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Bring Your Own...Recent Five Star Read | S1Ep11
386 Plays2 years ago
This week we dissect our personal rating systems, gush our favorite online reading trackers (spoiler alert: it's storygraph), and discuss what makes us give a book five stars! We also chat about our recent five star reads and why they made the cut!
No spoilers this episode! Just vibes! Happy listening and tell us your recent five star read on instagram @Bringyourownpod
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Transcript
Introduction & Podcast Theme
00:00:06
Speaker
Hey. Hello. Hi. Sorry. Every single time. I'm like, hey, and then I wait just long enough that you guys start to respond. I'm like, anyways. Okay. Hi. Welcome to Bring Your Own, a catch-all bookish most of the time podcast. I'm Brandy. I'm Kendra. And I'm Kayla.
5-Star Reads & Rating Systems
00:00:24
Speaker
And today we are bringing our latest five star reads. We're going to chat about our rating systems, books that we've been loving recently.
00:00:33
Speaker
All that good stuff. But before we jump in,
Brandy's Wine Dilemma & "Daisy Jones & the Six"
00:00:37
Speaker
what are you guys reading? What are you guys drinking? I'll start. I am drinking. I wanted a house wine tonight, but I went to a different 7-Eleven. They didn't have any. Then I went to another 7-Eleven. They didn't have any. So I settled for like a house wine. It's not a knockoff. It's just a different type of canned wine. And it's Pinot Grigio Calambard. I probably butchered that. So my wine people don't come after me. Something like to look French to me.
00:01:02
Speaker
we we okay um it's pretty good i mean the initial taste was not that great but i'm warming up to it and currently i am reading uh well i've been on vacation for the past like week i was out of town so i started daisy jones in the sixth i was gonna ask you about it but then i was like you know what let me let me wait brandy i might dnf it because i'm just like i know i i know
00:01:28
Speaker
I just feel like it's just making me so angry and like, not in a fun way. I felt you have to know that's how I felt. That's how I felt it wasn't fun. But the difference is, is that like, you didn't know what was gonna happen, right? I know what's gonna happen. Yeah, you told me everything.
00:01:44
Speaker
So I'm I think I'm going to DNF it. And then I'm perfect.
"Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail" Discussion
00:01:48
Speaker
And then I and also I realized I don't really like the interview format in the book, because I thought it was going to be more of a back and forth conversation between the interviewer and like who they were interviewing. But it's like, not, which is like not like what the question is, right?
00:02:04
Speaker
yeah yeah and i wish that it was more the opposite because i think it just would have made for a better reading experience um and then okay besides that i'm listening to ashford parker doesn't fail by ashley herring blake it's like good so far it's it's i'm chilling i'm a little bored at times because they're like doing an interior design project and they'll like describe like the housing shit i i spent right now it's at like a
00:02:31
Speaker
Let me see how fast I'm listening to this book. 2.15 is what I'm listening to it because I'm just because like it's just boring. But I really love the I like Astrid a lot but I love the the love interest her backstory is like really interesting and she's like so sweet. So that's where I'm at.
LA Times Festival & ARC Excitement
00:02:52
Speaker
I went to the LA Times Festival of Books last weekend and I saw a panel with Ashley Herring Blake on it. And you guys, she is a middle school teacher. Just like you. Just like me. Crazy. She teaches English, of course, creative writing. Oh cool. Crazy. I am currently drinking just like a little lemon water. I ran out of
00:03:15
Speaker
Water with a lemon slice. Exactly. I ran out of my lacroix the other night and Daniel is making me some lemon bars. Yum. So he had these lemons out so he sliced a couple little lemons for me for my water.
00:03:33
Speaker
sweet boy. Yeah. And then okay, I have been like shaking with not telling you guys this because I wanted to tell you while we were on here. Subtle flex. I just got the ARC for Crimson River by Demi Perry, which is coming out in June. And I'm so excited.
00:03:54
Speaker
I'm, I got a little bit earlier than I usually would get an arc from her because I'm doing a little bit of art for her for this part. Yay! So a little plot inside. Yeah, I'm not going to give any more details about it, but she says she loves these characters so much that she wants to do something a little special for this release.
00:04:15
Speaker
So she literally sent me that probably two hours ago.
"Hookshot" Themes & Discussion
00:04:19
Speaker
And she was like, no rush. Like, take your time. We have plenty of time before the release. I was like, you're acting like I'm not going to drop everything all night tonight. So yeah, I'm going to start that. But I'm also reading Hookshot by Kennedy Ryan, which I am really, really loving so far. It's single dad, sports romance. He's a basketball player in the NBA. Age gap, too. He's 36, and she's 25.
00:04:42
Speaker
I didn't know that about that book. Me either. She was talking, she was also at the LA Times festival of books and I've been running to read the hoop series for a really long time because I know it's so well loved but I also know she tackles some really really really heavy themes. Yeah I wasn't a fan of Longshot because of all the on-page reviews that happens in that and I went in thinking it was going to be like a fun little cute basketball romance but it wasn't that and I kind of think because I think it like colored my, I mean I know it did color my opinion of her work for a long time because like
00:05:11
Speaker
Why do I want to read about a black woman being sexually
Kayla's Latest Reads & Maisie Eddings
00:05:13
Speaker
assaulted? Like on page multiple times. I just don't want to do that. But then I read before I let go and I was like, oh, I love this. So I'll give her another shot.
00:05:22
Speaker
Yeah I know like I have a really really really hard time reading on page sexual assault. So I just I avoided the hoop series for the longest time because I knew that was the case in the first book and it was the first book in the series and I typically don't read series out of order but I've been wanting to read it for so long so I was like you know what I'm just gonna do it. I'm just gonna read the third book first because it's single dad. So yeah I am really enjoying it so far.
00:05:50
Speaker
Um, and okay, I was drinking a glass of Moscato, but I have drank the whole thing in the time that we were talking before starting this episode. So I'm like, well, I guess I have like a sip left. Chug it. Okay. Well, it's not going to be much, but yay. Crazy. Um, but now my wine is gone. I have no more. So, um, and I am not currently reading anything new.
00:06:17
Speaker
I just finished two really great books, one of which I don't think I'll say much about right now because I might talk about it later. But one of the books that I finished was The Plus One by Maisie Eddings on audio. Loved that one. I recently discovered her because of Kendra because she told me to read Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake, which I finished last week and also really loved. And then I got this one on Audible.
00:06:43
Speaker
And yeah, there's, Maisie Eddings is very talented for me at like, even if I can't relate to what a character is going through, like I don't have, I don't have diagnosed ADHD. I don't have PTSD from trauma that I've experienced on a job or whatever. Like I don't have that, but the way that I care and I'm sympathetic or empathetic towards these characters is like,
00:07:11
Speaker
crazy like they made me tear up and cry at a lot of moments and just really made me see certain things in like a different light and understand it more I think and so yeah I really I really really enjoyed them um they were not only like were they really emotional but they were also just like funny and also and hot yeah and um so I had a really good time reading those um but
00:07:36
Speaker
I just finished those and I'm not currently reading anything new, but I did decide to re-listen to The No Show by Beth O'Leary because like, you know, why not? Why not? I listened to that and I said, are you okay? Everyone's like concerned in the group chat, like what's going on? I'm literally only like an hour in, but I was like, I just, I love those girls so much. So I'm already having a good time, but yeah. I'm not sure I'll ever reread that book.
00:08:04
Speaker
I've done it twice. Yeah, I read the physical and then I re listened to it on audio. Yeah, this is my third time. I think it's, it's a fun book to read. It's great. You can manage expectations. Yeah, it's also really, like I said, it's just so good on audio. It's great. It is so good on audio. It's a great, it's a great audio book.
Recommending Books & Social Media Influence
00:08:25
Speaker
I that book, and I think tomorrow and tomorrow, tomorrow, I don't think I will ever reread those books.
00:08:31
Speaker
I don't know that actually I'm tomorrow. Yeah, that one. Alice, Alice, friend of the pod. Alice was like talking about rereading tomorrow and tomorrow and I was like, you are braver than the Marines. Yeah, I think about that book though all the time, especially because like in my day to day job, like I do something like I work in the same industry as them essentially. Yeah. And like watching like my like, yeah, just watching like my work play out and how they navigate certain work situations in that book.
