**The Joy of Reading and Collecting Books**

As I sit down to write about my favorite books and reading experiences, I am reminded of the joy that reading brings to our lives. For me, reading is not just a hobby, but a way to escape into different worlds, learn new things, and connect with others. In recent years, I have been fortunate enough to discover some truly beautiful books that have become treasured possessions on my shelf.

One such book that stands out in my mind is "Dark Star Burning" by Alex White. This science fiction novel is not only a thrilling page-turner but also boasts stunning good looks. The cover, which features iridescent text and artwork, is truly breathtaking. I was immediately drawn to the book's unique design, and I couldn't resist purchasing it for my collection. What really sets this edition apart, however, is its beautiful stenciled edges, which add an extra layer of visual appeal to the already stunning cover.

Another book that I have recently added to my collection is "Ash Falls" by Anaïs Schmidt. This beautifully designed hardcover features gorgeous artwork and endpapers that are almost too pretty to look at. The overall design of the book is a masterclass in creating a visually stunning experience for the reader. And, as an added bonus, the book's unique design makes it a standout on my shelf.

Of course, not all beautiful books come with elaborate designs or special editions. Sometimes, it's simply the joy of reading that makes a book truly special. I think of my husband, who recently got his first cat, and how this newfound experience has brought him so much joy and fulfillment. This renewed sense of purpose has revitalized his love of life, and I couldn't be happier to see him happy.

Speaking of beautiful books, I have recently acquired "Pain to Devils" by Margaret Owen, which features stunning stenciled edges and a gorgeous hardcover design. The book's unique art style and beautiful typography make it a true standout on my shelf. And, as an added bonus, the book itself is a beautifully written story that explores themes of love, loss, and redemption.

When it comes to collecting books, I am always on the lookout for new additions to my shelves. While I do try to prioritize the books that are already on my list, there are always exceptions to this rule. Sometimes, I'll come across a book in the wild or discover one through a recommendation from a friend or family member. Whatever the case, I know that adding a new book to my collection is sure to bring me joy and excitement.

As for what's still on my reading list, I must admit that it's always subject to change. Sometimes, I'll find myself drawn to books that have been on my radar for months or even years. Other times, I'll discover new authors or titles through online reviews or recommendations from fellow book lovers. No matter how it happens, the thrill of discovering a new favorite book is always something special.

One thing that's always consistent, however, is my love of beautiful books with stunning designs and artwork. Whether it's a unique hardcover design, gorgeous endpapers, or simply a beautifully printed cover, there's just something about these special editions that sets them apart from more mundane books on the shelf. For me, these books are not just treasured possessions but also works of art in their own right.

**The World of Collecting and Reading**

As I sit down to write about my favorite books and reading experiences, I am reminded of the joy that collecting books brings to our lives. There's something special about holding a book in your hands, feeling its weight and texture, and turning its pages to discover new worlds and stories.

For me, collecting books is not just about accumulating possessions; it's also about connecting with others who share my passion for reading. Whether it's through online communities, book clubs, or simply discussing favorite books with friends and family, I find that collecting books brings people together in ways that few other hobbies can.

One of the things I love most about collecting books is the opportunity to discover new authors and titles. Whether it's through browsing shelves at my local bookstore, scouring online marketplaces for rare editions, or simply asking friends and family for recommendations, there's always something new to look forward to.

As for what makes a book truly special, I think it's all about the way that it connects with us on an emotional level. Whether it's through its themes, characters, or writing style, a great book has the power to transport us to different worlds and make us feel things in ways that few other experiences can.

**Reading and Collecting: A Personal Perspective**

For me, reading is not just about escaping into different worlds; it's also about connecting with others who share my love of books. Whether I'm discussing favorite stories with friends, attending book festivals, or simply sharing recommendations with fellow readers on social media, I find that collecting books brings people together in ways that few other hobbies can.

One thing that's always consistent for me is the importance of beauty and design in my book collection. While I do appreciate a good story, there's something special about holding a book in your hands and admiring its artwork or typography. Whether it's through a unique hardcover design, gorgeous endpapers, or simply a beautifully printed cover, these details make each book feel like a work of art.

As for what's still on my reading list, I must admit that it's always subject to change. Sometimes, I'll find myself drawn to books that have been on my radar for months or even years. Other times, I'll discover new authors or titles through online reviews or recommendations from fellow book lovers. No matter how it happens, the thrill of discovering a new favorite book is always something special.

**Conclusion**

In conclusion, reading and collecting books are two of the greatest joys in life. Whether it's about escaping into different worlds, connecting with others who share our passion for reading, or simply admiring beautiful artwork and typography, there's just something special about books that makes them feel truly alive.

