didn't really like it honestly I kind of was meant about it but overall as a whole the story did get a four out of five stars for me I'm intrigued by it I'm just not sure if I'm intrigued enough to continue with the series but I probably will read the next one next Halloween it will be kind of an annual tradition until I'm done with the trilogy honestly I was really compelling and readable so I probably will continue with the series especially just because of Stevie I found her to be fascinating bringing brought into her analytical mind and the logic behind it was interesting for me because that's not how my brain works at all so seeing how she fit the puzzle pieces together kept me going throughout the story and I'm not into true-crime because I'm a chicken and I'm scared of everything but I can definitely appreciate her background with that so I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars I thought it was a solid read next I read a spell book of the Lost and Found by Moira fallly Doyle this is another book that I had and there's actually quite a few on this list it's because I save all my mysteries and all my like fall buy books for fall but then fall like comes and goes before I even know it because I feel like Christmas starts the second that Halloween is over and I love Christmas and like I'm excited about it but it also kind of cuts fall short like it's November 6 3 or 7th or something like that and I woke up to snow this morning like why I feel like we don't get fall at all it's very sad but that's enough of me whining so this is a sort of witchy mystery that is set in Ireland and it follows a bunch of different characters and they all have lost something it starts off with olive and her best friend Rose they go to this party and they leave it having lost something and then they meet these mysterious teenagers and become friends with them and all of them realize that they have been losing things recently and that they have secrets and as those secrets kind of unfurl as does the story this book is kind of like a magical realism in my opinion it's not like witches as you know them but there is the spell book that is used to conjure back lost things so there's some dabbling in magic and the atmosphere is what made this story it's kind of hard to pitch to you because it is such an atmospheric book that you just kind of have to read the writing style is perfect boy fali Doyle has an amazing writing style she uses a lot of metaphors that just build up this kind of atmospheric I feel like I've said atmospheres so many times but like it's this sort of fall mystery aesthetic that just works like most of this story is set in the woods and like creepy cabins and like stuff like that like kind of backwoods places and I listen to the audiobook and it was so well done because the narrator is Irish so it brought me to Ireland and the forests of Ireland last time I went to Ireland it was a very bad experience not Ireland's fault it was entirely mine I was sick and I hurt my ankle and it was a lot but this time being in Ireland it was very cool so I recommend the audiobook if it is available to you and you can listen to it definitely check it out this was just a dark and spooky story perfect for Halloween I actually read this on a 24-hour full reading Day vlog so I will link that down below if you guys wanted to go and check that out but it was perfect for that day now the one thing I will say is there a lot of characters and I had trouble keeping track of all the characters I kind of got a lot of them confused lots of quirky characters very different unique characters but there's just so many of them and like it was like different groupings so that kind of got to be a little bit confusing at times but that might just be a personal preference thing but all the characters were flawed which made them very intriguing and I did like the relationships between them like within the groups but also outside of the group's you had familial relationships sibling relationships just friendships building romantic relationships and there was a lot of representation in here you have bisexual and lesbian representation and that was very well done and honestly the characters were perfect for the story there was just so many of them in the fact that each of them had a perspective and like each group had their one narrator it just got it got to be confusing like as confusing as it is to explain it to you but if you're looking for a sort of modern-day magical witchy ish story a perfect book to read on a gloomy rainy fall day definitely check this out also I give it a 3 out of 5 stars next I read pumpkin heads by Rainbow Rowell and faith Aaron Hicks this is a graphic novel that is set at fall in a pumpkin patch it is perfect for fall I also read this on that 24 hour reading Day vlog so I'll link that down below and it follows Dasia and Josiah who are best friends they have worked at this pumpkin patch every single year since they started high school but this is their last time working at the pumpkin patch before they go to college so Josiah has had a crush on this girl for the longest time never actually said anything and Dasia encourages him to finally on his last night working at the pumpkin patch actually do something about it so you follow them across the pumpkin patch as they're trying to get to this girl before the end of their shift I don't have this book anymore else I would show you the inside of it because it's beautiful the art is so gorgeous and the drawing style is honestly what brought me into the story the color scheme that was used is perfect for fall just brought me to the pumpkin patch but I didn't love this book as much as everyone else seems to I feel like I got what I signed out for with a cute fun fall love story but I ultimately think that just didn't have enough plot in my personal preference to carry me through it so I ended up giving this a 3 out of 5 stars just because I feel