00:09:00
Speaker
Sometimes I still like want to recommend this book to my coworkers and be like, read this and get it together. My boyfriend's really, really into video games. So I, he like reads pretty casually. Like he kind of always has a book that he's reading, but isn't like obsessing like every night. Yeah. Um, so I told him to read tomorrow tomorrow and he's
00:09:20
Speaker
He's in like the fun part at the beginning where they're like figuring out how to make a company together and tell him to enjoy it while it lasts. Yeah. I was like buckle the fuck up. Yeah. But that book is so good. So good. Was that a five star read for all of us? Yeah. Yeah. Well, I wasn't reading books last year, but I would give a five star. Oh really? Yeah. I didn't, I stopped reading books. Um, end of,
00:09:51
Speaker
2021 all of 2022. This is the first year where I started actively reading books again. How come just like for your own mind or because? Yeah, it was like for my own mind and I got like really overwhelmed of like when my like TikTok was like blowing up, I got really overwhelmed of like managing my TikTok and like also having to like post on Goodreads and like have like an opinion about every book. And yeah, it was just like very overwhelming. And I just kind of got into this mood where
00:10:20
Speaker
either liked a book or i didn't or i either loved a book liked a book or i didn't like it at all those are the three categories and so like try and like put a star rating on things i just didn't like doing it so then i just like completely stopped um rating books on my tiktok like you can i'm pretty sure i can go back and i can find the video where i just stopped doing it and then yeah all of 2022 it was just vibes it was a great time but now this year i'm like actively using storygraph
00:10:45
Speaker
And I haven't shared my story graph like outside, but I think like only a few people have it, which I love. Like on Goodreads, it was just I made the mistake like I put my Goodreads on my bio and like I was friending everyone and just became too overwhelming. And I got like really anxious. I didn't like it. So I left it like I have not posted on Goodreads. I think the last time I posted on Goodreads was for like
00:11:07
Speaker
an arc maybe that I read last year, because it was a requirement. Yeah. But that's
Storygraph vs. Goodreads
00:11:12
Speaker
it. Like, so now I just use Storygolf because I want the charts and I love like the privacy of it all. And I just write my little cute little reviews. And, and then sometimes I wake up to text messages in the morning from Kayla being like, I can't believe you gave that book three points.
00:11:28
Speaker
Yeah, I use both Goodreads and Storygraph. And yeah, and like, I wish I could just fully transition over to Storygraph and maybe I will just next year just like do that. I like, I stopped writing reviews on
00:11:43
Speaker
Goodreads, which has been great for me mentally, just like as far as like being able to enjoy a book and just like have my own feelings about it without having to like format in any weird way, kind of like what you were saying. But yeah, because I use my book journal for that. That's where I write all my thoughts. But I do, I started using Storygraph. They're so smart with their little charts. Like they got so many of us bitches on there. Yeah, they're so cool. I know. Kayla, you said you use both as well. Do you write reviews on both?
00:12:09
Speaker
No, so I use both and I mostly use Goodreads. I mean, everything is on Goodreads, like in terms of like all my past history. And I know you can transfer stuff over to Storygraph, but like it's just kind of a hassle. And you know, companies like Valentine or whatnot, they still want you to use Goodreads if you want to get approved for ARCs.
00:12:36
Speaker
usually yeah so um that's where i usually post like my full length reviews if i have an arc i usually don't post a review or write a review i well i don't actually i should say that i almost never write a full length review on goodreads unless it's for an arc
00:12:52
Speaker
Um, and then for story graph, I, um, oh, and I also have shelves on Goodreads. I do. I have shelves, which, I mean, I don't use that often, but I do have trope shelves. Um, and then story graph, um, I, yeah, the,
00:13:10
Speaker
data and like all that is so nice to have and um the you know half star quarter star ratings i love i don't usually write anything though for the reviews i usually just do the the star ratings is what i usually do so yeah
00:13:29
Speaker
I also I think I started using Storygraph though, like late last year, because we all wanted to do a buddy read. It was for yours truly. We got the art. It was me, Kayla and our friend Taz and we invited Brandy who had already read the book, but we wanted her to see all of her thoughts on it. And they have a really great buddy read feature. It's so cool. Yeah, I love it. For those who don't know, there's a buddy read feature on Goodreads. And basically you invite friends
00:13:55
Speaker
on Storygraph to this buddy read and what it basically does is and yes you can just like use a text group chat but then what this eliminates on Storygraph is like people texting in the group chat like what chapter you on because you know you don't want to like spoil people so essentially what you can do on the buddy read is like post updates and then what chapter or page it correlates to and then depending upon like a brandy post something for
00:14:18
Speaker
Chapter 13, but I'm only on chapter 10. And I have that update in my story graph that I'm only on chapter 10. It will lock that comment that Brandy made about a future chapter for me so that I don't get spoiled and don't see it.
Book Rating Approaches
00:14:32
Speaker
So that's kind of cool. You can also respond to people's updates. You can hit a little reply button, which was so fun because you can still engage in a conversation even if the person you're reading with is way in front of you, which I thought was so cool.
00:14:47
Speaker
Yeah, also like I love this is like a story graph. Like I love I feel like I wish story graph got all the love that good read stuff. Like I wish publishers story graph a little bit more seriously. But it's like it's black owned. It's like data driven. And I love my favorite thing is that you can switch editions really easily. Like Mark that you're like, you'll just pick the book and then you'll go through switch it and they'll switch it for you. That has saved me so many times instead of having to like, delete it, and then refine it.
00:15:16
Speaker
I love it. It's also nice because you can switch editions, even if you've read it in multiple ways, like part of the physical and the audio and, and you can switch, but it also, it still counts as you reading that book multiple times, which is really nice.
00:15:31
Speaker
And adding rereads on Storygraph is so fucking easy. With Goodreads you have to go in and like edit dates read and blah blah blah. Like it's so annoying with Goodreads, or excuse me, Storygraph is just like boom boom enter reread. When did you finish it? Bah. It's so nice. I realized that part of the reason I stopped writing reviews too is because I finished books so late at night that I don't want to sit and type out my review.
00:15:56
Speaker
And but I want like, I'm like a little dog with a bone. Like I finished a book I need to immediately update everywhere that I finished it. Me too. Because I don't like to adjust my dates later on if they're not right. When I wasn't using like Goodreads or Storygraph, like all of last year and in 2021, I just used my notes app. But I would never put that but I still wasn't giving star ratings. But I still do that to this day where I'll have like 2023 I track my books, my TV shows, music, movies, etc. Like the big releases.
00:16:25
Speaker
And then I just do it by like month. And I feel like it's a little easier. Cause in that way, like I don't have to like log into Storygraph, like go through the chart, find, I can just like scroll. I'm like, okay, what book did I read again? Also when people like asked me for like recs or anything, I'll just go to this list usually and try to find like what I read recently. So yeah. Yeah. Well, this whole conversation, we kind of kick started already, but we're, as we said, kind of in the intro, we're talking about, um,
00:16:54
Speaker
not only our latest five-star reads, but also how we rate books and how that has changed over time. So this conversation about storygraph and Goodreads kind of goes perfectly with what we're talking about. So first, I want to talk about your guys' rating system. And I'm talking specifically right now, because we can talk about how our systems have changed
00:17:19
Speaker
over the past couple years. But right now, how do you rate books? Like, is it based purely like on, like vibes, or like entertainment value? Or do you have like a strict rating system and you like also rate like on technicality pace? Like, how do you guys like to rate your books? Um, for me, it depends on the book itself, right? And the circumstances surrounding why I'm reading that book. So
00:17:43
Speaker
no secret i did not enjoy happy place by emily henry right so i went into a book with high expectations emily henry book i'm gonna be more critical of her work than i would reading like a first time like a first time author who could have written the exact same thing and i probably would have rated it something higher so it really depends on the vibes and the circumstances um i have noticed recently though that my five stars because i
00:18:10
Speaker
I have given out a lot of five stars this year in comparison to you two and my five stars are usually books that I just like could not stop thinking about completely sucked me in and I usually went in with no expectations. A good example of that is that Summer Filling by Bridget Morrissey. I just like randomly saw the ARC in a Berkeley email that they sent out and I was like oh this is fun this is gay like I'll do it and was just I had no expectations of this author.
