My TBR is Getting the Best of Me: A Personal Account

As I sit here surrounded by stacks of unread books, I am reminded of just how overwhelmed I am with reading material. My Goodreads shelf is filled to the brim with titles that I want to devour, but somehow haven't had the time or energy to get around to yet. In an effort to stay on top of my reading game, I've decided to take the audiobook route for many of these titles. It's a good thing too, because let's be real, some of these books are just begging to be devoured in one sitting.

First up is "A Wicked Like a Wildfire" by Lana Popovich. I've had this book on my shelf for over a year now, and I'm starting to think it's time to give it a try. The cover art is one of my favorites - the way the flames seem to dance across the page is just mesmerizing. But what really drew me in was the synopsis, which promises a story that could go either way. It sounds like it could be a beautifully written tale of magic and wonder (like "The Sorrow of Ava Lavender" by Leslye Walton), but also has elements of darker fantasy that might appeal to fans of "Wild Beauty" by Anna Marie McLamore. I'm intrigued, and I think it's time to give it a shot.

Next up is "On Fire and Stars" by Audrey Coulter (I assume this is the correct author, as there seems to be no other information provided about the book). This one has been on my shelf for two years now, and I've been meaning to start listening to the audiobook for just as long. The premise sounds like a fun, lighthearted romp - a princess who falls for her prince's sister instead? Yes please! I did manage to start the audiobook at one point, but somehow it ended up getting pushed aside in favor of other books and YouTube videos (I know, I'm terrible). It's time to revisit this one and see where it takes me.

Another book that's been on my shelf for far too long is "Legendary" by Stephanie Garber. I did manage to start listening to the audiobook at one point, but due to a series of events (including a BookTubeathon, which got in the way), I found myself having to restart from scratch. The premise sounds like it could be really fun - the story is told from Scarlett's perspective, and I'm excited to see where this new character comes into play. From what I can remember (and that's not much!), the world-building seems amazing, and I love that this book promises to expand on the world of Caraval.

Finally, there's "Children of Blood and Bone" by Tomi Adeyemi. This one has been on my shelf for ages - a friend recommended it to me months ago, but somehow it got lost in the shuffle. The premise sounds like it could be really compelling - an epic fantasy with a strong focus on power struggles and rebellion? Yes please! I'm just afraid that the hype surrounding this book might make it seem too daunting to tackle head-on. And let's be real, this book is pretty big, so I'm intimidated by its size.

But here's the thing: August has arrived, and with it comes a newfound sense of determination. This month, I've decided to make a conscious effort to start DNFing (did-not-finish) books if I'm not enjoying them within the first 100 pages. It's time for me to take control of my reading habits and prioritize books that truly excite me.

As I look at my TBR list, I can feel a sense of trepidation rising up inside me. Some of these books are going to be loved, while others might not quite live up to their promise. But hey, that's all part of the fun, right? It's time for me to take the plunge and see what August brings.

The Fun Part: Encouraging Myself to Read

One thing I've been struggling with lately is the fact that I often find myself getting too caught up in trying to love every single book on my shelf. Don't get me wrong - there's nothing quite like the thrill of discovering a new favorite author or series! But sometimes, it feels like I'm just not giving certain books enough time or attention.

That's why this month is all about prioritizing my reading list and focusing on the books that truly excite me. If I find myself getting bored or uninspired within the first 100 pages of a book, then it's time to admit defeat and move on to something new. It might sound harsh, but trust me - it's necessary.

