**A Year of Reading: Reflections and Predictions**

As I sit down to reflect on my reading habits and preferences, I am reminded that every year is unique and full of surprises. Last year was no exception, with some books leaving a lasting impression and others failing to capture my interest. In this article, I will share my thoughts on the books I read last year, including some that didn't quite make the cut.

**Nevermore**

One book that stood out to me as particularly enjoyable was Nevermore by Amari Rachel Baumann. This young adult novel tells the story of a teenage girl who discovers that her brother has gone missing and ends up entering a magical world where she must work for a Bureau of Investigations to find him. I really liked Amari's character, who is determined and driven, but also knows what she wants to do with her life. The themes of purpose and belonging resonated with me, and I appreciated the way Baumann wove together elements of fantasy and mystery.

I was drawn to Nevermore because it felt like a fresh take on the magical world genre, and I enjoyed watching Amari navigate this new reality. While not every moment was perfect, I found myself fully invested in her story and eager to see what would happen next. If you're looking for a good middle-grade book or want to recommend one to someone in your life, Nevermore is definitely worth considering.

**DNF: Dark Prince by Christine Feehan**

Unfortunately, not all my predictions panned out as planned. One book that I purchased with high hopes but ultimately did not enjoy was Dark Prince by Christine Feehan. As a fan of J.R. Ward's vampire novels, I thought I would love this book and was eager to dive in. However, after struggling to make progress for weeks, I finally had to admit defeat and DNF (did not finish) the book.

To be honest, I couldn't tell you much about the story beyond that it was just not for me. The writing style and characters didn't resonate with me, and I found myself losing interest quickly. I've tried again with another book by Feehan, but unfortunately, my second attempt did not fare any better. As a result, I'm happy to say that I won't be reaching back into her catalog anytime soon.

**Fangs**

On the other end of the spectrum was Fangs, a graphic novel that exceeded my expectations in every way. This short and sweet tale tells the story of a vampire and werewolf who fall in love, and while it may not be the most complex or in-depth book, I thoroughly enjoyed its lighthearted and humorous take on the traditional romance.

What struck me about Fangs was how well it captured the essence of sequential art. The use of vignettes and puns added a playful touch that made me smile throughout my reading experience. While not every reader may appreciate this type of storytelling, I found myself having fun with the characters' antics and enjoying the overall vibe.

In fact, reading Fangs reminded me how much I love graphic novels and how often I tend to overlook them in favor of traditional books. This book has left a lasting impression on me, and I'm excited to explore more of the genre in 2023.

**A Year of Reading: Predictions for 2023**

As I look back on last year's reading adventures, I am reminded that every reader is unique and has different tastes and preferences. While some books may not have met my expectations, others exceeded them in ways I never thought possible.

As we head into 2023, I'm excited to share my predictions for the year ahead. With a focus on romances and graphic novels, I'm eager to dive back into the world of stories that make me laugh, cry, and feel all the feels. Whether or not these books meet their full potential remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: I'm excited to take on the challenge and see what the year has in store for me.

**My Favorite Five-Star Reads from 2022**

While not every book was a five-star winner, there were some that left a lasting impression and will stay with me long after the final page is turned. Here are eight of my favorite five-star reads from last year:

1. Nevermore by Amari Rachel Baumann

2. [Insert other books here]

These books may not have all been perfect, but they captured something special for me, and I'm grateful to have had the chance to read them.

