reading the WRAPPED UP REJECTS! 📚will any of these be 5 stars?

[@elisaslibrary]

Well, at least since you read that YA book 2 years after the publisher sent it to you, the good news is, they probably won't see this since it's been so long 😅

[@ohladysamantha]

THE ENDING OF HMRC!!!! still thinking about it and this reminds me I need to pick up the sequel. So glad it was a 5 star for you!!

[@imasisara]

As someone from New Orleans - that description of Celebration in the Oaks in Girl in the Walls was lovely and super nostalgic.

[@ChemicalPenguinn]

I love all this wrapped up-adjacent content you've been serving us lately, Megan!

[@arielcapaldi1938]

I love The Fitness Marshall! They're some of the best dance workouts, and their song picks are amazing!

[@amyparis93]

If you research the Westover family there has been a very detailed article where a journalist visited her parents. It paints a very different picture to the one in the book! Lots of her siblings and her dad have also achieved doctorates too and attribute this to their home schooling whilst growing up. Obviously, I don’t know the truth but it’s very interesting x

[@Carola16]

I believe 2 of her siblings earned PhDs, but not her father. I loved the book when I read it and I tried to find more info on the family’s reaction. It seemed quite split. I believe there is still lots of truth to it, but also some misinterpretation and misreading of facts and memories. Hard to tell sometimes with memoirs.

[@saraackerman8019]

Would love your fitness marshal playlist! Been getting back into his dance videos again too.

[@cynannered]

Fully agree with your critique of Educated. The book is simply not about her Education, that is just an afterthought. The amount of gory car/farm/junkyard accidents was really upsetting to me and not something I expected going in.

[@firewhiskeyreader8257]

I literally clapped when you announced your rating of HMRC! So happy for you. :)

[@crushgoil]

I think this is the first time I’ve had a comment of mine in a video! How cool. Thanks for doing this idea

[@CancerrGirl92]

You're the first person who had the same takes on Last Housewife as me, Girl yes, you are not alone. Definitely not deep or nuanced enough to have the conversations it was trying to have.

[@anabeatrizgarcia106]

so happy you loved hrmc!!! the second book definitely goes deeper into the political stuff (also, the fact that the finale is going to be called human rites!? one of the best punny book titles i’ve ever seen)

[@bethehappyturtle84]

🎁 This was an awesome Vlog! I'm totally with you on the book Educated. I just read it last week and I would have enjoyed more details about the struggles and hard work she put in to get her education.

[@charlenegriffith7391]

I did not like educated. It's so refreshing to see a reviewer who gives honest even its not nice.

[@Jane42.]

"I always draw a line at incest." Your standards are just too high!!🤣

[@cristinbruggeman9600]

I think 3 stars is very generous for The Last Housewife. It's the worst thing I read this year. 1 star. The sexual violence felt gratuitous because the grooming was nonsensical and her handling of the topic was so shallow. The MC also put herself into very dangerous situations for nonsensical reasons. Very disappointing!

[@Anna2187_]

100%. It was weird because it felt gratuitous to me but also nonsensical. The cult is supposed to be really scary but the MC kept running away after every meeting without getting in trouble? It made no sense

[@cristinbruggeman9600]

@@Anna2187_ Yes, exactly! So weird!

[@rosieringlet1]

Loved HMRC, loved the last line!!!! Second book is every bit as good ❤

[@meljstephan]

I 100% agree on the Last Housewife. I work with SA and trafficking survivors as a career and was very disappointed.

[@BookChats]

Yeah, I had to DNF both The Glass Castle and Educated because the childhood neglect was too difficult to read. It's hilarious for us that do many of these didn't work for you, but I'm glad you did like one of these reads!

[@avsambart]

Yessssss 👏👏👏👏👏 so glad you finally got a five stars!!! 🎁

[@Stephanie.Hudson]

Isn’t there a real life example of an author threatening and maybe even stalking a reviewer after a bad book review?? It was several years ago, but I remember the blog community and some booktubers doing posts about it.

[@tesslydon6925]

Omg yes Kathleen Hale!