For me, the world of collecting and reading is one that I am grateful to be a part of. From discovering new authors and titles to sharing recommendations with fellow readers, every moment spent among my books feels like a gift. And as I sit down to write this final paragraph, I know that there are countless other wonderful books out there waiting for me to discover them – each one a potential source of joy, inspiration, and connection in the years to come.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: engreetings and salutations my friends and welcome to a new video a girl is recovering from a throat infection I feel like every week I'm coming on here to say something different last week was nasty though from the mucus to the coughing to the coughing fits to having no voice at all we're not at 100 yet but we're getting progressively there and so coming on here to say that's why there was only a single video last week but we are recouping and we all back so welcome welcome to the may your freakout tag in case you guys are not familiar every year this is kind of tradition at this point where different booktubers will put up a video called the midyear freakout tag where we basically take it as an opportunity to update you guys on our reading so far in the year this typically happens at the Midway point of the year and there is a variety of different questions made by the tag creators I'll leave them Linked In the description and it's basically a great way to tell you guys what the best book of the year has been so far and the worst one and if we've been on top of our anticipated releases and if there are things we're looking forward to and if we found new favorite authors and new fictional crushes and all of the good stuff so I'm very excited to give you guys the lowdown I specifically love these videos because I love seeing how things change throughout the year and my favorite book right now may not be the favorite book that I give you at the end of the year it may make the list but it may not be the very top spot so I love seeing how these things change over time because there's still Lads of reading to be done before the year is over and as always feel free to reply to any of these questions down in the comments I love hearing from you guys what you guys are up to what you guys have been reading and for you guys to also check in with your reading so far this year and see what your favorites and your dislikes and the things that you're still anticipating are have been will be so make sure to sound off in the comments to any or all of these questions and partake also in the midyear freakout tag we've got a variety of questions let's get into it and let's see what the end result will be because I surprise myself every single year our very first question starting off allegedly somewhat easy what is the best book you have read so far in 2024 I have read a variety of really good books this year however I don't think that any of the books I have read so far have made it into ultimate favorite status and if I had to choose the best so far it would be a difficult choice because I feel the five stars I have found this year have been quite good but still there has been nothing to fully wow me long term and so it's a little bit of a difficult answer but I think for this one I'm going to go for something that has fully revitalized my love for this specific genre and something that makes me more hopeful to see more things in this genre for further along in not only this year but also in consequent years because I'd love to see more stories like this one and that book is bride by Ali Hazelwood if you've been in my channel for a while then you'd be no strangers to the conversations I've had in live shows and preview videos about the lack of really good paranormal romance book I feel regardless of which preacher we are talking about there are loads of books out there that are not necessarily the best written or that maybe are the most interesting or that the couple's chemistry fully makes sense and bride fully gave me hope for what is to come in the future so in Bride we follow a marriage of convenience between a vampire and a werewolf our main character mystery is the daughter of one of the most important vampire councilman and as part of their Dynamic she gets sent to the human faction as the vampire collateral meaning that if the characters were to ever break any of their treaties with the humans the humans are in their full right to do whatever they see fit with mystery as their collat and because she's been so out of touch with the Vampire and the supernatural World in general as she reintegrates herself into it she finds herself in a bit of a limbo and more so when she ends up striking this marriage of convenience this alliance with the person she least thought possible and that would be L Morland who is one of the most important Alpha werewolves they both have got different motivations that ultimately bring them together and as they start getting to know each other better through time they start realizing that all they thought they knew about each other's species is not not all true and there is much to learn much to adjust and much to realize during this journey together and I really really love the way that the relationship comes about it is very much a slowburn even though the initial attraction is there I really loved the fact that the politics of the world were very clear and Ali Hazelwood didn't really stumble a whole lot in the creation of the world kind of gave me underworld Vibes which I very much appreciate it because it's one of my favorite films it's very nostalgic for your trui and so I enjoyed every single bit of this it really reminded me of Michael insuline even though the Dynamics are not exactly as is it definitely brought me back and it gave me a lot of Joy the romance in itself was very saltry which I definitely appreciated it contained a lot of the Paranormal romance elements that I like and so miss Hazelwood did not stumble with this one it was truly one of the best books I have read this year and I can't wait to see what else she'll do in this realm because it's super different to what she typically does but that is not unwelcomed because I want more of this next up we have got best sequel you have read so far in 2024 and this is easy money no questions asked and that is Magnolia Parks the long way home there was no doubt in my mind as I knew I was making the midyear freakout tag that this book was going to make it in I didn't know exactly in which question I'd put it but just given the fact that when I think sequels I think about a direct continuation of something I knew this was going to be the one cuz I have read romance series that are different Standalone but they all interconnect in some way I know those are sequels but my brain doesn't process them as such and so this being a direct sequel I knew this had to be the one and in this series we follow the story of Magnolia and BJ who are childhood best friends they are both from very wealthy families and also friend families and when they get together for the very first time it goes without saying by everybody around them that they are meant to be together if there was ever a couple that needed to exist with each other it is Magnolia and BJ except that then BJ kind of messes up and by kind of I mean he did he does mess up a lot and he cheats on Magnolia and Magnolia rightfully so decides to leave hisas except that their Dynamic turns very complicated because neither of them leaves each other's lives and so there's still besties for the resties they reside in the same friend group and they have the same friends and it seems that everything they have they share and they through time develop loads of really toxic and unfair mechanisms to make sure that the other person still cares and that they still somewhat have them in their grasp if they ever decided to get together again and try things again it leads to a very toxic cycle between these two characters trying to find their way back to each other and yet continuously hurting each other because they haven't fully healed from all that plagues them as individual people but also as a unit I read the first book last year and I think it also made it into my meteor freakout tag because I really ended up loving it after thinking that I wasn't going to enjoy it it's a very toxic very rich people drama narrative you know that the characters are not necessarily good people so if you know what you're getting yourself into I think it makes for a really enjoyable and drama fill time all of those narratives that were kind of left out in the open in book one that we open-ended you kind of are left with questions and you don't really know what a lot of these things mean and a lot of their past and what certain dates signify for these characters you find all of that significant really important really character- shaping information in this book and I was pleasantly surprised that as soon as we start we're starting to get answers this second book does have a tiny bit of a time Jump between the first one and this one which I think makes a lot of the emotions and a lot of the tension and a lot of the Forgiveness that does ensue in certain aspects a lot more justifiable in ways because characters do have time to I W say heal because they're still toxic in their own right and I don't think they've put in the work that needs to be put in but I think it gives them enough time to really simmer on all of these ideas to then figure out what it is they want to do moving forward and that aspect I really enjoyed I really enjoyed the fact that we got loads of Magnolia and Julian which I definitely wanted to see we see characters build relationships and friendships with each other in ways that I didn't expect them to during book one or after book one and so this was a pleasant surprise although not that surprising cuz I already knew I was going to really enjoy this after reading book One new release you haven't read yet but want to and there are plenty of them every single year I make a most anticipated releases video at the beginning of the year and let me tell you I have not read the majority of the books that I had on that list I have read a few which I'm honestly very proud about because Lord knows I really really suck at reading new releases but this go around I think I've been quite good at acquiring them and reading them immediately after I get them but there are still a few that I haven't read yet some that I own some that I don't own yet some that I don't have with me yet and I'll give you the little rundown of what all of them are so please hold as I fetch some of them first one is Ali hazelwood's not in love I hate the cover for this one because it doesn't match up with the rest of her books however I am really excited about this it's still sites in the stem world I don't think it's in the stem series or maybe it is I'm not sure because the covers difference I'm not really able to tell here but it's still follows a main character who works in stem but it