00:18:39
Speaker
So I went in and was just completely blown away. Now, I don't know if I were to reread that or read her next work. Well, actually, I did read her the book that she published before this one came out. I didn't really enjoy it that much. What was that one called? A Thousand Miles. Oh, that's her? Yeah. Oh, OK. I mean, there are things about that book that I appreciate it, but it wasn't the same feeling. It wasn't the same. Yeah. So it really just...
00:19:09
Speaker
just depends. So I think I'm a vibes person. I'm not very like it needs to have these certain things to get like a one, two, three, four or five. I'm just like some books are some books just give 3.75, some books give 4.25, some books give five. That's nine. Yeah, I'm definitely also a vibes girly. Obviously, not counting anything like harmful in a book. But other than that, like,
00:19:35
Speaker
content really does. Like it doesn't have to even be great. Like I, we did a whole two part episode on the Addicted series. I love those books so, so much. Those books consumed my life for the better part of last year. Is the writing in it very good? Who knows? Like, who's to say? Um,
00:20:01
Speaker
But that's the kind of thing too, right? Most of that series was five stars for me. For me, I wish I could put my face in this podcast. In order for a book to be five stars, I need to be punching every muscle in my body, either from joy or pain or happiness. You know what I mean?
00:20:23
Speaker
I think that's what it takes for me. And that's what separates a lot of five star reads from like four and a half or 4.75 to me. If I really, really enjoyed the book, but it didn't have me like, like my heart wasn't like clenched for one reason or another from getting this or sadness or whatever, then like that's probably what makes it a 4.75 for me versus a five star.
00:20:44
Speaker
Yeah, I think I'm kind of similar. I try and be like consistent, you know, and try and be like, I don't want to say strict, but try and rate all my books pretty consistently. But like, I'd be lying if I said that I did that. But yeah, for me, if a book is a book is five stars, if like, I was entertained the whole time. And like, once I'm done, if I can't think of a single thing that I didn't like or enjoy or
00:21:10
Speaker
whatever, then that book is five stars to me. Like an example, I don't have very many five-star reads this year, and that's not because I've had a bad reading year, I've actually had a pretty good reading year, but there were only a couple, like a handful of books that are five stars. And one of those books that I've talked about already on this podcast, so I won't go too far deep into it,
00:21:31
Speaker
again is Belladonna because by the end of it I remember saying to Kendra I was like I can't like I can't think of a single thing about that book that I didn't like and so I like it's it's five stars like I have like I have to give five stars um so that's yeah I think I think I'm also a vibes girly like yeah are some of the books that I've rated five stars and literary masterpieces no probably not but like I don't really care so like that I'm I'm here for entertainment you know what I mean I'm here for that piece
00:22:00
Speaker
And if I'm entertained and if I'm loving it and if, you know, I'm feeling all the emotions, whatever. I have a couple of friends who are like extremely regulated in how they do their ratings. Like they're like, Oh, I loved it. I was so entertained. I had so much fun. But like the writing felt a little clunky at times.
00:22:18
Speaker
or like, I am so obsessed with these characters, like I can't stop thinking about them, I can't stop thinking about their love story, but whatever. Like, you know, like, they use this word too many times, so I have to give it something else. And like, I totally respect it. And I actually stopped putting my star ratings on my monthly trackers last year, and that just like made me feel so much better about posting. It alleviates a lot of like, yeah, just a lot of pressure because
00:22:47
Speaker
I know myself, I will see people post their monthly trackers and they will post like, they'll give a book that I thought was like the best fucking thing ever. They'll post it with four stars. And I'm like, what do you mean four stars? And they'll be like, Oh my God, I loved it. If you loved it so much, why didn't it get five stars? Like it hurts my feelings. And then like, it just leads to sometimes, like, cause we just said, we're all vibes, girlies. Sometimes you can't explain the vibes. The vibes are just there.
00:23:15
Speaker
Yeah, people will be like, Oh, like, well, why did you give it like a five stars? That was just the vibe. Like, I don't know. So I don't like posting it either. It's interesting. See, we were talking about Storygraph and how like, you know, the us in this group are friends with each other on Storygraph. We do see what each other rate. So like, Kendra was talking about earlier, she'll wake up from texts from me being like, I saw that you rated this book only four stars and I read it.
00:23:40
Speaker
We do get invites, not fights, but like we do talk about that. It's kind of funny sometimes we're like, um, this book was perfect. Why didn't you like it? Like, you know, what's also funny is like, if one of us will post that they finished a book on our Instagram story, but we didn't text each other about it, we're like,
00:23:56
Speaker
Okay, they fucking hate that. That happened. That happened like yesterday because I saw Brandy like you posted like you finished Lizzie Blake and I was like, that's interesting. Like she didn't immediately like run to any of our text messages saying that she loved it. And so I was like, immediately like give me your thoughts. I was nervous. But like your commentary on it you you liked. Yeah, I did. I liked it a lot. I liked it. Yeah. So yeah, I was happy.
00:24:17
Speaker
with that. Because I think I gave that like a 4.5 out of 5. I think I did 4.25. If you don't like, if it's one of.
00:24:29
Speaker
Um, if one of us finishes a book, we see that they posted on their tracker. Like Kimber said, don't say anything. And I don't, yeah, we don't hear from you immediately after you post that. I just assume that you hated it. That happened with a couple of days ago when Brandy finished Georgie all along. I texted her separately on my own. I was like, can Brandy hate him, Georgie? And she did.
00:24:55
Speaker
Okay, it is like a lot of pressure, like, knowing that your best friends love a book. You know what I mean? Whatever. That was like, you bitches did it with the co-op. Like, yeah, it's kind of funny, because we're like trying to be discreet about it and just post it, you know, like, we will never let it go.
00:25:15
Speaker
Yeah, no, well, we'll text each other and be like, um, excuse me, I was expecting something. The reason I stopped posting my star ratings on Instagram stories is because I finished The Air by Sophie Lark last year at the beginning of the year, and I gave it 3.75 stars. And again, I really enjoyed that book. I had a fun time. But I knew that that series was just gonna get better and better and like,
00:25:41
Speaker
I finished that book feeling like it was a 3.75 book, but still excited to keep reading and not having regretted reading that book at all. And a girl texted me or a message me on Instagram was like, oh, like I was debating Kingmakers and now I'm not going to read it. And I was like, no, like you should still read it. So I talked to her and told it was fine. But that was like the big one where I was like, I don't want to do this anymore.
00:26:02
Speaker
These star ratings mean something different to me than they might mean to somebody else too. 3.75 is like, I don't regret reading that book at all. I had a good time. It was good. But whatever, you know, anyways. Yeah, I do admire the people who are able to keep up with all of their star ratings and stand on it. But also I run into this problem where
00:26:27
Speaker
I think I've seen this conversation happening on Instagram. I think Logan who we just had on was talking about this how you can like rate something five stars and then weeks will go by and then you think about it and you're like what you know that I take the card that's like no that I'm really looking at it this bitch kind of ugly yeah yes so many books like I think a good example is Consider Me by Becca Mack when I was I picked that book up on a whim like I just saw people like reading it
00:26:54
Speaker
I still like it. I think I would recommend it. But when I had read it, I was like, Oh my God, this is so cute. I loved it so much. Like, OMG, so great. Like, whatever. And that replay with me and I was like, maybe consider me wasn't that good. And then like, I've had other friends read consider me and like, have like, very valid critiques of it. And I'm like, Yeah, honestly, not that I mean, it was, yeah, you're making a lot of points here. Yeah. So I would like, I would bump it down. Yeah, I've gone back already this year.
00:27:23
Speaker
and changed ratings for books. Most of them, a couple of them I've taken down in ratings, but a lot of them I've actually moved up because I can't stop thinking about a certain thing or whatever that I really enjoyed. And I'm like, maybe I actually really, really did like that book. What's an example of one that you moved up? I moved up.
00:27:51
Speaker
the first book in the crowns of Nyaxia series, which in their view I've read the serpent and the wings of night. And I moved up yours truly to a five stars instead of I think I gave it like a four points of five or four and a half when I first read it. I moved it up to a five stars when I reread it. So those are yeah, those are a couple examples. Have you had any books this year where you've like, I want to change the rating?