like it gave me what I wanted from it but I just would have preferred a little bit more plot from it honestly it was cute it was perfect for fall there just wasn't a lot of substance to it and I don't feel like it's something that I will remember having read and I feel like that sounds kind of harsh but I don't mean it in a mean way it's just it was like okay next is these witches don't burn by Isabel sterling so this is bringing witches once again to a modern setting but not so much a creepy modern-day setting more of just like your average everyday high schooler setting if that makes sense so the main character Hannah is an elemental witch so she can control all of the elements she's living in Salem Massachusetts appropriately but she still has to keep magic a secret and is also going through a difficult breakup which is made complicated by the fact that her ex is a part of her coven and there are lots of evil witch we things going on that was a way to say that sentence and her ex seems to be one of the prime targets so she has to work with her to try and protect her but in the meantime she's also trying to date this new girl Morgan who has showed up and it's just a lot of chaos this story surprised me by how much I enjoyed it honestly it had a lot of unique elements I loved the fact that it was dealing with a character going through a breakup and it wasn't like a breakup to get to that relationship again and rekindle that old flame it was her going through that breakup and going through the process of trying to move on when she's encountering her ex all the time and she's trying to date this new girl and Morgan was a great character so pure loved her but the breakup I enjoyed that I thought that that was really great because you don't get to see that a lot in Y ay and I think it should be more common to see this book features a lot of representation there's by representation trans representation and lesbian main characters so it's awesome on those fronts and it kind of reminded me of Harry Potter in a way just because it was like school but also magic and I don't know how to explain it but it was more of like a Halloweeny modern Gossip Girl version of Harry Potter I honestly don't know how to explain it all but that being said this book wasn't all light and fluffy it did get darker than I was expecting it to the magic system was really cool I liked the fact that there are the different kinds of witches and there was also stigma amongst them in between the different kinds that was interesting and the fact that Hannah was a character who wasn't just discovering her powers she already knew about them and you were just being introduced to them she was like familiar with them from the start and I was kind of a nice change because I feel like a lot of times in sort of fantasy books like that they're just learning about their powers and her like what and they're kind of getting over the initial shock of that but for Hannah it's just a way of life she's known she's an elemental witch her entire life and you're not getting that from this book if that's what you're looking for but I liked that Hannah was a really great character she was sympathetic and very loving but also could kick ass she was a really badass character so she was a pleasure to follow and Morgan like I mentioned was great I feel like the side characters were also very well-developed and there was good action all around throughout the story I never really had a moment where I felt like I was bored because there was action going on with the bromance there was action going on with the witchy things so I feel like I was very entertained the entire time I will say I kind of saw the ending coming but that didn't really bug me because I enjoyed the story overall once again not sure if I'm going to continue with the series I probably will because they ended on kind of a cliffhanger by overall I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars I thought I'd have this book with my notes but apparently I didn't but I also recently read Serpent and dove by Shelby Mahurin this oh this book I'm really sad about this book I'm not going to lie so this is which is a certain sort of Victorian France setting I honestly don't even remember what the time period was exactly but you follow two characters one is a witch who has fled from her coven and the other is a witch hunter sort of and they end up having to get married and chaos is what ensues obviously but this book just like everyone had loved it everyone was raving about it but I just didn't really get it to be honest I gave this a 2 out of 5 stars I believe because I did enjoy the main character loo I had been expecting a good romance a steamy romance but I just didn't really believe it and the atmosphere of France was cool but also I don't think reached its full potential like I don't know this just wasn't for me and I kind of just wanted to be done with it I probably would have dnf'd it if it hadn't had so much hype surrounding it and I'd seen people say like oh it's boring from the first little bit but then it gets better so then I just kept on going because I was like it has to get better soon because I so wanted to love this story I truly truly did but unfortunately it just wasn't for me and I am very sad about it I'm not gonna lie but oh well they can't all be winners next is the babysitter's coven by Kate Williams her main character as Mae has a baby-sitters club with her best friend they've been doing it forever she kind of loves it it kind of doesn't like it but she also doesn't want to get a real job so she sticks to babysitting so enter new girl Cassandra and Cassandra really wants to join their baby-sitters club that is all she wants to do and she doesn't really seem like the type to want to do that so Esme and her best friend are kind of confused but they're like sure you can join and it turns out that there's a lot more going on behind the scenes so Cassandra found this