reading goodread's "big books of 2025" 📚⭐️

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Transcript

00:00Hello guys, welcome or welcome back. Welcome to today's video

00:03I thought we can do a fun reading vlog that I've actually had planned since the end of December

00:07Going into this new year on my Kindle

00:09I used to get these ads on it and usually would be like Goodreads ads and like different like promoting of books and stuff

00:13But I saw it was like December 30th

00:15I took this video and I recorded it because I knew I wanted to do a video surrounding this it was from Goodreads and

00:20It was titled the big books of 2025

00:22So, of course

00:22I was curious and I scrolled through all the books that they're saying are the big books of this year and there were about like 80

00:28something books on there there were quite a lot so that we can pick three from there and read a few books that according to

00:32Goodreads are the big books of this year

00:35Her husband is a criminal. Why is he doing this?

00:39That's it. I don't care. I'm bored

00:47Our drug-addicted raccoons a trigger debate if he wanted to he would

00:58So I have three of them actually have two picked out

01:01I don't really know exactly which one I want to do for the third because there's a few on here that I've been on my

01:04Radar and I'm really really excited about but one of them will be completing a series which is really exciting

01:09Another one will get one off my physical TBR

01:11So there's a two things that are on my goals for this year and that'll be very exciting and then the third one

01:15We're gonna have to pick later on this week

01:17Which one we're gonna want to do because there's some on here that are really really really great options

01:21But I'm gonna go pick out our first one and we're gonna start this reading vlog

01:25I'm really excited and I'll also try to find the link to the big books of 2025 from Goodreads

01:29So you guys can go through the list as well

01:31I just have the recording from when I saw it on my Kindle in December and I was like I need to record this now

01:35Just in case I can't find it again. Let's see if these really are the big books of 2025

01:40Let's see if these are any good. We're putting Goodreads to the test Goodreads list to the test

01:44I'm gonna go grab our first book and we're gonna get right into

01:46Reading vlog. Our first book is famous last words by Jillian McAllister

01:51This is my first book by this author and this is actually number 24 on the Goodreads list that I saw

01:56This is a thriller about a new mother whose world is offended when her husband commits a terrifying crime

02:01Our main character is going back to work and her husband is not there when she wakes up. So she is confused in his place

02:06Though there's a cryptic note. There's breaking news. There's a hostage situation developing in London

02:10Her husband doting father eternal optimist is actually the gunman

02:13I got this from book of the month last month in February and I've just been wanting to read it ever since reading that summary

02:18It has hooked me. So let's see

02:48I

03:09Don't mind this over here behind me the microphone what I was recording and it was in slow motion

03:14So there's no sound I had to click to the wrong button. I don't know. I've done this before

03:17Anyway, all I was saying was I'm bored. I repeated that. I was bored like eight times

03:21I started listening to the audio like 50 pages in because like nothing was happening and I was okay

03:26Maybe I'll enjoy it more like listening to it and I am enjoying it better with the audio

03:30I just feel like it's giving more personality. The book is just so slow pacing. I feel like we're not getting any information

03:35It's just like going in like slow motion and I'm just like not hooked

03:39It's not very thrilling for a thriller and for such like a high-stakes situation that's happening right now

03:43Literally, her husband is holding people hostage. It's like we know no information and we're about a hundred pages in

03:48So if more things don't start picking up this could be a DNF like this is just like I don't care

03:53That's it. I don't care

03:55I'm bored

03:55but I will see it through just for a little bit longer because the audio is pretty good and I just have like a

04:00Little bit of like a peaked interest of like why is he doing this?

04:02All we've gotten from the wife's point of view is that her husband is just like not like this

04:06Like this is not like him, but obviously

04:09Something was going on. I don't know. We'll see but I am listening to the audio because I'm bored

04:28Hello it is now the next day I have come to the executive decision to DNF this book

04:35Which I'm excited to add this into my fable library

04:39I have like a list and I have a little section for DNF

04:42So I'm gonna add this into that and it's really sad decision, but I'll talk about it in a second

04:46I'm gonna add this into my DNF list and it's bringing me to today's sponsor, which is none other than fable

04:52Which I am so excited about I genuinely love using this app on my fable profile