is a billionaire forbidden romance and it sounds so very good and so unlike what she's done before and so I'm very very excited about this one I've been seeing all of the different teasers she's been posting on Instagram and it looks so good so nut in love is the first one followed by leather and Lark by Bren Weaver very excited about the second book after loving Butcher and Blackbird I am very excited to see the second installment featuring the brother and the best friend from our main characters in book one it's supposedly a marriage of convenience which I think will be quite interesting under the context of both of these characters offing serial killers and there's also a little Revenge plot that seemingly showed up at the end of book one that will make its way into book two so I'm very excited to see how that's going to play out so leather and Lark it's also another one I'm very much looking forward to and then three new releases that I own physically that I have yet to read but that I am very excited to make my way down so this one's backwards but this one is just for the summer by Abby he is this is actually my July book CL pick over on patreon so if you have yet to read this or you want to discuss it with people or want to read it and discuss it with people patreon is always linked Down Below in case you guys want that and I'm very excited about this it's going to be my first Abby humanis and I know that out of all of them this seems to be the most life and romance heavy meaning that it strikes a really great balance between both of these things just based on length alone I would guess that it contains a lot of our main characters lives I know it features our love interest who needs to take care of his siblings and he needs to assume somewhat of a paternal role after I assume something happens in the family and then our main character's mother making a reappearance which in turn makes it more difficult for these characters to connect romantically but I know it also features our two main characters in the context of them having loads of failed relationships where their exes after being with them get together with their forever love and they think that by dating each other they will cancel that out so that when they come out of this relationship with each other they'll find their forever loves too and I think that sounds really cool so I'm very very excited about just for the summer when the time is right I also have where sleeping girls live by far a I absolutely loved Ace of space when it came out you guys already know that was actually also featured in my I think second ever midyear freakout tag and in this one Shai Hussein our main character will get to her new prestigious high school and on her very first night at said School her roommate goes missing and she is basically pinned by the whole student body as the culprate of set disappearance and then she ends up friending a super Elite group of friends who in turn makes her seem more suspicious and then somebody turns up dead and there's a whole lot of drama and I just know with no doubt in my mind that f is going to absolutely deliver on an amazing narrative so I'm very excited to get this read it's also a super floppy paperback this is the version they had here in Panama and you better bet I love me a good paperback I had to get myself this copy so very excited for that as well I'm trying to put that into my July TBR and then last but not least we have got the familiar by Lee bardugo it's said in the Spanish Golden Age with her main character who has got a set of powers and abilities that she needs to keep hidden otherwise she'll be persecuted for them but then the lady of the house finds out that she has this set of abilities and she basically Coes our main character into using those to give this family a better social standing and things move on from there there is Magic and secret and the aesthetic in itself is very Gothic which I really love I have seen loads of fan art and things for this book so far that make me more excited for it and then it's also got black spray edges which I think is super cool for a first edition I've been seeing that more and more recently which is nice most anticipated release for the second half of the year I don't have a lot of them so far I have yet to sit down and really figure out what is coming out towards the second half of the year but I do have a few joted down that I'm very excited for the first one being the God and the goom Co you guys know anything that gives me K drama Vibes anything that features an uniled Fox a g Co I really want to read and this one specifically features again a God and a gho that works at a coffee shop that end up befriending each other over the counter and it seems like the coziest most fun time in a fantasy setting and so this one makes me really really excited it seems right up my alley for many different things and so I'm very excited for this one to come out we have got the ren in the Holly Library which is a Beauty and the Beast retelling it's a fantasy romance don't know a whole lot about it but it does look quite cool and so this is also another one that I'm looking forward to I have a love ha relationship with fantasy romance because I feel some of the ones I find are really really good whilst others don't really catch my attention and I have an issue with this specific genre not putting enough emphasis in the world building and whatnot which I know is supposed to be the point I know it's supposed to be one of those stories that focuses more heavily on the romance but you can still flush out a cool fantasy world without giving it up for the sake of the romance and so I wanted to have a good balance both next up we have got the seventh veil of salom by syia Moreno Garcia I am really really excited about this one it's said in 1950s Hollywood as a movie is being made of salom which is an ancient figure that has inspired thousands of artists through time and a lot of different actresses are coveting this one role because they know it is one of those star making roles anybody would kill to get but when an anenu gets the role one frustrated actress takes loads of issues with it it's a three-part narrative between the coveting actress the anjenu that gets the role and then the story of salom herself I think this is more along the lines of historical fiction than it is thriller or horror like she's done in the past but either way I trust my girl and I will read anything she puts out including a historical fiction which I typically would not read and the last one I was going to mention allegedly has come out already I haven't heard anybody talk about it yet but it is title creatures by shaan Maguire this is the third book in the alchemical journeys the first one being middle game which you guys know I am obsessed with the second book seasonal fears was not so good this one however instead of dealing with winter and summer or the doctrine of ethos is all to do with the moon and I really don't know what the narrative will look like I don't even know if it'll be good I am hoping that it is because middle game Cann not have been a one hit wonder for me so I'm hoping the title creatures will do the trick that it is an amazing one I probably will borrow it from the library instead of getting it physically because I really don't want to be disappointed but I'm hoping that sha Maguire will do the trick because this Series has been up and then down and I'm hoping it goes back up now next up we have got biggest disappointment so far this year and I have got two different popular books that I definitely did not enjoy you guys have heard plenty about them and the first one is Wild Love by Elie silver you guys also know I really love Elsie silver most of her books have been a hit for me and so this one was painful cuz I really wanted to love wild love and to fall in love with this new series she's got coming out I'm still excited about wild eyes I think is the second book in the series but this first one was not so good I was overall disappointed by the series of events in the characters romance for people that have known each other their entire lives it definitely screamed underdeveloped for me the main character was also a brat in and out of the bedroom and that to me didn't cause any sort of Sensations other than annoyance really and so that aspect to me wasn't really enjoyable either there is a single parent Trope in here and I also didn't enjoy that but it's because the circumstances surrounding it are not really conducive I think to the best Dynamics our main male character stumbles across the facts that he is a father after giving up some donations if you know what I mean by the child knocking on his door exclaiming that she needs to stay with him for a while because she has got nobody to take care of her and Against All Odds he says yes because he feels responsible for her in some way she perform and although their relationship does get better throughout the book it definitely doesn't have nearly enough development for me to feel like his overprotectiveness over her or that his love for her or his care for her that again grows with time is realistic in any way shape or form and so I was missing loads of things in the story being shown to me instead of being told and sadly the book spends too much time in unnecessary SMUD unnecessary dirty talk and these two characters our main characters being very hatefully bantery with each other because they've got this sort of rivalry going on but it is a best friend sister situation and so these two have exclaimed that they cannot be with each other and so they're kind of bantery and nasty ways with each other to keep each other at arms length because they know that they can't fool around they know they can't fool around with each other because the brother would take issue but there's really none of that at all so wild love unfortunately was not a hit for me although it features loads of things that I would typically like like a billionaire romance and a single parent Trope and again a best friend sibling and close proximity and all these different things but alas Elsie silver did not hit with Wild Love Power lless by Lauren Roberts you guys know this has been one of my few dnfs this year and I definitely do not regret deing this book this was so far out from what I was wanting it to be or what I was expecting it to be or what was promised to me by the general public because everybody really really loves this book this is supposed to be a hunger game setup in which our main character Peyton is pretending to be an elite which are people that survived the plague and got powers in exchange for their surviving it basically it's like a little reward and ordinaries non-magical non-agile folk are illegal so anytime they find one they execute them and she is an ordinary which is why she lives pretending to be an elite because it is the only way for her to survive and every once in a while I can't remember if it's every year or every few years there is this competition in which they'll bring in a bunch of