Overall, 2022 was a year of discovery and growth for this reader, with some books rising above the rest to become truly unforgettable. As we move into 2023, I am eager to see what new stories will capture my heart and imagination.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello welcome back to my channel in today's video I am going to be reacting to my five star predictions from 2022. I ended up putting that list together last year because I was really hoping to work through some of my physical TBR and to read more of the books that I owned so I had I would say kind of a challenging time putting that list together but I really hoped and wished that a lot of those would be five star books for me Five Star reads because obviously the intent when you buy a book is that you're going to really enjoy it right but my tastes have changed so much over time that I didn't fully expect to absolutely adore all of those books and that was definitely the case I feel like I had very mixed results with some of the books that I read to like complete the challenge for that video but in this one I'm going to let you know my thoughts and feelings on those books and let you know if they worked out for me or not I don't have any notes really prepared for this video I didn't have notes prepared either for the last time I did a video like this and it worked out okay so hopefully this one will as well but before we get into that I would like to thank the sponsor of today's video and let you know a little bit about Birch living Birch living is a premium mattress and a box company it makes mattresses and sleep products that are stylish comfortable and environmentally conscious there are non-toxic mattresses are made right here in America crafted with Organic and natural materials that have been sustainably sourced it was important for me to pick a birch mattress that is made with natural inorganic materials because unlike synthetic mattresses the wool in these mattresses makes them hypoallergenic and I personally have pretty bad allergies and I've noticed sometimes that when I sleep I like wake up sneezing and these mattresses are allergen resistant and mold resistant in addition to being a better matches for me Birch is committed to being better for the planet my mattress is not releasing dangerous emissions into the air because it's guaranteed to be free of harmful 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before you get more than three months to make sure that this is the mattress for you and that you absolutely love it and if you don't love it they'll pick it up for you and you'll get a full refund and the best part about all of this is that Birch little version matches straight to your door for free within the US also each mattress comes with two of their Eco rust pillows which are made of recycled plastic bottles making them super breathable and better for the environment I love my virtual X mattress and I personally think you would too if you're looking for a new bed you need to check out Birch and click the link below or go to birchliving.com Chandler to get 400 off your mattress plus two free pillows thanks again to Birch living for sponsoring this portion of today's video all right now let's go ahead and talk about the 22 books that I read this year as five star predictions it was a mixed bag which we'll see here or I guess here here here okay first up we have not quite Lady this is a book that I actually finished last night it was the last book that I had to complete for this video all of these I physically own by the way they're just in various different spots in my house and I didn't really want to go and scrounge them up so book cover right here I'm not quite a lady is by Loretta Chase I really love Loretta Chase's stuff she is a historical romance author who historically has worked pretty well for me in the past huh get it historically worked to me this story was interesting it's about our heroine who I can't remember the name of even though I read this book last night she is having a baby at the beginning of the story she's like 17. she kind of got herself into a tricky situation being a lady of baton she's not really supposed to sleep with men out of wedlock obviously so she has to give her infant child she's really I mean she's really upset about this right she's not excited about it and this is something that kind of plagues her into her adulthood so we fast forward to when she's 27 and she is unmarried at this point she's not told her father that she had a baby out of woodlock but her stepmother is very much aware of it and helped her kind of conceal her pregnancy she doesn't want to tell her dad because she's really close with him and she knows that it would totally crush him to know that you know she had remember relations with someone outside of wedlock I think he would think it was a personal failing or something like that anyway she's like very much keeping this to herself which becomes challenging when she has a new next door neighbor who shows interest in her this book's very much about their relationship and about him coming to know and accept the fact that she had a child and you know it's physically intimate with someone before she was physically intimate with him it was a very tame romance I figured that this was going to be very juicy and very like Ott because of the plot of the book but honestly it wasn't it was very tame whenever our heroine tells the hero like hey I have a child he's like okay and if anything he's like very sympathetic to her plight which I really like I didn't really want him to react negatively or poorly to it but also it made for like very little in the way of conflict in this book there is kind of like a moment where the child goes missing I think and they have to to find him and retrieve him but other than that this book was very low stakes I mean I guess this money scenes were kind of nice if you want a book with a fair amount of money scenes I think there were like two or three pretty not early on in the book but definitely before these two officially like say they're in love or like you know are going to get married so I don't know maybe if that's something that strikes your fancy this would be for you this is just three star read like I love the round of Chase and I did like the initial interactions between hero and heroin they are kind of like fun the lack of conflict I think made this very low angst for me and then also the language usage here was not something that I personally really loved words for certain body parts that just weren't to my liking the hero in this book is really into animals like he he knows a lot about them he writes pamphlets on like best practices for treating your farm animals well and so he refers to his Parts as he would a farm animal it just wasn't it wasn't personally my fave uh this book was fine but it was definitely just a three-star read for me which is kind of a kind of a sad thing because I like Loretta Chase but I do have other books to read by her this year so maybe I'll find a five star there but moving on the lies of Loch lomora this is a book that I also attempted to read this week I ended up soft dnfing this book and for me that means that I will maybe revisit it at a later date I have no intentions of unhauling it but it just didn't appeal to me in the moment I actually picked up the audiobook of this one because I just wasn't feeling reading it physically and the reviews for the audiobook were like super super great I don't know like listening to this at three times speed definitely is not doable for me because it's fantasy first of all and also just the Mary accent I think doesn't let itself well to speeding this up to like you know chipmunk speed like I like this one is about our main character lock I think and he being sold I guess at the beginning of the story because of his talents or something like that I think he is going to learn how to be a thief that's all I really know uh the the beginning of the story was fun like the banter and the like humor and hijinks I liked I will be honest I just like was not in the mood to finish this one so I'm putting it on pause for now I have heard so many good things about this book so I do intend to read it eventually and I have a special edition copy of the book that's the cover that is right here but I don't feel bad about not finishing this one this year a book that I again read this week I think all of the first books on this list are ones that I have read most recently so that's gonna probably bode well for us because fresh thoughts fresh fresh memes I can better tell you about these books but I read becoming by Michelle Obama this is a book that I know a lot of people really really enjoyed and so I picked it up because I you know I like Michelle Obama and I wanted to to read it and experience it for myself I will say going into this I was I was like 10 to really interested in I think Michelle Obama is an interesting person but I didn't expect it to be what it was and what it was was fantastic the way that this book is written it's both very Grand in scope and also very intimate because Michelle takes you from her childhood and kind of her her thoughts about growing up all the way through barack's presidency in such a way that makes you really sympathize with her and also understand what it must be like to live a life like this and honestly Not only was it fascinating it was just a joy to read I mean it was very well written I listened to this audiobook for almost an entire day it's a very long book but I loved it it was narrated by her I would definitely recommend picking the audiobook up if you are an audiobook listener I have no complaints about this book it is non-fiction I do always hesitate to rate people's life experiences but for some reason this book I feel less bad about reading if that makes sense simply because there's a lot of care taken with actual writing of this book it wasn't a book that I was judging purely based on someone's life experiences and like whether or not I wanted to learn about them it was because the writing of this book is so good if I were to read this which I don't know if I will on Goodreads I like having excited yet it would definitely be a five-star book this was absolutely fantastic and I think it deserves all the praise that it gets all right next up we have Little Women and I ended up putting this book on the list because the 1994 adaptation of Little Women is I believe my most watched movie of all time watched that movie every time I was sick from like second or third grade on um like stayed homesick from school I would always watch Little Women or the 80s and of Green Gables miniseries adaptation loved that one little woman has been a formative part of my you know adolescence growing up experience I had never read the book so I was like okay I'm gonna read it this year and see how I feel about it and honestly I I don't know I have mixed feelings about this one I enjoyed it certainly because I really enjoy the story but I will say I think something I'm learning this year is that I really don't care about the books for a lot of like historical stories right like I read Emma this year for a video that I actually just posted if you haven't seen that I'll link it in the description and while it was my favorite um Austin book that I read I still really prefer the like 2020 adaptation of it I think like whatever adaptation you watch first we'll probably end up sticking with you and being your favorite and frankly like I think some stories especially older stories are just better in terms of seeing them on a screen rather than reading them I think you can relate more to the characters because you can actually see them and you can actually feel the emotion I just feel like it's harder sometimes to kind of read the emotion on the page Little Women definitely had more emotion I would say than Emma but I still prefer the movie and I know that's blasphemous to say but I've always been a movie girl frankly um I'm not someone who likes to nitpick on the little things that are or are not included in adaptations of shows even if I loved the book first I don't really I don't really care if the like movie or the show is identical so I think like maybe that is just me that's interesting too because I don't even like movies that much but women was good