note from her mother that said find the babysitter's so that's what she did she was just following her mother's orders so Cassandra and Esme discover that being a babysitter is way more than it seems it actually means that you are protecting not only the kids that you're babysitting but also the world I read this a couple of days before Halloween but honestly this is like perfect for a day of Halloween breed because the climax of the story is set on Halloween and it's witches but mixed with babysitter's this reminded me a lot of undead girl gain I will say though I do kind of get it mixed up with this one I think it's the similar covers and the sort of similar plotline with witches in a modern-day setting in high school and stuff like that but they are very different stories I left the babysitting element I thought that was so cool like mixing baby-sitters club which I never read the original baby-sitters club stories but you got to have like the purity that kind of brings to mind mixed with a coven and witches and witchcraft and all of that that was interest so this was a story where you have the character is learning about magic alongside the reader and a lot of people were saying that this is like Buffy I've never seen Buffy I'm not really like interested in Buffy but apparently it's like very much like that with like the teacher mentor and I don't really know what else about Buffy but apparently it's very much like Buffy so if you liked that you might like this overall this was just a fun book to read I felt like I was entertained and it was very humorous I liked the humor that was brought into it it was easy to read there were a lot of cliches in it but like it was shamelessly cliched so that was cool I feel like it was cliche for the purpose of being cliche you got a mix of the high school drama with witchcraft and the high school drama at times was a little bit catty and unnecessary but I do feel like the mix of the two was very well done and made for a fun story this is a bit at the younger end of why so if you're just starting out with why a I think this would be a great book to check out and like I said it's perfect for Halloween the characters were very quirky and they would like have a theme for what they dressed up as everyday so it's almost like costumes every day and just overall definitely a Halloween sort of I don't know the words for what I'm thinking of I guess it's like a sort of hocus pocus vibe but I don't think that's what I'm really trying to say so I'll just stop so I give this a 3.5 out of 5 stars I thought it was a solid read thanks really quickly I wanted to talk about wilder girls by Rory power which I ended up Dianna thing but I don't fault the book on that at all it's entirely my own fault because so many people were talking about this and when a book is really hyped up and it seems like something that I'd be interested in all I really know about it was that it was kind of similar to learning the flies but it was gender bent like it's not actually a retelling but sort of like that so I was intrigued by it and I was like yes I'm gonna pick it up and I should have read the synopsis ahead of time because it's nasty like there's like a plague sort of disease thing and I can't read about those things I'm Way too squeamish I feel like I seem like such a baby in this video but honestly I'm too squeamish for that so couldn't do it I think I got like 10% of the way through and I was like no this is way too much for me like I was listening to the audiobook while driving and I was like gagging because disgusting so not the books fault at all entirely mine I just like to go into books not reading the synopsis so that I don't have a preformed expectation for it because sometimes that will let me down but this was a case where I should have read the synopsis oops but for those of you who might be interested in it this book is set in a school that has been quarantined because there's been this plague it's kind of a mix of The Maze Runner and a plague honestly is what I got from it so if that sounds like something for you check it out maybe you'll like it and the final book that I have to talk about is before the devil breaks to you by liveth Bray I finally read this book I'm so excited about it this is one where I got like probably 75% of the way through last Halloween but then Halloween was over so I was like well I need to save this for Halloween which was dumb because I should have just continued reading it so I started listening to the audiobook for this on Halloween day and then I ended up finishing it five days later I think so that's pretty good because this is a 20-hour audiobook it's so long I listen to it at twice the speed and still it was like yikes I almost just fell but this is the third book in the diviner series if you haven't read that series yet go and read it just like stop and read it because it's so good it's a ghostie mystery story that is set in 1920s New York and the atmosphere of a oh my god I just love this series so much in this book reminded me of how much I loved it because it had been so long since I had read a book in this series and I was very glad to be back in that world and just oh this is a story that has a lot of characters as well and a lot of perspectives but I think perspective is utilized like it's as a writer fascinating to me and I feel like every single character I'm so invested in their stories and each of them has a unique voice so I don't mind that there are so many characters the audiobook also does a great job of making those characters distinctive and also bringing you to 1920s New York the atmosphere of this story is impeccable oh my god it's just so good like so good this is probably my scare limit though because they are pretty creepy and can get really scary at times so I can't do much more than this but since the series has such like a dear place in my heart I will put up with being terrified now this book in particular