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I WAS IN A SLUMP! | march reading wrap up + april tbr

Hi Guys! Thanks for watching today's video! I recap all the books I read for March and then show what I plan to read in April! Enjoyyyy!!!

dara

5 days ago

hey guys welcome back to my channel I realized  that I've never introduced myself or at least I don't think I've introduce myself I'm Dar this  is my channel if you watch if you've watched my channel before you've probably seen that I in the  past I've tried to do like video game content I've tried to do lives with like me streaming but it  never really came it never really came up anything of that lately for the past few years now I've  been reading a lot and I was like you know what I have a l
ot to say about what I'm reading and  that's what we're doing now this is the channel I just wanted to tell you guys that because I was  like I've never introduced myself so that's that today we're going to go through all the books that  I've read in the month of March this month was not was not a good reading month it it was not I'm  going to be completely honest it was a slump Fest comment below if you went through a slump this  month I actually checked my story graph today and I've read 54 bo
oks already in the year it's March  my goal for the year was 50 I don't know what the race is I don't know what I'm trying to run to  but yeah so that all that all caught up to me I will say that I do listen to a lot of audio books  so when I'm working editing working out I don't listen to I don't like to listen to a lot of music  when I'm working out I usually just listen to audiobooks so that's kind of what this month was I  think I listened to four or five audio books this month and yeah and
then after we're going to go  through my April TBR to see if I can stick with it because a lot of the books that I was supposed to  read in March are going to be in the April TBR and I've actually started reading one so I guess I'm  back I'm back baby let's go through the [Music] books okay I just went through my list to see how  many books I read and you know what I'm actually I think I'm being a little bit hard on myself I  think lately I've been having these goals of like reading 16 18 books
where it felt like I was just  turning them out but looking at my list I read a lot I think I read about 10 books this month 10  books I'm going to talk to you guys about actually let's just check let's just check the story graph  has these really good filtering options it's very much it's giving someone who works in like Excel  or does like a lot of analytics obviously story graph made this app and it's perfect for my Virgo  brain because I'm like yes I can look up by month see how many books I
actually read in March okay  in the month of March I actually consumed 14 books there are four books on here that I'm not going  to talk about just because they were just kind of like slump books you know romance Mafia and you  know I'm we're we're not on that relationship yet where I want to open that part of myself up to you  guys so maybe later on we'll start talking about those books that I read but 10 of these books I  did consume 10 books normally not normally but I did consume I did read
I'm saying consume because  I know there's a lot of chitchat about audio books versus reading and maybe I'll do a video on that  maybe I'll do a video on that because that is something that I want to talk about but anyway  10 books this month let's start off with the Lightning Thief I listen to The Lightning Thief  Sea of Monsters and the Titans curse all on audio book this month I'm actually reading the Battle  of Labyrinth right now or listening to it that's my audio book right now those book
s are just so  easy to consume I watched a show with my friends earlier this year that February January February  in the winter I watched that with them and then they caught up they were like yeah this did not  happen in the books I was like I read the books I read The Lightning Thief back in 2022 again so  it was a reread from before and I remember that I did read the five books but now I'm at a place  where I don't remember anything that happened in the Battle of Labyrinth the audio book is so
  good the narrator that narrates the book he is a amazing he just brings the characters to life  like it's actually like wow I'm visualizing what's happening while I'm listening to it usually when  I'm listening to audiobooks I'm like okay yeah I get it but now it's like I guess it has to do with  like oh yeah I knew what happened but listening to it and this guy he actually sounds like I got  it I don't know his name I think I should just find it real quick just okay the audio books  are narra
ted by Jesse Bernstein Jesse you're doing a phenomenal job I'm having so much fun  listening to these books they are so quick I'll say that I listen to my audiobooks on two time  speed I think at Max I'll go 2.5 but 2.25 2.0 like two time speed is probably the usual 2.5  is very much there's another book that I read this month that I actually had to do 2.5 speed  on but yeah I read those three books this month and I'm going to keep going see how far I can  go okay the next book that I read was w
as love theoretically so love theoretically was part of  a book swap that I did with uh my book Discord and I think now that I'm thinking about it the  reason why I'm reading so much is when you're on discords and they have like challenges and  readathons you just want to read more and then you're surrounded by people that are reading more  so you just read more so tangent but yeah I did do a spice a swap it was a spicy swap but this was  love theoretically and love theoretically is not spicy um
