The Tainted Cup is part of a series, book 2 is coming out next April ☺️

1. Move eyes over page 2. Retain nothing

I loved this video, I’m not sure why, but it’s one of my favorites of yours. And I can’t believe how fast you are reading through this list of books!!!!

Moving to another country and then realizing you have to relearn how to cook cause everything is different. Been there. It’s fun tho

I agree with you on Yours for the Taking! Sometimes it felt like I was reading Station Eleven and other times read like a stringing together of buzzwords. I gave it a 3,5 overall, so not bad for a debut novel

I actually love that most of your picks didn't make it because I didn't know anything about almost all of these, so it was nice to see more variety than just all the big names.

In my mind, the thing about characters not using their family wealth is less about that not being relatable and more an acknowledgement that family wealth is usually gained through the exploitation of others. In our current times we are much more aware of how people become rich and I think readers are not as interested in rooting for characters who participate in that system. But we still want to experience the opulence and fun times that are inaccessible to us in real life, therefore rich character with moral objections to their wealth. But maybe that's just me!

I don’t like horror. It usually causes me to have anxiety. Imagine my shock when I saw Murder Road in this category. I enjoyed the book. But it should be classified as a murder mystery.

Who pays postage and how is it figured before you list?

Looks like your Costa Rica adventure is both magical and challenging at the same time! Love the random book choices from the awards, most of them didn’t even make it, but was fun to hear about them 😊

The turtles 😍 I'm not that into historical fiction, but from what you said about "The Bullet Swallower", it sounds interesting. I will keep it on my radar. Looks like so far the selection of books for Goodreads Choice Awards are pretty successful for you! Hope, the other half of books is going to be as good 😊

Community and library holds/deadlines are huge ones for me too!

Dirty librul feminist

This channel is going to blowwwww UPPPPPPPP... 1M plus subs by the end of 2025! Amazing content, great audio & video, with a personal flair.

I love all of this and I totally agree with everything you have said! To add to building reading into your routine I know this is going to sound absolutely silly, but I will literally bring my Kindle with me every time I need to go to the bathroom instead of my phone because I end up scrolling on my phone every time I go to the bathroom, and instead I end up getting a couple of pages of reading in. I think a lot of people feel pressured to read a good chunk of a book at a time every time they sit down, when in reality I usually end up reading multiple times a day even just for a few minutes each and those pages and minutes add up!

These are awesome tips! I love reading lots of books at once so I can use my love of fantasy as my reward for reading something non-fiction 😂 I have a physical TBR, love keeping the next one in the queue right next to my bed so I can see what I have to look forward to next! Happy reading!

avoid reading slumps by dnf-ing! when i had the epiphany that dnf-ing is fine and literally doesnt matter it changed my approach to reading and also helped me explore books outside of my comfort zone. another thing ive noticed is classics are so much easier to consume in audio format so now im getting to enjoy those alot easier than i ever was 🎉

but... why? quality over quantity, unless the objective is mindless consumption.

I tried "I love hue too" after I saw that recommendation on Discord and got stuck playing it for a few days in a row. And then it got a bit frustrating for me, cause i couldn't get the record for the moves anymore (colors got a bit more difficult to distinguish) and had to stop😂 Recently I've been playing Tetris Connected on Nintendo while listening to audibooks. Also my absolute favorite thing is to do puzzles, while listening, sometimes I do "Color by Numbers" on my tablet. The one I use is called "Happy Colour". For some reason doing chores or just going for a walk doesn't work for me for audibooks. My brain needs something meticulous to do to also be focused on what I'm listening. And if I just walk or do something else around the house, my brain starts thinking all kinds of things and not paying attention to the audiobook.

