**Recent Reads and Favorite Audiobooks**

I've been enjoying reading lately, and I'm excited to share some of my recent reads with you. One of my favorite books is "The Love Kingdom" by Arianna Brown. This novel follows a Nigerian Canadian woman as she navigates her identity and struggles to reconcile her dual heritage. I loved the audiobook adaptation, which was narrated by a Nigerian author, bringing an authentic voice to the story. The protagonist's journey resonated deeply with me, and I appreciated how the author explored themes of family, culture, and personal growth.

In addition to "The Love Kingdom", I recently finished listening to "Best Routine" by Margaret Rogerson. This fantasy novel is set in a dark and atmospheric world where nuns and magic are intertwined. While it may not be for everyone, I thoroughly enjoyed the story and found it to be a solid addition to the author's catalog. As a fan of her previous works, including "Sorcery" and "A Sorcery of Thorns", I was excited to dive into this new tale.

One book that has been on my radar for a while is "House of Hollow" by Crystal Sutherland. This spooky novel tells the story of two sisters who went missing as children and reappeared years later, leaving behind only cryptic clues about their fate. I was drawn to the atmospheric writing style and the dark fairy tale elements, which felt perfect for the fall season. The author's ability to craft a sense of foreboding and unease kept me on edge throughout the story.

Finally, I want to mention "The Dead Romantics" by Ashley Poston. This adult romance novel tells the story of a Ghostwriter who is haunted by ghosts, including one that appears at her workplace. What drew me to this book was its unique premise and the author's ability to weave together themes of grief, identity, and relationships. The romance, while not always easy to predict, felt satisfying and true to life.

These books have all left a lasting impression on me, and I'm excited to continue exploring new authors and genres in the coming weeks.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everyone it's Haley and today I'm going to be talking about the books that I have read recently long time no see I literally well you've kind of seen me off and on but I literally have not filmed a video since August everything you've seen up until this point has been pre-filmed and that's because I have just been so busy which I know I say all the time but I have literally like since July been home Max two weeks at a time and working a full-time job that has left very little time for filming so here we are we've made it I have been pretty busy recently reading because I kind of took a break there from Reading as well things just you know it got way too chaotic but if you can hear wind it's because I have the window in my office open because it is so bloody hot in here like it's November 5th I don't know why it's so hot but it is it's so unseasonably warm I mean it's only 23 degrees so it's really not that hot but the house is just like holding all the heat in and it's just making me like dying in here and I know I'm wearing like a freaking fuzzy cardigan which definitely isn't hoping matters but whatever I just wanted to talk about the books that I have read since my little absence there um and kind of kick off me being back particularly like today's November 5th and I've already read five books this month I finished two today I basically finished like a book almost every single day of November I don't know what's happening I mean I do I've been listening to a lot of audiobooks but hey whatever works like it's really been helping me out the first book that I want to talk about today is my imaginary Mary which is by the lady janies Cynthia hand Brodie Ashton and Jody Meadows this is the latest by this author Trio they have written the My Lady Jane series and now they have the Mary series and this is the second book so the first book was my contrary Mary which was about Mary Queen of Scots and this one is all about Mary Shelley and Ada Lovelace and I really liked this one I thought it was such an interesting Twist on the Frankenstein story I thought it worked so well like these are kind of satirical stories so they take the original story whether it's historical or it's like a Fantastical story and they completely twist it and the narrators are kind of characters in the story it's just so much fun this one like it really blew me away I had a lot of fun reading this one deals with like automatons and stuff so it was just a very cool mix of these two characters like the way that they're connected is because they both have famous parents that they feel like they're trying to kind of live up to and everyone is expecting them to like meet those expectations but then there's also a fairy element like honestly the way that I can describe these books that these authors write is that they sound like they shouldn't work but they absolutely do and yeah this one definitely did work for me I really liked it next is for aunties in a wedding by Jessie Q sutanto this is another sequel this is the sequel to oh my God dial a for aunties I don't know why I forgot that one for a second there but I read that last year and it was one of my favorite books of the year I loved it unfortunately I didn't like this one as much I felt like the Ridiculousness of the first book it worked for me I loved it it was one of my like favorite parts of it but for this one it just didn't kind of have that same charm I felt like I lost the believability in a way and I think it's because it was like happening again so it was like okay the first time I could kind of believe it and I understand that like that's what the story