I I'm still gonna give it five stars because I like the story so much but I do actually think that I prefer adaptation because I think that it lies a little bit less on these sort of like moralistic components um and relies more on like the emotion and I for that moving on oh speaking of Emma I did read Emma for my Jane Austen adaptations video that I did I liked this one the most out of the three books that I read I think I read persuasion and sense of sensibility as well I liked Emma I thought it was a good book was it my favorite thing ever it was it a five star read no I don't think I really said what uh Little Women is about and I don't really want to get into the details about Emma because it's like these books have been around for hundreds of years and surely we know what they're about but Emma is about kind of like a slightly spoiled very intelligent and sometimes stupid um in terms of how she deals with people women in like Regency England it's about her trying to like match make and kind of failing in it at times and then ending up with her own like happily ever after I mean it was a good story I liked it I think what I don't love about Jane Austen's stories is there's not a closeness to the characters that I am familiar with I guess or that I am comfortable with in a romance these are guest technically romances but I don't feel like we get enough of the internal dialogue of like hero and heroine to really root for them I mean I did root for Emma to get with nightly but I was just kind of like I still feel like I'd rather see this on the screen I would still rather see these like tentative glances and touches rather than like trying to read on page nightly with scolding Emma like that's all I kind of got from the book but like in the movie you get to see like how he actually likes her uh Beyond just the scolding so I was like I'm gonna put it like a three and a half for four star read not a five star sadly but glad that I got to dive into some Jane Austen this year because I think otherwise if I had not force myself to read um Emma and some of these other books I probably would never read Austin because it's just not a high priority for me but now I can say I've read it I've been there I've done that a book that I did give five stars to was no exit I had kind of gone back and forth for a little while on whether or not I wanted to give this book five stars because I don't know it's a thriller and I feel like it takes a lot for a thriller to impress me but what I think on books I try to think is there anything I would improve or anything that I wanted changed and frankly there wasn't anything that I would have changed no exit this is a thriller about a woman who is stuck at a rest stop with a few different people and she realizes that there is a young girl in the back of one of the vehicles of some of the people at the rest stop so she's trying to figure out has this kid in their backseat where does she belong like where does this where's who who does this child belong to and can she help this child and it was so good it felt so isolated so chilling because it's set kind of during the snowy winter time was so good ate this up and if you want something that feels edge of your seat the entire time you're reading I think that you would really enjoy this book if you haven't read it already I think there's an adaptation too for like Hulu or something which I'm definitely tempted to uh watch and I'm kind of deciding whether or not I want to watch it with Hayden because I kind of want him to read the book first but anyway this was a five star read I really enjoyed it and it's probably gonna say it's probably my favorite Thriller this year besides killers of a certain age which is kind of a different book altogether like in terms of whether it's a thriller or not but anyway no exit was fantastic next up we have the first of the books that I don't remember much about I'm gonna be honest with you we have the girl with the red balloon I remember this book in terms of like the general themes but I don't really remember much about my feelings on this book so I know that it wasn't a five star so this one's about our main character Ellie she is going to Germany on a high school trip her grandfather I think asks her like not to go I think because of some of his trauma or his ideas about Germany I think he grew up there Ellie ends up going to Germany and ends up being transported back to the 80s when the Berlin Wall was still constructed and she gets to interact with people who were living during that time and she learns a lot and we learn a lot about like racism xenophobia Eugenics like a lot of different hard-hitting topics it's definitely not a fun read but it definitely is an important read my issue with it and I don't even know that's an issue is that it's why a book which tends just not to be for me typically anymore and also I just didn't feel super connected with the characters it wasn't that Ellie was a bad main character or anything but I felt like um Sheba someone that you were supposed to just like step into her shoes and view the story from her point of view and I think that made for a slightly less compelling story and also it was just kind of forgettable sadly like I I think it's an important book and I think this is a book that I wouldn't hesitate to give to a young person that wants to learn more about this time period but for me I think I would have liked to learn more about this time in history in a different way and frankly like I took a class on this period of time in college so I guess for me that's probably part of it too it's like I already knew a lot of the stuff and so for me it didn't really feel um Jose is emotionally impactful but yeah this was just a three-star read for me not bad but definitely like not a five-star read next up we have yes and I Love You by Ronnie Lauren okay this is a really weird one because I don't remember reading this book at all like I don't remember a single thing about this book I looked up the Goodreads synopsis it did not jog my memory whatsoever but whenever I posted about this on Goodreads a couple of people replied to me and said hey you've talked about this book in a video before but no one could identify like what video that was and so I looked and I searched and I I don't I don't know I don't know if I've read this book or not long story short I did not pick up this book for this video have I read it before I have no idea I have no idea your guess is as good as mine this one does have a main character with Tourette's and I believe another character was ADHD or maybe one character has both of those diagnoses but apparently the representation's good it's a book that exists will I will I attempt to read or reread this at some point so I can give you more in-depth thoughts and feelings perhaps you know I do own this book I'm not planning on unhauling it I had such a weird one like if if you remember me talking about this book let me know and I'll I'll look at that video but I don't I don't remember next up we do have another five star read I think this might be no it's not the last of the Five Star reads there's definitely other ones on this list but we have a heart and a body in the world this is a why a book that actually did work for me this one deals heavily with gun violence and um I don't know how to how to define it necessarily but the way that women sometimes feel obligated to attend to men even if they are scared of those men or don't want anything to do with those men right like the fear that something might happen to you if you don't treat everyone nicely was intense this book is extremely intense and it follows kind of the aftermath of the events that happen we get flashbacks from our heroines POV kind of talking about her experiences with the guy that ended up opening fire on a party that she went to and it is extremely hard to read I won't lie I knew this book was going to be rough I knew it was going to be impactful a lot of people said this was really you know good and when I was told what this book was about I I went into it kind of thinking I knew what it was going to be and that I wouldn't be as emotionally devastated that was a lie I definitely was the way that this a book is written and the way that it feels like this is something that could happen to you or me I think makes it that much more like scary I would highly recommend it if you're looking for a book like this it's hard to imagine that anyone's like really looking for a book like this but I do think this could be a great novel for someone in high school who um to learn more about this stuff like I feel like I would recommend this to my own child so they know kind of the the warning signs to look for in their peers and I would want my kid to know that like hey you don't have to be indiced to everybody because that was definitely an issue in this book like that's the main issue in this book and I don't know it was really really good five stars fantastic um keeping it on my shelves for sure two Five Star reads back to back I'm shocked I'm surprised we have the lightning struck Heart by TJ cloon this is a book that I actually read for one of my like it's gonna say five star predictions videos obviously I did and I read five five star predictions video where I took five of the books from this list and used that opportunity to read through them and I really really liked lightning struck heart this is a TJ Clune book that is Indie published and it is absolutely bizarre it's whimsical it's over the top there are some issues with it for sure but it is so fun it's about Wizard or like a Wizard's apprentice and a knight sort of Sammy enemies to lovers kind of a mutual pining thing but they go on this adventure together with a whole host of friends and it's just a whole lot of fun to read they resist their feelings for each other for a decent amount of the book it has a really satisfying ending it definitely leaves you open to the rest of the series because it is a series of books but it was just enjoyable I think if you enjoy TJ Clune and you really enjoy some of TJ cloon's traditionally published stuff that has been published more recently like the house in this Cerulean sea or is it under the whispering door if you like those I think there's a good chance you might like this one it definitely has less PG writing shall we say and more adult themes but the overall feeling and the overall Whimsy of this story definitely I would say translates into some of his traditionally published stuff like you can definitely see where that transition happened and kind of like where he took his writing I don't know it's a really good book I really recommend picking it up I am curious to read more in the series in the future and I feel like this is a book that I never hear talked about so I'm kind of glad to like bring it to people's attention but it was a lot of fun moving from Five Star to a dnf I ended up dnfing station 11 by Emily St John Mandel I don't feel bad about it to be honest I don't know why I picked this up I think I picked it up when I was in New York I've only been to New York once and I went to the Strand I picked out a few different books and frankly like none of those books were inside of my comfort zone some of them were queer books because I ended up going during pride month I believe and um I was like yeah like I'll get some I'll get some nice queer novels some LGBT stuff and I also picked up this one on a whim I'm not really sure why I'd heard things about it I guess but just because I know what a book's about does not mean that I necessarily need to buy it this one is about a flu-like pandemic it's about this like traveling theater troop and how they're trying to bring like Joy I guess to people in these like dark days and I don't really care to be honest I didn't have this really early on I didn't even get to the like traveling theater troop part of it but I just wasn't that intrigued by it uh the the reading experience on paper I didn't like the audiobook listening experience I also didn't like and so I decided hey I need to finish this book you know just because you own it doesn't mean you need to finish it for me I think that is kind of like my takeaway from this video and just like some other stuff that I'm doing is just because I own a book doesn't mean I have to finish it all the