By setting this boundary for myself, I'm hoping to develop a healthier relationship with my reading list and prioritize books that truly make me happy. And who knows? Maybe I'll discover some amazing new authors or series along the way!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enevery one Italy and today I'm going to be talking about my August TV art so I am being way over ambitious with this TBR especially considering the fact that in July if it weren't for booktubeathon I would have read one book I don't know what it was last month but I just didn't feel like reading I think a big part of it was because I had so many books to read like so many books on my TBR that I do want to read but I just don't have the time to read all the books in the world as much as I wish I did so I kind of came to terms with that fact and I decided to purge through my TBR so I have some unhaul videos that might be up already it might be coming soon don't really know why I'm really trying to curate my reading list to only books that I am very very very interested in because ultimately I don't want to spend all of my time reading as much as that sounds like the best thing that I could possibly do it gets really exhausting especially since I have a very short attention span so I finished writing my novel at the beginning of July and then I had plans to spend the rest of July just reading all of the books and I got to watch so now I am going to revisit my novel and start editing so I don't know how that is going to go I don't know how much reading time I'm going to have bye hopefully I'll have a lot because I've got a lot of books here I definitely will not get to all of these but I'm going to try and get to as many as I can so we'll start with the September arcs that I have because I'm going to try and be a little bit better about reading arcs before they come out because I am all about it that recently it's especially going to be helpful if I can get ahead of that before October comes because September October are huge months for young adult new releases because it's almost Christmas so it's like all this equals all the books are coming out in this time period and I'm not gonna possibly be able to get to all of them but I'd like to be able to get to as many as I can so getting to my September arcs first we have pride by Abby so boy this is a Pride and Prejudice retelling but it is like it says something on here that I think is funny it's a truth universally acknowledged that when rich people move into the hood where it's a little bit broken and a little bit forgotten the first thing they want to do is clean it up so heat is set against the backdrop of Brooklyn and I think is going to be a very fun breeze enjoy it be so boys other novels so I think I like this one next is a blade so black by Ellen McKinney which is described as Alice in Wonderland meets buffy the vampire so like yes please I honestly never watched a Buffy and I don't know like anything about it but that combination does sound really cool plus I'm all for an Alice in Wonderland retelling quite a few of you have requested a recommendations video for Alice in Wonderland retellings recently and don't worry it will be coming I just have a couple on my TBR that I do want to read before I do that video so I can fully do my research next is a winter's promise by Crystal DuBose this is a translation from a French novel I'm really not sure how I'm going to feel about this it's gonna be really interesting because the only translation that I've read of a ye like recent novel has been Kirsten gears novels and I didn't like them so much so I don't know how this one will go but we'll see next is they were outside by Monica Hesse this is the author of the girl in the blue coat which is one of my favorite historical fictions and that one was set in Amsterdam but this one is also set in World War two like that one was but this one I believe it deals with yes it deals with America and the Pacific Theater of the war so I don't think I've ever read anything about the Pacific side of World War 2 so that's going to be very interesting and this deals with family interment camps which is going to be another interesting aspect to the story next is escaping from Houdini by Carrie Maniscalco I might wait until the finished copy comes out for this book because a few people let me know but she changed the ending from what it is in the arc so I think I might read the finished copy and then read the arc to see what she changed because I think that would be interesting but I don't really see a point and reading a story and getting attached to an ending when it's going to change in the final product so I don't know what I'm gonna do for this one we shall see but I am still so excited for it it is definitely one of my most anticipated releases of this year next is imposters by Scott Westerfeld this is a companion I believe novel to the ugly series which is probably the first like trilogy that I loved as a kid I was obsessed and not saying a lot because I wasn't a big reader as a kid but I am very excited to revisit this world I just don't know if I should like reread the other books in this series before diving into this one this deals with different characters so I'll do a little bit more research and then see where I fall on that next is ruled by Ellen Goodlett this is described as Pretty Little Liars meets King Lear which is just so fascinating to me I'm very intrigued to see where that combination is going to go and how it will fold out in this story when we went to the novelty event when I was in New York for Book Expo this book sounded very cool so I knew that it was one of the three that I wanted to request and now I can't wait to read it next I have 3 October arcs here because like I said October is a very big month for new releases in y-a so I want to try and get a head start on some of the arcs because I have a lot so first is dear