is but now that was happening again I was like this just seems kind of silly so I don't know if maybe it was my mindset when I was reading this one that I just couldn't really delve that much into it but I find it kind of disappointing I don't know maybe like Dial A for aunties was just such a hit for me that it couldn't really taught that so yeah unfortunately I was let down by this one and I think maybe it's because like you spend all that time invested in these two characters and I wanted them to have that perfect happy ending and it kind of like things weren't going the way that I want wanted them to so that was annoying and that's not a spoiler at all it's just like the everything ends up getting messed up as you would expect and it just kind of irked me next is Alice by Heart by Steven Sater so I actually got to quite a few books recently that I've been wanting to read for a really long time which is awesome so Alice by heart is definitely one of those it's one that I've been putting off for a while because I was just kind of skeptical about it like I have heard really mixed things about it so it's left me kind of being like I'm not sure if I'll like it and I had tried physically reading it and I was having a really hard time getting into the story but when I actually listened to the audiobook it was such a hit for me I really enjoyed the audiobook so it's not like my favorite Alice in Wonderland retelling but I thought it was a solid one if you didn't know this is actually based on an Off-Broadway musical so I haven't seen the musical haven't listened to any of the music or anything but this is the novelization of that Musical and it's also by the author of Spring Awakening it is combining world World War II and Alice in Wonderland so it's like those two things I am really interested in obviously so it just seemed like a recipe for success to me but I think that the audiobook was definitely the way to go for me I think that if I had tried to like physically read this one I definitely wouldn't have enjoyed it as much and it does have photos in it so I kind of like missed that aspect of it like there's photos as well as some illustrations but I was just happy to like actually read the story and it's definitely a really heartbreaking one but I thought it was really good I'm going like completely there's no order here it's just kind of the way that they were in the pile so this next book I actually ended up reading this morning I sat down and I hadn't physically read anything for quite a while I just been doing audiobooks so I was like okay I want to try and find something that I can actually physically read and I was trying to choose something that like wasn't I really hope you can't hear these kids screaming but whatever um but I was trying to pick something that wasn't too similar to to the audiobook that I was listening to but everything was kind of gravitating toward was pretty similar but then I saw this on my bookshelf and I decided to pick it up and I absolutely flew through it I just sat there until I was finished with it so this is the handmaid's tale by Margaret Atwood but it is a graphic novel adaptation by Renee nault or note I feel like I'm probably pronouncing that extremely wrong and I apologize but I have not read the handmaid's tale I haven't seen the TV show or anything like that I have been wanting to read it for a really long time if you have been watching my channel for a long time you know that I have included the handmaid's Tale on so many of my like yearly tbrs and I just haven't gotten to it I have met Margaret Atwood but I I haven't read it like I have a personalized signed copy of the handmaid's tale and this is the only other copy I have so I need to pick up one that I can like actually sit there and read because this completely blew me away this is like it's funny well it's not funny haha but like it's interesting because it's a story story that was written quite a while ago but it still is so relevant and like even more relevant with recent events I knew like the gist of what the story dealt with but I didn't know the story fully I've managed to like avoid spoilers or whatever and I think for me that was the perfect way to go into this one because it just shocked me like seeing the illustrations it was so haunting and just brought it all to life and the writing was so beautiful like I it's rare I feel like that I read a graphic novelization and then I want to read the original like immediately but that's exactly what happened here so I expect that I will probably be reading that graphic novelization very shortly next is Orphan Monster spy by Matt Colleen this is another really haunting read actually and another one that I have been wanting to get to for so long and I finally have gotten to it so this is a another book that's set in World War II actually but it's following a Jewish girl who is going undercover in a Nazi boarding school so she is acting as a spy obviously like a really high risk and high-stakes situation but it still is a story that will like totally take you a bag it's definitely one that's really hard to read a lot of the time but I felt like it was also really good like I don't want to say I enjoyed it because it's not really the kind of story that you can enjoy but I just felt like it was incredibly well done the author was able to approach the subject matter with like sensitivity but also was so like raw and honest especially for a ya book this was so like unflinchingly honest and it just had all the facts all of the happenings there like right on the page so you couldn't really ignore it it was so scary but such a good book at the same time so yeah I I this came out like a couple years ago so