way as long as I've attempted the book and given it a fair shot I feel pretty pretty okay with it right like I don't have to finish everything but you know give it a try give it a chance this one I give a chance and it just it blew that chance okay next up we have a four star read an absolutely remarkable thing by Hank Green I always want to say John Green for some reason I mean he's the author right typically but this one I think I put it on my five star predictions list not really understanding what this book was and like the scope of the story I feel like I knew the general synopsis and the general gist of the book but I think that I was hoping that it would be more of a commentary on what it's like to be a social media influencer and less about the like fantasy elements but they were definitely evenly mixed here and I think that's kind of where I lost interest I wasn't like totally sold I would say on the sci-fi fantasy elements of the story going into the book I will say I sold more as I continue to read but I really wanted more of Hank's insight into what it's like to be on the internet for as long as he was what it's like to experience that level of Fame and that level of notoriety I guess because I think he has a lot to say about that topic and I'm not saying that this was a bad vehicle for that storytelling or for that commentary but I just wanted more of it and so I think I was left just a little bit disappointed but I also think I wanted more povs in this story I think that's something I pointed out whenever I vlogged this for that five star predictions video but um it was a fantastic book I was surprised maybe not surprised but I was definitely impressed by Hank's writing style I was unsure of what to expect you know having read so much of John's stuff but definitely different writing styles but you can definitely see some similarities there like they're definitely brothers so I had a good time with this one it was a four star but I'd be interested to read the sequel I think now getting into some books that I ended up reading fairly early on some of these books I read at the end of last year so I guess like a year from now so I don't know if like my thoughts and feelings are as fresh on some of these books but get into it I'm gonna try to let you know how I built about some of these so first up we have in my dreams I hold a knife this is kind of the book I would say that spurred my interest in making a five-star predictions video in the first place I knew it was a book that I really wanted to prioritize and wanted to read because I'd heard so much about it especially from Kayla from books and Lala by referenced in that last video this one is about a group of friends who all attend this kind of like exclusive School in the South I believe and they're all going to a reunion and they're gonna hang out and I think kind of discuss these suspicious circumstances surrounding one of their friends deaths that happened on campus when they were all attending school together and that sounded really juicy to me I was really excited about it it was it was giving dark Academia vibes from the description of the books like this one just kind of fell flat for me sadly I wanted to really like buy everything that the characters were telling me but I just I couldn't it mostly follows our my main character who's this like blonde girl who always felt a little bit inadequate and so we get to see her kind of like try to be as cool as the other people around her and it feels a little bit pathetic I'm not gonna lie in this case I didn't mind it so much I know I've complained lately about how I don't really like pathetic female main characters which I do stand by but the circumstance I thought it was interesting to see how she kind of like grew her character as the years went on how she went from someone who was trying to imitate people um to being someone who could kind of stand on her own I thought that was interesting but I I don't know the mystery elements of the story were just like very very lacking for me it was kind of like let's go down the list of each person in that friend group and kind of see where they were at the time of the crime and like what they what they could have done and I didn't like the left to the last person if that makes sense it was like let's go in order and then the last person is who done it it felt like predictable almost and like I feel like I could kind of see who did it it was just okay like it was fine I give it three stars I feel like this might be a book that I want to revisit just because I don't I don't know if I like fully appreciated it the first time I read it but it was just okay another dnf hoarding darkness by miss Robin lefevers I really enjoyed the his fair assassin Trilogy in high school it was one of my favorite book series I would say when I was a senior I liked and I think this kind of like helped me transition into romance I liked The Angst and the tension between the heroes and heroines in those stories there is like an hea sort of like romantic element to all of the books and some of them are like kind of hot and steamy I mean they're not like graphic or anything but really was excited to read quoting Darkness because I love this book so much it was related to that series but I think that's the problem with courting darkness and the reason I dnf'd it is because it relies so much on you knowing the characters from that first series and remembering the events of those books that I was just completely lost like the last time I read these books was in 2013 nearly 10 years ago and I didn't want to have to go back and read that entire Trilogy to read this book I think I'm okay with just owning the trilogy to be honest like I'm fine with just getting rid of this book giving it back to the half price books from from once it came next up we have middle game by seanan McGuire this is another book that I read on the recommendation of Kayla I know that this is one of her favorite books and I was really excited for it to be one of my favorite books as well I feel like we don't tend to have the same taste in books and we definitely don't prefer the same genres but some of Kayla's favorite books are books that I have given five stars to so I don't know I kind of expected this one to go well for me especially since a lot of other people like it but I actually gave this book to Star it's a hard one to explain it deals with two twins separated at Birth and they are supposed to um I don't know do great things it's a Sci-Fi book I don't I literally have no idea how to explain this book I think my problem with this one was that I think it was supposed to be emotionally resonant and to get you to think of like ethics and morality I didn't feel that way I honestly like I don't think this book had a lot to say it felt a little bit shallow in that way I didn't care about these characters at all and um you know beyond the twins separated a birth premise like just literally didn't care no disappointing for sure especially since it was it was one of those books that I had on my shelf that I was like very much looking forward to reading and I'm glad I read it because now I know that like I don't need it on my shelves and I can get rid of it but um I was kind of sad to know that this is not a book that I share in common with Kayla I guess it's not a book that I also enjoy sadly next up we have I think the last non-fiction book on this list Hood feminism by Mickey Kendall this is a book that talks a little bit about Mickey's experiences as a black woman with feminism and again that kind of covers the broader discussions I guess you could say on what it is to be a a black woman or a person of color in these spaces that seem to be really dominated by white women and white women kind of just looking out for their own interests I found it very Illuminating I will say I initially when I first started reading I was like okay this is stuff that I feel like I kind of already knew the studies and the facts that Mickey brings in to the book along with her own experiences I think it just makes this book feel really rich like not only am I getting the cold heart backs but I'm also getting someone's experiences that's dealt with stuff like this and how it's impacted her specifically I I thought it was really fantastic I think this is a book that a lot of people have read I think this is a book that a lot of people could benefit from reading and um again I don't write nonfiction but if I did rate non-fiction this would easily be a five star book alright six more to go first up we have the day of the duchess this was a two-star read for me which is so disappointing because so many people that I really love and respect love this book it's one of their favorite Sarah McLean books but another discovery that I made this year is the Sarah McLean books just really or not for me I think that her first book that I read or like the first book I read by her was kind of a fluke I just haven't really liked any of her stuff since but but this book is about our main character I'm going to say her name's like Seraphina or something why I remember that I don't know and she is Seeking a divorce from her husband but her husband needs heirs and even though they've been separated for a while in terms of like they haven't lived with each other for for quite a while and uh you know Sarah's like okay well we haven't been together for like this long obviously you don't want me let's get a divorce and he's like no like I don't want to get a divorce I don't have to find a new wife I need an heir and she's like and she's like uh okay but she puts this idea forth that he should find a new wife and and he's like okay yeah sure like I'll do that but you have to help me find one and so she puts together like a whole host of women and they all go I believe she like his country home or something and he's supposed to get to know all these women obviously while he's there he gets to know his own wife better and decides that he wants to stay with her forever it just feel like it was a it was too little too late I don't really like books where couples are separated for long periods of time and they don't talk about why they're apart like I I enjoy a miscommunication Trope to be honest I know a lot of people don't but this particular kind of miscommunication Trope I think gives miscommunication a bad name I'm sorry this dude sucked he was the worst he did not deserve the heroine I feel like he could have done so much more to apologize to her and to kind of like kiss or feed and I just feel like the things that he does at the end of the book to try to make up for the things that he's done I'm just like I don't really buy it I'm not really into it it did not feel spoony and romantic to me I was just like very fed up with him so next up we have another historical romance and what to do about you by eloisa James and this is a book that I actually enjoyed in some ways it kind of reminds me of Little Women and I do think the author was going for that with historian I think she did succeed it's about I believe three sisters and they are in kind of a tricky situation because their father has recently passed away and they don't really have a big fortune or anything new um caretaker I guess is a bit of a drunkard and they need to get married off basically if they want to be able to survive like they're living with a guy who can take care of them for the most part but they're like yeah we don't really want to live with this guy forever and at the beginning of the book you don't really know who the heroine of the story is if it's gonna be like older sister the younger sister because each of the girls kind of has their own romantic inclinations I'm like definitely they're seeking men right each of the books in the series is about a different girl but this first book in the series definitely like lays out the personalities of each of the three girls and you're like who is this book about anyway it is about the older sister of the three I think her name's like Annabelle or something like that and she is in kind of a tough situation she thought she was going to end up with this one guy but he ends up kind of like running away from her and she's trying to find him again and like see if he still wants to marry her but in the meantime she is being courted by a guy who's like