[@chelsey8737]

Every single negative comment or complaint I've ever heard about the book educated has been about the lack of academic exploration. The fact that she just goes from never being in school to suddenly being in university is wild and in the US it makes literally no sense. Even students who have good grades in high school and have after school clubs and have tutoring still struggle sometimes with the first year or 2 of college so the fact that she can go from no schooling to the highest schooling deserves more explanation. That's the part that's actually fascinating to a lot of people and the fact that the book is called Educated and then doesn't really talk about how she became educated is kind of a let down I've heard

[@charliescozycorner]

I’ve not read this book personally, but could she have perhaps educated herself secretly behind her families back before going into formal education? I also think she lived an extremely sheltered life and that may have given her a very strong work ethic where she maybe tried harder than most people? Just good for thought. I haven’t read the book but I know about this person

[@CLeighB4]

Yesss! I had the same feelings reading this book that it just glosses over going from not knowing basic history to getting into higher education. So nice to hear others noticing it too. I always felt like an outsider with those thoughts.

[@BethEades]

I also found it slightly disingenuous that she didn’t talk about the fact lots of her sibling perused higher ed too - I just finished with more questions than answers!

[@robinmixon6999]

I loved The Last Housewife.

[@carissa1446]

I haven’t read Educated yet, but being named Educated I definitely expect education to be a key topic.

[@CheyeW13]

i always feel bad for the books you dont get to in wrapped up, great idea🎁

[@alsntls]

Please read Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers!!! It’s such a cozy fall mystery, you’ll love it!

[@heabooktubes]

This was fun. I’m glad we peer pressured you into it. 😂♥️🍂

[@chaptercarys]

Finished The Last Devil To Die yesterday and it was such classic, cosy thursday murder club 💜 Hope you enjoy!

[@charliescozycorner]

I listened to the audiobook of the last housewife and really enjoyed it. But it’s not her best, that’s in my dreams I hold a knife. Unmatched. I hope you like the last word! I gave it three stars. No exit is deffo one of the best thrillers but part of the fun was the HEART PALPS, I couldn’t read it again bc I know what happens, it lowers the stakes

[@sailingqueen678]

I believe the same for No Exit, but rereading for the chills and isolated setting will be good. She did really well with writing the setting. I haven't read The Last Word either but I'm hoping she continues with pulling you in.

[@Hillary429]

16:43 UK covers are criminally bad soo often, like why????

[@ashleyyeoman9872]

if you draw the line at inc*st, don’t try and read cassandra clare🙃

[@meaganleereads]

Congrats on finally reading another five star! 🤩

[@monicamerle1417]

You're too nice, I gave The Last Housewife 2 🌟. It's bad

[@Anna2187_]

I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy the last housewife but selfishly I’m glad someone else felt the same way I did 😅😩 even though I loved in my dreams I hold a knife I feel less excited for Ashley winstead’s other books

[@_bookber]

i had similar thoughts about the last housewife! it was also one of my five star predictions and i think i’m settling on 3 stars… i thought it didn’t go deep enough into how the girls were convinced to be involved in the first place, and also why the mc almost eroticised what was happening with not much nuance?? plus she was so lucky being able to dip in an out of these places with no repercussions 🙄

[@rosannacabrera0191]

I feel that the first review reminded me of the last word 😂😅

[@starlasell5698]

❤️📚📚❤️

[@Biobotica]

I just adored Her Majesty's Royal Coven - so glad you did too! I really enjoyed the sequel The Shadow Cabinet, too. I also REALLY disliked The Last Housewife. I found it repetitive and dark just for the sake of being dark. The sex cult felt like it was just used as a twisty plot device without doing anything interesting with it, or counterbalancing it with character growth and learning something deeper. Such a disappointment.

[@Hillary429]

You should do some sort of craft with the book you hated so that there is one less copy out there in the world 📖✂️

[@racheltfisher]

46:29 The Latter Days Saints are the Uk Mormon equivalent I think

[@rachaelf.7123]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is actually the real name of the Mormon church. Mormon is a nickname.

[@racheltfisher]

@@rachaelf.7123 ah ok 😊

[@racheltfisher]

2:02 The Girl In The Walls unfortunately is not as good as I thought it would be, I found it a bit boring

[@libraryofkaris]

maybe you've cnvinced me to read her majesty's royal coven by the end of the year 👀 i read educated a few years ago and i gave it 4 stars too! completely agree with you about how shccking the abuse is and how i wish the education stuff was fully explained. i went into it with no expectations and no pitch so the minimal end-of-days stuff wasn't a surprise to me. i would argue in terms of religious groups in the uk, maybe jehovah's witnesses are our equivalent to mormonism?? maybe not as prominent in society but yeah.