These are all great tips and I do most of them as an avid reader. I have read 125 books so far this year (and that is with a major reading slump since the beginning of November) and the main things that have really upped my reading are: - joining book clubs (in-person and online) - participating in reading challenges and building my TBRs for them ahead of time - choosing to read instead of watching TV at night - waking up early. Waking up early is easy when I know I get to head straight to my cozy chair with a cup of coffee to read - I have a reading calendar where I put in when books are due back at the library or when they need to be read for a book club or challenge prompt and then I figure out how many pages (or minutes for audiobooks) I need to read that day in order to have it done on time - consuming online book content for motivation - using audiobooks for motivation to do the dishes, fold laundry, weed the garden, etc. - read more than one book at a time. I tend to read too many at a time sometimes, but I love a mix of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and essay or short story collection, maybe a classic as well as something contemporary, a really long book I’m working through with shorter things as well, etc. - going to the library regularly - reading (almost) every night until I can’t keep my eyes open (this is especially good for when my mind is racing with worries) - reading aloud to my son and listening to audiobooks with him - listening to more than one audiobook at a time (usually one fiction and one nonfiction) - tracking what I’ve read in multiple ways (Goodreads, a reading journal, Trello (for one of my book clubs), and a few Google Docs that track all kinds of things. I love lists, so it is motivating to me to add things to these lists as “read”!

As someone who usually reads around 80 books a year, this is the first year I've read more than 100 books, and the number 1 reason for that is definitely the Storygraph reading streak feature. Not saying this will work for everyone and I am constantly checking in with myself that this is actually still helping and not making reading into a chore, but so far this has just helped me make a little time for reading everyday. In the past, when i was having a stressful time, reading was often one of the things that would fall by the wayside, but working on keeping up my streak (its set to 1 page a day) means I always take the time to read at least that one page and usually I end up reading more than that.

Channel member here! Being a part of a community definitely helps me stay hyped for reading. I’m looking forward to sharing progress somewhere other than Goodreads/Storygraph/Fable and seeing other folks’ reading as well. 🎉

Fiction - Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop Romance - This Summer Will Be Different

Fiction - Margo's got money troubles / Romance - The love of my afterlife 🥰🥰🥰

For fiction my vote is for Blue Sisters. I loved it so much one of my favorite reads of the year!!

I don't have a fiction pick since I haven’t read any of them but for romance you should read The Pairing!!! I've read all of Casey McQuiston's books and I think this is their best; it's genuinely funny, the descriptions of all the places in Europe they visit and the food they eat are gorgeous, the main two characters are very well written and have great chemistry, and it's basically a summer vacation in a book. I loved it!!

Even though you didn’t get The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, you should DEFINITELY read it! It was great!

I recommend Margo's Got Money Troubles in the fiction category. It was a fun, quick read that had a lot to say about women's choices and how society judges us for them.

Fiction: blue sisters Romance: the love of my afterlife -- The invocations by Krystal Sutherland is YA but reads adult & is PHENOMENAL! I don’t read ya either & the writing is spectacular. It is like a London mix of charmed & ninth house. I think you’d like it.

Also, the Veronica Roth-When Among Crows is a novella and it's really, really good! Great as audio. Highly recommend!

Romance pic: A Love Song for Ricki Wilde.

Fiction- I vote for Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop (I read it for my challenge and loved it!) and for romance I vote for The Paradise Problem.

Hope you enjoy your reads 📚☕

I had the same issue with kayla's video - I've found the romance category extremely disappointing save for the ones you've already read. Fiction is fun though! I'd like to see you read Margo's Got Money Troubles

The pairing for romance!! It's steamy but so so heartfelt. I connected so much to the main characters and it made me want to road trip through europe. for fiction, I haven't read it but I've heard so much about All Fours and I think it sounds up your alley

Fiction: The Mighty Red - Louise Erdrich Romance: The Love of My Afterlife

I was super disappointed by The Familiar.

A love song for ricki wilde and martyr are my votes 🗳️

House of Glass, and First Lie Wins were sooo good!

There are so many choices in romance that I've both read and enjoyed... I'm leaning toward Swift and Saddled tbh.

Playground for fiction!

Fiction- I pick Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop. I haven't read it, but I want to most out of the choices. Romance - I choose The Love of My Afterlife, recently read and gave 5 stars.

Would love to see you read A Love Song for Ricki Wilde for the romance category

Fiction and Romance are not my genres but I vote for Wandering Stars and A Love Song for Ricki Wilde

How exciting! Also yay new background unlocked!

Congrats! This is really cool. I'm currently not in a situation where I can afford to join, but these tiers look really fun!