different Elites and a bunch of different people with abilities to fight to the death basically I feel like I'm a broken record when it comes to Hunger Games being used as a comp but whenever there is a competition-based game in any book but specifically the name Hunger Games is used as the descriptor I am expecting the story to describe to me to explain to the reader to show the reader why exactly this Dynamic exists in the first place is it to distract the general population is it to control the general population is it to keep everybody subdue it is it to control the narrative is it to keep the poor poor and the rich rich is there any Gap specifically societally socioeconomically that this specific competition provides makes build and whenever I enter these sorts of books I find that it doesn't often have that explanation and it in turn makes me very frustrated as a reader because the Hunger Games is not just a competition where people off each other for the sake of it it has a lot of context behind it and most if not all of the similar format books or Manga series or translated books that precede the Hunger Games also have that common denominator that powerless was severely lacking also when it comes to the characters motivations respectively they to me make absolutely no sense it in no way shape or form explains their Drive their motivation their frustrations it was more frustrating for me I think than it was for them and when it comes to the romance so unnecessary the development of events was just so nonsensical that I did not enjoy this one bit so powerless Sly was not for me again it's been for a bunch of other people but this girl sadly not it biggest surprise so far this year also easy money and for this one it has to be thrown of the Fallen by Carrie Maniscalco the reason why this book specifically is a surprise because her previous series did not end well for me I really enjoyed Kingdom of the wicked I think that was a good time Kingdom of the cursed not so much and after I finished that book I kind of swore off Carrie Maniscalco for a little bit there when this book was coming out I wasn't sure whether or not I was going to read it cuz I hadn't read the last installment in the past series I thought the world was so much better fleshed out in this than it probably was in the first two books of the kingdom of the wicked series which I definitely appreciate the romance between the two characters was extremely slowburn as well well and it made loads of sense in the development of events I love that we swing between the real world and then the underworld and really understanding a lot of those cord politics that take place in this world and that our main character is very unlike what I typically observe in female presenting protagonists in fantasy stories so I really loved it for that reason we also have sort of this Bridgerton regeny element to this which I quite enjoyed which also made it kind of different from the kingdom of the wicked SE series and in this one we follow Prince Envy after he receives an invitation from the Fay to participate in this competition that will allow him to restore his score to its full power he committed a mistake years and years ago with a human that has left his court weaken and it seems like the only way for him to find answers and a resolution is through this competition through the different set of tasks and quests he ends up stumbling across Camila Antonio which incidentally seems to be a part of his quest she wants nothing to do with him she definitely doesn't want to help him out with whatever he seeks but when she finds herself in Peril too and in need of help to get out of a very specific situation she ends up figuring out that there is some sort of mutual gain from what he is requesting and they form an alliance for very different reasons in order to get what they are looking for and what I love about camaa is that she's not this sword wielding teeth bearing slay your enemies kind of protagonist she is much more about the wits and the cunning and the Really organizing herself strategically to figure out what her next moves are and I loved seeing a character lean more towards that divine feminine energy I guess we could say whilst really using her brains in order to further the plot I also really loved learning about things that Wen necessarily either explained or thoroughly explained in Kingdom of the wicked so I think this is a really great extension from that series if not even better and I loved this it was very surprising but very good favorite new author debut or new to you I don't have any I always say it but with any author I think it takes me a few series or a few books or a book that really Wows me to state that strong statement of this is an otobi author this is a new favorite author I think there are authors that I will definitely be looking at more now that I've read a few of their books like Elsie silver does a Hast things is also kind of making her way in there but I haven't read enough of these authors's works or enough of their series to really solidify the fact that I would give anything for a new book from these new Authors if you know what I mean I feel like nobody yet has reached that status of you're a favorite feel like it takes a lot for me to say that either from a book or from an author themselves and so the answer to this one is none at all question number eight is newest fictional crush and I have got two of them because a lot of the books that I have read that I admire the characters in are n ya and listen I'm in my mid 20s I'm not about to stand here and they like oh my God they're crushes it's it's they're young adults but what I can say is I love the way that they navigated each of their respective narratives or maybe I loved the way that the characters interacted with each other but when it comes to actual fictional crushes I can say Cade from Heartless by Elie silver what I would not give for a man like that I just have to say that publicly Cade from heartless where do I get myself one and then Laura from an education and Malice also was a big one I think the way that she embraced her sensual ity her sexuality her queerness and all of her different like Kinks and quirks I really really loved her for it I love how she vocalized and also did all of her introspection in terms of what she liked and what she disliked and and the things that she'd like to explore I think that in itself was really cool to read about especially because incidentally in my lifetime I have stumbled across many are not so great safic books but an education and Malice if it did anything right it was the safic romance and then other characters that I to give shout outs to that I really loved but I wouldn't say they're Crush status I think as a pairing I really loved wit and Ines from what the river NOS think they're absolutely amazing in their banter in the way that their relationship progresses in the way that iness fearlessly Embraces and emboldens herself to vocalize the fact that she does want to be with wit then wi basically giving up everything for iness I really really loved them as a couple another character that absolutely stole my heart was LA from a tempest of tea I think also his dynamic with arthy throughout the entire book was one of my absolute favorites from again the tension from the banter from the fact that they really seem to understand each other in ways that maybe other people cannot understand them from all of the lies and the secrets that pose an issue in their specific Union I really just loved LA and arthy as well absolutely loved them I love that they slowly turned from fictional crushes to favorite pairings in books and listen what can I say some of these are still kids so I can't say too much but I love them and they're Dynamics and I can't say more than that newest favorite character and this one to me was blatantly obvious because there is not a single individual character that has stole my heart more than Vera Wong from Vera Wong's unsolicited advice for murderers this old lady made me cackle like nobody else has in a book she is so honest and so unapologetically herself while still internalizing a lot of things that she hasn't felt comfortable saying to her family so we get her being extroverted whilst old also introspecting on a lot that makes her feel lonely and sad and things that she wishes would change about her everyday life because she feels like there is nothing interesting happening in her life and through the mystery that happens in this book where she finds a dead body in her te- shop she ends up meeting a group of people that give her purpose A Renewed sense of life and of living that I really enjoyed seeing seeing her play matchmaker with the different characters was incredibly joyful seeing her be just a little bit too honest to the point that it got a little bit crash was also incredibly joyful to read about the Audi book made for an amazing experience so if I had to choose a single character that absolutely stole my soul it would be Vera Wong because she is unmatched a book that made you cry and I'm not going to lie this one was a little bit hard because although a lot of books have made me emotional this year I haven't had like a full-on sobbing experience in a while with a book and when I was looking through my good reads I was like this one has got to be the closest I have gotten to ugly crying and that is the seven-year slip by Ashley Pon this was a surprising one in terms of the emotional levels because I didn't realized going into this that the book would have such a strong theme of grief and so it is a forewarning if you're wanting to go into this book it explores so very in depth and I thought I was going to get a cute romance between a chef and a girl who is very unclear about where her life is going in the future and then on top of those things which I did get I got the story of a girl who is very lost in life because she lost her aunt and now that she has lost her aunt who she shared a space with and who she traveled the world with and who she experienced so much joy with she really doesn't know where life is taking her next and reading all of that internal monologue on how she relates small everyday things to her aunt and how the loss of her seems so all-encompassing where it's not only about the absence of this body in you know in this plane of existence but it's more so about everything a person leaves behind when they die and it's different smells and it's things that you can touch and it's things that you can see and it's a specific song and a specific dish and there are so many things that remind you of people after they're passing that it makes it all the more difficult to heal sometimes because it seems like everything around you reminds you of them I didn't realize the book would talk about all of that and it broke my soul it broke my soul to read about this character who seems very lost in her grieving journey and who doesn't know like where to go and what to do and how to handle this whilst also reading bits and pieces of her aunt's life