but I had already I was excited to get  this book cuz I had already checked it out cuz I had just finished bride you know in January so I  was like I'm going to read another Ali hawood I read the love hypothesis like a long time ago and  I was like I remember liking it but now I'm like okay we'll try some more so I did read the love  or love theoretically and I gave this like a solid three out of five it was very academic very much  physics I'm like I don't really know a lot about ali hazelwood
's background but she I know her  her series is like women stem series I know like the main character in bride was like a hacker and  then the main character in love theoretically is like a physicist a doctor I believe very academic  I'm like a lot of research had to have gone into it it kind of reminded me of back when I was in  college and I tried to do a stats major and have seeing that like seeing the way that the office  and the hallways and all the professors kind of acted kind of reminded
me a lot like that and I  thought that was really fun It Felt Like A Slice of Life and then you had a guy there and um I'm  kind of like smiling to myself because people I know they're I said in my review that people  say that Ali Hazelwood you you just know that you're reading Ali Hazelwood because it's kind of  have like the big tall man and the oh I'm just so small so when I noticed that in the books I'm like  that is hilarious like that's like her thing and then the other thing that she doe
s is um give  her characters like funny interesting unique names Elsie misery in the bride so it's just like  funny but yeah I love theoretically it was it was fine it was enjoyable the the man falls first so  what how could you be upset about that I guess it's like that's fun after love theoretically  I felt the slump coming and you know what I was like this is time for a reread I reread  the serpent in the wings of night by Carissa Broadbent a moment just a moment for chissa  Broadbent she was
a new author that I discovered last year and I pretty much just read all her  works I enjoy her writing I enjoy the story that she told us in serpent the wings of night  and Ashes of the Star Cross King I think that's the name that was one of my favorite romance  Romany fantasy Ro whichever one it is of 2023 um that series that duy I really liked it so I  decided to reread it and enjoyed it I think this time around it wasn't as enjoyable as the first  time cuz you like know what's going to happ
en and you know what to expect but I still liked it  it did what it had to do for me and just I did order the fairy loot versions of this book waited  in line and it took an hour and a half to order them so that's coming this summer I can't wait  to show you guys all the books that I got from like these book subscriptions cuz I I ordered a  few the next book I read in March was Jade War by Fonda Lee last month or January February I  read Jade City didn't really like it I think I said I gave it t
hree stars the first half was just  crap and the second half kind of took off I like I'm going to give Jade War a try guys Jade War  so much better than Jade City and I I have a I have a thing that I say where I'm just like a lot  of first books and series fall into a hole where it's like this is just a setup you know this is  just the setup to a a world that we're going to build that's going to be so much better just  keep going read the second book read the third book and that's what Jade city
fell off it's like  okay we're just setting things up for how they're going to go Jade War so much better I loved the  family Dynamics I love the world building we're in different places guys we're not in the area  originally we're in new cities new people new characters new story lines story lines expanded  it was just so much better it did have its faults things that I just didn't really like more like  I consume this via audio so I think that someone said that it's different when you read it
because  in this book there were like time skips and when you're listening auditorally you don't really  know that time has passed but someone I think said that in the book that tells you that time  has passed because there were moments when I was listening I was like they should probably discuss  this they should probably like I want to see some expansion of like how you're feeling about this  but it's just like no you're just going to skip to the next year that was one of my big gripes  about
that but Jade war I'm going to continue Jade Legacy I am warned now that it will do the  same where it's going to have a lot of time skips and that's it's okay I'm probably going to  read that because it is on Kindle unlimited so I'm going to read that instead of listening  to the audio and then in in March I also had a TBR challenge where I had someone pick two books  off of my long Goodreads TBR and just find them for me and then I would read them I'm doing it  again for April we'll talk abou
t what I'm going to be reading I'm excited for this book this month  I read the Kaiju preservation Society by John scy and then I also read dark matter by Blake Crouch  let's start with the Kaiju preservation Society I like this one it was so fun so interesting  I like reading books when it's a New Concept something I've never heard of I'm like this is  exciting this book reminded me of Jurassic Park the movies because I did not read the books maybe  I will now where this guy he loses his job he
's offer this random job and he pretty much is going  to like a parallel world where he's going to take he's going to take care of Kaiju Kaiju think of  Godzilla which Godzilla is actually is a Kaiju think of what's what's the gorilla donkey not  Don say Donkey Kong not Donkey Kong I'll put it somewhere you you know who I'm talking about but  him so those are Kaiju like big monsters animals and you pretty much just follow this guy as he  finds his footing working with these reptiles and how they