04:58I have like I said a DNF little spot

05:00So let's add this into there which is kind of sad

05:02But you gotta do what you gotta do. If you have not heard of fable

05:06It's an all-in-one platform for readers to track their books build reading habits and connect with other readers

05:11I personally love it to track what I'm reading because on my lists on my profile

05:15There's a want to read list currently reading finished and you can also create lists that you want

05:20They can create your own list. So I have a DNF like I said list

05:22I have a physical TBR list

05:24So I keep track every time I get a new book onto my physical TBR add it right into there

05:27So it's easy to visually see what I have on my physical TBR. I have a mental TBR list

05:32I have a five stars list like I have so much organized on here

05:35They have all the tools to track your reading goals and to stay

05:38Motivated lots of readers come from other tracking app because fable fills all their needs all their goal-setting needs all their reading tracking needs and

05:45They also offer beautiful design and a very very nice social community

05:49It's kind of like if you combine goodreads and Instagram almost like a social media app

05:53But also a reading tracking app like a personal one. So it has so much combined on here

05:57It's just so aesthetically nice to use one of my favorite parts on here is the reading stats on your profile right next to lists

06:03It has your stats. So so far I read 16 of 125, which is my goal for this year

06:08I love it

06:08It gives my average rating if you scroll down it also shows you how many books per month you want to read to hit your

06:13Goal by the end of the year and then if you keep going it also shows you your most read genres

06:17Which is so fun like he's seeing the breakdown

06:19So majority of the books I read this year have been romances and if you keep going it shows your average rating

06:24It shows most read authors. I just love the stats

06:27They show you in here is so so interesting and it's so easy

06:29You just put in the books that you're reading and your ratings and your thoughts about it

06:32It will take that data and it will put it into your stats for you

06:34It's all in just one little place and it's so nice to see one thing that I need to get better at but that I

06:39Love that fable has is that they have daily reading streaks on here so it can help you keep your pace with your goal

06:44I think it would also be nice to have a streak because once I have a streak

06:46I'm not gonna want to break it and that'll also help motivate me to continue reading every single day

06:50One thing that's amazing as well as if you're coming from goodreads

06:52You can import all of your goodreads data

06:54So you're able to transfer all of the books and all of the stuff that you have on goodreads into the fable app

06:58Which is really really nice. It would take too much time to manually input that all into fable

07:01So it's very very easy just to click import from goodreads and all of your stuff comes right over

07:05They also roll out new updates every single week, which is really really nice

07:08You can always expect improvements new features and a modern interface, which I get

07:12I just love the look of fable if you have not used fable yet

07:15I highly highly recommend downloading the app just trying it out putting on all of your data and seeing the stats that it gives you

07:20It is so fun to keep up with seeing all the statistics. It gives you is so fun using the app is really fun

07:25It's very very interactive as well

07:27You can follow different people on there see their updates see their reviews see their stats and everything

07:31It's just a really really fun very interactive an amazing community app for us readers

07:35So I'll leave the link in the description

07:37You guys should definitely definitely check them out and thank you again to fable for sponsoring today's video

07:40Into the DNF and why I DNF for this so I like I said last night was so bored

07:46I started listening to the audio and was honestly better because it gave the characters more personality and the pacing was so slow

07:52I was like, okay, I'll do other things while I listen to the book

07:54I just can't sit and read this like I do not care enough and like not much is really happening to keep my attention

07:59And then in bed last night, I was listening to it. It was like putting me to sleep

08:02I was like, I don't care and also nothing's happening

08:05We're following these two point of views and it's very interesting because one of the point of views is the wife of the husband who's holding

08:10People hostage and we're more dealing with her inner turmoil and like what her husband has done

08:14That's affecting her like on one side

08:16She loves her husband her husband would never do this like the main that she knows like this is not him and on the other

08:20Sides like her husband is a criminal

08:22Why is he doing this but like the point of the book is not really the hostage and like the husband's

08:28Motives and everything like that, which I'm sure by the end of it you figure out what happened

08:31but we're more focusing on the wife and how it affects her and I thought it would be more thrilling more suspenseful and

08:37More just like entertaining it was so just like dragged out everything that was going on

08:41It felt slow motion and then we're also following Niall who is the hostage like interview or not interview interrogator

08:47it's so interesting because I just like

08:49They were I thought there's no reason to which I'm assuming by the end of it

