Reading Booktuber Recommendations

hi friends its Lala today we're gonna put to the test can we really trust our favorite booktubers if you're new to my channel sometimes I choose weekly or monthly TBR's based on other people my husband's chosen my TBR my son's chosen my TBR I've taken a DNA test and chosen my TBR based on that. one time I followed another booktubers TBR for the month and I thought it would be fun to do a booktuber booktubers decide my TBR but I didn't know how to make it work I could ask for recommendations or I could watch a recommendations video every scenario I came up with there was some bias involved whether I was picking it or they were picking it for me and then suddenly like this week three book tubers put out this video called "if you like this you should read this" This is not a new video concept people have been doing it for years I might end up watching some older ones some newer ones. It's clear-cut stats if I liked this I should like this. I'm gonna watch everyone's videos and by the end of it I'd like to have 10 books and I'll give them all a try. The thing is they're saying like if you like this you should read this but also if I've already read this I should take this as a recommendation so if any book shows up that I rated four or five stars then I am adding the comparable book that they're mentioning to my TBR does that make sense? we're gonna start with Haley "Hey everyone, it's Hailey and today I'm going to be doing one of my favorite videos to do and that is if you liked this book then you might like this book." I'm not gonna show you every book they mentioned because that would drag this video on so I'm just gonna cut everything up so you can see when something shows up that I'm actually gonna read it okay so to start it off "If you liked heartless by Marissa Meyer then you would probably like forests of a thousand lanterns by Julie C Dao." Okay sorry I just thought I was cutting all of that out but I still want you to see my my reactions of like no I'm not gonna read has anyone ever done a video it's like "if you hate this book don't read this one" I should make that "Next if you enjoyed the astonishing color after by Emily XR Pan" I did I gave it five stars it's on my favorite books in the year last year okay. What are you going to recommend I'm nervous? "If you haven't read this yeah definitely should if you have and you liked it then you might enjoy the last time we say goodbye bye Cynthia Hand." Whoa I actually have a history of liking Cynthia hand the afterlife Holly Chase was one of my favorite books of the year before last year oh my gosh I have the first book on my TBR I didn't even have to buy it. "Next up if you enjoyed Eliza and her Monsters" whoa okay Eliza and her Monsters is one of my favorite ones. Oh what are you gonna recommend me? it might be something I've already read okay now I want to make this game and try to guess what she's gonna recommend. Another book involving fan fiction would be Fangirl. Oh no you know she's really gonna recommend because everyone is so obsessed with it is um Radio Silence which is another one of my favorite books. " I think you would really really love Radio Silence by Alice Oseman" That proves that I should trust Hailey and her opinions we're already proving the book tubers can be trusted. Hey if I get one book added to my TBR from each of these videos I'm winning Alright next I am watching Gabby Reads. "Hey guys my name is Gabby welcome back to my channel and today I'm gonna be filming another if you like this book then you will also like this book. The next one I have for you is if you liked Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng." I did I gave it 5 stars I don't know why I want to find all these books to show you I just want to give you evidence look how much I loved it I own it what does she think I'm gonna like I think you would also like "This is How it Always is by Laurie Frankel and vice-versa mainly because I feel like these books talk a lot about parenthood-" ok see I don't like this book being cuz they talked about parenthood I have never heard of that book but I'm gonna add it to my TBR without even learning anything about it because I trust you Gabby. "Next one is if you liked Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney I think you would also like The Lies We Told by Camilla Way." I gave book of those books three stars. What a valid recommendation. Both mediocre for me but could be great for someone else. "If you liked The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay-" Yes I love the Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay who knew that people would be recommending things that not only have I read but that I freaking loved. One of my favorite thriller horror books up last year. What are you recommending to me because I'll read it. "I think you would also like No Exit by Taylor Adams-" When I had this video idea I had no idea it would be this successful. This has been on my TBR for months I didn't know when I was gonna get around to it so the time is now. "So my next one is gonna be if you like the books Sadie by Courtney Summers-" I can't. Yes I liked the book Sadie by Courtney Summers I gave it 5 stars so did everybody else. Okay so she's gonna recommend a revenge thriller I can't really think of any that I have besides like The Nowhere Girls. "You would also like The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis." Okay I am done I really thought I was gonna have not heard of any of these books I'm gonna have to the library checking account it no this is the third book that I already freakin own now that I'm thinking about it these two books do get recommended in tandem frequently but here's the thing even if these books are similar which I could easily find out via like any bookish website when it says like here's other books like this having the same plot or themes doesn't necessarily