definitely a rake who she definitely shouldn't be associated with but she can't seem to like Shake him and um meet him in like back corners and stuff you know kind of messing around she definitely doesn't think that he is a viable love interest until the end of the book but I kind of liked it I really liked the love interest I think he is what made the story for me I think Annabelle um she was okay I like that she looked out for her sisters but I'm actually more interested in the other girls stories that being said I did like the way that they all kind of envisioned marriage and loved differently there is one girl who reminds me so much of Amy which I think was fun I don't know if I can compare Annabelle to like a Joe I think she's more like a Meg or something like that but um it was it was a fun book I gave it three stars the audiobook is definitely the way to go with this book would I continue the series probably not to be honest I wasn't that invested but it was a fun enough time and I remember where I was when I was listening to this I was actually going to my parents new house for the first time I believe so yeah it was a good book it was fine next up we have a middle grade book actually two middle grade books in a row Nevermore by Jessica Townsend I ended up giving this book three stars which is sad because I'd heard so many good things about this book and you know I think if I were middle grade age this might work better for me I don't know I just didn't really like how our main character is treated I understand that that's like kind of the point of this book it's about this young girl who is kind of blamed for everything that goes wrong in her town and she finds out that that's actually not really her fault that she has these special powers and that she needs to like go to the school or like enter into a competition I honestly can't even remember the details which is sad I just think like this one was maybe too hyped for me is the problem it wasn't bad again but I just like the more middle grade that I read the more that I'm like Love The Whimsy of this but I think I'd rather just read this with my kids when my kids are middle grade age you know what I mean moving on to a middle grade that I did actually give five stars to though and that was a little bit more standout had kind of a similar plot it was MRE and the Knight Brothers it's about our main character who is trying to figure out what happened to her brother who ends up going missing and in doing so she ends up entering into again this kind of like magical world working for this like magical Bureau of Investigations kind of it was really fun I just really liked amari's character I liked the not message of the story but I liked that she had a purpose right she like knew what she wanted to do she wanted to find her brother and she was also just like she was kind of the chosen one in a lot of ways I really liked this book and I don't really know how to define like what I enjoyed about this one that I didn't really enjoy about Nevermore I just preferred it I think if you're like looking for a good middle grade to read or you're looking to get a middle grade book for someone in your life like this is this is the one I would recommend of the couple that I've read this year and then the last two books are both vampiric let's talk about the dnf first so we can end it on a high note um Dark Prince by Christine Feehan this is one that I purchased because I knew that J.R Ward I'm pretty sure is really close friends with Christine Feehan or in the past has been associated with her and I feel like I've heard J.R Ward say good things about her books and I love J.R Ward you know she also writes vampire novels and so I was like okay I'm gonna pick this up I love a good her normal romance and I just like kept putting it off putting it off and I've had this book on my shelves for a couple years at this point it was not very good so I ended up dnfing it I've never seen so many dnfs on my Goodreads amongst my friends than I have for this book it's about this guy who's like a Carpathian which is like kind of a kind of vampire I think and um meets this woman and I I mean I honestly couldn't tell you because I dnf'd this book right but um it wasn't for me and I don't know if I really want to pick up more from this author in the future oh you know what no I actually did read another book by her it was like a little novel a novel a little Novella it was not good either so I think I'm fine with like just not reading anything else from her in the future sorry Christine Feehan and then lastly we have fangs this is the shortest book I think that I read all year it is a graphic novel about a vampire and a werewolf and their romance and it's just cute it's like these little vignettes these little like funny moments kind of like puns you can make about like vampires Marvels being together those are like kind of what form the story and it's just cute it was cute it was enjoyable it's not like the most rich storytelling it's on the most in-depth book ever but does it really need to be like I just had I've had a fun time with this one and I'm very glad that I read it and honestly kind of reminded me that I do like sequential art I used to read a fair amount of web comics and then I just kind of stopped out of nowhere and I kind of want to get back into it honestly um or just like pick up more graphic novels in 2023 so so I do think this book taught me some things along with just being generally and joyful so those are the 22 five-star predictions I had for 2022. obviously not all went to plan but I'm glad to have any Five Star reads honestly from this list in total I ended up having Eight Five Star reads out of the 22 and frankly I'm like pretty happy with that I would have been happy with just Five Five Star reads from this list I'm a notoriously picky critic and hard to please so to have like my predictions be decently accurate I feel like um you know pat on the back I feel good about that and I'm excited for 2023 and getting to read those five star predictions especially since the majority of those are notebooks I physically own but are just books I'm excited about again like the reason I created this video in the first place or the initial video was that I wanted to read more of the books that I own and so I only selected you know physical books that I own 2023 that's pretty much all romances like my most anticipated romances and I think that one will be fun to like revisit in 2023 but anyway thanks so much for watching this video let me know if any of your like thoughts and feelings on these books differ from mine or if this has encouraged you or discouraged you from Reading any of these books I would love to know but thanks so much for watching this video I love you all so much and until next timehello welcome back to my channel in today's video I am going to be reacting to my five star predictions from 2022. I ended up putting that list together last year because I was really hoping to work through some of my physical TBR and to read more of the books that I owned so I had I would say kind of a challenging time putting that list together but I really hoped and wished that a lot of those would be five star books for me Five Star reads because obviously the intent when you buy a book is that you're going to really enjoy it right but my tastes have changed so much over time that I didn't fully expect to absolutely adore all of those books and that was definitely the case I feel like I had very mixed results with some of the books that I read to like complete the challenge for that video but in this one I'm going to let you know my thoughts and feelings on those books and let you know if they worked out for me or not I don't have any notes really prepared for this video I didn't have notes prepared either for the last time I did a video like this and it worked out okay so hopefully this one 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before you get more than three months to make sure that this is the mattress for you and that you absolutely love it and if you don't love it they'll pick it up for you and you'll get a full refund and the best part about all of this is that Birch little version matches straight to your door for free within the US also each mattress comes with two of their Eco rust pillows which are made of recycled plastic bottles making them super breathable and better for the environment I love my virtual X mattress and I personally think you would too if you're looking for a new bed you need to check out Birch and click the link below or go to birchliving.com Chandler to get 400 off your mattress plus two free pillows thanks again to Birch living for sponsoring this portion of today's video all right now let's go ahead and talk about the 22 books that I read this year as five star predictions it was a mixed bag which we'll see here or I guess here here here okay first up we have not quite Lady this is a book that I actually finished last night it was the last book that I had to complete for this video all of these I physically own by the way they're just in various different spots in my house and I didn't really want to go and scrounge them up so book cover right here I'm not quite a lady is by Loretta Chase I really love Loretta Chase's stuff she is a historical romance author who historically has worked pretty well for me in the past huh get it historically worked to me this story was interesting it's about our heroine who I can't remember the name of even though I read this book last night she is having a baby at the beginning of the story she's like 17. she kind of got herself into a tricky situation being a lady of baton she's not really supposed to sleep with men out of wedlock obviously so she has to give her infant child she's really I mean she's really upset about this right she's not excited about it and this is something that kind of plagues her into her adulthood so we fast forward to when she's 27 and she is unmarried at this point she's not told her father that she had a baby out of woodlock but her stepmother is very much aware of it and helped her kind of conceal her pregnancy she doesn't want to tell her dad because she's really close with him and she knows that it would totally crush him to know that you know she had remember relations with someone outside of wedlock I think he would think it was a personal failing or something like that anyway she's like very much keeping this to herself which becomes challenging when she has a new next door neighbor who shows interest in her this book's very much about their relationship and about him coming to know and accept the fact that she had a child and you know it's physically intimate with someone before she was physically intimate with him it was a very tame romance I figured that this was going to be very juicy and very like Ott because of the plot of the book but honestly it wasn't it was very tame whenever our heroine tells the hero like hey I have a child he's like okay and if anything he's like very sympathetic to her plight which I really like I didn't really want him to react negatively or poorly to it but also it made for like very little in the way of conflict in this book there is kind of like a moment where the child goes missing I think and they have to to find him and retrieve him but other than that this book was very low stakes I mean I guess this money scenes were kind of nice if you want a book with a fair amount of money scenes I think there were like two or three pretty not early on in the book but definitely before these two officially like say they're in love or like you know are going to get married so I don't know maybe if that's something that strikes your fancy this would be for you this is just three star read like I love the round of Chase and I did like the initial interactions between hero and heroin they are kind of like fun the lack of conflict I think made this very low angst for me and then also the language usage here was not something that I personally really loved words for certain body parts that just weren't to my liking the hero in this book is really into animals like he he knows a lot about them he writes pamphlets on like best practices for treating your farm animals well and so he refers to his Parts as he would a farm animal it just wasn't it wasn't