do it and it was really fun really  short read I actually did read this I got this from my library next I read like I said dark  matter in dark matter it's another parallel universe type Multiverse type book and this one  was interesting I finished this in one night it was super fast-paced the books if you ever look  at book pages the book pages were thick so like the book looks heavy and thick and I guess it was  like 300 pages but margins were large print was large so I just flew through this
book I how did  I feel about this the first half I enjoyed super fastpac I did not know where it was going to go  and that's kind of where it went where it went downhill because it did not go where I thought  it was going to go go and not in a good way we pretty much follow this guy we find out he's  a physic physics Professor or something like that like quantum mechanics physics I failed  physics so I don't know but we find out that he gets kidnapped one night and pretty much wakes  up in this
weird sterile laboratory pretty much and and he's very confused the world is looks  like his world but it's not his world it looks like he goes home it looks like his house is not  his house he doesn't have a wife he doesn't have his child he's missing his whole family where am  I how did I get here who kidnapped me who this guy who's this guy so he pretty much followed this  guy's Adventure as he tries to get back home and this involves time leaping and multiverses and it  kind of gets insane
so insane came to the point where the author almost didn't know how to finish  it in a way that was like that makes sense and I think my issues with it were the main character  he was a little annoying he was obsessed with finding his wife which I guess I get it like you  love your wife so much of course I'm going to get to it but it was just kind of like weird um the  ending like they said the ending was so crazy I still don't understand the meant ending and why  the author chose to go that way
and then didn't clean it up well enough but yeah still super  fastpaced a book that you can kind of like push it out really quickly and still an enjoyable  experience like having that Thriller like I'm starting to like I'm starting to enjoy Thriller  and then science fiction Thrillers as well it's just like wow this is insane and then it just  Falls flat last two books that I read this month we have the Misadventures of Aqua black  girl by Issa R funny story about this and then I also read yell
ow face by rfang Misadventures  of awkward black girl I was so I was very much in the slump that I own this book but I listen to  the audio I don't buy my audio books so it's okay I'm supporting the library I listen to this on I  listen to The Awkward the misadventure aqu black girl on audio it was 5 hours long so it took me  2 hours literally a gym session pretty much to finish it and I enjoyed it I do not like short  short stories or essays or I don't think I do and listening to this I did not
know that it was  like a collection of essays from isay because I was just like issues that I had with it we're  like the story line doesn't make sense she was just talking about here but we're back back here  and she's a child she was just in college and then I'm after I'm done reading it I go on good reads  and I like put start putting information in it's like this is a collection of essays oh that makes  sense that checks out because now it makes sense about why stuff isn't following chronol
ogically  and it's pretty much mishaps with Issa we kind of learn a lot about her and I was like thinking  like before I knew that it was a collection of short stories I was like I want to know more  about her speaking French she doesn't talk about that or like how she got into insecure and her  whole timeline so one thing that I hope in the future from isay is an actual Memoir from her from  like child baby to now about everything because I think that would be awesome um but yeah that  was a bo
ok that I've had I actually stole this for my mom years ago like right after college so  I finally got around to that and then the last book that I read this month was yellow face by RF  kuang in my addition I actually own two books of this and it's crazy cuz I'm not sure how I feel  about this I was annotating this and then stopped just because the MC in this book is insufferable  she is so annoying on purpose I love Rebecca I mean I love her name is Rebecca it's kind of like  when you're M whe
n you like not mad but like when you have like an attitude like call People by the  first but arquon she's one of my favorite authors I own all her books and probably will continue to  but I write yellow face and this is her first work into the fiction contemporary space and her voice  is so distinct that you just know that it's her but this book she the main character June Juniper  June let's call her June she pretty much steals a manuscript from her writer friend they're not  even well they're
not even really friends we're not even really sure the length the depth of  their relationship because I think that the main character kind of just talks in circles in  a way that's like we're not even really friends it's okay it's like stealing $20 off the street  from a stranger it's not that big of a deal and she goes through like this mental gymnastics of  like is this okay like she's very racist think of all the is she's not well no I guess she's not  sexist but she's not really a girl she
's not a girls girl either but anyway I can I could talk  about this we can make a video I'm sure there are videos from people who have explained this book  it's it was good I give it about 3.5 four stars maybe a 3.75 if you're going by story graph scale  um it just wasn't something that I was like oh I'm ready to pick this up and dive into the world  and I think that's just because I'm a fantasy girlly through and through science fiction fantasy  girly this is like a contemporary literary ficti
on not really kind of and I wasn't really got to go  read my book but I did make sure to read it almost every single night to get through it and I did and  for what it's worth I did enjoy it so those are the 10 books that I read in the month of March  five audio five ebook physical books so pretty good I think audiobooks are superior I love them  when they're available cuz the holds on audiobooks and if you're not willing to buy them and I'm not  really I have an audible free trial that I'm doin