08:52maybe it like all ties in but it felt more like a

08:55Fiction story like I'm just reading a contemporary fiction story of like a high-stakes situation

08:59But like the actual like writing of it and there's no anticipation

09:03Like it wasn't high stakes

09:04I didn't feel that and it was just such an interesting mix and then a little over a hundred pages

09:09It flashes forward seven years like after the fact and I'm just like now we're seeing her like going on dates

09:15It's not like it just was so

09:17Not was expecting and I think that's what happened the shift from like the suspense of the hostage

09:22Situation to more of like almost like a love story felt like that was the direction it was going in

09:26Just didn't really mix for me or make much sense

09:29So it's not a thriller that I enjoy not the type that I enjoy

09:33I knew I just wasn't going to enjoy listening to the rest of it

09:36So that's why I ended up DNFing. I think I got 40% of the way through

09:39I got a good amount to like know I wasn't gonna enjoy it. It just I didn't like the writing style

09:43I felt like some scenes were so

09:45Unnecessary and really really dragged out where I feel like we could have got to the point quicker

09:48And it definitely would have held my attention a bit more

09:50I just think it could have been a little bit more engaging a little more high-stakes

09:54So this one fell flat really upset about that because Goodreads said it was one of the big books of this year

09:59But I personally I didn't like it our next book. I just downloaded onto my Kindle

10:04It's part of an interconnected series and it's number 19 on Goodreads big books of 2025

10:09And that is Scythe and Sparrow by Bren Weaver. This is the third and final book in the ruinous

10:13What is it called the ruinous love trilogy?

10:15The first book was Butcher and Blackbird, which I feel got a huge moment when it came out or sometime

10:19Was it last year?

10:20I think it was last year had its huge moment or the year before whatever it came out and

10:23I personally really really enjoyed it. I gave it four stars

10:26It's about two serial killers and it's also like a romantic comedy

10:29The combination of the two was so much fun

10:31And the second one recently came out last year called Leather and Lark and that one I did not enjoy

10:36I think it got like two-ish stars. I just could not get through it

10:39I didn't really like the the storyline or the characters and it was such a bummer because I loved the first one and it's such

10:44An interesting entertaining story the first one

10:46So we have the third one now and I think so far I'm going to enjoy this more than the second one

10:51Fingers crossed. Hopefully one of my favorite parts about this series just in general is the trigger warnings

10:55Usually I don't tend to look up trigger warnings, but for these I love to read them because they are just so

11:01Outlandish just to name a few the content and trigger warning. She says eyeballs again if it's any consolation

11:07I don't know why I keep writing them into books because I bullshit freaks me the fuck out. Also eyelids. Yep. We're there now

11:14I'm not sure as I really ruin cotton candy as much as maybe just defile it

11:18Possibly sausages and or hot dogs clowns

11:21sexy clowns are drug-addicted raccoons a trigger debate and then the actual

11:25Dedication says for those of you who read B&B and L&L and said hell I've already endured the ice cream and pizza

11:31I might as well keep going you truly are my people this one's for you

11:34Which is really really funny to be read the first two she takes these like common everyday things and like food

11:39I guess it's like common theme. She just puts them into scenes that will

11:43Put you off of that. So I'm really interested to see what she does in this one with like those trigger warnings

11:48There's a bunch of other ones, but those are like the first few I didn't read the summary of this one

11:52I just know it's about Fionn. I think that's how you say his name

11:54He's a doctor and then it's also following Rose which we got in the first chapter her career, which is really really interesting

12:00She's a motorcyclist in a carnival and she's also I'm pretty sure she's the serial killer in this one

12:05But I'm not a hundred percent sure but in the first chapter

12:07She gets injured from something that she was trying to do and she runs over to the doctor's office, which is his doctor's office

12:13I think that he's gonna either help her or I'm not really sure where the story's gonna go

12:17But we're gonna find out we're gonna see I'm just hoping it's a good ending to the trilogy

12:20This will complete a series for me, which is really exciting and it was on Goodreads big books of 2025

12:25So we're gonna see how it goes

12:27Hopefully it's better than the last read we just had and I'll come back with further updates and opinions and thoughts

12:51I

13:06He's talking about his past and like he has a pretty dark past but meanwhile he's crocheting a blanket right now