mean that you'll still enjoy both books so yes I knew these were similar but it's good to know that people who liked this also enjoyed this. "The next one I have for you is if you liked The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I liked The Secret History by by Donna Tartt- are you gonna recommend me If We Were Villains by ML Rio of course you are. " I think you would also like If We Were Villains by ML Rio." of my favorite books of all time Gabby coming through with accurate recommendations. I have 4 books on my TBR. Next we're gonna do Jananie. "Hey everyone it's Jananie welcome back to my channel "This Story Ain't Over." Today I wanted to do a really fun video on one that I think that's really exciting and that is if you like this then you might like this. The first pair that I have for you is if you liked Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell-" I didn't but you're probably gonna recommend me Eliza and Her Monsters or Radio Silence. which I did. "So this book really reminded me of Eliza and her Monsters by Francesca Zappia. Okay these next two books I feel like are super underrated and I really really love them so the first one is The Star Touched Queen by Roshini Choksey I absolutely love this book basically this book is like an Indian inspired fantasy-" That book has not really appealed to me but if the second book she mentions isn't one that I liked which it could be like she could recommend that Renee Adhdieh a book or Girls of Paper on Fire "and so I thought this was pretty similar to Winter Song by SJ Jones" Alright two books that I'm not interested in having read alright. "And this last pair is two books that I read recently and I absolutely love both dealing with characters who are stealing a double identity so these are pretty interchangeable because I feel like they're both super underrated and they are American Panda by Gloria Chao and The Love and Lies of Ruhksana Ali by Sabina Khan." I rated both of those books four stars. Such good recommendations. This videos full good recommendations but I've already I've really read them! All right who else we got Jes Reads Books. She posted one 11 months ago I have only recently subscribed to her channel so I definitely haven't seen this um but also like I don't know her reading tastes yet and I don't know if our reading tastes match up yet so let's see "Hey what's up and welcome back to my channel if you haven't be new here my name is Jes you know possibly if you like this book then you'll like this book that kind of thing and the first one I have here is Ready Player One by Ernest Cline I'm sure you guys are sick of me talking about this book." I love Ready Player One so like she's gonna recommend like Warcross "and so I started reading this book and I noticed there's a lot of similarities I obviously live Ready Player One a lot more but that would be Warcross by Marie Lu this is very similar." Okay this is one I'm super iffy about because I am NOT interested in Warcross whatsoever and I didn't necessarily like Ready Player One because of the video game virtual reality aspect of it so let me still add it to my TBR I know there's so many channels on here that like I I have no idea who you are. Casey Aonso, I'm subscribed to her. Eight months uploaded this. Oh I'm not subscribed my bad, girl. I think you have some similar reading tastes. "Oh hey guys welcome back to my channel today I'm going to be doing the if you liked that then you were like this book thing I don't know if this is a tag the first one I want to suggest is if you like Aristotle and Dante Discover the Universe." I I did I think I've actually dropped my reading from a four to a three you know. "So then you will love Tin Man. Tin Man is kind of like Aristotle and Dante Discover the Universe because they follow similar stories." well I never thought I would see Tin Man in a video I've never even heard anybody who's heard of Tin Man weird Here it is straight from TBR shelf okay. We've also got a girl named Ali Corvere "Hi friends it's Ali and welcome to another round of if you liked this then you'll like this so do you like. Do you like taxing historical fiction? Well if you liked the Nightingale by Kristin Hanna you will also like Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys." Alright ah I know a book to stay away from now haha. "Do you like strong female protagonists who go to assassin school and don't come badass assassins on the page? Did you love The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman?" I didn't "If you liked The Female of the Species-" I haven't read it yet girl! "You'll like The Way I Used to Be" I didn't like that book. Well now I'm scared! I got recommended The Female of the Species and now I got dis recommended The Female of the Species. Alright that's it. That's another video where I didn't leave with a recommendation. Sandy Reads A Lot hey girl, who are you? "Hi everyone it's Sandy." Oh yeah it's Sandy. "In today's video I will be recommending books based on other books. I'm going to go right and get started with your recommendations if you liked The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis- What? What a weird day. What are you gonna recommend me? "Then read The Nowhere Girls." Oh shit, I did not like The Nowhere Girls. That is now two votes against this book and one for it. This is gonna be interesting reading week. "If you like The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas-" I did I sure did five stars everybody loves that book. "Then read Dear Martin by Nic Stone." I did! I gave it four stars three and a half stars solid recommendation. " "If you liked To all the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han-" I did. You're probably gonna recommend me a Maureen Goo. "Then you'll like I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maureen Goo." I didn't actually have I believe anything called love on my TBR but