in the all series really has but I think this book did the best if I'm remembering the others correctly of bringing up some issues that are still prevalent in modern day such as immigration racism and domestic abuse so many things and making you think about them and realize that they've been around for so long live a braid is a very good job of dealing with complicated issues like that so in case you couldn't tell I gave you this a five out of five stars it's my first 5 out of 5 and I feel like forever but like oh my god it was so good and I'm so ready for it king of crows which comes out in February and I'm gonna listen to the audiobook right away I'm not gonna save it for Halloween I need to devour it immediately that was kind of dangerous but like I went for it so those are all the books that I read recently I hope you guys enjoyed today's but you know please let me know what you have read recently and if you have read any of these books your thoughts on them and also don't forget to click that subscribe button then click that Bell icon so you'll be notified whenever I post I post new videos twice a week I'm getting back into doing breeding blogs for the month of November so I will definitely have reading blogs for you every single Monday which is yay and then we are getting into book miss so I will have a video every other day in December we have lots of new content coming for you guys I don't know why I say we like there's more than one of me I wish there was because it would make it easier to do all of this but thank you guys for watching today's video don't forget to check out my social media and stuff and keep up with me there and I will see you guys in my next video soon byehey everyone its Hayley and today I'm going to be talking about some of the books that I have read recently so first of all it's been forever since I filmed in this setup like I don't like standing for videos because it just seems like so much effort but I also do like standing for videos so that's a bit of a conundrum but I decided to film in this setup today and I'm really happy about it because I do love the background this is like my favorite background to film with especially with like the candle in the background you know setting the ambience and such it's fun it's a mood but this recent reads video is essentially going to be an October wrap up because all of the books that I have to talk about today are spooky creepy and Halloweeny in some sort of ways so I don't like Halloween I know it's just it's not for me I don't like scary things but I do like reading things that kind of set the tone for the Halloween season and I felt like I did so badly with keeping up with my fault EBR but I actually read half of the books that were on my fault TBR so that's pretty good and a lot of them I read in October and I got to like most of the ones that I really wanted to get to so I'm very proud of myself Gomi so there is one book that I've read recently that wasn't particularly spooky so I'm actually going to include that book in my next recent reads video which will be coming I don't know when but hopefully I read enough to have it out soon but as per usual for my recent reads video I'm not going to be spoiling these books I'm going to be giving my spoiler free little mini review and I will have timestamps in the description box down below in case there was a particular book you were looking to hear about so without further ado let's get into it so the first book that I have to talk about today is capturing the devil by Carrie Maniscalco so this is the fourth book and the final book of the stocking Jack the Ripper series that is one of my favorite series I loved it so so much and the conclusion was very bittersweet I'm sad that it's over but also so glad that I got the chance to read it so I'm not really going to be giving you a summary for this book as it is the final book but stalking Jack the Ripper is kind of very romantic mystery series that is set in Victorian times and it's really really good you follow Audrey Rose who she's a very Riven woman and she is fascinated by forensics and studying that but she's living in a time where she's not really allowed to study that and she has her love interest Thomas Cresswell who is like the ultimate book boyfriend and together they go on all sorts of different adventures each book is set in a different place this book was set in America and you follow them as they are sorting out different murder mysteries so really fun and perfect for the fall season I listen to this book on audiobook as I did with the rest of the series and it was a fantastic conclusion I thought it was very well done however it did kind of veer in a different direction than the previous books I will say the second book what's it even called hunting Prince Dracula Wow that one is still my favorite out of the series that one is set in Romania and it was just very good I loved that one and escaping from Houdini is my least favorite this one would fall in like the number three spot for me in terms of like my liking of them what I think happened in the later books is it started veering more toward the romance which I didn't necessarily mind because that is something that I was pretty invested in but this book in particular was super super romance heavy I felt like the romance was the ape lie and the murder mystery ended up being the BEP lie and I kind of forgot that there was even a murder mystery going on at times but I liked the fact that the romance was given precedence because I didn't like how the romance went in the previous book I felt like there were a lot of issues with it there so I think that this definitely fixed those issues now the romance plotline did kind of give me Jane Eyre vibes in a way and if you've read it you know what I'm talking about if you've read both of the books then you definitely know what I'm talking about so that was very interesting to read about I think there was