personally my fave uh this book was fine but it was definitely just a three-star read for me which is kind of a kind of a sad thing because I like Loretta Chase but I do have other books to read by her this year so maybe I'll find a five star there but moving on the lies of Loch lomora this is a book that I also attempted to read this week I ended up soft dnfing this book and for me that means that I will maybe revisit it at a later date I have no intentions of unhauling it but it just didn't appeal to me in the moment I actually picked up the audiobook of this one because I just wasn't feeling reading it physically and the reviews for the audiobook were like super super great I don't know like listening to this at three times speed definitely is not doable for me because it's fantasy first of all and also just the Mary accent I think doesn't let itself well to speeding this up to like you know chipmunk speed like I like this one is about our main character lock I think and he being sold I guess at the beginning of the story because of his talents or something like that I think he is going to learn how to be a thief that's all I really know uh the the beginning of the story was fun like the banter and the like humor and hijinks I liked I will be honest I just like was not in the mood to finish this one so I'm putting it on pause for now I have heard so many good things about this book so I do intend to read it eventually and I have a special edition copy of the book that's the cover that is right here but I don't feel bad about not finishing this one this year a book that I again read this week I think all of the first books on this list are ones that I have read most recently so that's gonna probably bode well for us because fresh thoughts fresh fresh memes I can better tell you about these books but I read becoming by Michelle Obama this is a book that I know a lot of people really really enjoyed and so I picked it up because I you know I like Michelle Obama and I wanted to to read it and experience it for myself I will say going into this I was I was like 10 to really interested in I think Michelle Obama is an interesting person but I didn't expect it to be what it was and what it was was fantastic the way that this book is written it's both very Grand in scope and also very intimate because Michelle takes you from her childhood and kind of her her thoughts about growing up all the way through barack's presidency in such a way that makes you really sympathize with her and also understand what it must be like to live a life like this and honestly Not only was it fascinating it was just a joy to read I mean it was very well written I listened to this audiobook for almost an entire day it's a very long book but I loved it it was narrated by her I would definitely recommend picking the audiobook up if you are an audiobook listener I have no complaints about this book it is non-fiction I do always hesitate to rate people's life experiences but for some reason this book I feel less bad about reading if that makes sense simply because there's a lot of care taken with actual writing of this book it wasn't a book that I was judging purely based on someone's life experiences and like whether or not I wanted to learn about them it was because the writing of this book is so good if I were to read this which I don't know if I will on Goodreads I like having excited yet it would definitely be a five-star book this was absolutely fantastic and I think it deserves all the praise that it gets all right next up we have Little Women and I ended up putting this book on the list because the 1994 adaptation of Little Women is I believe my most watched movie of all time watched that movie every time I was sick from like second or third grade on um like stayed homesick from school I would always watch Little Women or the 80s and of Green Gables miniseries adaptation loved that one little woman has been a formative part of my you know adolescence growing up experience I had never read the book so I was like okay I'm gonna read it this year and see how I feel about it and honestly I I don't know I have mixed feelings about this one I enjoyed it certainly because I really enjoy the story but I will say I think something I'm learning this year is that I really don't care about the books for a lot of like historical stories right like I read Emma this year for a video that I actually just posted if you haven't seen that I'll link it in the description and while it was my favorite um Austin book that I read I still really prefer the like 2020 adaptation of it I think like whatever adaptation you watch first we'll probably end up sticking with you and being your favorite and frankly like I think some stories especially older stories are just better in terms of seeing them on a screen rather than reading them I think you can relate more to the characters because you can actually see them and you can actually feel the emotion I just feel like it's harder sometimes to kind of read the emotion on the page Little Women definitely had more emotion I would say than Emma but I still prefer the movie and I know that's blasphemous to say but I've always been a movie girl frankly um I'm not someone who likes to nitpick on the little things that are or are not included in adaptations of shows even if I loved the book first I don't really I don't really care if the like movie or the show is identical so I think like maybe that is just me that's interesting too because I don't even like movies that much but women was good I I'm still gonna give it five stars because I like the story so much but I do actually think that I prefer adaptation because I think that it lies a little bit less on these sort of like moralistic components um and relies more on like the emotion and I for that moving on oh speaking of Emma I did read Emma for my Jane Austen adaptations video that I did I liked this one the most out of the three books that I read I think I read persuasion and sense of sensibility as well I liked Emma I thought it was a good book was it my favorite thing ever it was it a five star read no I don't think I really said what uh Little Women is about and I don't really want to get into the details about Emma because it's like these books have been around for hundreds of years and surely we know what they're about but Emma is about kind of like a slightly spoiled very intelligent and sometimes stupid um in terms of how she deals with people women in like Regency England it's about her trying to like match make and kind of failing in it at times and then ending up with her own like happily ever after I mean it was a good story I liked it I think what I don't love about Jane Austen's stories is there's not a closeness to the characters that I am familiar with I guess or that I am comfortable with in a romance these are guest technically romances but I don't feel like we get enough of the internal dialogue of like hero and heroine to really root for them I mean I did root for Emma to get with nightly but I was just kind of like I still feel like I'd rather see this on the screen I would still rather see these like tentative glances and touches rather than like trying to read on page nightly with scolding Emma like that's all I kind of got from the book but like in the movie you get to see like how he actually likes her uh Beyond just the scolding so I was like I'm gonna put it like a three and a half for four star read not a five star sadly but glad that I got to dive into some Jane Austen this year because I think otherwise if I had not force myself to read um Emma and some of these other books I probably would never read Austin because it's just not a high priority for me but now I can say I've read it I've been there I've done that a book that I did give five stars to was no exit I had kind of gone back and forth for a little while on whether or not I wanted to give this book five stars because I don't know it's a thriller and I feel like it takes a lot for a thriller to impress me but what I think on books I try to think is there anything I would improve or anything that I wanted changed and frankly there wasn't anything that I would have changed no exit this is a thriller about a woman who is stuck at a rest stop with a few different people and she realizes that there is a young girl in the back of one of the vehicles of some of the people at the rest stop so she's trying to figure out has this kid in their backseat where does she belong like where does this where's who who does this child belong to and can she help this child and it was so good it felt so isolated so chilling because it's set kind of during the snowy winter time was so good ate this up and if you want something that feels edge of your seat the entire time you're reading I think that you would really enjoy this book if you haven't read it already I think there's an adaptation too for like Hulu or something which I'm definitely tempted to uh watch and I'm kind of deciding whether or not I want to watch it with Hayden because I kind of want him to read the book first but anyway this was a five star read I really enjoyed it and it's probably gonna say it's probably my favorite Thriller this year besides killers of a certain age which is kind of a different book altogether like in terms of whether it's a thriller or not but anyway no exit was fantastic next up we have the first of the books that I don't remember much about I'm gonna be honest with you we have the girl with the red balloon I remember this book in terms of like the general themes but I don't really remember much about my feelings on this book so I know that it wasn't a five star so this one's about our main character Ellie she is going to Germany on a high school trip her grandfather I think asks her like not to go I think because of some of his trauma or his ideas about Germany I think he grew up there Ellie ends up going to Germany and ends up being transported back to the 80s when the Berlin Wall was still constructed and she gets to interact with people who were living during that time and she learns a lot and we learn a lot about like racism xenophobia Eugenics like a lot of different hard-hitting topics it's definitely not a fun read but it definitely is an important read my issue with it and I don't even know that's an issue is that it's why a book which tends just not to be for me typically anymore and also I just didn't feel super connected with the characters it wasn't that Ellie was a bad main character or anything but I felt like um Sheba someone that you were supposed to just like step into her shoes and view the story from her point of view and I think that made for a slightly less compelling story and also it was just kind of forgettable sadly like I I think it's an important book and I think this is a book that I wouldn't hesitate to give to a young person that wants to learn more about this time period but for me I think I would have liked to learn more about this time in history in a different way and frankly like I took a class on this period of time in college so I guess for me that's probably part of it too it's like I already knew a lot of the stuff and so for me it didn't really feel um Jose is emotionally impactful but yeah this was just a three-star read for me not bad but definitely like not a five-star read next up we have yes and I Love You by Ronnie Lauren okay this is a really weird one because I don't remember reading this book at all like I don't remember a single thing about this book I looked up the Goodreads synopsis it did not jog my memory whatsoever but whenever I posted about this on Goodreads a couple of people replied to me and said hey you've talked about this book in a video before but no one could identify like what video that was and so I looked and I searched and I I don't I don't know I don't know if I've read this book or not long story short I did not pick up this book for this video have I read it before I have no idea I have no idea your guess is as good as mine this one does have a main character with Tourette's and I believe another character was ADHD or maybe one character has both of those diagnoses but apparently the representation's good it's a book that exists will I will I attempt to read or reread this at some point so I can give you more in-depth thoughts and feelings