I don't know if there's anything else by this author but if he does write any more more like historical fiction I would definitely love to read it next is tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle's Levin I'm sure you've heard of this book because it kind of ended up going pretty like viral or becoming really popular when it came out and I just ended up getting to it this past week so I listened to the audiobook for this one as well it's another one where I was trying to kind of physically read it but I was having a little bit of trouble actually getting into the story which has been kind of a theme for me recently so I don't fault the book for that but I think my expectations for this one were too high I did really like it it's like a friendship love story I thought it was going to be a love love story because of the way the description I just didn't read the synopsis correctly but I liked the fact that I was focusing on friendship and such a long period of time that you're following these two characters such a well-rounded look at their relationships and or their relationship with each other and how like all the ups and downs of everything from the very beginning you see all of it and I loved that like it was so well-rounded I just think like so many people were raving about this book that I was expecting to be completely blown away and I never actually was completely blown away by it so this is actually the author of the storied life of AJ fickory which I do plan on reading soon I do have a copy so I think that will be something that I'm going to read this winter it seems like a cozy kind of read but for now like this wasn't bad and I enjoyed it it's just I don't think I'm like raving about it as much as everyone else whenever a book is really hyped up I always try to lower my expectations going into it and I did that but it's still I can't help I feel a little bit let down next is ties that tether by Jane ikaro so this one the other hand is book that I really haven't heard all that much about but I've had it for a very long time and I now actually have the authors two other books this was the author's debut and now they have come out with two books since then and I'm really excited to read those other two books now because I enjoyed this one a lot like as much as I haven't been reading a ton except for like really recently I've had a lot of hits with what I have been reading so this is following a Nigerian Canadian woman and she is kind of struggling to reconcile those two identities she's struggling with how she is like who she is as a Canadian who she is as a Nigerian woman and especially her mother and her late father's expectations for her and like the promise she made she just it's a lot of that like family relationship and the culture is so rich in this story I loved the audiobook because the author or sorry the narrator is Nigerian so it was very authentic and brought the story to life and I fell for the main character because you really got into those struggles that she's having and she's going through such a hard time and you see like the progress that is made over the story it's really more than just a romance and I loved that it was so impactful and definitely left me thinking next is the book that I just finished listening to while I was getting ready to film today but that is best routine by Margaret Rogerson this is a Fantasy by the author of sorcery and a sorcery of thorns and an enchantment of Ravens and I've read both of those books and I really liked both of them so I was super excited for another one by this author and I did really like this one this one's definitely like more dark this is dark and dealing with nuns and like not witchcraft but kind of like a dark magic the undead stuff like that definitely perfect for around this time of year and I felt like it was once again like a really solid fantasy from Margaret rodgerson she writes some really great fantasy books I always devour them always enjoy them and this one I definitely liked as well and finally for the books that I've read recently is House of hollow by Crystal Sutherland I've heard a lot about this book I've seen it kind of all over the place and I finally ended up picking it up it's kind of the only actually no that's not true I have another book that I totally forgot that I read okay okay so this isn't the last book I'll go and grab that one after but this is kind of like the spookiest read that I would say that I got to this season and it was a good one it was like a dark fairy tale sort of story which is kind of more of what I'm into like I'm very easily scared so I don't like super scary things and I think that this like hit the nail on the head for what I was looking for it's about these sisters it's like Supernatural sister relationship where they went missing as kids and no one knows what actually happened to them but they ended up reappearing and it's just like creepy definitely a really shocking read and one that has all of the atmosphere and all of the Vibes that you might be looking for around this time of year even though I know like Halloween is done it's still I feel like fall season I'm kind of always looking for those like spooky darker reads and now the book that I almost forgot about I just had to go and grab this one I'm glad that I didn't end up forgetting about it but that book is the dead Romantics by Ashley Poston I really like this one I have read a couple of Ashley Poston books I've read her why a books and this is her first adult novel and it's adult romance and I felt like this was her best that I've read so far and I think like I haven't been on Tick Tock recently but I think that this one was getting pretty hyped