buying books for each other + book haul

We may or may not be obsessed with buying books...
We decided to go out into the public and buy some books for the other person. We walked into Barnes & Noble, split up, and let the intrusive thoughts win. Let us know what you think of the books we bought, and thank you so much for watching!
Shoutout to ‪@aaliazealous‬ for the perfect snack-time content.
0:00 Intro
3:05 Barnes & Noble
5:02 Story Time
8:08 Book Reveal
#booktube #bookhaul #blackbooktubers #booklover #2024reading #bookduo

[@francescakyanda9182]

the grin on Jon's face when he saw Red Rising...the bestie energy is strong with y'all

[@andtheywerereaders]

I’d been wanting to read it for so long!

[@yellowmeeplereads]

The Bandit Queen is such an amazing book about friendships

[@samantharose1001]

I loved that book!!

[@andtheywerereaders]

Awesome! I'm excited to get to it - Jon

[@ggardner5784]

I work as a cashier at Staples and we have people steal stuff every single day. And we aren't allowed to do anything about it because there are laws against detaining people or making physical contact with them. My managers just tell them not to come back or they'll call the police. It mostly stems from the rampant homelessness where I live (Sacramento). Anyway, I love the channel! Keep it up!

[@andtheywerereaders]

Good to know! I've learned so much about store policies and such from this story. Interesting to see the reasoning behind it. Thanks for watching! - Jon

[@josmith5992]

I love that you, know each other’s tastes so well - to be fair my Want to Read has books I put on there 12 years ago and I’m not sure I’d be interested in them now so it’s tricky to go from those lists but seems like you killed it on most of your picks. I haven’t read any of them but I didn’t realize Shadow and Bone the Tv series was cancelled and am now going to go and cry into my pillow! 😩 (please do this again though, loved it 👍)

[@andtheywerereaders]

"most of our picks" lol I'll admit that Every Summer After was not my finest moment. It's so sad seeing great shows get taken away! Thanks for being here, as always. Looking forward to doing this again! - Jon

[@destinylo_]

This was super fun to watch & the banter between you guys is everything 😂👏

[@andtheywerereaders]

Aww thank you so much!

[@Emily-zn4ri]

I just found you guys a couple of days ago, and have been binge-watching all your videos ever since! I love your energy, and all the fun laughter in your vids, it's so great to watch :) I also love fantasy and Greek retellings in particular - I would recommend 'Silence of the Girls' by Pat Barker and the Songs of Penelope series by Claire North, the first one is 'Ithica'.

[@andtheywerereaders]

So happy to have you here! Added these to the tbr for sure - thanks for binging the videos. Hope you enjoyed them!

[@louisity]

Seeing Barnes & Noble is refreshing to me.

[@andtheywerereaders]

It's always nice to pop in when given the chance

[@gintoxic4283]

y'all are so fun to watch and listen to

[@andtheywerereaders]

thanks so much! we appreciate you being here!

[@LibrariesandLattes]

This was so fun! The reaction to Every Summer After, I would have the same one 😂😂 I absolutely loved Legendborn!! And now I’m gonna be trying to convince everyone to read Six of Crows, great pick 👏👏👏

[@andtheywerereaders]

lol I'll concede that Every Summer After wasn't my best moment of discernment. Excited to get to read Six of Crows! - Jon

[@LibrariesandLattes]

@@andtheywerereaders it’s okay, you redeemed yourself with the other choices 😆 Hope you love Six of Crows!!

[@fabuloussheila]

you guys are so sweet i love your dynamic!!!

[@andtheywerereaders]

thank you!!!

[@sarasmith3676]

Athena's Child by Hannah Lynn was an excellent Medusa retelling. Nora Roberts (multiple genres and JD Robb is her other pen name) and Talia Hibbert (recent find for me) are some great romance authors as well.

[@andtheywerereaders]

Definitely gonna have to look into them! Thanks for the recs!