I do have another Maureen Goo on my TBR. Oh my gosh Hannah did this video two weeks ago!! "Hey guys it's Hannah and today I'm coming to you with a video that I've been asked to make for several years now and that is the if you like this then try this book recommendations." Hannah and I have some similar book tastes but some very different book tastes. "So this video is being made in paid promotion with Disney Book Group to celebrate the release of The Devouring Grey by Christine Lynn Herman." Oh my god is she gonna recommend The Devouring Gray based on something because uhm I want to read that so bad! Are you recommending it based on something? "This book is said to be for fans of the Raven Boys and Stranger Things and it follows three main characters." Is that your recommendation is that your first recommendation if I love the Raven Boys I'm gonna love The Devouring Gray because that's my omg. okay hold on stop this book has been so freaking hyped everywhere for the last couple months so I would be so stoked if this is an official recommendation is it have you read it so I'm excited to read this and I'm hoping it's similar to that we I don't know if I can take that as an official recommendation because she hasn't read it but but but I got offered an arc of it and I turned it down so I'm crying a little bit over it every time I see it in my feed I'm reading it okay let's get Aidan it to what my recommendations so first up I have a recommendation based off of one of my favorite books of all time but that is the Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern I did like the Night Circus I know exactly what she's gonna recommend but so if you like the Night Circus then I think you will also like the weight of feathers by Anna Marie McLean more I did not see that recommendation coming at all next up on my list I have fangirl by Rainbow Rowell and what are you gonna recommend a lines and her monsters or radio-silent and if you like this book and I definitely think you will like Eliza and her monsters by Francesca Sofia you're right I loved it alright need to find one more video and one more recommendation all right last one I found is like a channel called free in fiction I don't know your name introduce yourself your mind hey guys so today I'm going to be doing a recommendations video which I've never done this type of video before but it was really fun to like pick out the books if you liked we were Liars by E Lockhart I didn't you're going to like never world wake up by Marisha pestle Marisha pestle I did love that book so what else you got here I have if you liked gay karela by Ashley posten you are going it to like Eliza and her monsters which is by Francesca Sofia I think is how you pronounce it I'm not completely sure okay wow I really have no interest in geek or Ella hmm is it hard-hitting why a I thought that was pretty light Eliza and her monsters is oh well I never thought I would be reading geek Arella I'm a little shocked I'm trusting you I I trust booktubers I have to let me know in the comments below what you think about what's about to happen so here's what we're starting with of the ten books recommended to me I already have five of them on my TBR shelf so we have these to work with and I figure don't buy the devouring gray just from my bookstore because I was probably gonna buy it anyway I need to track down those four books that I don't have we have a couple of different options I might end up doing the audiobook for something but for the purposes of making a video I want to have all ten books in my hands because I have a problem so we're gonna focus on getting them free or cheap I have a feeling that book outlet will have some for all of these books the first one I think is most likely to be on here is I believe in a thing called love because I have picked up and Maureen goo from book outlet before I can't spell today yes four dollars and that's Canadian American that's probably like a two three dollar book amazing if you don't know I'm a book out live locker friend to please click the link in my description so they know that you came from me if you are gonna check out book outlet and on that page will be all the books listed that I've ever bought from there so you can buy them too this is how it always is since I've never heard of it I don't know oh is that that's the same book that's a different cover I recognize this cover I don't have it on my TV or anything oh my god there's only two left I actually love that cover I probably would have picked that up on my own next we'll do geek Arella No so that's a no and lastly oh my god stop ten bucks amazing I can't leave I was on there and then I need to check the library for geek Arella alright this finally came geek Arella from the library and the reason I didn't look on book outlet for the devouring gray or the library's cuz I just I knew it was too new so I went ahead and ordered it and very easy to read it with that we have all 10 books it's now June the month in which I'm going to read all of these titles and in my June TBR I spoiled the fact that I'm gonna be reading these too but I didn't tell you why I would have to kind of put my Instagram on hold if I couldn't show you anything that I was reading so I at least gave you two of the books so I figured these are the two I'll read first let's put this stack in order of most excited to read to least initially excited no exit and the weight of feathers that I'm actually really interested in the devouring gray and then I'd say Tin Man and then the last time we say goodbye the female of the species this is how it always is I believe in a thing called love engi karela that is my stack top three can't wait to read bottom three not really interested middle ones mmm sure but I know that if I read this stack in this order it'll be way easier for me to D&F books like if I wait until the last couple days of the month to read the three