a lot of tension and the romance was overall very well done the murder mystery was well done as well it just wasn't really the storyline that I was super invested in like I mentioned this book is set in America so it's set in Chicago and it's actually set at the World's Fair which was an interesting setting to be in I liked the kind of whimsy that that brought to the story so I felt like the atmosphere was very well done once again I think Carrie Maniscalco does a great job of that and I think it wrapped things up nicely I feel satisfied with the conclusion that I got and I think that it ended where it should have ended it's over I gave this a 4.5 out of 5 stars maybe a 4 out of 5 stars I'm not too sure on my braiding next I finally finished truly devious by Maureen Johnson now I say finally finished because I had started the audiobook at one point and the audiobook was super confusing so I put it down but now I finally actually physically read it and really enjoyed it - truly devious is once again a murder mystery that is set at Ellingham Academy and Ellingham Academy is this boarding school that is set in Vermont in like the middle of this mountain and no one can really get to it and it was founded by this tycoon who made this school to be like kind of a labyrinth there's all sorts of secret passages and winding roads and there are things that he doesn't even know about it was made to be a place where some of the most prestigious minds could go and study without having to worry about the cost of tuition but it's not all fun and games at Ellingham Academy because shortly after opening the founders wife and daughter are actually kidnapped and there's a note left behind that has this riddle on it signed by the pseudonym truly devious now that all took place in 1930 fast-forward to modern day when Stevie Bell is a true crime aficionado who is accepted to Ellingham Academy and is going and she has the mission of trying to solve this cold case that no one was ever able to solve but before she can even try to solve it it happens again dun dun duh so this book features dual timelines you get the 1930s timeline but it's mostly focused on the modern-day timeline and I will say both of them I think we're very well done I liked how as interwoven but the 1930s timeline interested me a little bit more and I think that's just a personal preference thing where I really like historical fiction and the setting was fascinating but the setting in modern day was also fascinating like Ellingham Academy I just built it up in my mind to be this very wild place with all these like secret passages and stuff and I think that's such a fascinating setting for a murder mystery it's just so cool this was kind of set up to be a puzzle piece sort of mystery where in both timelines you're kind of putting together the pieces of what happened and trying to figure it out now I'm not very good i piecing together mysteries it's just not my thing I don't my brain doesn't work that way honestly so I was surprised by all the twists and turns that took place in this novel and Stevie was a great character to follow really loved her I found her to be very interesting the one thing I will say about her is I don't think the romance was necessary and I guess that's not really a comment on her but the romance plotline didn't do much for me didn't care for it and it kind of came out of nowhere in my opinion so that was the one downside to it overall I felt like it was a sort of Sherlock Holmes II story and super atmospheric the setting did a lot to add to the atmosphere I felt like it was just the perfect read for fall it's also mostly set in fall because like you know beginning of school and everything so the fall atmosphere just worked for me all of the characters in the story were very interesting it's sort of a Breakfast Club thing where each character is defined by one central thing that is what they are known for but I do wish that the side characters had developed a little bit more maybe that's something that we'll get in future books I know that the second book is already out the third book is coming out in 2020 I've not decided yet if I'm going to continue with the series because as much as I really enjoyed this book I don't know how I felt about the ending I didn't really like it honestly I kind of was meant about it but overall as a whole the story did get a four out of five stars for me I'm intrigued by it I'm just not sure if I'm intrigued enough to continue with the series but I probably will read the next one next Halloween it will be kind of an annual tradition until I'm done with the trilogy honestly I was really compelling and readable so I probably will continue with the series especially just because of Stevie I found her to be fascinating bringing brought into her analytical mind and the logic behind it was interesting for me because that's not how my brain works at all so seeing how she fit the puzzle pieces together kept me going throughout the story and I'm not into true-crime because I'm a chicken and I'm scared of everything but I can definitely appreciate her background with that so I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars I thought it was a solid read next I read a spell book of the Lost and Found by Moira fallly Doyle this is another book that I had and there's actually quite a few on this list it's because I save all my mysteries and all my like fall buy books for fall but then fall like comes and goes before I even know it because I feel like Christmas starts the second that Halloween is over and I love Christmas and like I'm excited about it but it also kind of cuts fall short like it's November 6 3 or 7th or something like that and I woke up to snow this morning like why I feel like we don't get fall at all it's very sad but that's enough of me whining so this is a sort of witchy mystery that is set in Ireland and it follows a bunch of different characters and they all have lost