[@themusicsnob]

I really loved Never Whistle at Night and would also highly recommend the audiobook

[@andtheywerereaders]

ooo good to know! Thanks!

[@aaliazealous]

Omg! Thanks for shouting me out in your description.❤️ The fact that I’m eating while watching your video😂 Love your content and nice book choices!

[@andtheywerereaders]

lol booktube time is food time! The cozy vibes are immaculate. Keep up the great videos!

[@azu_rikka]

I have heard so many great things about Bandit Queens, it's a book I am very interested in reading. My daughter loves Percy Jackson as well as Six of crows, I hope you do too, Jon!

[@andtheywerereaders]

Sounds like they have great taste in books haha

[@Loganfry10]

Jon, I’m so excited for you to go on your Red Riding + Six of Crows journey!! Two of my favorite book series of all time

[@andtheywerereaders]

I'm super excited too! Once I finish my current read (Maus), I'm jumping into Red Rising!

[@jalyntaylor7609]

I bought a book at B&N at one location. The walked into another B&N location the next month and the alarm went off. It was so weird. But I assured them that I just walked in and I purchased the item previously.

[@andtheywerereaders]

Interesting! Good to know that could happen - thanks for sharing

[@MLLatUtube]

I really enjoyed Legendborn. I did not like the sequel as much but am still looking forward to the third book. I want to read Bandit Queens - I have heard good things about it.

[@andtheywerereaders]

Happy to hear it! We're excited to read it, and I'll let you guys know what I think about Bandit Queens

[@Sharonreadsbooks]

Bandit queens was on the womens prize list last year and is amazing.

[@andtheywerereaders]

Perfect! I'll let you guys know what I think - Jon

[@BookishAdventuresInWellbeing]

Bandit queens is excellent!

[@andtheywerereaders]

Happy to hear it!

[@Spanish4Katy]

Loved this! So fun. Haven't read any of these but you've piqued my interest!

[@andtheywerereaders]

Let us know if you end up reading any!

[@mirandahermes2554]

Obsessed with Red Rising, and it only gets better and better. One of those books you can have a disussion group about. Love seeing all the fantasy here this time! Have you guys read Babel?

[@andtheywerereaders]

We've both read Babel and we absolutely loved it! We talk about it in our Dark Academia video. I'm also listening to Yellowface now - Jon

[@YourTrueShelf]

Yes, pls do this again!! It was great! The shoplifting story 😮 when I worked in retail as a student, we didn't have any security guards and in our induction we were told if someone steals something, let them go as they could attack us, etc. That was a surprise to me too!! I'm so happy that Sierra got In Memoriam 🥰 I have Legendborn, not read yet. The romance reaction was v funny. Loads of ppl loved Bandit Queens, it was on the women's prize shortlist last year, so got a lot of buzz. I also have shadow and bone to read, I'm so gutted about the tv series, it was really good! What a waste! I hope you very much enjoy your books.

[@andtheywerereaders]

ooo that's interesting but makes complete sense. definitely better to prioritize yourself over the merchandise. i'm looking forward to reading Bandit Queens! Sierra has mentioned how you've definitely influenced her to read In Memoriam! - Jon

[@YourTrueShelf]

@@andtheywerereaders oh great!! I hope she loves it as much as I did 😊

[@samantharose1001]

kudos to filming in the bookstore!! I would be so stressed lol, but as a viewer I appreciate being brought along 🤗💛

[@samantharose1001]

watching this video was such a highlight for me today 🩷🩷 so ty

[@andtheywerereaders]

we love when our fav booktubers bring us along too. hopefully we get to do it more often

[@andtheywerereaders]

that's so kind! thanks so much for watching!

[@WhyNot-WhyNott]

Love you guys ❤❤❤keep the videos coming.

[@andtheywerereaders]

Thanks! We definitely will! We appreciate you!

[@BonnieNicoleWrites]

"That's true....... sometimes." 😂 You guys are so great!! I was smiling the whole time and I love all your book thoughts! I also did the audiobook of Legendborn and had a hard time getting into it. But I really think a hard copy would have helped and I think that's what I'll do for the second book in the series.