Evan Hansen by Val MH with Steven Levinson Benj qussuk and Justin pulk readers of the hit Broadway show I haven't listened to the soundtrack for dear Evan Hansen I think I might listen to it before or maybe after this I don't know what I'm gonna do but I know I have heard nothing but amazing things about it so I am excited to see what the novelization of it is going to be especially since I don't really know much about the Broadway show next is of course Bridge of clay by Markus Zusak I know a lot of you are probably thinking that I am crazy for not having read this yet especially since I am such a huge fan of the book theme but that's the thing I didn't want to just read it and brush through it I wanted to be able to truly dedicate myself to the story and get lost in it so I still haven't found the time to do that quite yet especially since it has really small font and it is quite a big book but I'm very excited to finally be able to do that I'm super nervous as well because if I don't like it that's going to be tragic but I can't put it off forever and I really would like to read it before it comes out so this one is high priority on this list next is wife it's ice by becky albertalli and adam Silveira the highly anticipated contemporary collaboration that everyone has been dreaming about I've heard some amazing things from people who have read this and I'm so excited to dive into it myself it should be a pretty quick read so I don't think I'll have any trouble getting to this one but all I know about it is it starts with a breakup and it's probably going to have Becky's fun side and then Adams just heartbreaking sides so it's gonna be an interesting at combo and I'm excited to see how it goes finally I have just a few books here that have been catching my eye of late and I would like to get to but I have so many arcs to read that who knows I will probably be taking the audiobook route for most of these since I have just so much to read so next is a wicked like a wildfire by Lana Popovich I have put this book off for a very long time I've had it for a year now and I think I just need to try it and see if I will like it I was considering getting rid of this book by the cover one is one of my favorite book covers ever and - the synopsis sounds like it could go one of two ways wide it sounds like the strange and beautiful Sorrows of Ava lavender by Leslye Walton which I loved but - it also suns like wild beauty by Anna Marie McLamore which I didn't like so I'm obviously hoping it will go the way of Ava lavender but I'm not really sure so I do really want to try it out it seems like kind of a fantasy magical realism sort of thing and I genuinely think I could enjoy it so I would just like to try it and then if I'm not enjoying it I'm gonna DNF it next is on fire and stars by Audrey Coulter's this is a similar story because I have had it for a very long time two years now and I have been intrigued by the premise it's all about this princess who goes to marry this prince that ends up falling for the princes sister instead which just sounds so fun and I did start the audiobook at one point but I ended up putting it down but what do you listen to I enjoyed so I think I will probably try and revisit this audiobook very soon next is legendary by Stephenie Garber this I also started listening to the audiobook but I'm gonna have to start over now since booktubeathon came along and I wanted to start with a fresh audiobook and now I forget what happened in here because my memory is that bad when it comes to books honestly but this is the highly anticipated sequel to karvall and I've heard a lot of people say it's even better than karvall and I really liked karvall so I'm very anxious to get to this I do remember I was enjoying the audiobook but I'm gonna have to start over but it's fine it's a very fun world to get lost in and I love the fact that this is from Scarlett's perspective now and by Scarlett I mean Donatella like I said I literally cannot remember anything and characters names are one of those things and the final book on this TBR I'm sure you can guess if you have watched recent TBR's I still haven't read it I think I'm gonna go the audiobook route because quite a few people have recommended it to me but I really just need to read this book because it is ridiculous that I ready yet and that is children of blood and bone by Thome at a yeah me this has been on my TBR for so long and so many people love it and I hear it nothing but amazing things about it and I think I'm just afraid to read it because there is so much hype and I want to love it that doesn't necessarily mean that I will but it is also a really big book so it's intimidating to me but I just I need to bite the bullet and read it so August has to be the month that I read this because it is ridiculous that I haven't read it yet so those are all of the books on my TBR for August like I said it's a tall order and we'll see how I do probably not well but I'm hoping for the best this month is going to be a little bit different because I am going to encourage myself to start D n effing books if I'm not enjoying a book by 100 pages I don't want to be wasting my time with it anymore because they have so many other books that I want to read there's so many books that I haven't liked that I've just pushed through and it's hard because I want to read all the books but I can't possibly do that and I'm trying to train myself to accept that fact and just spend the time on books that I will like so August is going to be interesting hopefully in a good way but who really knows but please let me know what is on you are August TBR or if you have read any of these books your thoughts on them and if you enjoyed this video don't forget to subscribe and click that little Bell icon so you'll be notified whenever I post I put up new videos every Monday Wednesday and Friday you can also follow all of my social media all of my