something it starts off with olive and her best friend Rose they go to this party and they leave it having lost something and then they meet these mysterious teenagers and become friends with them and all of them realize that they have been losing things recently and that they have secrets and as those secrets kind of unfurl as does the story this book is kind of like a magical realism in my opinion it's not like witches as you know them but there is the spell book that is used to conjure back lost things so there's some dabbling in magic and the atmosphere is what made this story it's kind of hard to pitch to you because it is such an atmospheric book that you just kind of have to read the writing style is perfect boy fali Doyle has an amazing writing style she uses a lot of metaphors that just build up this kind of atmospheric I feel like I've said atmospheres so many times but like it's this sort of fall mystery aesthetic that just works like most of this story is set in the woods and like creepy cabins and like stuff like that like kind of backwoods places and I listen to the audiobook and it was so well done because the narrator is Irish so it brought me to Ireland and the forests of Ireland last time I went to Ireland it was a very bad experience not Ireland's fault it was entirely mine I was sick and I hurt my ankle and it was a lot but this time being in Ireland it was very cool so I recommend the audiobook if it is available to you and you can listen to it definitely check it out this was just a dark and spooky story perfect for Halloween I actually read this on a 24-hour full reading Day vlog so I will link that down below if you guys wanted to go and check that out but it was perfect for that day now the one thing I will say is there a lot of characters and I had trouble keeping track of all the characters I kind of got a lot of them confused lots of quirky characters very different unique characters but there's just so many of them and like it was like different groupings so that kind of got to be a little bit confusing at times but that might just be a personal preference thing but all the characters were flawed which made them very intriguing and I did like the relationships between them like within the groups but also outside of the group's you had familial relationships sibling relationships just friendships building romantic relationships and there was a lot of representation in here you have bisexual and lesbian representation and that was very well done and honestly the characters were perfect for the story there was just so many of them in the fact that each of them had a perspective and like each group had their one narrator it just got it got to be confusing like as confusing as it is to explain it to you but if you're looking for a sort of modern-day magical witchy ish story a perfect book to read on a gloomy rainy fall day definitely check this out also I give it a 3 out of 5 stars next I read pumpkin heads by Rainbow Rowell and faith Aaron Hicks this is a graphic novel that is set at fall in a pumpkin patch it is perfect for fall I also read this on that 24 hour reading Day vlog so I'll link that down below and it follows Dasia and Josiah who are best friends they have worked at this pumpkin patch every single year since they started high school but this is their last time working at the pumpkin patch before they go to college so Josiah has had a crush on this girl for the longest time never actually said anything and Dasia encourages him to finally on his last night working at the pumpkin patch actually do something about it so you follow them across the pumpkin patch as they're trying to get to this girl before the end of their shift I don't have this book anymore else I would show you the inside of it because it's beautiful the art is so gorgeous and the drawing style is honestly what brought me into the story the color scheme that was used is perfect for fall just brought me to the pumpkin patch but I didn't love this book as much as everyone else seems to I feel like I got what I signed out for with a cute fun fall love story but I ultimately think that just didn't have enough plot in my personal preference to carry me through it so I ended up giving this a 3 out of 5 stars just because I feel like it gave me what I wanted from it but I just would have preferred a little bit more plot from it honestly it was cute it was perfect for fall there just wasn't a lot of substance to it and I don't feel like it's something that I will remember having read and I feel like that sounds kind of harsh but I don't mean it in a mean way it's just it was like okay next is these witches don't burn by Isabel sterling so this is bringing witches once again to a modern setting but not so much a creepy modern-day setting more of just like your average everyday high schooler setting if that makes sense so the main character Hannah is an elemental witch so she can control all of the elements she's living in Salem Massachusetts appropriately but she still has to keep magic a secret and is also going through a difficult breakup which is made complicated by the fact that her ex is a part of her coven and there are lots of evil witch we things going on that was a way to say that sentence and her ex seems to be one of the prime targets so she has to work with her to try and protect her but in the meantime she's also trying to date this new girl Morgan who has showed up and it's just a lot of chaos this story surprised me by how much I enjoyed it honestly it had a lot of unique elements I loved the fact that it was dealing with a character going through a breakup and it wasn't like a breakup to get to that relationship again and rekindle that old flame it was her going through that breakup and going through the process of trying to move on when she's encountering her ex all the time and she's trying to date this new girl and Morgan was a great character so pure loved her but the breakup I