13:12He's kind of like the softest brother. I would say and I think he's also the youngest but

13:17He's such like a I don't want to use the word like a nerdy brother

13:21But he's so like a little bit awkward and he's very much like a caretaker

13:25If you like the trope in books where they take care of the female main character whether they're like hurt or whatever

13:31you'd absolutely love what's going on right now because that's kind of like the main plot of the book right now is

13:35she got severely injured by doing something or something going wrong and he is taking care of her and

13:42It's just like that part is so good

13:44I don't think the romance has really picked up yet like kind of at all

13:47we're still I guess getting to know each of the characters and she is I wouldn't say a serial killer, but she

13:53definitely tries to

13:55bring down men that have done wrong to women which

13:59Listen, I always say I'm here for that, but she doesn't do a very good job at it from the two times

14:03We've seen in this book. So they're trying to kind of cover her tracks right now something that also went wrong

14:09But yeah, the romance hasn't really picked up just yet

14:11But I can confirm that I'm definitely enjoying it more than the second one, which I don't really know why the second one

14:15I did not like at all

14:16I don't know if it was like the characters and I couldn't even tell you one thing that happened in the second book other than

14:21The female main character was singing because I listened to that one on audio and I remember the audio actor

14:27Singing in my ears and I was like, I don't think I like this actually

14:30I'm excited for the romance to pick up and

14:32There has been a couple of the trigger warnings that were in the beginning of the book that has happened already

14:36But not as bad I would say as I again don't remember much of the second one

14:41But at least the first one so far

14:43But I don't know if this will top but you're in Blackbird for me

14:45Like that one was just so

14:46Outrageous and it had like the dark romance but like dark rom-com like it really like hit the mark on all of it this one

14:52It has like the dark I guess part of the dark romance, but we haven't gotten to the romance part of it just yet

14:59So I'm excited to get there

15:01Just sit drink my tea read my book

15:04I've been using my Kindle clicker brought that back out

15:07Highly recommend investing in one of these getting one from like Amazon or something cuz I just lay my Kindle up like this

15:14Right on the blanket over here. I

15:16Chill out back here and watch

15:19next page

15:21next page

15:37I

16:08I

16:15The plot of this one is so interesting because obviously she's recovering from her injury

16:20So once that's over she has to go back on the road and I thought that was gonna be the end of the book and it's

16:24Already like happening now

16:25So I'm like, where's the rest of the plot gonna go because they're not really established in a relationship of any sort

16:30They've just had some moments together

16:32and the first half was kind of like a slow burn into the relationship and the tension was really really there and then all of

16:38it just completely snapped and I

16:40Love I don't want to say his name. I think it's Fionn. Him and his brothers are Irish

16:44So I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly

16:45But he is so like shy and he like blushes sometimes and she on the other hand is very like says kind of what's on her

16:52Mind doesn't really hold back from it

16:54So she'll like say something so out-of-pocket and he'll just like blush or like say something like what are you even talking about?

16:58It's the way he reacts to things. It's really really sweet

17:00He just has like two sides to him

17:01But he also has this part of him that's kind of like been held back from something that happened when he was younger

17:06With his brother. So he has this part of him. It doesn't really show people

17:09He's been trying to push down but like it's to his core who he kind of is and he's scared to let that back out

17:14But Rose kind of understands him more

17:15So he kind of is scared to let that back out like the way he wants to act in the way

17:19He truly is deep down

17:21so I think she's gonna like take that out of him and I think he's gonna feel better when he's able to be his own

17:25Self because he's been kind of like running away from where his brothers are. He lives in a whole different state

17:30He's kind of isolated himself in this small town and everything

17:32So I'm really interested to see where the plot of this one's gonna go. I can say confidently still

17:36I'm liking it so much better than the second one

17:38We even got a cameo of Rowan and Sloane which were the first book Butcher and Blackbird and

17:43It kind of like intersects the timelines of the first book

17:46So we kind of see a scene we saw in their point of view in their book in this one in

17:49Fionn and Rose's point of view and it was just so interesting and I don't know why I loved Rowan and Sloane like their book

17:55So much like they were just so

17:57Entertaining we got like cameos of everyone which is fun. I always love that interconnected series, but so far I'm really enjoying it