that I'm least interested in I'll just be like oh there's only a couple days left I got a rep shoe and I'm just gonna DNF them whatever so this can't be the order that I read them in I know that much I'm gonna prioritize no exit because I do want to make a three thriller this month and this will be the third thriller that I read for that videos as soon as I'm done this I can film and post back okay so I actually started this last night I don't know why I was pretending that I haven't already Dovan in Dovan dive in and I think I read about 50 pages before going to bed and it like genuinely freaked me out I think part of this video is interesting to see like just if I like books that are like other books but part of it is also interesting to see how the book is like another book so the thing about the cabin at the end of the world is that it's not solely realistic fiction and I wonder if this also will mean that or if it's just that it involves a child because in this book as I've discovered which I think I've read the synopsis at one point but definitely forgot these people get snowed in and one of them finds like a caged child in one of the other people who stranded vehicles this book is just really smart so far the way that it's written and I posted last night that I was reading it and Gaby responded and was like oh I love that book or something and like little do you know that it was your video that made me read it so I haven't actually thought about my final rating for know I said before I clicked record I think it would be a four star so the cabin at the end of the world was initially a four and a half or five star I don't totally remember and that one was definitively better than this i 100% understand the comparison though the vibe was similar the dynamics were similar the fact that there's like a group of people doing something bad for a reason nobody totally understands the fact that it's like isolated cabin at the end of the world takes place in a cabin this takes place at a truck rest stop because I liked cabin it into the world did I also like no exit yes the first recommendation was an official success now we know we can trust book do you know would be fun if I actually did the next book as another one of Gabby's picks so I can decide if we trust Gabby okay her other one was this is how it always is which would be a good choice to read next actually because I'm not super excited about it but it's also because I don't really know that much about it anyway this is Claude he's five years old the youngest of five brothers and loves peanut butter sandwiches he also was wearing a dress and dreams of being a princess when he grows up Claude says he wants to be a girl Rosie and Penn want Claude to me whoever Claude wants to be they're just not sure they're ready to share that with the world I'm not totally sure how this one was related to what's called little fires everywhere I guess the fact that it revolves around family so initial thoughts ten pages in I don't like how it's written it's very choppy but what I do appreciate is that it's not written like from the child's perspective the right choices were made in writing this the author is a cisgender woman who has a trans child and she's writing about cisgender adults and a trans trapped I think too many times authors try to write from the perspective of their children whether it be their trans child or they have experience as an autistic child or they have a child in a wheelchair it especially bothers me if they call it own voices which happens more frequently than you would hope or think I just found the audio book I'm screwed so I'm gonna listen to it because I've read a lot already today and I'm just gonna listen and see if I enjoy it because it's I'm having a hard time reading it right now my audio book says that I'm at chapter 11 but I'm here the chapters aren't numbered though I think I'm about a third of the way through but I don't know for sure I really think I could have dnf'd it if I had continued reading it with my eyes instead of my ears because it is just a little like dry but I do appreciate the tone of it these parents who are trying to support their kid as best they can and think they're doing everything that they should be doing but their child is clearly in distress so I just finished this is how it always is my rating I think would be like a 3.75 so did I enjoy this yes do I see why it was chosen as a recommendation yes I struggle a little bit with if I would recommend it I don't know that I would recommend it to my trans friends none of them have reviewed this on Goodreads but that's not surprising to me because I think queer reviewers we tend to look for own voices first this was really hard to read at certain points and I think it could be kind of harmful and so far we have two books down both three and four stars so I'm still looking for like a new absolute favorite I think I'm gonna pick up the Anna Marie McClure so the weight of feathers is her first book and if we're going in order of publication even though like yes I gave these all five stars I did enjoy each one more than the last like if we're going publication order so this I'm assuming will be five stars just since Anna Marie Macklemore but also I don't have super high expectations because it's her first novel so who the heck knows I also don't really know what this is about for 20 years the Palomas and the car boast has been rivals and enemies locked in an escalating feud for over a generation both families make their living as traveling performers in competing shows the Paloma is swimming in mermaid exhibitions the car boasts former tightrope walkers performing in the tallest trees they can find our main character's name is lace there is a boy from the other family who saves Lisa's life and I guess they're gonna fall in love and it's magical areolas honors I honestly just can't believe I didn't know this was