g right now but I I can't even use my credits  because I'm like I don't want to buy I don't want to keep these books anyway let's get into  the books that I'm going to be reading for April I'm not going to lie my TBR I we're I'm going to  stay positive we're going to do it starting off I mentioned this in my last book my last video  I'm going to be continuing the house of leaves I'm about 30 40 about 30 pages in so I'm ready  to sink my teeth into this this is going to be a buddy read but also a
bullup read with my aunt  we're reading House of leaves we're only going to do one book I think this month and that's this  one so I'm excited to have someone hold my hand as I get through this expect a reading Vlog for  this book I'm excited cuz I never done one before and I'm going to share my thoughts about how this  book is going as I read I'm doing a book swap in April why am I signing up for this I'm going to be  reading vicious by V Schwab I don't know what this book is about Victor and
Eli College roommates  so I'm guessing a academic dark Academia I do like those I have had this book for 2 years you  know that's you know we're going to read it now I'm excited because I do like some of V Schwab's  work so we're gonna continue that this month I'm also going to be reading gold finch by Donna  tart I have read the secret history by Donar I love that book I gave it five stars I do like dark  Academia to an extent but we're going to see about the gold finch I actually did try and r
ead this  either last year or in 2022 and I was a little bored so I think either the hold ran out or what  so I do know that I'm going to be attempting this via audio this is probably the longest audio book  I've ever read I've ever listened to we 32 hours long so about 16 hours if you're doing two times  speed which I will be but I'm already 9% 2 hours and 37 minutes through it from before and I'm not  starting over because I know what happens in that time I remember so I'm going to continue th
is  is my chonka along read for the month of April we're also going to be reading a fanfiction yep  I'm multifaceted many layers to me I'm an onion but yeah we're going to be reading manold um which  is a jione fanfic and it's a really popular one and I'm doing like a buddy read on this one so I  have to read it and I just decided to read this one because I've heard so many things about this  book or this fanfic and it's going to be actually being traditionally published called alchemized  by S
U and I was like I to read this before she like removes it from the platform so we're going  to do that I have I did start it briefly this is the slump where I'm saying all my books moved to  April I did start it I'm about three chapters in and yeah we'll see how it goes this is a chunky  book so if I don't get through this till May as long as long as I get through some of it next I'm  going to be reading nettle and Bone I'm actually reading that right now I might finish today I'm  about 40% in
and it's very fast very quick 200 pages I believe so I'm I'm enjoying that it kind  of reminds me of Stardust by Neil Gman but more of like a very dark Twisted one but like a adventure  kind of fantasy cozy Thriller Gothic horror type fantasy and yeah I'm having a good time with  that so far next blood over bright Haven by ml Wang I actually kind of had like a moment  where I got super scared because this book I was trying I wanted to buy this book I had it  like on my list my Amazon Wish List I
was like I'm going to buy it for myself you know I'm going  to get this from my own on my own and then they removed it on Amazon it used to be it's an Amazon  original but I think it's getting traditionally published which I'm so happy for along I love  sport of Ken that might be my that's my book of the year and we're only in April tomorrow's April  we're only in April and swear of kayen is my book of the year how will Mo top sword of Ken we will  see I heard this book is super good I am excit
ed to read it another dark Academia book I believe  um I actually was able to order it before they brought it back the paperback it's not here yet  doesn't come until mid April in the meantime I believe it's still on Kindle un Limited at least  on my Kindle it is if not it is now available on Libby so I actually have it on hold on Libby I  will be reading that I'm hoping I can read it physic so I can annotate it next I have when the  moon hatched this is like a Romany I believe it's also getting
traditionally published you know  I get really I'm really happy for Indie authors I'm going on a lot of tangents in this this video  but I so happy for Indie authors and them getting traditionally published after reading yellow  face which gives you Insight onto how books get published and how they do all that stuff which  thank you RF Kong for doing that cuz now I have how are we going to Pace it and a lot of these  books will not be available on audio so we'll definitely have to actually read
them but I think  we'll have time if stardy Valley doesn't take over my life like it has this past week but anyway guys  thank you so much for watching this video thank you so much for all the support on my last video  it actually made me so excited to see all the comments all the likes the views the subscribers  I've gotten it just it means a lot to me that this is something that people want to see and I'm  actually having fun doing and just chatting and yapping to the camera and having you gu
ys  watch um I will see you guys in the next video [Music] bye there is now a dog on my la oh hi so  now you met all my pets this is Milo say hi M oh okay he's going to sit until  he doesn't want to sit anymore but

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