enjoyed that I thought that that was really great because you don't get to see that a lot in Y ay and I think it should be more common to see this book features a lot of representation there's by representation trans representation and lesbian main characters so it's awesome on those fronts and it kind of reminded me of Harry Potter in a way just because it was like school but also magic and I don't know how to explain it but it was more of like a Halloweeny modern Gossip Girl version of Harry Potter I honestly don't know how to explain it all but that being said this book wasn't all light and fluffy it did get darker than I was expecting it to the magic system was really cool I liked the fact that there are the different kinds of witches and there was also stigma amongst them in between the different kinds that was interesting and the fact that Hannah was a character who wasn't just discovering her powers she already knew about them and you were just being introduced to them she was like familiar with them from the start and I was kind of a nice change because I feel like a lot of times in sort of fantasy books like that they're just learning about their powers and her like what and they're kind of getting over the initial shock of that but for Hannah it's just a way of life she's known she's an elemental witch her entire life and you're not getting that from this book if that's what you're looking for but I liked that Hannah was a really great character she was sympathetic and very loving but also could kick ass she was a really badass character so she was a pleasure to follow and Morgan like I mentioned was great I feel like the side characters were also very well-developed and there was good action all around throughout the story I never really had a moment where I felt like I was bored because there was action going on with the bromance there was action going on with the witchy things so I feel like I was very entertained the entire time I will say I kind of saw the ending coming but that didn't really bug me because I enjoyed the story overall once again not sure if I'm going to continue with the series I probably will because they ended on kind of a cliffhanger by overall I gave this book a 4 out of 5 stars I thought I'd have this book with my notes but apparently I didn't but I also recently read Serpent and dove by Shelby Mahurin this oh this book I'm really sad about this book I'm not going to lie so this is which is a certain sort of Victorian France setting I honestly don't even remember what the time period was exactly but you follow two characters one is a witch who has fled from her coven and the other is a witch hunter sort of and they end up having to get married and chaos is what ensues obviously but this book just like everyone had loved it everyone was raving about it but I just didn't really get it to be honest I gave this a 2 out of 5 stars I believe because I did enjoy the main character loo I had been expecting a good romance a steamy romance but I just didn't really believe it and the atmosphere of France was cool but also I don't think reached its full potential like I don't know this just wasn't for me and I kind of just wanted to be done with it I probably would have dnf'd it if it hadn't had so much hype surrounding it and I'd seen people say like oh it's boring from the first little bit but then it gets better so then I just kept on going because I was like it has to get better soon because I so wanted to love this story I truly truly did but unfortunately it just wasn't for me and I am very sad about it I'm not gonna lie but oh well they can't all be winners next is the babysitter's coven by Kate Williams her main character as Mae has a baby-sitters club with her best friend they've been doing it forever she kind of loves it it kind of doesn't like it but she also doesn't want to get a real job so she sticks to babysitting so enter new girl Cassandra and Cassandra really wants to join their baby-sitters club that is all she wants to do and she doesn't really seem like the type to want to do that so Esme and her best friend are kind of confused but they're like sure you can join and it turns out that there's a lot more going on behind the scenes so Cassandra found this note from her mother that said find the babysitter's so that's what she did she was just following her mother's orders so Cassandra and Esme discover that being a babysitter is way more than it seems it actually means that you are protecting not only the kids that you're babysitting but also the world I read this a couple of days before Halloween but honestly this is like perfect for a day of Halloween breed because the climax of the story is set on Halloween and it's witches but mixed with babysitter's this reminded me a lot of undead girl gain I will say though I do kind of get it mixed up with this one I think it's the similar covers and the sort of similar plotline with witches in a modern-day setting in high school and stuff like that but they are very different stories I left the babysitting element I thought that was so cool like mixing baby-sitters club which I never read the original baby-sitters club stories but you got to have like the purity that kind of brings to mind mixed with a coven and witches and witchcraft and all of that that was interest so this was a story where you have the character is learning about magic alongside the reader and a lot of people were saying that this is like Buffy I've never seen Buffy I'm not really like interested in Buffy but apparently it's like very much like that with like the teacher mentor and I don't really know what else about Buffy but apparently it's very much like Buffy so if you liked that you might like this overall this was just a fun book to read I felt like I was entertained and it was very humorous I liked the humor that was brought into it it was easy to read there were a lot of cliches in it but like it was shamelessly cliched