about like circus families I thought she was gonna recommend Kara Val or there's three other circus books that popped into my head the fact that this is in my five star predictions list and I didn't even know the plot is a little shocking I just assume that I'm gonna love every anna-marie Macklemore I'm about 60 pages in and in an impossible turn of events the book that I was most excited to read I'm not liking the story is okay so far I didn't realize it was about mermaids but they're not actually mermaids it's about a family who like dresses up as mermaids and puts on shows and there's a family who puts on fake wings and puts on shows but I think people are supposed to believe like I can't really tell if the on goers are I think they're supposed to believe that the people in trees really have wings and the people in the water really have tails compared to other anime Macklemore which I've always rated 5 stars I don't think the scenes are set up very well and I don't really understand like who's present in every scene like I'm just getting confused by who we're talking about what perspective were in please I'm gonna talk and I'm like oh that person's there where are they basically I think both families think the other family is doing black magic so they are pretending to be these things but they also do actually have magical abilities it is exactly 12 hours later and I have officially Deanna yes I guess not wanting to read it and forcing myself to read it and not enjoying it is stunting my ability to like pick up something else this is such a weird turn of events so I'm gonna put it down and pick up something new and maybe I'll return to it when I'm more in the mood I didn't think I wasn't in the mood I'm just gonna go ahead and read the shortest book on my TBR because my read-a-thon starts in two days and I need to get something completed so let's just do this and see where we're at it's Tin Man this is recommended because of aerosol and Dante discover the secrets of the universe I don't even know the plot of this I had no idea it could even be similar to that book I think I have like three people recommend this to me personally and so I just bought it this is almost a love story but it's not as simple as that Alice and Michael are twelve-year-old boys when they first become friends and for a long time it's just the two of them cycling the streets of Oxford right the first tin man cover I ever saw I think hasn't spiked on it teaching themselves how to swim discovering poetry and dodging the fists of overbearing fathers and then one day this closest friendship grows into something more many years later Alice is married to Annie and Michael is nowhere in sight which leads to the question what happened in the years in between and that's it short synopsis short book 200 pages Tim man it was it was fine I think I'm giving it three stars um there were some like moving moments and sad moments and beautiful moments but overall like this is just isn't memorable for me it just occurred to me to think about like why people recommend what they recommend and I think for me I'm more likely to recommend something based on tone it could be a totally different genre even it could be different character traits the things gonna be so different but if they have a similar tone I'm gonna recommend something this to me is kind of a recommendation more just based on the character sexualities and that's probably why it got recommended because of Aristotle and Dante I didn't watch everybody's full video I think I don't know if I made that clear if it looked like I was just cutting the video I didn't watch anyways explanation for why they recommended what they recommended so I think I'm gonna go back and watch everyone stuff and see what they had to say about it but for me like themes were similar but the tone is super different I'm starting my next book I've chosen the female of the species because I'm just so interested to see which side I fall on this book seems to be really polarizing people love it or hate it Mindy McGinnis is kind of a mixed bag for me if I love her hate her stuff so I do like a revenge plot and I do like a girl gang and that's kind of all I know going into it so the female of the species I gave this four stars this is such a weird book or like my feelings on it are so weird I kind of want to reread it I definitely understand why it was recommended based on Sadie and I understand why people love it this follows three different perspectives the main one is a girl named Alex whose sister was raped and murdered and she has enacted revenge it's definitely different than Sadie because we know from the get-go that she is killed somebody and now it's the aftermath of that but also like her maybe wanting to kill more people and also there's two other perspectives people who live in this small town with Alex who have been impacted by this death or are just like they have storylines with Alex I loved all the conversation in here it said great things it definitely talked about rape culture and slut-shaming and it was interesting because it gave these characters such cliche hearts in the narrative and somewhat challenge those cliches but at the same time like totally didn't and just let the characters be what they were and I think we were supposed to come to our own conclusions about certain stuff really enjoyed it four stars again I get why everyone loves day get the recommendation this was a spot-on one so I just took a week off from this challenge to participate and host arena thong something weird would happen during this week off though is that I got recommended Iggy karela like three times got it in my Instagram comments and I got it on my Instagram live which was weird and I had to try so hard not to give away that I was actually like getting ready to read it I don't know anything about this I'm assuming it's a love triangle there's this girl and there's