perhaps you know I do own this book I'm not planning on unhauling it I had such a weird one like if if you remember me talking about this book let me know and I'll I'll look at that video but I don't I don't remember next up we do have another five star read I think this might be no it's not the last of the Five Star reads there's definitely other ones on this list but we have a heart and a body in the world this is a why a book that actually did work for me this one deals heavily with gun violence and um I don't know how to how to define it necessarily but the way that women sometimes feel obligated to attend to men even if they are scared of those men or don't want anything to do with those men right like the fear that something might happen to you if you don't treat everyone nicely was intense this book is extremely intense and it follows kind of the aftermath of the events that happen we get flashbacks from our heroines POV kind of talking about her experiences with the guy that ended up opening fire on a party that she went to and it is extremely hard to read I won't lie I knew this book was going to be rough I knew it was going to be impactful a lot of people said this was really you know good and when I was told what this book was about I I went into it kind of thinking I knew what it was going to be and that I wouldn't be as emotionally devastated that was a lie I definitely was the way that this a book is written and the way that it feels like this is something that could happen to you or me I think makes it that much more like scary I would highly recommend it if you're looking for a book like this it's hard to imagine that anyone's like really looking for a book like this but I do think this could be a great novel for someone in high school who um to learn more about this stuff like I feel like I would recommend this to my own child so they know kind of the the warning signs to look for in their peers and I would want my kid to know that like hey you don't have to be indiced to everybody because that was definitely an issue in this book like that's the main issue in this book and I don't know it was really really good five stars fantastic um keeping it on my shelves for sure two Five Star reads back to back I'm shocked I'm surprised we have the lightning struck Heart by TJ cloon this is a book that I actually read for one of my like it's gonna say five star predictions videos obviously I did and I read five five star predictions video where I took five of the books from this list and used that opportunity to read through them and I really really liked lightning struck heart this is a TJ Clune book that is Indie published and it is absolutely bizarre it's whimsical it's over the top there are some issues with it for sure but it is so fun it's about Wizard or like a Wizard's apprentice and a knight sort of Sammy enemies to lovers kind of a mutual pining thing but they go on this adventure together with a whole host of friends and it's just a whole lot of fun to read they resist their feelings for each other for a decent amount of the book it has a really satisfying ending it definitely leaves you open to the rest of the series because it is a series of books but it was just enjoyable I think if you enjoy TJ Clune and you really enjoy some of TJ cloon's traditionally published stuff that has been published more recently like the house in this Cerulean sea or is it under the whispering door if you like those I think there's a good chance you might like this one it definitely has less PG writing shall we say and more adult themes but the overall feeling and the overall Whimsy of this story definitely I would say translates into some of his traditionally published stuff like you can definitely see where that transition happened and kind of like where he took his writing I don't know it's a really good book I really recommend picking it up I am curious to read more in the series in the future and I feel like this is a book that I never hear talked about so I'm kind of glad to like bring it to people's attention but it was a lot of fun moving from Five Star to a dnf I ended up dnfing station 11 by Emily St John Mandel I don't feel bad about it to be honest I don't know why I picked this up I think I picked it up when I was in New York I've only been to New York once and I went to the Strand I picked out a few different books and frankly like none of those books were inside of my comfort zone some of them were queer books because I ended up going during pride month I believe and um I was like yeah like I'll get some I'll get some nice queer novels some LGBT stuff and I also picked up this one on a whim I'm not really sure why I'd heard things about it I guess but just because I know what a book's about does not mean that I necessarily need to buy it this one is about a flu-like pandemic it's about this like traveling theater troop and how they're trying to bring like Joy I guess to people in these like dark days and I don't really care to be honest I didn't have this really early on I didn't even get to the like traveling theater troop part of it but I just wasn't that intrigued by it uh the the reading experience on paper I didn't like the audiobook listening experience I also didn't like and so I decided hey I need to finish this book you know just because you own it doesn't mean you need to finish it for me I think that is kind of like my takeaway from this video and just like some other stuff that I'm doing is just because I own a book doesn't mean I have to finish it all the way as long as I've attempted the book and given it a fair shot I feel pretty pretty okay with it right like I don't have to finish everything but you know give it a try give it a chance this one I give a chance and it just it blew that chance okay next up we have a four star read an absolutely remarkable thing by Hank Green I always want to say John Green for some reason I mean he's the author right typically but this one I think I put it on my five star predictions list not really understanding what this book was and like the scope of the story I feel like I knew the general synopsis and the general gist of the book but I think that I was hoping that it would be more of a commentary on what it's like to be a social media influencer and less about the like fantasy elements but they were definitely evenly mixed here and I think that's kind of where I lost interest I wasn't like totally sold I would say on the sci-fi fantasy elements of the story going into the book I will say I sold more as I continue to read but I really wanted more of Hank's insight into what it's like to be on the internet for as long as he was what it's like to experience that level of Fame and that level of notoriety I guess because I think he has a lot to say about that topic and I'm not saying that this was a bad vehicle for that storytelling or for that commentary but I just wanted more of it and so I think I was left just a little bit disappointed but I also think I wanted more povs in this story I think that's something I pointed out whenever I vlogged this for that five star predictions video but um it was a fantastic book I was surprised maybe not surprised but I was definitely impressed by Hank's writing style I was unsure of what to expect you know having read so much of John's stuff but definitely different writing styles but you can definitely see some similarities there like they're definitely brothers so I had a good time with this one it was a four star but I'd be interested to read the sequel I think now getting into some books that I ended up reading fairly early on some of these books I read at the end of last year so I guess like a year from now so I don't know if like my thoughts and feelings are as fresh on some of these books but get into it I'm gonna try to let you know how I built about some of these so first up we have in my dreams I hold a knife this is kind of the book I would say that spurred my interest in making a five-star predictions video in the first place I knew it was a book that I really wanted to prioritize and wanted to read because I'd heard so much about it especially from Kayla from books and Lala by referenced in that last video this one is about a group of friends who all attend this kind of like exclusive School in the South I believe and they're all going to a reunion and they're gonna hang out and I think kind of discuss these suspicious circumstances surrounding one of their friends deaths that happened on campus when they were all attending school together and that sounded really juicy to me I was really excited about it it was it was giving dark Academia vibes from the description of the books like this one just kind of fell flat for me sadly I wanted to really like buy everything that the characters were telling me but I just I couldn't it mostly follows our my main character who's this like blonde girl who always felt a little bit inadequate and so we get to see her kind of like try to be as cool as the other people around her and it feels a little bit pathetic I'm not gonna lie in this case I didn't mind it so much I know I've complained lately about how I don't really like pathetic female main characters which I do stand by but the circumstance I thought it was interesting to see how she kind of like grew her character as the years went on how she went from someone who was trying to imitate people um to being someone who could kind of stand on her own I thought that was interesting but I I don't know the mystery elements of the story were just like very very lacking for me it was kind of like let's go down the list of each person in that friend group and kind of see where they were at the time of the crime and like what they what they could have done and I didn't like the left to the last person if that makes sense it was like let's go in order and then the last person is who done it it felt like predictable almost and like I feel like I could kind of see who did it it was just okay like it was fine I give it three stars I feel like this might be a book that I want to revisit just because I don't I don't know if I like fully appreciated it the first time I read it but it was just okay another dnf hoarding darkness by miss Robin lefevers I really enjoyed the his fair assassin Trilogy in high school it was one of my favorite book series I would say when I was a senior I liked and I think this kind of like helped me transition into romance I liked The Angst and the tension between the heroes and heroines in those stories there is like an hea sort of like romantic element to all of the books and some of them are like kind of hot and steamy I mean they're not like graphic or anything but really was excited to read quoting Darkness because I love this book so much it was related to that series but I think that's the problem with courting darkness and the reason I dnf'd it is because it relies so much on you knowing the characters from that first series and remembering the events of those books that I was just completely lost like the last time I read these books was in 2013 nearly 10 years ago and I didn't want to have to go back and read that entire Trilogy to read this book I think I'm okay with just owning the trilogy to be honest like I'm fine with just getting rid of this book giving it back to the half price books from from once it came next up we have middle game by seanan McGuire this is another book that I read on the recommendation of Kayla I know that this is one of her favorite books and I was really excited for it to be one of my favorite books as well I feel like we don't tend to have the same taste in books and we definitely don't prefer the same genres but some of Kayla's favorite books are books that I have given five stars to so I don't know I kind of expected this one to go well for me especially since a lot of other people like it but I actually gave this book to Star it's a hard one to explain it deals with two twins separated at Birth and they are supposed to um I don't know do great things it's a Sci-Fi book I don't I literally have no idea how to explain this book I think my problem with this one was that I think it was supposed to be emotionally resonant and to get you to think of like ethics and morality I didn't feel that way I honestly like I don't think this book had a lot to say it felt a