00:28:17
Speaker
Um, if I change ratings, it's usually going down because I'm usually writing that post book high when I finish a book. Um, I'm like, fuck yeah, five stars. Um, one example of that is Jasper fail, which I have, I finished it and I like enjoyed it. I, yeah, I had an arc. I was like coming. I remember I was like reading it on a plane, which I feel like is such a, like an experience when you're reading a book on a plane. You're not like other girls. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Like I'm reading about him.
00:28:46
Speaker
whatever. I just feel like it's such an experience to be like reading while you're traveling because there's nothing, like I can't be on my phone, I can't be on Instagram, like I can't do anything while I'm in the air. So I just read that book basically cover to cover on my way home from the holidays and I really enjoyed it but I have moved it down to 4.75 after sitting up with the lip, sitting with it for a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. I moved it down too. I moved it down from a four and a half to a four. That's fair. Yeah.
00:29:14
Speaker
I really love Eloise and Jasper and their relationship if it was... the third act conflict was the reason I moved it down. Plot points unrelated to the couple. So yeah, that's what I have moved down.
00:29:33
Speaker
Honestly, if I really thought about the true love experiment by Christina Lauren, and when I listened to it on audio when it comes out in May, I'll probably be bumping that one down. It's sitting at a 4.75 right now for me. And I probably will bump that down if I'm being honest. Has fanart ever influenced your radio book?
00:29:56
Speaker
because I saw the fan art for a true love experiment and I was like already I feel like I'm gonna go and expect him to have like a great time because it's so good I like it and I saw the fan art and I was like that's so yeah it's so cute and then when I read so many equation I didn't have to do original and then I redid it on audio those are so fan art for it yeah and I was like it just like made me enjoy it even more I don't know it's nice to have the visual the visual yeah it's just it's just having the visual of it that really like
00:30:24
Speaker
better one in your head rather than like maybe like a faceless person just really helps the reading experience I think. So yeah Kendra have you moved any writings around? Oh wait you said consider me. Yeah well yeah but like for this year specifically um I haven't done it on Storygraph itself yet but like like one example is like I read it Welcome to the Dark Side Five Stars because I was like that book can be entertained
00:30:49
Speaker
Kayla Kayla Kayla, let's not break up on this podcast right now. Anyways, I rated that book five stars, because I was like, that book had me so entertained, like, right? So I think I would bump it down to like, like, honestly, I would probably move around a lot of my fallen men's series if I were to
00:31:08
Speaker
series rankings series rankings if I were to sit with them except Good Gone Bad like I think my ranking on that will forever remain a five stars but I don't know that series is like so it like when you read it back to back to back you're like in such a yeah like I was obsessed with that series when I first read it like and that's and I still really enjoy it but it's like such an experience that like I could see how you would like yeah it was just it was a lot so I think I will need to like maybe like when I get like mid-year like in well
00:31:36
Speaker
June, July, I'll go back and look at a lot of my ratings. But other than that, this year, I've been pretty steadfast in my ratings. How you guys rate books, has that changed at all? Because I know I have gotten, I used to be so strict with my ratings. Yeah, Brandi, let's use the example. So before we started recording today, we were talking about our recent ratings. And Kayla and I, well, Kayla discovered that
00:32:06
Speaker
Okay, let me try it over. I rated, I rated the heart principle five stars. And then I was like talking to Kayla about like how much I love that book. And then Kayla discovered that brandy own storygraph rated the heart principle 3.75, which yeah, because my current 3.75 is like
00:32:24
Speaker
it was just okay like I don't regret it but like there was nothing special I would I probably would have changed a lot of it actually and it would have been better like and to see that for the heart principle and it's so funny because Brandy like as I was reading it before I knew her reading
00:32:38
Speaker
I love this book so much. It's so great. Like she ordered the special editions of it. So step 3.75. I was, I was shocked. Yeah, I yeah, I just I'm just like on storygraph getting ready to rate this great book that I just read and I like see the three points out and I'm like, like, I audibly guess. Brandi, explain yourself for us in the world. Yeah, okay. You have two minutes go. Oh, god. So
00:33:07
Speaker
I will say this is probably, I'm scared to say this, of the three, that's my least favorite, of the three, the part principle of my most favorite in this series. That's crazy! I know, but keep in mind, I love all these books. I love all these books a lot. Like, this is one of my favorite series of all time. Like you said, I own a special edition. I paid hundreds of dollars for these books. Like, I love them. I probably also need to reread.
00:33:34
Speaker
I haven't read it since 2021, summer 2021. I re-listened to the bride test recently. So I probably need to reread. But also in 2021, I didn't have book socials. I was very much a lurker on Bookstagram and Booktalk. I was very much
00:33:50
Speaker
on these accounts, but I didn't have my own. And I was so much harsher in my ratings because I felt like I had to be. I was like, if I'm reading a lot of five stars, like what does that say about my taste? You know, I thought if I was reading a lot of books that I was really, really loving and rating four and a half, five star, that I just had bad taste. Like I liked anything. So I thought I had to be like really specific about what I liked and I was really, really harsh. You guys, I rated The Cruel Prince three stars when I first read it.
00:34:18
Speaker
okay to be fair i think i did too but yeah i was just kind of like it was my one of my first fantasies i was just like what's going on but if i were to go back i'd bump it up like a lot and yeah and so like i reread last year and like it was it's just so good like yeah i think in my head back in 2021 like i just thought i had to be really really harsh with my ratings
00:34:39
Speaker
I am guessing that when I do the Heart Principle reread it'll probably be like a four and a half because like most of the stuff I read 3.75 back then I rated like that if I were to reread I'd probably rate it way higher. If you if you reread that or whenever you reread that you should listen to it on audio because Emily Wuzeller I don't remember her name
00:35:00
Speaker
But the girl who does Anna, she kills it. She's so good. Emily Woo Zeller does the bride test. And she's one of my favorite areas of all time. She did the Poppy War. And this is how you lose the time more as well. Range. Yeah, my rating system, I don't know if it's really changed that much. Here's like my very, very, very loose rating system. If the book is like,
00:35:29
Speaker
4.25 to 5, I loved it. If it's like three and a half to four, I like, there's more that I liked than I disliked. If it's like three, then I like, I don't really care. I probably wouldn't recommend it. It was just meh. But anything below three, then like, there's way more that I disliked than I liked. That's like how I usually try and keep it
00:35:56
Speaker
in my head but it's pretty loose. Has it always kind of been that way? Like do you think if you went back like a lot of stuff would be higher or lower or do you think it's mostly always been that way for you? I mean at least the past like couple years. Obviously like I didn't really like officially start rating books or like actively using like goodreads with ratings or a storygraph
00:36:17
Speaker
something like that until like a few years ago. Like I didn't really use Goodreads when I was like in college or in high school, I didn't really use it. So I wasn't writing anything then. So I feel like it's since since I've actively started using it, it's been pretty consistent. Okay. So I think mine has like stayed. Well, I think I still give out five stars like candy. But I think I've like
00:36:46
Speaker
I have a higher criteria for it I think than I would have in like college because in college like I just I mean if I got to the end of you and I like really loved you even if you had your problems like if it's still I think in college I was reading a lot of books that like affected me like mentally and like I don't know I was in that like very like traumatic YA book phase then you're gonna get five stars like plain and simple so
00:37:13
Speaker
I think it's I think I would argue that it stays the same. Yeah, you just have me thinking like, well, because I have rated a lot of books this year 3.75 stars. Actually, let me see how many I've rated 3.75 stars.
00:37:26
Speaker
It says I have actually rated the most books five stars this year, 15. But I feel like that is also just like, I know I was talking earlier about like, what does that say about your taste if you're rating something? I think we just like have figured out what we like to read. So we actively speak that out. That's honestly, I think that's what it is. Like, it's, it's very rare that I read a book that I don't somewhat enjoy. And if I know that I won't enjoy it, I'll DNF it. Like, what month is it? It's end of April when we're recording this.