18:03I just like so confused where it's gonna go and like what's gonna happen. We've got quite a way to go

18:07There is one part of this book that I'm enjoying

18:09That's kind of like a side plot where it's interesting in these books because you have like the romance

18:14But then you also have like what they're doing and lots of messiness is happening right now

18:18And I'm interested to see how they're gonna solve it

18:28I

18:35He's such a caretaker, I think I said that yesterday, but he like truly is it's just like in his nature to take care

18:40Oh, I guess Rose. I don't really know about anyone else

18:43But the way he takes care of her is so good. And I think I highlighted something

18:47Let me check my Goodreads what it was cuz I don't remember but I think I did earlier

18:51Yeah, they really like see each other on the same level

18:54So he was kind of struggling with that and she says it's okay to love your darkness and still love yourself

18:59It doesn't make you a bad person

19:00It makes you a whole one and then she says you don't have to try so hard to be somebody else

19:05I like the dark too and

19:07Granted this is like a dark romance

19:09they're morally cray but like the way that they are it comes from their past and they can like see each other and connect on

19:14That level as messed up as it is of what they do and one point in the book. He like beat someone up

19:20I'm not gonna give the context just cuz it's gonna be a spoiler

19:22But he did like punch someone and beat someone up and he goes the thing at the blood brothers barn. I snapped

19:28I fucked that guy up. She goes. Yeah, you did that was pretty hot

19:32Like just so unserious still enjoying it just had to give my two cents there

19:52Oh

20:07He's so sweet if he wanted to he would and beyond us

20:11I

20:17Would fold so hard

20:19There's something about what he's doing right now at the end of the book like whenever this is in a book

20:23I love it so much. It's so good

20:26You

20:39Good morning, it is now I think it's been two days since it now

20:43Yesterday, I finished the book and we did I didn't chat but like I talked a little bit

20:46But anyway the next morning my thoughts on Scythe and Sparrow this one was really good

20:50I'm happy that I completed the trilogy because after the second one

20:53I was iffy if I was gonna like the next one if maybe Butcher and Blackbird was just like the one-off of the one

20:58I enjoyed in the series

20:59But I did enjoy this one

21:00Something about a dark rom-com really does something for me because I like the dark part of it like the morally grayness the dark things

21:08They're getting into but it has the humor with it

21:10Which it's like funny cuz they're in like serious situations and they're making me laugh and something about that mix

21:15I really really like so if you have any other recommendations for dark rom-com

21:19I would definitely try one out and I want to read maybe some more of them because I really enjoy like the mix of the

21:24Two I also really really loved the characters in this one

21:26Especially if you on like the way that he was like really shy and awkward, especially when they like first met and first were interacting

21:32He's like crocheting and doing all these things but like he has that like dark side to him

21:36I just really really liked his

21:38Dynamic and his character and his personality mixed with him meeting Rose and kind of seeing that other side to him that he's been hiding

21:44I liked their connection and their dynamic and Rose was just so authentically herself

21:48like the joke she would make the things she talked about the things she'd do and show Fion like I really enjoyed her as a

21:54Character and she has such a cool job. She works at a circus. She rides motorcycles. She's the tarot cards

21:58Like she has a very very cool profession and like traveling circus

22:01So I like the beginning of it the middle lost me a little bit

22:04It was weird because the plot was going really really well and I was really into it and then all of a sudden it was

22:08Like one month later and then after that chapter was like a year later and I was like, why are we jumping timelines?

22:13The pacing just like fell off for me and then the end it was a little bit slow

22:17but then like the very very end like they're like

22:20Reunion, you know like at the end of like a romance book like to kind of mend everything

22:24I I ate that part up like the thing that happens in the book that Fion does if you guys read it and you guys know

22:29What I'm talking about. I love when that is in a romance book for some reason

22:32It's just like it gets me every single time

22:35So I really enjoyed that but I will say Butcher and Blackbird is my favorite in the series something about their dynamic

22:40Was just so unhinged but so entertaining

22:43I really really enjoyed that one. And if you've read this one the last epilogue in here, I think there's two epilogues

22:49I don't know if that was okay. I finished the book and I was gonna do my hair yesterday