before she passed and all of these different anecdotes that made Ana Le Ana Le and it was so good it was so so good but so very heartbreaking and I cried more than once reading this book I'm almost getting choked up now talking about it but the seven years lip really was such a good one and I really want to read more Ashley paon I know she's got a new book coming out this year I don't know if it's come out already but I definitely need to get more into this author's writing because this is the only one of her books that I've read a book that made you happy and this is such a great contrast to that one a man on his cat all of the volumes I have read so far honestly it's a manga series so it's not necessarily A Pros book but it is the biggest boost of serone and you will ever experience of your life if you haven't read this already we follow the story of an old man after he loses his wife who he had promised that they'd adopt a cat together because she seemed to be getting a lot of Joy from pets and animals and that's something that they've never really experienced as a couple however she passes before that wish is fulfilled and in her passing he decides to get a cat for the very first time he has never had pets in his entire life and he decides to do so to honor this promise that he made to his laid wife and in doing so his love of life is revitalized after a long period of time where he felt lonely and aimless and that life had no purpose anymore after losing the person that he loved the most and although all those things sound really sad I think the Series has got a great way to Showcase all of these things in a way that celebrates life and celebrates the most joyful beautiful mundane aspects of it instead of making it sound so depressing sto in small vignettes recounting the most important parts of their relationship and I just love it it is the most wholesome thing ever what is the most beautiful book you have bought so far this year or received and I have two that come to mind I actually haven't bought a whole lot of special editions this year but if I had to bring up a book that I think was insanely pretty that I just had to get it it is definitely dark star burning Ash Falls white you can see the text is iridescent the cover in itself is different from the original one at least the US one so it's extra pretty and then the edges I live for these stenciled edges they are ridiculous they're so pretty we also have these purple edges going then into the stencil going then into some lighter pink edges at the bottom and then the end papers as well are just at absolutely gorgeous we have got some really beautiful art and the hard cover itself has got a lot of really beautiful art pertaining to the story itself so I think this is probably one of the prettiest editions I own as well as pain to Devils by Margaret Owen I also mentioned little thieves funnily enough the year that it came out because it was also one of the prettiest additions I had gotten that year it's really pretty we have got the stencl edges alongside the sprayed top and bottom we don't have beautiful end papers on this one but we do have a ridiculous naked hardback which I think is incredibly incredibly stunning so I think in this regard Aluma crate is always slaying nobody can say that they're not and last but not least what books do you still need to read by the end of the year and I think this year's answer is no different than past years I always say I want to prioritize the things that I already own what's already existing in my shelves and So my answer would be anything and everything that recites in this household already I know for me I'm still going to get books here and there or borrow books from the library here or there but my priority is always this because as you guys know it's very overwhelming there's a ton of unread books in here if I had to pinpoint specific titles and I'm like yes I need to get these read it would obviously be books from my top 10 books to read in 2024 list off the top of my head I would say those are definitely ones that I want to read before the year is over but other than the books that I've put in previous list of like five star predictions or top 10 books I'm going to read this year I definitely don't know what else to pinpoint because I feel like those should be the priority and they are already in my shelves so as an extension I would say everything and that is it for today friends that is everything I have got for you in this mayor freakout tag I hope that you guys enjoyed this as always let a girl know in the comments what your answers to these questions would be I'd love to see if there is some overlap if you guys have got different favorites different fictional crushes that you're really into at the moment and any and all things that you want to reply make sure to do so in the comment section down below don't forget to give this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it and if you reached the end of the video let us leave a Emoji if you reach the very end of the video make sure to subscribe if you haven't done so already for more content like this and if you want to support the channel further I do have a patreon it is always linked Down Below in case you guys want to help support the channel further it's always a great way to make sure that things are running smoothly and you do get tons of things in return like a Discord server and Sprints and different live shows from game nights to catch UPS to movie Nights to watch parties to readons and behind the scenes and all the good stuff so you definitely won't want to miss on any of that and again it helps support the channel some extra that is always linked down below alongside the rest of my socials I love you guys so so much and I will see you on the next one bygreetings and salutations my friends and welcome to a new video a girl is recovering from a throat infection I feel like every week I'm coming on here to say something different last week was nasty though from the mucus to the coughing to the coughing fits to having no voice at all we're not at 100 yet but we're getting progressively there and so coming on here to say that's why there was only a single video last week but we are recouping and we all back so welcome welcome to the may your freakout tag in case you guys are not familiar every year this is kind of tradition at this point where different booktubers will put up a video called the midyear freakout tag where we basically take it as an opportunity to update you guys on our reading so far in the year this typically happens at the Midway point of the year and there is a variety of different questions made by the tag creators I'll leave them Linked In the description and it's basically a great way to tell you guys what the best book of the year has been so far and the worst one and if we've been on top of our anticipated releases and if there are things we're looking forward to and if we found new favorite authors and new fictional crushes and all of the good stuff so I'm very excited to give you guys the lowdown I specifically love these videos because I love seeing how things change throughout the year and my favorite book right now may not be the favorite book that I give you at the end of the year it may make the list but it may not be the very top spot so I love seeing how these things change over time because there's still Lads of reading to be done before the year is over and as always feel free to reply to any of these questions down in the comments I love hearing from you guys what you guys are up to what you guys have been reading and for you guys to also check in with your reading so far this year and see what your favorites and your dislikes and the things that you're still anticipating are have been will be so make sure to sound off in the comments to any or all of these questions and partake also in the midyear freakout tag we've got a variety of questions let's get into it and let's see what the end result will be because I surprise myself every single year our very first question starting off allegedly somewhat easy what is the best book you have read so far in 2024 I have read a variety of really good books this year however I don't think that any of the books I have read so far have made it into ultimate favorite status and if I had to choose the best so far it would be a difficult choice because I feel the five stars I have found this year have been quite good but still there has been nothing to fully wow me long term and so it's a little bit of a difficult answer but I think for this one I'm going to go for something that has fully revitalized my love for this specific genre and something that makes me more hopeful to see more things in this genre for further along in not only this year but also in consequent years because I'd love to see more stories like this one and that book is bride by Ali Hazelwood if you've been in my channel for a while then you'd be no strangers to the conversations I've had in live shows and preview videos about the lack of really good paranormal romance book I feel regardless of which preacher we are talking about there are loads of books out there that are not necessarily the best written or that maybe are the most interesting or that the couple's chemistry fully makes sense and bride fully gave me hope for what is to come in the future so in Bride we follow a marriage of convenience between a vampire and a werewolf our main character mystery is the daughter of one of the most important vampire councilman and as part of their Dynamic she gets sent to the human faction as the vampire collateral meaning that if the characters were to ever break any of their treaties with the humans the humans are in their full right to do whatever they see fit with mystery as their collat and because she's been so out of touch with the Vampire and the supernatural World in general as she reintegrates herself into it she finds herself in a bit of a limbo and more so when she ends up striking this marriage of convenience this alliance with the person she least thought possible and that would be L Morland who is one of the most important Alpha werewolves they both have got different motivations that ultimately bring them together and as they start getting to know each other better through time they start realizing that all they thought they knew about each other's species is not not all true and there is much to learn much to adjust and much to realize during this journey together and I really really love the way that the relationship comes about it is very much a slowburn even though the initial attraction is there I really loved the fact that the politics of the world were very clear and Ali Hazelwood didn't really stumble a whole lot in the creation of the world kind of gave me underworld Vibes which I very much appreciate it because it's one of my favorite films it's very nostalgic for your trui and so I enjoyed every single bit of this it really reminded me of Michael insuline even though the Dynamics are not exactly as is it definitely brought