so that was cool I feel like it was cliche for the purpose of being cliche you got a mix of the high school drama with witchcraft and the high school drama at times was a little bit catty and unnecessary but I do feel like the mix of the two was very well done and made for a fun story this is a bit at the younger end of why so if you're just starting out with why a I think this would be a great book to check out and like I said it's perfect for Halloween the characters were very quirky and they would like have a theme for what they dressed up as everyday so it's almost like costumes every day and just overall definitely a Halloween sort of I don't know the words for what I'm thinking of I guess it's like a sort of hocus pocus vibe but I don't think that's what I'm really trying to say so I'll just stop so I give this a 3.5 out of 5 stars I thought it was a solid read thanks really quickly I wanted to talk about wilder girls by Rory power which I ended up Dianna thing but I don't fault the book on that at all it's entirely my own fault because so many people were talking about this and when a book is really hyped up and it seems like something that I'd be interested in all I really know about it was that it was kind of similar to learning the flies but it was gender bent like it's not actually a retelling but sort of like that so I was intrigued by it and I was like yes I'm gonna pick it up and I should have read the synopsis ahead of time because it's nasty like there's like a plague sort of disease thing and I can't read about those things I'm Way too squeamish I feel like I seem like such a baby in this video but honestly I'm too squeamish for that so couldn't do it I think I got like 10% of the way through and I was like no this is way too much for me like I was listening to the audiobook while driving and I was like gagging because disgusting so not the books fault at all entirely mine I just like to go into books not reading the synopsis so that I don't have a preformed expectation for it because sometimes that will let me down but this was a case where I should have read the synopsis oops but for those of you who might be interested in it this book is set in a school that has been quarantined because there's been this plague it's kind of a mix of The Maze Runner and a plague honestly is what I got from it so if that sounds like something for you check it out maybe you'll like it and the final book that I have to talk about is before the devil breaks to you by liveth Bray I finally read this book I'm so excited about it this is one where I got like probably 75% of the way through last Halloween but then Halloween was over so I was like well I need to save this for Halloween which was dumb because I should have just continued reading it so I started listening to the audiobook for this on Halloween day and then I ended up finishing it five days later I think so that's pretty good because this is a 20-hour audiobook it's so long I listen to it at twice the speed and still it was like yikes I almost just fell but this is the third book in the diviner series if you haven't read that series yet go and read it just like stop and read it because it's so good it's a ghostie mystery story that is set in 1920s New York and the atmosphere of a oh my god I just love this series so much in this book reminded me of how much I loved it because it had been so long since I had read a book in this series and I was very glad to be back in that world and just oh this is a story that has a lot of characters as well and a lot of perspectives but I think perspective is utilized like it's as a writer fascinating to me and I feel like every single character I'm so invested in their stories and each of them has a unique voice so I don't mind that there are so many characters the audiobook also does a great job of making those characters distinctive and also bringing you to 1920s New York the atmosphere of this story is impeccable oh my god it's just so good like so good this is probably my scare limit though because they are pretty creepy and can get really scary at times so I can't do much more than this but since the series has such like a dear place in my heart I will put up with being terrified now this book in particular in the all series really has but I think this book did the best if I'm remembering the others correctly of bringing up some issues that are still prevalent in modern day such as immigration racism and domestic abuse so many things and making you think about them and realize that they've been around for so long live a braid is a very good job of dealing with complicated issues like that so in case you couldn't tell I gave you this a five out of five stars it's my first 5 out of 5 and I feel like forever but like oh my god it was so good and I'm so ready for it king of crows which comes out in February and I'm gonna listen to the audiobook right away I'm not gonna save it for Halloween I need to devour it immediately that was kind of dangerous but like I went for it so those are all the books that I read recently I hope you guys enjoyed today's but you know please let me know what you have read recently and if you have read any of these books your thoughts on them and also don't forget to click that subscribe button then click that Bell icon so you'll be notified whenever I post I post new videos twice a week I'm getting back into doing breeding blogs for the month of November so I will definitely have reading blogs for you every single Monday which is yay and then we are getting into book miss so I will have a video every other day in December we have lots of new content coming for you guys I don't know why I say we like there's more than one of me I wish there was because it would make it easier to do all of this but thank you guys for watching today's video don't forget to check out my social media and stuff and keep up with me there and I will see you guys in my next video soon bye\n"