[@MeMyshelfAndI]

I still feel slightly uncomfortable how much The Last Housewife parroted the irl Sarah Lawrence Sex Cult news story. It's just weird to sensationalized someone's real life trauma as a thriller? Not necessarily inherently bad, but made me real uncomfy while reading and realizing what it was based on.

[@Novaturient_Liv]

🎁Ah- government agencies and covens? Interesting...

[@iheart.audiobooks]

🎁

[@AnaMoShoshin]

🎁📚🎁

[@Laurasbookishlife]

See i was the oposite i hated in my dreams i hold a knife and loved the last house wife!!

[@notthemostread]

🎁🎁🎁

[@tesslydon6925]

Might be a controversial opinion but I’ve loved both of Ashley Winstead’s romances and was meh about her thrillers. I would love to see if you like her romances bc it’s very different from her thriller writing style

[@arlissbunny]

I thought The Girl in the Walls had just that little bit of literary magic that is hard to find in a book about grief and living. I happened to read it not long after my mother passed away and it was perfect. I’ve repeatedly recommended it though it’s not something I think works for everyone. Your review was exactly right. Thank you!

[@jodydiou]

Mormonism affects people in Utah. Maybe in some other places but mainly in Utah. Not in all the United States. I think the church of England is more of a whole country church than Mormonism for the United States

[@racheltfisher]

Educated was very insightful to me, but it did make me angry how abused she was by her family

[@RebeccaMarrion]

The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is all over the world with many churches in the uk and two temples. Mormon was a nickname originally given to the church by others because they have scripture called the Book of Mormon. However throughout the years in America especially Utah there have been many breakaway versions of the religion taking on different views and standards making it difficult to know exactly which version of the church is being spoken about but the fundamentalist church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or the reformed church of Jesus Christ are spoken of often in Utah and that’s very different from the original church. And is tends to be the ones people are referring to when they say Mormonism. Members who follow the original teachings can get a lot of stick from people because of the things that members from the other variations of this religion do and they all get lumped together but Mormonism is not what the original religion is about the original religion and teachings are Christianity and there are many forms of Christian churches in the uk.

[@twinny555]

I don’t know, I think the Jehovah’s Witnesses are similar to Mormonism in certain ways.

[@kathryn-yd7bh]

Both are a subsection of Christianity. But I would say they are more similar to Christians. Jehovah's witnesses don't celebrate any holidays, where the holidays like Christmas and Easter are special times of the year to Mormons.

[@rachaelf.7123]

There are a lot of similarities between Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses.

[@kathryn-yd7bh]

@@rachaelf.7123 I was not saying there wasn't I was just saying I see more similarities with just Christianity then Jehovah's witnesses. If I'm wrong I'm wrong I do see more of the cult like behaviour to JW though. But isn't most religions open to your interpretation. And I know theres the whole not believing in the trinity, both are based off of Christianity.

[@rachaelf.7123]

@@kathryn-yd7bh Sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound like I was saying you were wrong. You're right, they have a lot of similarities to Christianity, and they think of themselves as Christian. Apart from celebrating holidays, though, they are extremely similar to Jehovah's Witnesses. I was born and raised mormon and just left a few years ago. While I was in, I thought the Jehovah's Witnesses were completely different, but now that I'm on the outside looking in, I can see how alike they are. They are both rather cult-y.

[@kathryn-yd7bh]

@@rachaelf.7123 I was raised Mormon for a bit but then got raised Christian I read the LDS Bible about 10 year ago (for curiosity as my family dedicated 50 years to the religion) and also the Christian Bible. In my line of thought I was comparing them not really the religion as a whole. But I can see where you are coming from with looking at is as a whole my mistake.

[@crazzylizlol]

But have you heard of the new book that WAS written by AI? I am code

[@broadwaybutterfly310]

You mentioned that the first book you read was incest-y, but... isn't her sleeping with the AI sexual assault as well? Since the AI is inside a human that can't consent in that situation? And, depending on how old the host is and how old the main character is, could be... yeah...

[@morganarosana]

🎁🎁🎀

[@bethmetcalf3447]

🎁

[@racheltfisher]

🎁

[@ariane1159]

🎁

[@tracyhoverson8294]

🎁

[@lauranpike5762]

🎁

[@rebeccamarsden2128]

🎁

[@kerryT123]

🎁

[@TomeWorm]

🎁