me back and it gave me a lot of Joy the romance in itself was very saltry which I definitely appreciated it contained a lot of the Paranormal romance elements that I like and so miss Hazelwood did not stumble with this one it was truly one of the best books I have read this year and I can't wait to see what else she'll do in this realm because it's super different to what she typically does but that is not unwelcomed because I want more of this next up we have got best sequel you have read so far in 2024 and this is easy money no questions asked and that is Magnolia Parks the long way home there was no doubt in my mind as I knew I was making the midyear freakout tag that this book was going to make it in I didn't know exactly in which question I'd put it but just given the fact that when I think sequels I think about a direct continuation of something I knew this was going to be the one cuz I have read romance series that are different Standalone but they all interconnect in some way I know those are sequels but my brain doesn't process them as such and so this being a direct sequel I knew this had to be the one and in this series we follow the story of Magnolia and BJ who are childhood best friends they are both from very wealthy families and also friend families and when they get together for the very first time it goes without saying by everybody around them that they are meant to be together if there was ever a couple that needed to exist with each other it is Magnolia and BJ except that then BJ kind of messes up and by kind of I mean he did he does mess up a lot and he cheats on Magnolia and Magnolia rightfully so decides to leave hisas except that their Dynamic turns very complicated because neither of them leaves each other's lives and so there's still besties for the resties they reside in the same friend group and they have the same friends and it seems that everything they have they share and they through time develop loads of really toxic and unfair mechanisms to make sure that the other person still cares and that they still somewhat have them in their grasp if they ever decided to get together again and try things again it leads to a very toxic cycle between these two characters trying to find their way back to each other and yet continuously hurting each other because they haven't fully healed from all that plagues them as individual people but also as a unit I read the first book last year and I think it also made it into my meteor freakout tag because I really ended up loving it after thinking that I wasn't going to enjoy it it's a very toxic very rich people drama narrative you know that the characters are not necessarily good people so if you know what you're getting yourself into I think it makes for a really enjoyable and drama fill time all of those narratives that were kind of left out in the open in book one that we open-ended you kind of are left with questions and you don't really know what a lot of these things mean and a lot of their past and what certain dates signify for these characters you find all of that significant really important really character- shaping information in this book and I was pleasantly surprised that as soon as we start we're starting to get answers this second book does have a tiny bit of a time Jump between the first one and this one which I think makes a lot of the emotions and a lot of the tension and a lot of the Forgiveness that does ensue in certain aspects a lot more justifiable in ways because characters do have time to I W say heal because they're still toxic in their own right and I don't think they've put in the work that needs to be put in but I think it gives them enough time to really simmer on all of these ideas to then figure out what it is they want to do moving forward and that aspect I really enjoyed I really enjoyed the fact that we got loads of Magnolia and Julian which I definitely wanted to see we see characters build relationships and friendships with each other in ways that I didn't expect them to during book one or after book one and so this was a pleasant surprise although not that surprising cuz I already knew I was going to really enjoy this after reading book One new release you haven't read yet but want to and there are plenty of them every single year I make a most anticipated releases video at the beginning of the year and let me tell you I have not read the majority of the books that I had on that list I have read a few which I'm honestly very proud about because Lord knows I really really suck at reading new releases but this go around I think I've been quite good at acquiring them and reading them immediately after I get them but there are still a few that I haven't read yet some that I own some that I don't own yet some that I don't have with me yet and I'll give you the little rundown of what all of them are so please hold as I fetch some of them first one is Ali hazelwood's not in love I hate the cover for this one because it doesn't match up with the rest of her books however I am really excited about this it's still sites in the stem world I don't think it's in the stem series or maybe it is I'm not sure because the covers difference I'm not really able to tell here but it's still follows a main character who works in stem but it is a billionaire forbidden romance and it sounds so very good and so unlike what she's done before and so I'm very very excited about this one I've been seeing all of the different teasers she's been posting on Instagram and it looks so good so nut in love is the first one followed by leather and Lark by Bren Weaver very excited about the second book after loving Butcher and Blackbird I am very excited to see the second installment featuring the brother and the best friend from our main characters in book one it's supposedly a marriage of convenience which I think will be quite interesting under the context of both of these characters offing serial killers and there's also a little Revenge plot that seemingly showed up at the end of book one that will make its way into book two so I'm very excited to see how that's going to play out so leather and Lark it's also another one I'm very much looking forward to and then three new releases that I own physically that I have yet to read but that I am very excited to make my way down so this one's backwards but this one is just for the summer by Abby he is this is actually my July book CL pick over on patreon so if you have yet to read this or you want to discuss it with people or want to read it and discuss it with people patreon is always linked Down Below in case you guys want that and I'm very excited about this it's going to be my first Abby humanis and I know that out of all of them this seems to be the most life and romance heavy meaning that it strikes a really great balance between both of these things just based on length alone I would guess that it contains a lot of our main characters lives I know it features our love interest who needs to take care of his siblings and he needs to assume somewhat of a paternal role after I assume something happens in the family and then our main character's mother making a reappearance which in turn makes it more difficult for these characters to connect romantically but I know it also features our two main characters in the context of them having loads of failed relationships where their exes after being with them get together with their forever love and they think that by dating each other they will cancel that out so that when they come out of this relationship with each other they'll find their forever loves too and I think that sounds really cool so I'm very very excited about just for the summer when the time is right I also have where sleeping girls live by far a I absolutely loved Ace of space when it came out you guys already know that was actually also featured in my I think second ever midyear freakout tag and in this one Shai Hussein our main character will get to her new prestigious high school and on her very first night at said School her roommate goes missing and she is basically pinned by the whole student body as the culprate of set disappearance and then she ends up friending a super Elite group of friends who in turn makes her seem more suspicious and then somebody turns up dead and there's a whole lot of drama and I just know with no doubt in my mind that f is going to absolutely deliver on an amazing narrative so I'm very excited to get this read it's also a super floppy paperback this is the version they had here in Panama and you better bet I love me a good paperback I had to get myself this copy so very excited for that as well I'm trying to put that into my July TBR and then last but not least we have got the familiar by Lee bardugo it's said in the Spanish Golden Age with her main character who has got a set of powers and abilities that she needs to keep hidden otherwise she'll be persecuted for them but then the lady of the house finds out that she has this set of abilities and she basically Coes our main character into using those to give this family a better social standing and things move on from there there is Magic and secret and the aesthetic in itself is very Gothic which I really love I have seen loads of fan art and things for this book so far that make me more excited for it and then it's also got black spray edges which I think is super cool for a first edition I've been seeing that more and more recently which is nice most anticipated release for the second half of the year I don't have a lot of them so far I have yet to sit down and really figure out what is coming out towards the second half of the year but I do have a few joted down that I'm very excited for the first one being the God and the goom Co you guys know anything that gives me K drama Vibes anything that features an uniled Fox a g Co I really want to read and this one specifically features again a God and a gho that works at a coffee shop that end up befriending each other over the counter and it seems like the coziest most fun time in a fantasy setting and so this one makes me really really excited it seems right up my alley for many different things and so I'm very excited for this one to come out we have got the ren in the Holly Library which is a Beauty and the Beast retelling it's a fantasy romance don't know a whole lot about it but it does look quite cool and so this is also another one that I'm looking forward to I have a love ha relationship with fantasy romance because I feel some of the ones I find are really really good whilst others don't really catch my attention and I have an issue with this specific genre not putting enough emphasis in the world building and whatnot which I know is supposed to be the point I know it's supposed to be one of those stories that focuses more heavily on the romance but you can still flush out a cool fantasy world without giving it up for the sake of the romance and so I wanted to have a good balance both next up we have got the seventh veil of salom by syia Moreno Garcia I am really really excited about