little bit shallow in that way I didn't care about these characters at all and um you know beyond the twins separated a birth premise like just literally didn't care no disappointing for sure especially since it was it was one of those books that I had on my shelf that I was like very much looking forward to reading and I'm glad I read it because now I know that like I don't need it on my shelves and I can get rid of it but um I was kind of sad to know that this is not a book that I share in common with Kayla I guess it's not a book that I also enjoy sadly next up we have I think the last non-fiction book on this list Hood feminism by Mickey Kendall this is a book that talks a little bit about Mickey's experiences as a black woman with feminism and again that kind of covers the broader discussions I guess you could say on what it is to be a a black woman or a person of color in these spaces that seem to be really dominated by white women and white women kind of just looking out for their own interests I found it very Illuminating I will say I initially when I first started reading I was like okay this is stuff that I feel like I kind of already knew the studies and the facts that Mickey brings in to the book along with her own experiences I think it just makes this book feel really rich like not only am I getting the cold heart backs but I'm also getting someone's experiences that's dealt with stuff like this and how it's impacted her specifically I I thought it was really fantastic I think this is a book that a lot of people have read I think this is a book that a lot of people could benefit from reading and um again I don't write nonfiction but if I did rate non-fiction this would easily be a five star book alright six more to go first up we have the day of the duchess this was a two-star read for me which is so disappointing because so many people that I really love and respect love this book it's one of their favorite Sarah McLean books but another discovery that I made this year is the Sarah McLean books just really or not for me I think that her first book that I read or like the first book I read by her was kind of a fluke I just haven't really liked any of her stuff since but but this book is about our main character I'm going to say her name's like Seraphina or something why I remember that I don't know and she is Seeking a divorce from her husband but her husband needs heirs and even though they've been separated for a while in terms of like they haven't lived with each other for for quite a while and uh you know Sarah's like okay well we haven't been together for like this long obviously you don't want me let's get a divorce and he's like no like I don't want to get a divorce I don't have to find a new wife I need an heir and she's like and she's like uh okay but she puts this idea forth that he should find a new wife and and he's like okay yeah sure like I'll do that but you have to help me find one and so she puts together like a whole host of women and they all go I believe she like his country home or something and he's supposed to get to know all these women obviously while he's there he gets to know his own wife better and decides that he wants to stay with her forever it just feel like it was a it was too little too late I don't really like books where couples are separated for long periods of time and they don't talk about why they're apart like I I enjoy a miscommunication Trope to be honest I know a lot of people don't but this particular kind of miscommunication Trope I think gives miscommunication a bad name I'm sorry this dude sucked he was the worst he did not deserve the heroine I feel like he could have done so much more to apologize to her and to kind of like kiss or feed and I just feel like the things that he does at the end of the book to try to make up for the things that he's done I'm just like I don't really buy it I'm not really into it it did not feel spoony and romantic to me I was just like very fed up with him so next up we have another historical romance and what to do about you by eloisa James and this is a book that I actually enjoyed in some ways it kind of reminds me of Little Women and I do think the author was going for that with historian I think she did succeed it's about I believe three sisters and they are in kind of a tricky situation because their father has recently passed away and they don't really have a big fortune or anything new um caretaker I guess is a bit of a drunkard and they need to get married off basically if they want to be able to survive like they're living with a guy who can take care of them for the most part but they're like yeah we don't really want to live with this guy forever and at the beginning of the book you don't really know who the heroine of the story is if it's gonna be like older sister the younger sister because each of the girls kind of has their own romantic inclinations I'm like definitely they're seeking men right each of the books in the series is about a different girl but this first book in the series definitely like lays out the personalities of each of the three girls and you're like who is this book about anyway it is about the older sister of the three I think her name's like Annabelle or something like that and she is in kind of a tough situation she thought she was going to end up with this one guy but he ends up kind of like running away from her and she's trying to find him again and like see if he still wants to marry her but in the meantime she is being courted by a guy who's like definitely a rake who she definitely shouldn't be associated with but she can't seem to like Shake him and um meet him in like back corners and stuff you know kind of messing around she definitely doesn't think that he is a viable love interest until the end of the book but I kind of liked it I really liked the love interest I think he is what made the story for me I think Annabelle um she was okay I like that she looked out for her sisters but I'm actually more interested in the other girls stories that being said I did like the way that they all kind of envisioned marriage and loved differently there is one girl who reminds me so much of Amy which I think was fun I don't know if I can compare Annabelle to like a Joe I think she's more like a Meg or something like that but um it was it was a fun book I gave it three stars the audiobook is definitely the way to go with this book would I continue the series probably not to be honest I wasn't that invested but it was a fun enough time and I remember where I was when I was listening to this I was actually going to my parents new house for the first time I believe so yeah it was a good book it was fine next up we have a middle grade book actually two middle grade books in a row Nevermore by Jessica Townsend I ended up giving this book three stars which is sad because I'd heard so many good things about this book and you know I think if I were middle grade age this might work better for me I don't know I just didn't really like how our main character is treated I understand that that's like kind of the point of this book it's about this young girl who is kind of blamed for everything that goes wrong in her town and she finds out that that's actually not really her fault that she has these special powers and that she needs to like go to the school or like enter into a competition I honestly can't even remember the details which is sad I just think like this one was maybe too hyped for me is the problem it wasn't bad again but I just like the more middle grade that I read the more that I'm like Love The Whimsy of this but I think I'd rather just read this with my kids when my kids are middle grade age you know what I mean moving on to a middle grade that I did actually give five stars to though and that was a little bit more standout had kind of a similar plot it was MRE and the Knight Brothers it's about our main character who is trying to figure out what happened to her brother who ends up going missing and in doing so she ends up entering into again this kind of like magical world working for this like magical Bureau of Investigations kind of it was really fun I just really liked amari's character I liked the not message of the story but I liked that she had a purpose right she like knew what she wanted to do she wanted to find her brother and she was also just like she was kind of the chosen one in a lot of ways I really liked this book and I don't really know how to define like what I enjoyed about this one that I didn't really enjoy about Nevermore I just preferred it I think if you're like looking for a good middle grade to read or you're looking to get a middle grade book for someone in your life like this is this is the one I would recommend of the couple that I've read this year and then the last two books are both vampiric let's talk about the dnf first so we can end it on a high note um Dark Prince by Christine Feehan this is one that I purchased because I knew that J.R Ward I'm pretty sure is really close friends with Christine Feehan or in the past has been associated with her and I feel like I've heard J.R Ward say good things about her books and I love J.R Ward you know she also writes vampire novels and so I was like okay I'm gonna pick this up I love a good her normal romance and I just like kept putting it off putting it off and I've had this book on my shelves for a couple years at this point it was not very good so I ended up dnfing it I've never seen so many dnfs on my Goodreads amongst my friends than I have for this book it's about this guy who's like a Carpathian which is like kind of a kind of vampire I think and um meets this woman and I I mean I honestly couldn't tell you because I dnf'd this book right but um it wasn't for me and I don't know if I really want to pick up more from this author in the future oh you know what no I actually did read another book by her it was like a little novel a novel a little Novella it was not good either so I think I'm fine with like just not reading anything else from her in the future sorry Christine Feehan and then lastly we have fangs this is the shortest book I think that I read all year it is a graphic novel about a vampire and a werewolf and their romance and it's just cute it's like these little vignettes these little like funny moments kind of like puns you can make about like vampires Marvels being together those are like kind of what form the story and it's just cute it was cute it was enjoyable it's not like the most rich storytelling it's on the most in-depth book ever but does it really need to be like I just had I've had a fun time with this one and I'm very glad that I read it and honestly kind of reminded me that I do like sequential art I used to read a fair amount of web comics and then I just kind of stopped out of nowhere and I kind of want to get back into it honestly um or just like pick up more graphic novels in 2023 so so I do think this book taught me some things along with just being generally and joyful so those are the 22 five-star predictions I had for 2022. obviously not all went to plan but I'm glad to have any Five Star reads honestly from this list in total I ended up having Eight Five Star reads out of the 22 and frankly I'm like pretty happy with that I would have been happy with just Five Five Star reads from this list I'm a notoriously picky critic and hard to please so to have like my predictions be decently accurate I feel like um you know pat on the back I feel good about that and I'm excited for 2023 and getting to read those five star predictions especially since the majority of those are notebooks I physically own but are just books I'm excited about again like the reason I created this video in the first place or the initial video was that I wanted to read more of the books that I own and so I only selected you know physical books that I own 2023 that's pretty much all romances like my most anticipated romances and I think that one will be fun to like revisit in 2023 but anyway thanks so much for watching this video let me know if any of your like thoughts and feelings on these books differ from mine or if this has encouraged you or discouraged you from Reading any of these books I would love to know but thanks so much for watching this video I love you all so much and until next time\n"