a guy and there's another guy threes I feel like it's not my kind of book is because this to me just looks like light fluffy white contemporary also I gather that it's about a celebrity and as we've recently discussed I don't really like books about famous people whether they're the main characters I character love interest so I think like this girl is probably like obsessed with this show and maybe she gets an opportunity to date this guy or be on the show or it was recommended because of flies and her monsters so I'm guessing she's a fan when geek girl L which imir sees a cosplay contest sponsored by the producers of starfield she has to enter first prize is an invitation to cosplay ball with a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Prince Carmen derp teen actor Darian Freeman is less than thrilled okay so we've got the Cinderella Ennis with the stepsisters and stepmother and then she falls in love with a celebrity 30 pages in these are two of the most cliche yaa characters I've ever read we've got a nerdy girl who's not like other girls everyone else is a mean cheerleader who cares about makeup how dare they and Darian is a famous teen actor who girls throw their underwear on stage but don't worry he's totally humbled okay it's almost 12 hours later it's the weekend so I have had all day to try and get through this you guys I promise I didn't go into this planning to D&F it but the fact is I've picked this up and put it down at least eight different times today and I made it I made it relatively far I'm on page 113 so that's a third of the way so it's not like I'm DNS it after five pages and I know that I'm definitely disappointing some of you you're gonna tell me that it gets better the sequel is better or that the things that I currently don't like like they changed but the fact is I am not having a good time I don't think this is for me but the thing is the books that I've liked with the fangirl fanboy fan person element I didn't like because of that element I liked them in spite of that element fanfiction and celebrity and conventions aren't something that I seek out in my literature they just happen to be part of like the intense contemporary that I've picked up in the past to the preview recommended it appreciate the recommendation I'm sure it's good for so many people just not me okay Wow reading Agrella I'm also reading war cross I am going to listen to this I think because I found it on script and I've really enjoyed listening to audiobooks as I work out as opposed to music lately I read the first chapter I think they were the first chapter and it seemed so much like legend but I've read legends like five years ago so I'm probably just not remembering correctly but ready player one I like so many aspects of that that I was just like fine I felt okay about the video game stuff but I didn't love it because of the video game element if that makes any sense and I'm definitely down to try something new this isn't you know the craziest thing I could have picked up I've read marie-loup before read virtual reality stuff before plot twist I'm loving this book I'm just over halfway through and um it's great the comparison between this and ready player one it's such an easy recommendation but it's definitely a valid one especially if you wanted more real world which is what I want so basically in books like this there's real life and then there's within virtual reality I'm probably forgetting totally but I'm pretty sure ready player one was like 80% in game in war cross I feel like it's almost 7080 percent real life and not that much actually in game playing as an avatar she's a really good hacker and she's hacked into this game because she's so good the creator of this game invites her to Tokyo to play the game like professionally but also work with her as like a spy and I'm just liking everything about it I feel like there are some things that are gonna try to be plot twists that are really obvious but that's kind of just why a I am all done with war cross this is my favorite book so far that I've read for this experiment and one of the ones I would be least likely to pick up on my own so that is teaching me things about myself this is why I do challenges like this to be challenged with my reading preferences that said it's not a five star I would give it a four don't know that a book like this or like ready player one would ever get a five from me anyway regardless of how good they were because my reading experience is never gonna be like I'm having the best time ever because I'm not like the most interested in the actual subject I know there's a sequel called wild card and because of the way that this ended which was exactly as I had predict it halfway through thank you very much it does make me want to pick up this equal next on the docket is going to be the last time we say goodbye I would like to go back and forth between genres and vibes throughout this this I think is more intense why a contemporary I've read something ahead before I loved the afterlife Holly chased so much and then since filming this intro I've actually gotten an arc of her upcoming book the how and the white which I'm really interested in reading it comes out in like November so I'm excited to get into it now but I don't totally know what it's about the blurb on the back is very short and vague but we're following Lex and her brother has died and I don't know what else she's grieving but it's about like the ghost of her brother I don't think it's paranormal I think it's like the metaphorical way of saying like the ghost of someone or maybe it's an actual ghost what do I know okay so I didn't even have time to film a clip telling you what I was thinking while reading I'm already done I read this in 24 hours it was incredible it's five stars and it's so funny because a little insight into this video I filmed the clips finding out the books I was gonna read two