this one it's said in 1950s Hollywood as a movie is being made of salom which is an ancient figure that has inspired thousands of artists through time and a lot of different actresses are coveting this one role because they know it is one of those star making roles anybody would kill to get but when an anenu gets the role one frustrated actress takes loads of issues with it it's a three-part narrative between the coveting actress the anjenu that gets the role and then the story of salom herself I think this is more along the lines of historical fiction than it is thriller or horror like she's done in the past but either way I trust my girl and I will read anything she puts out including a historical fiction which I typically would not read and the last one I was going to mention allegedly has come out already I haven't heard anybody talk about it yet but it is title creatures by shaan Maguire this is the third book in the alchemical journeys the first one being middle game which you guys know I am obsessed with the second book seasonal fears was not so good this one however instead of dealing with winter and summer or the doctrine of ethos is all to do with the moon and I really don't know what the narrative will look like I don't even know if it'll be good I am hoping that it is because middle game Cann not have been a one hit wonder for me so I'm hoping the title creatures will do the trick that it is an amazing one I probably will borrow it from the library instead of getting it physically because I really don't want to be disappointed but I'm hoping that sha Maguire will do the trick because this Series has been up and then down and I'm hoping it goes back up now next up we have got biggest disappointment so far this year and I have got two different popular books that I definitely did not enjoy you guys have heard plenty about them and the first one is Wild Love by Elie silver you guys also know I really love Elsie silver most of her books have been a hit for me and so this one was painful cuz I really wanted to love wild love and to fall in love with this new series she's got coming out I'm still excited about wild eyes I think is the second book in the series but this first one was not so good I was overall disappointed by the series of events in the characters romance for people that have known each other their entire lives it definitely screamed underdeveloped for me the main character was also a brat in and out of the bedroom and that to me didn't cause any sort of Sensations other than annoyance really and so that aspect to me wasn't really enjoyable either there is a single parent Trope in here and I also didn't enjoy that but it's because the circumstances surrounding it are not really conducive I think to the best Dynamics our main male character stumbles across the facts that he is a father after giving up some donations if you know what I mean by the child knocking on his door exclaiming that she needs to stay with him for a while because she has got nobody to take care of her and Against All Odds he says yes because he feels responsible for her in some way she perform and although their relationship does get better throughout the book it definitely doesn't have nearly enough development for me to feel like his overprotectiveness over her or that his love for her or his care for her that again grows with time is realistic in any way shape or form and so I was missing loads of things in the story being shown to me instead of being told and sadly the book spends too much time in unnecessary SMUD unnecessary dirty talk and these two characters our main characters being very hatefully bantery with each other because they've got this sort of rivalry going on but it is a best friend sister situation and so these two have exclaimed that they cannot be with each other and so they're kind of bantery and nasty ways with each other to keep each other at arms length because they know that they can't fool around they know they can't fool around with each other because the brother would take issue but there's really none of that at all so wild love unfortunately was not a hit for me although it features loads of things that I would typically like like a billionaire romance and a single parent Trope and again a best friend sibling and close proximity and all these different things but alas Elsie silver did not hit with Wild Love Power lless by Lauren Roberts you guys know this has been one of my few dnfs this year and I definitely do not regret deing this book this was so far out from what I was wanting it to be or what I was expecting it to be or what was promised to me by the general public because everybody really really loves this book this is supposed to be a hunger game setup in which our main character Peyton is pretending to be an elite which are people that survived the plague and got powers in exchange for their surviving it basically it's like a little reward and ordinaries non-magical non-agile folk are illegal so anytime they find one they execute them and she is an ordinary which is why she lives pretending to be an elite because it is the only way for her to survive and every once in a while I can't remember if it's every year or every few years there is this competition in which they'll bring in a bunch of different Elites and a bunch of different people with abilities to fight to the death basically I feel like I'm a broken record when it comes to Hunger Games being used as a comp but whenever there is a competition-based game in any book but specifically the name Hunger Games is used as the descriptor I am expecting the story to describe to me to explain to the reader to show the reader why exactly this Dynamic exists in the first place is it to distract the general population is it to control the general population is it to keep everybody subdue it is it to control the narrative is it to keep the poor poor and the rich rich is there any Gap specifically societally socioeconomically that this specific competition provides makes build and whenever I enter these sorts of books I find that it doesn't often have that explanation and it in turn makes me very frustrated as a reader because the Hunger Games is not just a competition where people off each other for the sake of it it has a lot of context behind it and most if not all of the similar format books or Manga series or translated books that precede the Hunger Games also have that common denominator that powerless was severely lacking also when it comes to the characters motivations respectively they to me make absolutely no sense it in no way shape or form explains their Drive their motivation their frustrations it was more frustrating for me I think than it was for them and when it comes to the romance so unnecessary the development of events was just so nonsensical that I did not enjoy this one bit so powerless Sly was not for me again it's been for a bunch of other people but this girl sadly not it biggest surprise so far this year also easy money and for this one it has to be thrown of the Fallen by Carrie Maniscalco the reason why this book specifically is a surprise because her previous series did not end well for me I really enjoyed Kingdom of the wicked I think that was a good time Kingdom of the cursed not so much and after I finished that book I kind of swore off Carrie Maniscalco for a little bit there when this book was coming out I wasn't sure whether or not I was going to read it cuz I hadn't read the last installment in the past series I thought the world was so much better fleshed out in this than it probably was in the first two books of the kingdom of the wicked series which I definitely appreciate the romance between the two characters was extremely slowburn as well well and it made loads of sense in the development of events I love that we swing between the real world and then the underworld and really understanding a lot of those cord politics that take place in this world and that our main character is very unlike what I typically observe in female presenting protagonists in fantasy stories so I really loved it for that reason we also have sort of this Bridgerton regeny element to this which I quite enjoyed which also made it kind of different from the kingdom of the wicked SE series and in this one we follow Prince Envy after he receives an invitation from the Fay to participate in this competition that will allow him to restore his score to its full power he committed a mistake years and years ago with a human that has left his court weaken and it seems like the only way for him to find answers and a resolution is through this competition through the different set of tasks and quests he ends up stumbling across Camila Antonio which incidentally seems to be a part of his quest she wants nothing to do with him she definitely doesn't want to help him out with whatever he seeks but when she finds herself in Peril too and in need of help to get out of a very specific situation she ends up figuring out that there is some sort of mutual gain from what he is requesting and they form an alliance for very different reasons in order to get what they are looking for and what I love about camaa is that she's not this sword wielding teeth bearing slay your enemies kind of protagonist she is much more about the wits and the cunning and the Really organizing herself strategically to figure out what her next moves are and I loved seeing a character lean more towards that divine feminine energy I guess we could say whilst really using her brains in order to further the plot I also really loved learning about things that Wen necessarily either explained or thoroughly explained in Kingdom of the wicked so I think this is a really great extension from that series if not even better and I loved this it was very surprising but very good favorite new author debut or new to you I don't have any I always say it but with any author I think it takes me a few series or a few books or a book that really Wows me to state that strong statement of this is an otobi author this is a new favorite author I think there are authors that I will definitely be looking at more now that I've read a few of their books like Elsie silver does a Hast things is also kind of making her way in there but I haven't read enough of these authors's works or enough of their series to really solidify the fact that I would give anything for a new book from these new Authors if you know what I mean I feel like nobody yet has reached that status of you're a favorite feel like it takes a lot for me to say that either from a book or from an author themselves and so the answer to this one is none at all question number eight is newest fictional crush and I have got two of them because a lot of the books that I have read that I admire the characters in are n ya and listen I'm in my mid 20s I'm not about to stand here and they like oh my God they're crushes it's it's they're young adults but what I can say is I love the way that they navigated each of their respective narratives or maybe I loved the way that the characters