00:37:56
Speaker
I just DNF'd like two or three books this month already that I tried and I was like I just know this is not gonna be for me so like why waste my time so I think honestly DNFing does help your rating system or your overall ratings a lot because why waste your time like I understand the people who are like if I start a book like I have to finish it hell no like put it away put it down yeah and then there are books so that I read a book this year
00:38:21
Speaker
that I ran it was when uh Kayla and Tasneem were here to visit us and we went to Barnes and Noble together and I just picked up a random book and it looks so good I was like oh this is cute it's called um I hit it so I don't have to look at it so I don't know the title it's like the life I think it's like the life we almost had something and it's a big gotcha book and I just like knew I had a feeling like I think midway through that I wasn't gonna like end up liking it but I just like needed to see what would happen so I wasn't gonna dnf it and then I ended up giving it like two stars
00:38:52
Speaker
And I think those two stars were because it had words and was binded. And the writing was like the writing wasn't bad. The story was bad. So if you if you do the work to publish a book, giving you at least a couple stars, you know what I mean? Well, that's not for me that not everyone, some people deserve one. I think it depends on how far into your career you are. If you're writing trash, if you if you're X amount of books in and you're writing trash,
00:39:18
Speaker
well but then again like i can't imagine myself reading a book that it's very rare like i just said to read a one star or a two star book i've only had like one two star no i've had two two star books this year and they were both by authors who were new to me this year so i i've only rated one book below three stars this year anybody want to take a guess at what it is welcome to the dark side yes
00:39:49
Speaker
That's the only book I've rated to, and I have DNF'd one book this year, so I have DNF'd one. But like I've only, I have, according to my story graph, I have rated one, two, three, four, I've rated only five books in the like the three star, 3.25 star range. My average rating, my average rating this year is 4.23. Oh, my average rating is 4.2. Minus 4.17.
00:40:18
Speaker
At least we're all on the board. I like that. Yeah, I've, because like I said, I have like, like, Brandy, I've read a lot of like, four, 4.25, four and a half star books that weren't quite five stars. Yeah, we're still really good. Yeah, I love Kayla and I always talk about how like we have a perfect circle, whatever. Well, we've had some
00:40:38
Speaker
some hits to that circle. It's looking more like a Venn diagram this year. Okay, it's repaired. I feel like it's pretty repaired. I don't think so. I don't know. I think with the Maisie Eddings books. Yeah. Okay, it is. Yes. We just can't acknowledge like January and February of this year. That didn't happen.
00:41:01
Speaker
i wonder like if we were to like put our star ratings next to each other like how would our circle actually because i don't know if it would actually i don't think it would be that perfect new new um feature request for storygraph you know i don't have spotify but you know like on spotify when you can like can compare your phrases like music yeah yeah we need that but with storygraph you can do that on goodreads
00:41:24
Speaker
I would love it on Storygraph though because Storygraph is superior obviously because it lets you do 0.25 and 0.75. So I would love that feature on Storygraph. I wonder if it's there and we just haven't tried it. You know what it probably is? It's probably a feature that you have to pay for. Maybe. Probably. We will investigate. Wait, also since we're on the topic of Storygraph, do you guys know who your most read authors are this year? This year?
00:41:54
Speaker
Unfortunately, mine is probably Gianna because I've read mine Gianna Darling, too. Yeah. Yeah. Mine is Elsie Silver. How many books? Seven. Because I reread Heartless. I reread Heartless and Flawless. And Powerless came out this year and then I read her other series. So seven books and then very closely followed by Daphne. Oh, yeah, who's yours, Kayla? Mine is Gianna. And actually, I didn't read six. I read five because I skipped the first book. And then Carissa Broadbent read three.
00:42:24
Speaker
So it's not very many. But Abby, Abby Jimenez is another one I've read three because I was a reread to two of her rereads actually. Yeah. Yeah. So mine's like Gianna Darling, then Stephanie Archer. And then I'm curious to see like, you know how it gives you a list? Who's last on your list? Because mine is Jill Centipolo, because I read two books of hers. And they were both rereads for me this year. Yeah, it doesn't show you any one reads, huh?
00:42:47
Speaker
uh-uh. Maisie Eddings is the last on mine. Mine is Abby Jimenez. I've read two. Love. And Sierra Simone. I have a bunch where I've read two. Yeah. Oh yeah, same. I have like one, two, three, four, who I've read two. And then Abby Jimenez and Maisie Eddings are tied for three. Love star grass.
00:43:08
Speaker
Let us sponsor you. Oh yeah. How many books have you guys actually rated five stars this year? Kendra, you have the most. Why don't you go first? According to Storygraph, I have rated not including rereads. Okay, so I'll give both though. So like with with rereads, 15 five star reads. And for reference, I have read
00:43:34
Speaker
50 wait let me double let me double check that and this is when i go to the notes app because that'll be the most accurate in terms of like numbers i have read according to it's so weird so according to my notes app i've only read 52 books but goodreads is saying i have 53 reviews
00:43:50
Speaker
I have 53. I mean, not Goodreads. Storygraph has given me 53. Maybe you skipped one on your notes app by accident. That's honestly, that has happened before me. It's so accurate me skipped one. So I have 15 five star reads out of the 52 or 53 books that I've read this year so far.
00:44:11
Speaker
But not including rereads, I have 10 five-star reads. And the last five-star read that I had was, it was A Heart Principle by Helen Huang and Turtles All the Way Down by John Green. So those are my, we can go more into those later, but that's how many I've had this year. Kayla, I think we're tied for how many five stars? Tragically. Sort of. Yeah, so.
00:44:40
Speaker
Yeah I've I've with good with or excuse me with rereads I have six um on storygraph but two of those were one of them was part of your world one of them was yours truly both of which were rereads and then the other four that I currently have rated four star or excuse me five stars one of them I'm like
00:45:02
Speaker
going back and forth on how I want to rate it. We'll call it three and a half books. I've rated five stars. Not actually, but that's currently where I'm sitting. So yeah, not a ton. What is the book you're going back and forth on? The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarls. I can't decide how I want to rate it because I really, really like I had the most fun reading that book. It was so much fun from beginning to end.
00:45:28
Speaker
This is the this is what I was going to discuss earlier but I kind of wanted to wait. But yeah that this one I'm not I'm not sure how to see this is where I mean like I think I'm consistent but really am I and my ratings because like on vibes and entertainment value alone I would rate this book five stars.
00:45:45
Speaker
Um, but then like, then there are certain things that I think about where I'm like, Oh, I didn't really understand that part of the book. I still, I still had fun reading it, but I didn't fully understand what was going on. But like, so I'm like, should I take a point off for that? I don't know. But like, I don't really care because I was never bored. I think about it. I'm still thinking about it a couple of days after finishing it. So for now it's at five stars. Um, so that would be my fourth five star book of the year if I keep it at that. And that book by the way is a new,
00:46:13
Speaker
fantasy romance that by the time this episode comes up, the book will be out. But if you like fantasy romance, I would highly, highly recommend that book. It was such a fun time. Cool. What about you, Brandy?
00:46:26
Speaker
Counting rereads, I have seven. But four of those are rereads. So new books this year, I have three five star reads. Yeah. My most recent one was Bella Donna, which Kayla talked about a couple episodes ago, which I loved. But that's not the one I'm gonna chat more about today. But yeah, three books. And but we have all agreed that like we've had pretty good
00:46:56
Speaker
reading years so far. So do you just like, do you think maybe you have gotten stricture in like your ratings or has there been a book you've read this year where you're like, oh, so like, cause Kayla just said, you know, she's back and forth. So Brandi for you, like, has there been a book where you're like, it could have been a five star, but it just like was so close. I mean, I've rated three books, um, 4.75 this year. Again, not counting rereads. Um,
00:47:26
Speaker
So like a few of them were really close. I think it's just for me and I've thought about this a lot because I have like it goes in my brain every single time I don't read five star books like but I am still having a really good reading year. I'm still loving a lot of the books that I'm reading. I think it's just because last year was my first year in the book communities like fully, fully in the book communities. I feel like I was reading so many backlisted heavy hitters last year
00:47:50
Speaker
that it really just, like, upped my percentages. Like, I read the entire Addicted series we found to Magnolia Parks last year. Like, there were so... I read the Bell Brothers trilogy last year. Like, there were just so many books that have been out for a while that I didn't know about because I wasn't in the book communities and I hadn't found them yet. Whereas now I feel like everything that... Yeah. Like, I'm trying to say this in a way that doesn't make me sound stupid because I know there are so many beautiful, amazing, incredible books that I haven't read yet.