months ago and so for some of these books I've completely forgotten what book had inspired this recommendation and while I was reading I was like this reminds me so much of this book what is this book that I keep thinking of that it reminds me so much of and yeah it was the astonishing color of after I just went back through the videos to see where this even came from and it was this this has such similar themes Haley this was such a good recommendation when originally watching the videos I didn't watch the explanations but I just rewatched her video and she was talking about how these have such similar themes they're both about suicide and grief but the assortment Claire after is better and I had the exact same feeling the astonishing color after is definitely better because it includes a lot of things I love there was obviously a lot of culture in this there's magic but for those of you who didn't like the magical elements of this and I know a lot of you feel like this book was too long oh my gosh you're gonna love this it's hard-hitting why a contemporary it follows a girl whose brother has taken his own life and she feels a lot of grief obviously but also guilt she feels a certain amount of responsibility for what happened and it was really hard to read I cried it was beautiful and it's my favorite book that I've read for this challenge it may be a mistake to leave my most anticipated until the end but that's just what we're doing since that one was a really hard read this looks like a light to why a contemporary am i right it's called I believe in a thing called love by Maureen goo I since picking this have read another Maureen goo okay desi Lee believes anything is possible if you have a plan that's how she became student body president thirsty soccer star and it's hash looking into Stanford but she's never had a boyfriend okay now I see the relation to to all the boys I've loved before by Jenny Han she finds guidance in the Korean dramas her father has been obsessively watching for years desi goes after the moody elusive artist Luca Draco's and boat rescues love triangles and staged car crashes and Sue okay a love triangle another wing so I'm almost 150 pages into I believe it I think on love and to be frank I'm not really feeling it at this point I usually tell you more about what books about then just learned in the synopsis but the synopsis pretty much lays it out perfectly she is creating a relationship with a boy based on kind of false pretenses I just want to note that I just realized that I gave to all the boys I've loved before three stars when I originally read it then I read the sequel and gave it four stars and then I think I've reread the first book and gave it four stars or maybe I didn't and I just watched the movie and I have such fond feelings about that that I thought I loved the book it's very light and fun and silly which maybe just is not what I need at this moment and I finished it my rating this was kind of hard because it was cute and sweet but it was also like that girl did some uh wrong stuff to get the guy which is like the point of the book I think you can just tell that like the books intent is to be like a girl who tries to get the guy based on all of these like tricks and schemes and then she learns her lesson and realizes what true love is so there's definitely nothing unexpected in here but it was quite ridiculous at times intentionally I guess I have to give it a three if you're looking for like contemporary romance I don't see why you wouldn't like this so we're on to the very last book which is the devouring gray now I've either made a huge mistake or done something great leaving my most anticipated book until the end of the video now I don't go out of my way to look for books that say they are like the Raven cycle the thing I love about the Raven cycle isn't the magic and the like other world that they're in my main thing that I love about the Raven cycle is the friendship dynamic and the character driven nature of it and the third-person omniscient perspective so I've actually avoided a lot of books because their pitch does like the Raven cycle meets this other thing and I know they're just gonna be so fantasy based so this one was on my radar for sure I have it on my TBR shelf on Goodreads but I just had no real motivation to pick it up because I'm I'm scared I really don't know a lot about this I'm pretty sure I've heard there's a monster involved so I'm currently about a hundred pages into the devouring grey to be perfectly honest nothing has quite captivated my attention yet I'm just reading to read I definitely understand the Raven boys influence there are characters who have some magical situations there is clairvoyance II discussed tarot card reading over although I would say it's reminding me more of soft hill girls we've got like three different perspectives and they all seem to have a different kind of relationship with this devouring gray monster that I still don't totally get one of the characters like psycho girls is new to town and is just figuring out the situation with the monster they all have different intentions and roles but there's I think three or four different families who are all in charge of protecting this small town from the devouring gray oh boy I'm not excited to have talked to you about the devouring gray because I have to talk about how I didn't like it and then I have to explain so it doesn't get misconstrued that I went into it with like too high of expectations I just didn't feel connected at any point to any character to any plot I didn't love the writing I just it's not for me maybe 2.75 do I understand the recommendation I definitely get it like I want to recommend this even more than the Raven cycle because there's better representation there's like bisexual main character he's like on page so if you're looking for some good rap I would check it out there are definitely