handles and links and all that stuff will be down below for you guys so thank you so much for watching and I will see you guys in my next video byeevery one Italy and today I'm going to be talking about my August TV art so I am being way over ambitious with this TBR especially considering the fact that in July if it weren't for booktubeathon I would have read one book I don't know what it was last month but I just didn't feel like reading I think a big part of it was because I had so many books to read like so many books on my TBR that I do want to read but I just don't have the time to read all the books in the world as much as I wish I did so I kind of came to terms with that fact and I decided to purge through my TBR so I have some unhaul videos that might be up already it might be coming soon don't really know why I'm really trying to curate my reading list to only books that I am very very very interested in because ultimately I don't want to spend all of my time reading as much as that sounds like the best thing that I could possibly do it gets really exhausting especially since I have a very short attention span so I finished writing my novel at the beginning of July and then I had plans to spend the rest of July just reading all of the books and I got to watch so now I am going to revisit my novel and start editing so I don't know how that is going to go I don't know how much reading time I'm going to have bye hopefully I'll have a lot because I've got a lot of books here I definitely will not get to all of these but I'm going to try and get to as many as I can so we'll start with the September arcs that I have because I'm going to try and be a little bit better about reading arcs before they come out because I am all about it that recently it's especially going to be helpful if I can get ahead of that before October comes because September October are huge months for young adult new releases because it's almost Christmas so it's like all this equals all the books are coming out in this time period and I'm not gonna possibly be able to get to all of them but I'd like to be able to get to as many as I can so getting to my September arcs first we have pride by Abby so boy this is a Pride and Prejudice retelling but it is like it says something on here that I think is funny it's a truth universally acknowledged that when rich people move into the hood where it's a little bit broken and a little bit forgotten the first thing they want to do is clean it up so heat is set against the backdrop of Brooklyn and I think is going to be a very fun breeze enjoy it be so boys other novels so I think I like this one next is a blade so black by Ellen McKinney which is described as Alice in Wonderland meets buffy the vampire so like yes please I honestly never watched a Buffy and I don't know like anything about it but that combination does sound really cool plus I'm all for an Alice in Wonderland retelling quite a few of you have requested a recommendations video for Alice in Wonderland retellings recently and don't worry it will be coming I just have a couple on my TBR that I do want to read before I do that video so I can fully do my research next is a winter's promise by Crystal DuBose this is a translation from a French novel I'm really not sure how I'm going to feel about this it's gonna be really interesting because the only translation that I've read of a ye like recent novel has been Kirsten gears novels and I didn't like them so much so I don't know how this one will go but we'll see next is they were outside by Monica Hesse this is the author of the girl in the blue coat which is one of my favorite historical fictions and that one was set in Amsterdam but this one is also set in World War two like that one was but this one I believe it deals with yes it deals with America and the Pacific Theater of the war so I don't think I've ever read anything about the Pacific side of World War 2 so that's going to be very interesting and this deals with family interment camps which is going to be another interesting aspect to the story next is escaping from Houdini by Carrie Maniscalco I might wait until the finished copy comes out for this book because a few people let me know but she changed the ending from what it is in the arc so I think I might read the finished copy and then read the arc to see what she changed because I think that would be interesting but I don't really see a point and reading a story and getting attached to an ending when it's going to change in the final product so I don't know what I'm gonna do for this one we shall see but I am still so excited for it it is definitely one of my most anticipated releases of this year next is imposters by Scott Westerfeld this is a companion I believe novel to the ugly series which is probably the first like trilogy that I loved as a kid I was obsessed and not saying a lot because I wasn't a big reader as a kid but I am very excited to revisit this world I just don't know if I should like reread the other books in this series before diving into this one this deals with different characters so I'll do a little bit more research and then see where I fall on that next is ruled by Ellen Goodlett this is described as Pretty Little Liars meets King Lear which is just so fascinating to me I'm very intrigued to see where that combination is going to go and how it will fold out in this story when we went to the novelty event when I was in New York for Book Expo this book sounded very cool so I knew that it was one of the three that I wanted to request and now I can't wait to read it next I have 3 October arcs here because like I said October is a very big month for new releases in y-a so I want to try and get a head start on some of the arcs because I have a lot so first is dear Evan Hansen by Val MH with Steven Levinson Benj qussuk and Justin pulk readers of the hit Broadway show I haven't listened to the soundtrack for dear