up which I hope it is because it was just really good it's about a Ghostwriter who has a ghost herself that she she can see ghosts and she grew up in a funeral home like with her family and everything and only her and her father could see ghosts and she's dealing with grief and at the same time like she ends up having a ghost that is with her that she wasn't expecting at someone like she actually knew and there's just a lot going on in the story but all of it is so well done and it's once again a story that kind of has that deeper level to it and I felt like the romance like it didn't take away from that but it also the romance was kind of the ultimate ultimate like felt like it was doomed from the start sort of thing and it just it totally worked for me I liked this one a lot okay so those are all of the books that I have read recently I tried to keep it shorter than my like wrap ups or recent reads usually are but I hope you guys enjoyed today's video thank you so much for watching and I will see you in another new one soon bye ohhey everyone it's Haley and today I'm going to be talking about the books that I have read recently long time no see I literally well you've kind of seen me off and on but I literally have not filmed a video since August everything you've seen up until this point has been pre-filmed and that's because I have just been so busy which I know I say all the time but I have literally like since July been home Max two weeks at a time and working a full-time job that has left very little time for filming so here we are we've made it I have been pretty busy recently reading because I kind of took a break there from Reading as well things just you know it got way too chaotic but if you can hear wind it's because I have the window in my office open because it is so bloody hot in here like it's November 5th I don't know why it's so hot but it is it's so unseasonably warm I mean it's only 23 degrees so it's really not that hot but the house is just like holding all the heat in and it's just making me like dying in here and I know I'm wearing like a freaking fuzzy cardigan which definitely isn't hoping matters but whatever I just wanted to talk about the books that I have read since my little absence there um and kind of kick off me being back particularly like today's November 5th and I've already read five books this month I finished two today I basically finished like a book almost every single day of November I don't know what's happening I mean I do I've been listening to a lot of audiobooks but hey whatever works like it's really been helping me out the first book that I want to talk about today is my imaginary Mary which is by the lady janies Cynthia hand Brodie Ashton and Jody Meadows this is the latest by this author Trio they have written the My Lady Jane series and now they have the Mary series and this is the second book so the first book was my contrary Mary which was about Mary Queen of Scots and this one is all about Mary Shelley and Ada Lovelace and I really liked this one I thought it was such an interesting Twist on the Frankenstein story I thought it worked so well like these are kind of satirical stories so they take the original story whether it's historical or it's like a Fantastical story and they completely twist it and the narrators are kind of characters in the story it's just so much fun this one like it really blew me away I had a lot of fun reading this one deals with like automatons and stuff so it was just a very cool mix of these two characters like the way that they're connected is because they both have famous parents that they feel like they're trying to kind of live up to and everyone is expecting them to like meet those expectations but then there's also a fairy element like honestly the way that I can describe these books that these authors write is that they sound like they shouldn't work but they absolutely do and yeah this one definitely did work for me I really liked it next is for aunties in a wedding by Jessie Q sutanto this is another sequel this is the sequel to oh my God dial a for aunties I don't know why I forgot that one for a second there but I read that last year and it was one of my favorite books of the year I loved it unfortunately I didn't like this one as much I felt like the Ridiculousness of the first book it worked for me I loved it it was one of my like favorite parts of it but for this one it just didn't kind of have that same charm I felt like I lost the believability in a way and I think it's because it was like happening again so it was like okay the first time I could kind of believe it and I understand that like that's what the story is but now that was happening again I was like this just seems kind of silly so I don't know if maybe it was my mindset when I was reading this one that I just couldn't really delve that much into it but I find it kind of disappointing I don't know maybe like Dial A for aunties was just such a hit for me that it couldn't really taught that so yeah unfortunately I was let down by this one and I think maybe it's because like you spend all that time invested in these two characters and I wanted them to have that perfect happy ending and it kind of like things weren't going the way that I want wanted them to so that was annoying and that's not a spoiler at all it's just like the everything ends up getting messed up as you would expect and it just kind of irked me next is Alice by Heart by Steven Sater so I actually got to quite a few books recently that I've been wanting to read for a really long time which is awesome so Alice by heart is definitely one of those it's one that I've been putting off for a while because I was just kind of