interacted with each other but when it comes to actual fictional crushes I can say Cade from Heartless by Elie silver what I would not give for a man like that I just have to say that publicly Cade from heartless where do I get myself one and then Laura from an education and Malice also was a big one I think the way that she embraced her sensual ity her sexuality her queerness and all of her different like Kinks and quirks I really really loved her for it I love how she vocalized and also did all of her introspection in terms of what she liked and what she disliked and and the things that she'd like to explore I think that in itself was really cool to read about especially because incidentally in my lifetime I have stumbled across many are not so great safic books but an education and Malice if it did anything right it was the safic romance and then other characters that I to give shout outs to that I really loved but I wouldn't say they're Crush status I think as a pairing I really loved wit and Ines from what the river NOS think they're absolutely amazing in their banter in the way that their relationship progresses in the way that iness fearlessly Embraces and emboldens herself to vocalize the fact that she does want to be with wit then wi basically giving up everything for iness I really really loved them as a couple another character that absolutely stole my heart was LA from a tempest of tea I think also his dynamic with arthy throughout the entire book was one of my absolute favorites from again the tension from the banter from the fact that they really seem to understand each other in ways that maybe other people cannot understand them from all of the lies and the secrets that pose an issue in their specific Union I really just loved LA and arthy as well absolutely loved them I love that they slowly turned from fictional crushes to favorite pairings in books and listen what can I say some of these are still kids so I can't say too much but I love them and they're Dynamics and I can't say more than that newest favorite character and this one to me was blatantly obvious because there is not a single individual character that has stole my heart more than Vera Wong from Vera Wong's unsolicited advice for murderers this old lady made me cackle like nobody else has in a book she is so honest and so unapologetically herself while still internalizing a lot of things that she hasn't felt comfortable saying to her family so we get her being extroverted whilst old also introspecting on a lot that makes her feel lonely and sad and things that she wishes would change about her everyday life because she feels like there is nothing interesting happening in her life and through the mystery that happens in this book where she finds a dead body in her te- shop she ends up meeting a group of people that give her purpose A Renewed sense of life and of living that I really enjoyed seeing seeing her play matchmaker with the different characters was incredibly joyful seeing her be just a little bit too honest to the point that it got a little bit crash was also incredibly joyful to read about the Audi book made for an amazing experience so if I had to choose a single character that absolutely stole my soul it would be Vera Wong because she is unmatched a book that made you cry and I'm not going to lie this one was a little bit hard because although a lot of books have made me emotional this year I haven't had like a full-on sobbing experience in a while with a book and when I was looking through my good reads I was like this one has got to be the closest I have gotten to ugly crying and that is the seven-year slip by Ashley Pon this was a surprising one in terms of the emotional levels because I didn't realized going into this that the book would have such a strong theme of grief and so it is a forewarning if you're wanting to go into this book it explores so very in depth and I thought I was going to get a cute romance between a chef and a girl who is very unclear about where her life is going in the future and then on top of those things which I did get I got the story of a girl who is very lost in life because she lost her aunt and now that she has lost her aunt who she shared a space with and who she traveled the world with and who she experienced so much joy with she really doesn't know where life is taking her next and reading all of that internal monologue on how she relates small everyday things to her aunt and how the loss of her seems so all-encompassing where it's not only about the absence of this body in you know in this plane of existence but it's more so about everything a person leaves behind when they die and it's different smells and it's things that you can touch and it's things that you can see and it's a specific song and a specific dish and there are so many things that remind you of people after they're passing that it makes it all the more difficult to heal sometimes because it seems like everything around you reminds you of them I didn't realize the book would talk about all of that and it broke my soul it broke my soul to read about this character who seems very lost in her grieving journey and who doesn't know like where to go and what to do and how to handle this whilst also reading bits and pieces of her aunt's life before she passed and all of these different anecdotes that made Ana Le Ana Le and it was so good it was so so good but so very heartbreaking and I cried more than once reading this book I'm almost getting choked up now talking about it but the seven years lip really was such a good one and I really want to read more Ashley paon I know she's got a new book coming out this year I don't know if it's come out already but I definitely need to get more into this author's writing because this is the only one of her books that I've read a book that made you happy and this is such a great contrast to that one a man on his cat all of the volumes I have read so far honestly it's a manga series so it's not necessarily A Pros book but it is the biggest boost of serone and you will ever experience of your life if you haven't read this already we follow the story of an old man after he loses his wife who he had promised that they'd adopt a cat together because she seemed to be getting a lot of Joy from pets and animals and that's something that they've never really experienced as a couple however she passes before that wish is fulfilled and in her passing he decides to get a cat for the very first time he has never had pets in his entire life and he decides to do so to honor this promise that he made to his laid wife and in doing so his love of life is revitalized after a long period of time where he felt lonely and aimless and that life had no purpose anymore after losing the person that he loved the most and although all those things sound really sad I think the Series has got a great way to Showcase all of these things in a way that celebrates life and celebrates the most joyful beautiful mundane aspects of it instead of making it sound so depressing sto in small vignettes recounting the most important parts of their relationship and I just love it it is the most wholesome thing ever what is the most beautiful book you have bought so far this year or received and I have two that come to mind I actually haven't bought a whole lot of special editions this year but if I had to bring up a book that I think was insanely pretty that I just had to get it it is definitely dark star burning Ash Falls white you can see the text is iridescent the cover in itself is different from the original one at least the US one so it's extra pretty and then the edges I live for these stenciled edges they are ridiculous they're so pretty we also have these purple edges going then into the stencil going then into some lighter pink edges at the bottom and then the end papers as well are just at absolutely gorgeous we have got some really beautiful art and the hard cover itself has got a lot of really beautiful art pertaining to the story itself so I think this is probably one of the prettiest editions I own as well as pain to Devils by Margaret Owen I also mentioned little thieves funnily enough the year that it came out because it was also one of the prettiest additions I had gotten that year it's really pretty we have got the stencl edges alongside the sprayed top and bottom we don't have beautiful end papers on this one but we do have a ridiculous naked hardback which I think is incredibly incredibly stunning so I think in this regard Aluma crate is always slaying nobody can say that they're not and last but not least what books do you still need to read by the end of the year and I think this year's answer is no different than past years I always say I want to prioritize the things that I already own what's already existing in my shelves and So my answer would be anything and everything that recites in this household already I know for me I'm still going to get books here and there or borrow books from the library here or there but my priority is always this because as you guys know it's very overwhelming there's a ton of unread books in here if I had to pinpoint specific titles and I'm like yes I need to get these read it would obviously be books from my top 10 books to read in 2024 list off the top of my head I would say those are definitely ones that I want to read before the year is over but other than the books that I've put in previous list of like five star predictions or top 10 books I'm going to read this year I definitely don't know what else to pinpoint because I feel like those should be the priority and they are already in my shelves so as an extension I would say everything and that is it for today friends that is everything I have got for you in this mayor freakout tag I hope that you guys enjoyed this as always let a girl know in the comments what your answers to these questions would be I'd love to see if there is some overlap if you guys have got different favorites different fictional crushes that you're really into at the moment and any and all things that you want to reply make sure to do so in the comment section down below don't forget to give this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it and if you reached the end of the video let us leave a Emoji if you reach the very end of the video make sure to subscribe if you haven't done so already for more content like this and if you want to support the channel further I do have a patreon it is always linked Down Below in case you guys want to help support the channel further it's always a great way to make sure that things are running smoothly and you do get tons of things in return like a Discord server and Sprints and different live shows from game nights to catch UPS to movie Nights to watch parties to readons and behind the scenes and all the good stuff so you definitely won't want to miss on any of that and again it helps support the channel some extra that is always linked down below alongside the rest of my socials I love you guys so so much and I will see you on the next one by\n"