relationships in the devouring Ray that reminded me of relationships in the Raven cycle but I just never like felt connected to them myself there's four characters and so it would be like this person's over here this person's over here this friends doing this this room is doing this it was just regularly like throwing information at you rather than letting the scenes and the dialogue take over and letting it be character driven this is one of those books that I would still recommend I really think people are going to enjoy this it's the start of a series I just know that it's gonna be one of those books that I think back on a couple months from now I'm not gonna remember a single characters name any of the plot any of the twists like I'm already blanking on what I liked and didn't like about it I just it's super forgettable to me oh I feel so bad I think I would check out more from this author I wanted to like it I wanna like her book I also just notice she follows me gram so I feel extra bad I hope she never ceases and now I'm just kind of bummed that I ended this whole video on a sour note like this was technically the lowest rating I gave a book I'll come at you tomorrow with some like final thoughts let's go ahead and wrap up this experience as always with videos where I have a secret TBR and I challenge myself to read a certain set of things that I might not normally I always intend to have a big conversation at the end like what I've learned what this has shown me and then I'm so exhausted I'm filming it and editing it and wanting to get it up that I like can't even think straight anymore I don't know what I've learned like this was just fun obviously it was just a joke to begin with if we can really trust booktubers I just wanted some quick bait I hope nobody clicked on it expecting shade what we've learned is just that everybody experiences different books differently some books can be really easily recommended just based on similar plot points and if you're are likely to enjoy this aspect of a book if this book has the same plot or genre or sub-genre whatever they have that's similar you're probably going to like both because you like that genre or plot point I do think recommendation videos like these are probably the best type of recommendation videos because there's a specific example you know it's not just somebody saying oh here's 10 why a contemporary romances that I loved and like you'll love them too and I think it also forces people to be really creative and thoughtful with their recommendations if I were to do this type of video I would definitely be more focused like so many people are more focused on vibes as opposed to like just plot and themes which is the type recognition I more appreciate because I'm probably the unpopular opinion here but like just because I liked a book about you know magic in a castle I'm not gonna pick up 50 other like royalty magic books or just because I liked a book with a bisexual main character doesn't mean I just want to pick up 50 other books just because they had a bisexual main character without actually like being interested in the synopsis you know I'm saying so altogether in this video I had 10 books that I was to give a try i dnf'd - this one is still the most shocking thing that has happened in this video I have in the past three weeks tried picking this up like - I think two more times still can get into it I don't like the writing and I'm very confused - by my feelings about this and then geek Arella which wasn't a surprise but I did give it full effort so altogether I completed eight books we had some 2.75 we had a couple three stars and then four stars which is exciting even though there was only one five star out of this entire experience like I'm glad I didn't dislike or feel meh about everything but I read obviously this would have been a totally different experience - had the majority of these books not already been on my TBR I would have the ten books five of them I already owned and was already interested in reading one of them was on my TBR I just didn't have yeah it's three of them were my favorites so that kind of just tells me that I know my reading tastes really well there was three that I probably wouldn't have picked up if not in this experiment and one book that I had never heard of if they were all books that I had never heard of this would have been probably totally different the one good surprise from this was definitely war cross appreciate this recommendation the most because I don't know that I would have ever read this so thank you Jess we did something really nice about me the other day and I felt really guilty about in the recommendation section like maybe I was being a little too sarcastic to everyone whose video I watched thank you so much for your recommendations I actually I don't know you can tell but like I was losing a little momentum at the beginning there was five videos that I watched and didn't end up showing you that I was watching because I watched like a full hour and a half of content and didn't end up with a single recommendation from any of those videos and then throwing them into the video would have just dragged it out for you so I watched a lot more content than you even know and I appreciate everybody's recommendations and opinions and sometimes I come off a little bratty so I'm sorry if that happened but if you guys stuck around to the very end which I don't many of you are here so the select friends that are here thank you for being a part of my life I don't know what I'm saying I love you a lot and as a friend and I'll see you later bye

Channel: BooksandLala

Views: 260,357

Keywords: books, booktube, bookish, booksandlala, obbsandlala, if you liked this, you should read this, book recommendations, book recs, booktuber's favorite

Id: dpA_dhJ_Vtw

Length: 57min 39sec (3459 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 30 2019