00:48:19
Speaker
But of the books that were on my radar last year, that's like, I want to get to these sometime. I feel like I got to so many of them that like, this year I'm doing a lot of books that like I'm discovering in the moment, somebody talked about it last week, so I'm gonna pick it up today, those kinds of things, you know? I think that that makes sense. Like, yeah, because after I finished the two books I just finished reading, I was like,
00:48:44
Speaker
I don't really know what to read. I just can't think of any book that I am dying to pick up. And I don't think I'm in a slump. I really don't feel like I'm in a slump because I want to read. I'm open to reading, I don't want to say whatever. I want to read something but there's just nothing that
00:49:07
Speaker
that I can think of that's like on my TBR or like that I haven't read that's already on my shelf because I usually don't buy books that I haven't read. Usually my shelf is just for books that I have maybe, usually not all the time, but that I've already read that I want a physical copy of.
00:49:25
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's a really good point. I didn't even think about it like that. But yeah, because like the past couple years have just been like going through, you know, books that have been recommended to me on TikTok that so many people have already loved. And now it's like, I'm kind of reading books as they come out. We're on the pulse point. Yeah, we're, we're on. Yeah, like, either I'm like reading an ARC, you know, or I'm reading, like, like I said, books as they come out. So that's, I didn't think about it. That's a good point.
00:49:50
Speaker
I think we've found authors that we love so much as well that we're like, we're waiting for their next release. You know what I mean? Like that kind of thing too. We're all just sitting here like, Jessa Hastings, if you're listening. Jessa! You better read these. I need it now. Even though that book is not coming out until 2024. That makes me physically ill. I can't think about it too much or I'll like start crying or something. But what's crazy is that like,
00:50:19
Speaker
I have so much faith in what Jessa will do with this story that I just know it'll be worth the wait. But now I'm like, I had a lot of faith in Emily Henry too with Happy Place. But this is a series, so it's a little different.
00:50:37
Speaker
Do you ever feel like, sorry, this is slightly off topic, but since we're talking about Magnolia Parks, do you ever feel like you know the characters better than the author knows them sometimes? They would have never done that. They would have never done that. I have never felt like that with Justin Hastings. Literally, I have never ever felt like I know the characters better than her. That was us reading the Like Us series when the Core Six would show up and he'd be like, no.
00:51:01
Speaker
why I don't think that there's been a single episode yet where we have not mentioned the like us series like we hate those books but damn did they leave an impact on us they're winning the twins are winning no they're winning their names are they live all the time but I think that's that's an example where I'm like I think I know the characters better but you're so right with with the magnolia park series like
00:51:27
Speaker
Jessa, I said this to y'all like in a group chat, Jessa will always have the last laugh. Yeah. Will always, always, always have the last laugh because those are her people forever and ever. She will always know them better. Except she did do this like very odd like Taylor Swift like pairing with like her characters, like the eras. She was matching eras with her characters. Oh yeah. I didn't agree with all of those. I wonder if she even made that.
00:51:54
Speaker
I think she did. She did because they posted the text message. Yeah. So it wasn't like, okay. Yeah. Yeah. They posted the text message. We were questioning whether or not it was based on like the aesthetic or if it was actually based on like the songs. Definitely didn't know which one it was. Yeah. If it was the aesthetic, it's I guess it's a little more, but if it's like the songs, I'm like. Wait, who's your reputation? Was it Magnolia?
00:52:19
Speaker
I forget. I forget. Honestly, but I didn't agree with it. That's all that matters. Yeah. So what has been your guys most recent five star read? Let's wreck a book. If you had to pick one of your most recent five star reads to tell people to read, what would it be? Other than The Fourth Wing, which I already talked about.
00:52:40
Speaker
Um, my most recent one, it's another fantasy book, I'm sorry you guys, um, it's The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King by Carissa Brown. I was looking at my list and I was like, oh my god, it's gonna be the right move by Liz Tomfort, but no, it's, I was actually, the most recent one was The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King, which I read this month. You're really fantasy at girly this year.
00:52:57
Speaker
I am. Honestly, I'm having a good time. I love romantic fantasy specifically. I'll read one that has a subplot of romance, but I do. I love me some romantic fantasy. I think it's just like, I was a fantasy and dystopian girl in the mid and early 2000s, 2010s.
00:53:22
Speaker
And so like, this is just, this is just nice to kind of be back in that, but with characters that are adults, doing adult things. So like, that's fun for me to read about. But yeah, that was the, it's the second book in the Crowns of Nyaxia series. There's vampires, they have wings, drink each other's blood. What made it a five-star read for you?
00:53:47
Speaker
Honestly, I was entertained the whole time. Like I had such a good time. There was also kind of angsty and you guys know I love a good angsty book. And the guy was just like a massive simp for the girl, which I love. I love a boy obsessed. The action was great. Like my adrenaline was like pumping through a lot of things. And I feel like the pacing of the book worked really well too. And it was not too long. I felt like it was just the right
00:54:16
Speaker
length and it was also the end of a duology. So I think that she ended that piece of the series really, really well. I really loved how it ended and I loved how she set up her next duology. I wasn't like left wanting, I mean I'm greedy and of course I would like take more stories with these people in this world but I was satisfied with how it ended for each character. So that's really what made it
00:54:47
Speaker
A five-star book for me. Yeah, what about you guys? My last five-star read, like I mentioned earlier, was The Heart Principle. And then before that, it was Turtles All the Way Down by John Green. I did Turtles All the Way Down on audio. And I think it was part, a lot of it was a story. I think the story is fantastic. If you want a great YA read, definitely check that out. Heavy, heavy content warning for like major anxiety and OCD depictions.
00:55:16
Speaker
it was also the narrator in that one. John Green would write the character like having these um like thought spirals and the narrator like how she would uh narrate it was really really well done so I think my five star for that was like part story part the narration and then for Heart Principle the book was annotated for me by Lomi but it was also a book where like one of my favorite types of reads is like when I can just like sit on my couch
00:55:47
Speaker
like just it's just me in the book like nothing else is going on in my world I'm just so into the story but I am like very hesitant to call myself a binge reader because usually the books that I'm loving a lot I will have to like take a lot of breaks in between reading it not necessarily like day breaks but like sometimes like 30 minutes 40 minutes sometimes to an hour because it will just be like me on my couch either crying
00:56:15
Speaker
Like, reminiscing heartbreaking books. Yeah, like, why was that a day? Yeah, like, it's a break. But like, I'll usually have like, especially with the heart principle, because like, Anna just like made me question a lot of things about myself. So like, whenever I have books that make me like, that caused me to do that, like, I just have to sit with them.
00:56:46
Speaker
Um, and I was doing that a lot, but the heartburns were like, I would read a passage, close the book and like have a, I talked to myself so much. So like, I would like have a conversation with myself, like about what I had just read. And a lot of that book is like so sad and heartbreaking. Like you just said, that's what I love. So I was like crying a lot too. Um, so yeah, that's what I think made that like a five star, um, a five star read for me. Yeah. I love that.
00:57:14
Speaker
My most recent five star read, besides Belladonna, because we've already chatted a lot about that one on this podcast. It's a pod fave. But Yerba Buena by Nina La Cour, which is recommended to me by Kendra. So good. Yeah.
00:57:30
Speaker
It was so good. I did this one on audios narrated by Julia Whelan and it was her, she's always great. But this book like really, really, really affected me in ways I like really, really didn't anticipate. I knew it was like kind of a heavier story that leads really heavy women's fiction.
00:57:45
Speaker
But I just didn't, I didn't expect me, I expected to lay me out of my ass the way that it did. I have this like funny little habit of not reading the backs of books or descriptions of books when somebody I trust recommends it to me. So Kendra was like, I did the same thing. Yeah, so Kendra was like, I really enjoyed it. I think you'd really like it. So I was like, bet I didn't even like look up at all what it was about. It was like a sapphic romance. So then I there's just like,
00:58:11
Speaker
really, really emotional plot points throughout. I was just grabbing my chest a lot while I was listening to it because it was just really, really heartbreaking at times and emotional. Especially in the beginning, I was like,
00:58:26
Speaker
I was reading it like gripping the steering wheel at some points. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And like I just like could not stop listening to it. Like literally every three seconds I had I was listening to it. And that's like always a sign for me that something might be five stars when I just like I'm like I just like I need to read it. I'm not reading because I want to read, I'm reading because I want to read that book, you know. So I was also just like really, really, really affected by their individual stories.