Evan Hansen I think I might listen to it before or maybe after this I don't know what I'm gonna do but I know I have heard nothing but amazing things about it so I am excited to see what the novelization of it is going to be especially since I don't really know much about the Broadway show next is of course Bridge of clay by Markus Zusak I know a lot of you are probably thinking that I am crazy for not having read this yet especially since I am such a huge fan of the book theme but that's the thing I didn't want to just read it and brush through it I wanted to be able to truly dedicate myself to the story and get lost in it so I still haven't found the time to do that quite yet especially since it has really small font and it is quite a big book but I'm very excited to finally be able to do that I'm super nervous as well because if I don't like it that's going to be tragic but I can't put it off forever and I really would like to read it before it comes out so this one is high priority on this list next is wife it's ice by becky albertalli and adam Silveira the highly anticipated contemporary collaboration that everyone has been dreaming about I've heard some amazing things from people who have read this and I'm so excited to dive into it myself it should be a pretty quick read so I don't think I'll have any trouble getting to this one but all I know about it is it starts with a breakup and it's probably going to have Becky's fun side and then Adams just heartbreaking sides so it's gonna be an interesting at combo and I'm excited to see how it goes finally I have just a few books here that have been catching my eye of late and I would like to get to but I have so many arcs to read that who knows I will probably be taking the audiobook route for most of these since I have just so much to read so next is a wicked like a wildfire by Lana Popovich I have put this book off for a very long time I've had it for a year now and I think I just need to try it and see if I will like it I was considering getting rid of this book by the cover one is one of my favorite book covers ever and - the synopsis sounds like it could go one of two ways wide it sounds like the strange and beautiful Sorrows of Ava lavender by Leslye Walton which I loved but - it also suns like wild beauty by Anna Marie McLamore which I didn't like so I'm obviously hoping it will go the way of Ava lavender but I'm not really sure so I do really want to try it out it seems like kind of a fantasy magical realism sort of thing and I genuinely think I could enjoy it so I would just like to try it and then if I'm not enjoying it I'm gonna DNF it next is on fire and stars by Audrey Coulter's this is a similar story because I have had it for a very long time two years now and I have been intrigued by the premise it's all about this princess who goes to marry this prince that ends up falling for the princes sister instead which just sounds so fun and I did start the audiobook at one point but I ended up putting it down but what do you listen to I enjoyed so I think I will probably try and revisit this audiobook very soon next is legendary by Stephenie Garber this I also started listening to the audiobook but I'm gonna have to start over now since booktubeathon came along and I wanted to start with a fresh audiobook and now I forget what happened in here because my memory is that bad when it comes to books honestly but this is the highly anticipated sequel to karvall and I've heard a lot of people say it's even better than karvall and I really liked karvall so I'm very anxious to get to this I do remember I was enjoying the audiobook but I'm gonna have to start over but it's fine it's a very fun world to get lost in and I love the fact that this is from Scarlett's perspective now and by Scarlett I mean Donatella like I said I literally cannot remember anything and characters names are one of those things and the final book on this TBR I'm sure you can guess if you have watched recent TBR's I still haven't read it I think I'm gonna go the audiobook route because quite a few people have recommended it to me but I really just need to read this book because it is ridiculous that I ready yet and that is children of blood and bone by Thome at a yeah me this has been on my TBR for so long and so many people love it and I hear it nothing but amazing things about it and I think I'm just afraid to read it because there is so much hype and I want to love it that doesn't necessarily mean that I will but it is also a really big book so it's intimidating to me but I just I need to bite the bullet and read it so August has to be the month that I read this because it is ridiculous that I haven't read it yet so those are all of the books on my TBR for August like I said it's a tall order and we'll see how I do probably not well but I'm hoping for the best this month is going to be a little bit different because I am going to encourage myself to start D n effing books if I'm not enjoying a book by 100 pages I don't want to be wasting my time with it anymore because they have so many other books that I want to read there's so many books that I haven't liked that I've just pushed through and it's hard because I want to read all the books but I can't possibly do that and I'm trying to train myself to accept that fact and just spend the time on books that I will like so August is going to be interesting hopefully in a good way but who really knows but please let me know what is on you are August TBR or if you have read any of these books your thoughts on them and if you enjoyed this video don't forget to subscribe and click that little Bell icon so you'll be notified whenever I post I put up new videos every Monday Wednesday and Friday you can also follow all of my social media all of my handles and links and all that stuff will be down below for you guys so thank you so much for watching and I will see you guys in my next video bye\n"