[@andtheywerereaders]

Awww we are happy we can make you smile! Let us know what you think of Legendborn if you give it a second chance

[@hpflo13]

Yes 🙌 to a romance themed video.

[@andtheywerereaders]

🫡 which romances would you recommend? We need some good recs!! -Sierra

[@ameliel.3744]

@@andtheywerereaders I am not a massive romance fan but there are a few books in this genre I have really enjoyed nonetheless: - A pho love story, by Loan Le (young adult, contemporary, two vietnamese-american main characters, very sweet) - Signs of attraction, by Laura Brown (contemporary, a bit spicier, with two deaf/hard of hearing characters, loved the disability rep, own voices - the author is hard of hearing herself) - This is how you lose the time war, by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar (sci-fi, short, amazing writing and unlike anything I had read before) Enjoy! :)

[@zoekirk8767]

I’m trying to explore romance myself and I found a book called Dungeons and Drama in a B&N! It’s been really fun so far so I’d definitely recommend it!!

[@andtheywerereaders]

@@ameliel.3744 love the recommendations! I read Time War and loved it - Jon

[@BethKnight664]

How fun!!! I can’t wait until you do it again.

[@andtheywerereaders]

Neither can we tbh

[@CodedBookworm]

Cute! Great video! 🙏🏻💜

[@andtheywerereaders]

Thank you!

[@brittanyarmstrong]

I love Never Whistle at Night

[@andtheywerereaders]

No way! I can’t wait to get into it :)

[@keiichifuruya]

Another great video. I wanna be friends with you guys 😂 you look like you have such a good time

[@andtheywerereaders]

Aww thanks so much! We love talking to you guys and seeing comments like these! Honored to have you in our little reader's corner

[@bmartin4549]

Legendborn was good, took me just a bit to get into and then I was sold.

[@andtheywerereaders]

Really excited about that one! Hoping it sparks motivation to read the second one as well

[@KierTheScrivener]

Legendborn is great! Bandit Queens took me a tiny bit to get in but once I did it was amazing.

[@andtheywerereaders]

Happy to hear that about Bandit Queens! - Jon

[@DogEaredMusings]

Never Whistle at Night Sounds really cool!!

[@andtheywerereaders]

Excited to read it!

[@myreadsbooks]

Tokyo ueno station is such a ride, but I loved it

[@andtheywerereaders]

super excited about it!

[@TWILL50]

Have you two ever seen the musical artist Amerie KZbin channel. Yep, the artist that sang 1 Thing, I believe she attended Georgetown and degree is Literature. She has bookclub and you might like her recs. I think if I put her link in the comments it might get deleted. Her April Bookclub choice video just came out, she often brings the Author to her channel to discuss the book on a live. 🫶🏾 you two and I have recommended you to others and other Booktubers!

[@andtheywerereaders]

We haven’t seen the channel but we definitely will try to check it out! Thanks for the recommendation - we love discovering new bookish channels! Appreciate you! Thanks for being part of our little community ☺️

[@lilacfields]

omggg this is how I learn Amerie has a booktube? i love her song why don’t we fall in love ☺️ i definitely need to check out her channel now

[@TWILL50]

@@lilacfields I listen to that song/album STILL once a week. She is very well read, and she wrote a book.

[@FMsukina]

I LOVED "The Bandit Queens" and although I didn't love "Tokyo Ueno Station," it's a short read and still an interesting representation of Japanese literature! I also don't love romance but read one every year to confirm that. My attempt for this year I THINK might be Beth O'Leary's "Flatshare" but we'll see. I love this video idea and hope you both enjoy your books!

[@andtheywerereaders]

Thats a great system to have with romance! I like that you give it a chance annually haha. Thanks for watching!

[@KierTheScrivener]

I am still stressed filming in public. It feels sooo strange.

[@andtheywerereaders]

It was pretty weird, but hopefully it will start to feel normal later.