00:58:53
Speaker
almost more than their romance. Like there's a really beautiful romance in it and I really love the resolution to it and everything like that. But I like their individual journeys of like self-discovery along the way were really, really impactful for me. I have realized when I was putting together my top reads of last year and just with like the books that I've loved this year, like I love romance. Obviously it's my first genre. I read mostly romance. I love like giddy romances where I'm keeping my feet and screaming. But I also like the
00:59:22
Speaker
books to hurt kind of. And Kendra pointed this out to me. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and like Kendra pointed it out to me in a previous episode. I don't remember what we were talking about, but that I love an angsty book. I don't really love an angsty relationship between the two main characters.
00:59:41
Speaker
And that's so Yerba Buena. Like, their relationship isn't incredibly angsty. In fact, I would say that they're each other's solace for a lot of this book. But I love when other shit is happening in the outside, outside the relationship. I love for that stuff to be, like, really impactful and meaningful. Almost like Tomorrow Tomorrow Tomorrow, right? That's not a romance book. But, like, there is a romance subplot in it.
01:00:02
Speaker
But just like, yeah, those kinds of books that just make me like, make my chest hurt and leave me thinking about them for days. I can usually tell when a book is gonna like, mess me up. I don't know why Yerba Buena specifically like,
01:00:17
Speaker
I do know why parts of it like Emily's relationship with Jacob, which I won't talk too much about, because I really think everybody should read this. Make sure you check your content warnings. There's really, really heavy topics discussed throughout this book, so please check your content warnings. But Emily's relationship with Jacob in this book really, really affected me, which I didn't anticipate. I remember Alice read it, again, Alice, friend of the thought, read it right after I read it. And she was like, Brandy, I was expecting you to be bawling my eyes out with how much you were posting or how much you were crying about it.
01:00:46
Speaker
i'm like yeah i don't know like i don't think it's a book that everybody will saw that but like i was sobbing the whole time so yeah you know it's so like interesting to me or like also kind of funny me and the liqueur there are like i think there are people who like are meant to write their specific genre right like but then there are people who i think are just like writers in general and you can give them a subject whatever like they can write because nina liqueur writes literary fiction right young adult
01:01:15
Speaker
and children's books. So the fact that like that is her range. Yeah, she's like a really beloved children's like picture book author. So it blows my mind that she can like write a children's book but like also sit there and write like all the subject matter that happens in Yerba Buena and I wonder if that's how like the self discovery in Yerba Buena was just that's why it was so good because like
01:01:39
Speaker
She works in children's literature, so she knows how important that is to emphasize, but then she just did it for adults.
01:01:47
Speaker
me like ever I'm sure like all people who love love love books do like I've always thought like god I wish I could write a book like I would love to write a book like whatever especially in the romance genre and I remember having those feelings like whatever I was like tossing around my idea like maybe I should just try and write a book and then I remember I listened to Yerba Buena and I was like why should I fucking try when there are people like Nina La Cour out there who are writing books
01:02:10
Speaker
that feel like one giant poem. Like, beautiful speaks to my soul level of writing. Like, why would I try? And I'm not saying that in a self-deprecating way, because I know I'm sure a lot of people feel that way, but I'm just like, she is meant to be a writer. Like, I don't know if this is something that comes naturally to her. She worked extremely hard to, like, fine-tune her craft, but, like, I just...
01:02:32
Speaker
yeah one of my favorite things is to look up to see like what authors I love if they've done like any previous like other work because I really love Jennifer Niven like she's another example of someone who I think is like just meant to be a writer because she hasn't ventured into the adult space yet from my knowledge in terms of like fiction but before she started I found her through young adult um contemporary books before she did young adult she was writing like non-fiction books about like
01:03:01
Speaker
like historical nonfiction. Like that, that to me blows my mind. Like you are a writer. I mean, I still love the people who like know their lane. They stick to it. They're really good at that. But it is really cool to see the people who can just literally, you give them the plot, the subject.
01:03:18
Speaker
they can write you a really good story. Yeah. I'm like, I can't, we're so far off Jess's ass at this point. I can't wait to see her other series. Like I wish she would just publish all of Magnolia Parks before anything else. But I can't wait to see if her other series matches. Because I think her writing style is so like she because she writes first person. So like it's just so obvious like these characters live within her.
01:03:47
Speaker
so it will be interesting to like see her write something from like a different perspective outside of this universe because like yeah i'm nervous like what if it doesn't like hold up
01:03:56
Speaker
her I feel like her writing style is very unique and like I remember when I first started the the Magnolia Park series I remember talking about her writing style and I was like I don't know if I like this like this yeah it's different it's very different like I feel like if I just open if you put if you put 10 random random books in front of me and no covers you tell me find the Jessa Hastings book
01:04:21
Speaker
I could find it based on her writing I feel like you know it's very unique. So it took me some getting used to but once I got used to it I like you know fell in love and I'm like oh my god she can do it wrong. So yeah I'm interested to see how that how that works too switching genres because I think it's I think it's fantasy so I'm very curious to see like if it's going to be something different or if it's going to be similar to her writing or how it's going to be
01:04:50
Speaker
Well, you know, at the beginning of this episode, I was talking about how like, someone with Emily Henry, like I have a different rating scale for her than I do for others. Like, are you guys the same to where like, if you like have an author that like, you know, and trust that like, you're just gonna go into their books differently. And like, the scale will be different. Like another example for me is Carly fortune. Like I read meet me up, like, I, it took me reading her second book to have my
01:05:12
Speaker
rating for her so like now I know what to do for her same with like Lauren Asher like I view and read her books in a completely different way than I would like rate other people's like I'm just curious I I think so I mean I especially because like if it's if it's a newer author I go in not knowing what to expect I don't really go in with expectations right whereas if I go in now if I go in with to an Avi Jimenez book
01:05:35
Speaker
I'm going to be expecting to be crushed emotionally. I'm just going to be expecting that. And so I'm also, because of that, I'm also going to be expecting a pretty high rating, at least probably a four.
01:05:52
Speaker
which I know doesn't help me, but especially if I'm disappointed, it doesn't help me and that's maybe not good, but it's just part of the game now that I've read so many bangers by a certain author. That's just kind of what I expect from them from now on. And so when you do get something like a happy place, you're just especially sad because it's like, well, damn, maybe they aren't perfect. It's valuable, yeah.
01:06:21
Speaker
For me, it's more so like I'm going in expecting to have a good time no matter what almost. I'm not necessarily expecting an author that I love to constantly be churning out five star. Like an example for me is Stephanie. I think because I talk about her book so much and I've read so much of her work. I've read literally everything she's ever published. I think people think that I've rated all of her books five stars.
01:06:47
Speaker
which I definitely am not. She also turns out like four books a year. So like that's already a lot. Oh, sorry. No, I'm just saying that's even crazier. Yeah, that's even crazier. Yeah. But yeah, so that's to say like when I get a new W book, I'm like, I'm gonna have fun no matter what. I'm not necessarily expecting
01:07:07
Speaker
it to be the best. Same with Abby Jimenez. I'm expecting to have a really good time. I don't necessarily know if that's going to affect my rating of it. What about you and Elsie Silver? Because I think that's someone else who you've done her backlist now. So do you have a certain set of expectations?
01:07:26
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know how much of like, because I'm an unpopular painting here. I didn't really like Powerless very much. I gave it 3.75 stars. I'm excited too. Including her other series. I don't know if that's because I went in with really high expectations after being obsessed with Flawless and Heartless, or if it's just because genuinely that book just fell flat for me. I wonder if that was the first book I ever read by her, how much that would change things for me.
01:07:52
Speaker
um it'll be interesting to see how how reckless reckless i'm so excited i'm like aging for reckless like yeah especially since i love ice queen main characters like i can't wait for my turn and it has like surprise pregnancy yeah and reverse age gap is it secret pregnancy or is it yeah
01:08:13
Speaker
Secret pregnant, secret baby, dude. I think what's gonna happen is they're gonna have a one night stand. She's gonna get pregnant. They're not gonna see each other. She's gonna have the fucking baby and not tell anybody who the dad is. And then just look at him. Oh, I thought it was like baby. This is not a spoiler for anybody. This is literally the premise. No, and we're guessing. We haven't even, yeah, we haven't even. Well, yeah. The trope is secret pregnancy. Elsie has said that. The trope is secret baby. Sorry. The trope is secret baby. I know. Yeah, secret baby. I just want to make sure she has said that herself. She's gonna have this baby. Yeah.