skeptical about it like I have heard really mixed things about it so it's left me kind of being like I'm not sure if I'll like it and I had tried physically reading it and I was having a really hard time getting into the story but when I actually listened to the audiobook it was such a hit for me I really enjoyed the audiobook so it's not like my favorite Alice in Wonderland retelling but I thought it was a solid one if you didn't know this is actually based on an Off-Broadway musical so I haven't seen the musical haven't listened to any of the music or anything but this is the novelization of that Musical and it's also by the author of Spring Awakening it is combining world World War II and Alice in Wonderland so it's like those two things I am really interested in obviously so it just seemed like a recipe for success to me but I think that the audiobook was definitely the way to go for me I think that if I had tried to like physically read this one I definitely wouldn't have enjoyed it as much and it does have photos in it so I kind of like missed that aspect of it like there's photos as well as some illustrations but I was just happy to like actually read the story and it's definitely a really heartbreaking one but I thought it was really good I'm going like completely there's no order here it's just kind of the way that they were in the pile so this next book I actually ended up reading this morning I sat down and I hadn't physically read anything for quite a while I just been doing audiobooks so I was like okay I want to try and find something that I can actually physically read and I was trying to choose something that like wasn't I really hope you can't hear these kids screaming but whatever um but I was trying to pick something that wasn't too similar to to the audiobook that I was listening to but everything was kind of gravitating toward was pretty similar but then I saw this on my bookshelf and I decided to pick it up and I absolutely flew through it I just sat there until I was finished with it so this is the handmaid's tale by Margaret Atwood but it is a graphic novel adaptation by Renee nault or note I feel like I'm probably pronouncing that extremely wrong and I apologize but I have not read the handmaid's tale I haven't seen the TV show or anything like that I have been wanting to read it for a really long time if you have been watching my channel for a long time you know that I have included the handmaid's Tale on so many of my like yearly tbrs and I just haven't gotten to it I have met Margaret Atwood but I I haven't read it like I have a personalized signed copy of the handmaid's tale and this is the only other copy I have so I need to pick up one that I can like actually sit there and read because this completely blew me away this is like it's funny well it's not funny haha but like it's interesting because it's a story story that was written quite a while ago but it still is so relevant and like even more relevant with recent events I knew like the gist of what the story dealt with but I didn't know the story fully I've managed to like avoid spoilers or whatever and I think for me that was the perfect way to go into this one because it just shocked me like seeing the illustrations it was so haunting and just brought it all to life and the writing was so beautiful like I it's rare I feel like that I read a graphic novelization and then I want to read the original like immediately but that's exactly what happened here so I expect that I will probably be reading that graphic novelization very shortly next is Orphan Monster spy by Matt Colleen this is another really haunting read actually and another one that I have been wanting to get to for so long and I finally have gotten to it so this is a another book that's set in World War II actually but it's following a Jewish girl who is going undercover in a Nazi boarding school so she is acting as a spy obviously like a really high risk and high-stakes situation but it still is a story that will like totally take you a bag it's definitely one that's really hard to read a lot of the time but I felt like it was also really good like I don't want to say I enjoyed it because it's not really the kind of story that you can enjoy but I just felt like it was incredibly well done the author was able to approach the subject matter with like sensitivity but also was so like raw and honest especially for a ya book this was so like unflinchingly honest and it just had all the facts all of the happenings there like right on the page so you couldn't really ignore it it was so scary but such a good book at the same time so yeah I I this came out like a couple years ago so I don't know if there's anything else by this author but if he does write any more more like historical fiction I would definitely love to read it next is tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle's Levin I'm sure you've heard of this book because it kind of ended up going pretty like viral or becoming really popular when it came out and I just ended up getting to it this past week so I listened to the audiobook for this one as well it's another one where I was trying to kind of physically read it but I was having a little bit of trouble actually getting into the story which has been kind of a theme for me recently so I don't fault the book for that but I think my expectations for this one were too high I did really like it it's like a friendship love story I thought it was going to be a love love story because of the way the description I just didn't read the synopsis correctly but I liked the fact that I was focusing on friendship and such a long period of time that you're following these two characters such a well-rounded