I've started a YouTube channel! | 21.01.2024
Welcome to the first newsletter of 2024! This week I've got two book reviews for you!
👋 Hello
Morning/Afternoon/Evening to you all! Yes, you read that subject right, I’ve started a YouTube channel.
It’s been a long time coming as I’ve slowly been adding more video content to my social channels. I used to have a gaming channel when I was in college and I used to livestream on Twitch, so it felt fairly natural. But never have I had such a big audience ready already willing to watch.
The first video covers four books I’ve read/been reading recently that I’ve been absolutely loving. You can find some of these books below too.
👨🏻💻 Latest on the website
This week on the blog, I posted two book reviews as I’ve been reading and finishing books at a rate of knots recently!
The first was a review of the wonderful The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn and the other was Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Both are fantastic books and show just how brilliant January has been as a reading month for me.
If you keep scrolling, you can read these articles, see what books I’m been reading recently and the latest bookish deals I’ve found across the interwebs.
✍️ What I’ve posted this week
The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn book review
The Whalebone Theatre was a genuinely beautiful read. Not only was it wonderfully written but it featured a powerful storyline, impactful plot moments and deeply likeable characters. There’s a lot to be said for a book that can cover three decades, multiple characters and be over 500 pages and still keep you interested throughout.
I love books like The Whalebone Theatre where you feel like you’ve been on a life journey with the characters too. It’s staggering to think this was Quinn’s novel considering how composed and, at times, experienced it feels. I shall be adding Joanna Quinn to my list of authors of whom I will most definitely be picking up their next book.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown book review
I’ve rated Red Rising a 4.25 instead of anything higher because I feel like it’s only just scratching the surface of what Brown has to offer here. Brown has written an explosive science fiction novel here filled with an exciting plot, a building world and some genuinely interesting characters. There’s something to be said that after finishing this, I couldn’t stop thinking about it and instantly wanted to read the sequel. If you’re a fan of dystopian novels, Red Rising should shoot to the top of your list.
📖 What I’ve been reading this week
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
Girl, Interrupted is a book I was recommended by a friend and so I picked it up recently. I read the first third or so and then found the audiobook to listen to for the final two-thirds. It’s quite an interesting book exploring how mental health was dealt with decades ago in special homes and the interactions our protagonist has with the other inmates around her.
I don’t know how I’m going to review this because it was so short and so little actually happened.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
I don’t think I even posted anywhere that I was reading this. Not for any particular reason, I just think other posts got in the way. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine follows the story of Eleanor Oliphant our main protagonist who clearly has some social difficulties as she enters a pivotal moment in her life.
A new, amazing person enters her life and she ends up exploring deeper in her dark past that her mother doesn’t want her to know about. It’s heartbreaking and heartwarming, it’s dark and it was a really good read. My review will be coming this week!
Of Darkness and Light by Ryan Cahill
I read Ryan Cahill last year and was really impressed with both his prequel novella and the first in the series Of Blood and Fire. So for Christmas, I asked for the second in the series. I’m about 100 pages in so far (it’s over 800 pages long!) and so far it has been very good, with some great action and some big moments too!
I’m expecting this to be a great book after how impressive his previous two were!
River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure
I’m nearing the end of this now with only about 70 or 80 pages left and my thoughts are still the same as last week - despite there not being massive fast-paced plots, the characters and the settings have been so engrossing I’m loving it! Hopefully, I’ll get it finished this week as it officially releases on Thursday!
📚 Book deal
This week I’ve got some more 99p eBook deals for you. These can be nice and quick buys that mean you quickly stack up some reads.
As always, I’ve picked out a few of the bigger names,
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