01:08:40
Speaker
No, I thought it was gonna be like, I'm pregnant. Like, we need to figure this out. No, it's baby kids born. I'm excited. I also just like, yeah, I can't wait. Wow. So is there a book that is coming out this year? We just talked about how excited we are about reckless. Is there a book that's coming out this year that you are predicting to be a five star read for you?
01:09:05
Speaker
I just looked at my want to read on Goodreads, and I'm hesitant to say this because I don't want to be sad if it's not the truth. It'll be fun to look back. Yeah, but I really do think that Foxglove is going to do another five stars by Adeline Grace. Especially with the teaser she's been sharing. Yeah, it looks really good. Obviously, I'm going to listen to that on audio. I will not. I mean, maybe eventually, but I'm going to be listening to that.
01:09:34
Speaker
before physically reading it. So I'm really, really excited. What she's been like, yeah, how the teasing has been going on on Instagram, I'm so excited. And she's giving a manuscript away this weekend at Yall West to somebody. I know, Brandi, I feel like we should have gone to Yall West. That would have been so much fun. But we're not like big YA people anymore. I know, yeah. I feel like she's probably like the only person that you would maybe care about. But yeah, she's giving away a manuscript at this weekend.
01:10:01
Speaker
also guys don't hate me but i didn't give belladonna five stars i gave it 4.75 literally though why and remember why did you say you didn't give five stars okay so like i i told you one thing did you lie no that was part of the reason but like i think there was an instance where i was just a little bored in the middle um or like i think i don't want to have this conversation
01:10:28
Speaker
I think I'll say I'll say it right here. I think it's because Honestly, no, you know what it was and it's actually I think against both of you because Brandy you told me like oh go in same vibes cool prints And they said it wasn't like cool prints, but like I was like same vibes cool prints. So I went in So Sigma as I'm in character, I think could have had a little bit more like she had a little smarter. That's my own opinion I think she could have been a little bit smarter
01:10:54
Speaker
That's it. Okay. You know what? I mean, if you were going expecting, if you're going and expecting significantly like Jude, that was more of that. Because nobody's like Jude. And she's also in her defense. Listen, I actually don't, I'm not really that upset that if you didn't rate it five stars, because like, I love this book to my core. But I don't know why, it's just not one that like, if somebody rates it, between 4.75 and that's okay. I mean, if you rate it like maybe like,
01:11:19
Speaker
three that I might know it was a 4.75 for sure okay all right well but like Signe she grew up with like no parents like her whole life she didn't know what she's done I think she was like I think there were just times where she picked and choose to be like the smartest person in the room and then the dumbest person fair enough so I was just like interesting but again I loved it I thought it was so good amazing book like I think if I were again once the series is over that might be a book like co-printer I bump it up because the setup was just
01:11:48
Speaker
chef's kiss. So what about you? Yeah, any five star predicting stars? Um, well, this book has already come out. I just haven't read it yet. But it did come out this year. And it's stars in the Italian sky by Jill Centipolo, it's her latest release. And I just have not had the mental strength to deal with that yet. But I'm really excited for it. It's like, I, from what I've seen,
01:12:16
Speaker
not that I know of so I don't want to say yes or no yet but I know it's a multi-generational story and it's told like part of it takes place in Italy in like the 19 I don't know 1900s and then part of it takes place current day in New York City so it's like you know past choices affecting present decisions or I think it would be like past decisions affecting present choices that's what I wanted to say so I'm really excited I love everything that she's written yeah well
01:12:44
Speaker
we'll see that's one and i think i think fox that will be good yeah i do have one more um fondly is putting out a collection of short stories that take place in the um greenbird green bone saga universe so i'm expecting that to be five stars because everything i've read by her is incredible so yeah oh um liz tom ford is dropping caught up which is the third book in her what is that
01:13:09
Speaker
the Windy City. I'm like hesitant to say that it'll be five stars because like the right move was so good. And like a mile high I didn't love. So I mean, I'd like it. So we'll see. I'm like fingers crossed. I would love to see her like, get better and get better. But I predicted that book will be a four or higher.
01:13:33
Speaker
given what she writes. I've seen this like trend around TikTok and Instagram where people talk about how like a lot of the times people love like the second book of the series more than they love the first which is true I think for like I think just strictly speaking for us I think that's true with like the Dreamland billionaire series with I was gonna say the Eden series but I think both of us like we each love Juniper Hill and Indigo Ridge pretty except for Brandy pretty evenly.
01:14:02
Speaker
Yeah, but I think like sometimes the third book in this series is one of the weaker ones, like with Powerless.
Final Offer & Upcoming Releases Discussion
01:14:13
Speaker
With Garnet Flats. Garnet Flats. Final Offer. I was gonna say Final Offer. I think you didn't say that, but yeah. Final Offer. We enjoyed Final Offer, just is my least favorite in the series. Yeah. It's a pretty popular opinion too. Yeah.
01:14:29
Speaker
So yeah, I'm interested to see if that like, I'm trying to think of like other series that like interconnected standalone. The next book in Playing for Keeps by Becca Mac, it'll be Adam's book Unravel Me. I'm nervous. I'm excited, but also very nervous. I haven't read any of the teasers. Brandy was like describing some of them to me and I was just like, what? But I'm hoping it's good because I love Adam and also like I think with the third book in an interconnected standalone series,
01:14:59
Speaker
usually by that time like the author has been like building up to it so like in the chestnut spring series like that the main character in that in reckless is someone that we've met her name is winter right like we've seen her in three books now so like we kind of already have an expectation of her so to like see how she actually plays out will be really interesting um same with adam in unravel me like we all loved him in the past three books but then like what if he does something dumb and unravel me also becca mack i hope
01:15:29
Speaker
you're listening and you drop that book soon because you keep saying coming soon and i'm so happy that you had your baby yeah i'm so happy you had your baby and that they're healthy and you're happy get to work get to work bring your own would like to say that that is a joke we are joking yeah we believe in amazing postpartum care take as much time as you need take as much material leave as you need queen we love you but also
01:16:01
Speaker
Yeah, so many, so many releases we're excited about this year. Yeah. Yeah, so so much fun. So much fun. So much fun. I love talking about books we love. Like, this won't be the last time we talk about our recent five star reads. Yeah, I love talking about like rating systems too. So like maybe months from now, we might have a completely different like set up vibe and feel like
01:16:25
Speaker
I think we should do a check-in to see if these books that we just predicted actually ended up being, uh... I'm like scared now. I feel like a jinxed it. I don't want to jinx anything. Fingers crossed that all the books we just mentioned are four and above. Yeah, especially because these books are already written, so it's not like we can do anything differently anyways. It's not like these authors are coming to us. Come to Bring Your Own for notes. Yeah, yeah. Oh, also Love Redesigned by Lauren Asher is coming out here, remember?
01:16:55
Speaker
Of course, of course. I'm excited for that one. It's going to be her the first book in her new series. And the cover is really gorgeous. Gorgeous. Love the purple. Very bringing your own coat in for the purple. Yeah, I was like, oh my God, we love purple. We post it on the yeah, on the pod's Instagram. Also, it'll be her first book with two Hispanic slash Latinx main characters as the love interest. So yeah, okay.
01:17:21
Speaker
So excited. Um, yeah. Good job, everyone. This was so fun, like Kendra said. Yay. Yeah. We'll see you next time. Yeah. And if you are listening, go to the Instagram at bring your own pod and comment your recent five star reads. If you want to talk to us about your rating system, we would love to hear it. We're so interested. If we talked about a book that we rated really low and you're like, how the hell did we rate it that low? Or we talked about a book that we rated really high and like how the hell did you rate it that high? Let us know. We love to argue.
01:17:51
Speaker
Oh, so fun. Yeah. At Bring Your Own Pod. We'll see you there. Yay! Bye, guys! Why am I waving? Nobody can see me. Okay.