look at their relationships and or their relationship with each other and how like all the ups and downs of everything from the very beginning you see all of it and I loved that like it was so well-rounded I just think like so many people were raving about this book that I was expecting to be completely blown away and I never actually was completely blown away by it so this is actually the author of the storied life of AJ fickory which I do plan on reading soon I do have a copy so I think that will be something that I'm going to read this winter it seems like a cozy kind of read but for now like this wasn't bad and I enjoyed it it's just I don't think I'm like raving about it as much as everyone else whenever a book is really hyped up I always try to lower my expectations going into it and I did that but it's still I can't help I feel a little bit let down next is ties that tether by Jane ikaro so this one the other hand is book that I really haven't heard all that much about but I've had it for a very long time and I now actually have the authors two other books this was the author's debut and now they have come out with two books since then and I'm really excited to read those other two books now because I enjoyed this one a lot like as much as I haven't been reading a ton except for like really recently I've had a lot of hits with what I have been reading so this is following a Nigerian Canadian woman and she is kind of struggling to reconcile those two identities she's struggling with how she is like who she is as a Canadian who she is as a Nigerian woman and especially her mother and her late father's expectations for her and like the promise she made she just it's a lot of that like family relationship and the culture is so rich in this story I loved the audiobook because the author or sorry the narrator is Nigerian so it was very authentic and brought the story to life and I fell for the main character because you really got into those struggles that she's having and she's going through such a hard time and you see like the progress that is made over the story it's really more than just a romance and I loved that it was so impactful and definitely left me thinking next is the book that I just finished listening to while I was getting ready to film today but that is best routine by Margaret Rogerson this is a Fantasy by the author of sorcery and a sorcery of thorns and an enchantment of Ravens and I've read both of those books and I really liked both of them so I was super excited for another one by this author and I did really like this one this one's definitely like more dark this is dark and dealing with nuns and like not witchcraft but kind of like a dark magic the undead stuff like that definitely perfect for around this time of year and I felt like it was once again like a really solid fantasy from Margaret rodgerson she writes some really great fantasy books I always devour them always enjoy them and this one I definitely liked as well and finally for the books that I've read recently is House of hollow by Crystal Sutherland I've heard a lot about this book I've seen it kind of all over the place and I finally ended up picking it up it's kind of the only actually no that's not true I have another book that I totally forgot that I read okay okay so this isn't the last book I'll go and grab that one after but this is kind of like the spookiest read that I would say that I got to this season and it was a good one it was like a dark fairy tale sort of story which is kind of more of what I'm into like I'm very easily scared so I don't like super scary things and I think that this like hit the nail on the head for what I was looking for it's about these sisters it's like Supernatural sister relationship where they went missing as kids and no one knows what actually happened to them but they ended up reappearing and it's just like creepy definitely a really shocking read and one that has all of the atmosphere and all of the Vibes that you might be looking for around this time of year even though I know like Halloween is done it's still I feel like fall season I'm kind of always looking for those like spooky darker reads and now the book that I almost forgot about I just had to go and grab this one I'm glad that I didn't end up forgetting about it but that book is the dead Romantics by Ashley Poston I really like this one I have read a couple of Ashley Poston books I've read her why a books and this is her first adult novel and it's adult romance and I felt like this was her best that I've read so far and I think like I haven't been on Tick Tock recently but I think that this one was getting pretty hyped up which I hope it is because it was just really good it's about a Ghostwriter who has a ghost herself that she she can see ghosts and she grew up in a funeral home like with her family and everything and only her and her father could see ghosts and she's dealing with grief and at the same time like she ends up having a ghost that is with her that she wasn't expecting at someone like she actually knew and there's just a lot going on in the story but all of it is so well done and it's once again a story that kind of has that deeper level to it and I felt like the romance like it didn't take away from that but it also the romance was kind of the ultimate ultimate like felt like it was doomed from the start sort of thing and it just it totally worked for me I liked this one a lot okay so those are all of the books that I have read recently I tried to keep it shorter than my like wrap ups or recent reads usually are but I hope you guys enjoyed today's video thank you so much for watching and I will see you in another new one soon bye oh\n"