22:52So I was like, I'll just listen to the epilogue

22:53So I put my headphones in and the epilogue that was on my Kindle was not on the Spotify audiobook

22:58So someone told me that the last chapter in Spotify audiobooks is combined with the epilogue on the Kindle

23:02So it wasn't there and I was confused. So I got it on audible and it was on there

23:06So I listened to that and I was like listening and the character saying Blackbird and said Rowan

23:11And I was like, are we in Sloane and Rowan's point of view and we were and I was so confused

23:15But the very last epilogue after that is hinting at like something else. I think Brynne Weaver's gonna write about

23:20So if you've read this and you read that epilogue

23:23I'm so excited to see what she does with that because it's still technically in this world. So I don't know

23:28We'll see when she announces exactly what it is, but had a little Easter egg in there. So I like that

23:31But yeah, I definitely like Butcher and Blackbird. It's my favorite of the series, but it was a fun series

23:36It was an entertaining series again the dark romance and the rom-com like mixture. I just I really enjoyed it

23:40So our last book that we're gonna be reading together is actually number 26 on the big books of 2025

23:46According to Goodreads and I went to Barnes yesterday as you guys saw and I picked up home seeking by Karissa Chen

23:51This one I actually saw youtuber Ashlyn reading in one of her recent videos and I have this thing

23:56I've talked about it before where if I'm watching someone else's reading vlog and I haven't read that book

24:00I skip over the whole entire part just because I don't like going into books with other preconceived opinions and thoughts

24:05That's just something I do. I skip over it just in case there's like a minor spoiler

24:08That's like a me thing a personal thing

24:10so I actually watched her completely read this book because she explained the plot of it and what was happening in her reactions and I

24:16Was like I I need to see like what she writes it. Like I need to see what her thoughts are

24:20I don't know exactly like the actual plot. I'm only one chapter into the book

24:24But from what I know, I think I'm gonna really really really enjoy this book because it's a historical fiction

24:28I said one of my New Year's goals was to get into

24:30Historical fiction kind of like a romance mix of a genre and growing up history was like my least favorite subject

24:36So I never really reached for historical fiction books

24:38But I've gravitated towards them more recently last year and I really want to read some more this year

24:43This one's actually about two characters and kind of the spans of their lives

24:46I'm pretty sure they meet when they're very very young. I think it's in Shanghai

24:48This is about Chinese history, which I don't know nearly enough about so I feel like reading this would definitely give me knowledge that I

24:55Don't have and I'm really excited about that, but they meet when they're very very young

24:58I think like seven like extremely young and they kind of grow up together and when they turn 17

25:02Our male main character decides to go off into war and not really tell anyone about it

25:05He like leaves behind a note or something like that

25:07So she wakes up from sleep and sees the note and it's just like devastated because they have this huge connection

25:13So it tells the story

25:14I'm pretty sure in his point of view and her point of view

25:16But his point of view is telling the story from the past up until the present and now in the present

25:21They're like 60 years old and they finally see each other again for the first time and all this missed time and all this history

25:26They don't know what each other's been through and everything

25:28So I'm pretty sure his point of view is told from the past into the present and I think her point of view starts in

25:32I think it's like 2008 or something like that

25:34Maybe 2006 or something which is like present time. So her point of view starts there and it goes backwards

25:39So I think we're gonna see both of their likes life stories, but like in opposite directions

25:43Which I think is a really interesting like way to storytell it

25:46So again only one chapter in I have no idea but I love the mixture of like a childhood

25:51Connection and like a devastating pull apart from each other and they're seeing each other when they're in their 60s

25:56Like how much time has been lost? So I think I'm gonna really really enjoy the story and again

26:00It's historical fiction and also I will say in the author's note in the very beginning

26:04it says a note on languages and I really really

26:06Appreciated this note because obviously she's writing about this history and there's gonna be words that are like Chinese words and all these things

26:12It's talking about how there's various Chinese speaking regions of the world like there's different ways that these

26:15Names and these words are gonna be like written in the book like someone's name could be written in a different way in a different chapter

26:22But they're the same person kind of explaining that but I really appreciated the last paragraph of this because I've said this many times before

26:27Like my mom came from Russia. She immigrated here when she was very very young and she always tells me the stories about her

26:32Learning English and she learned from Sesame Street

26:34She would watch shows and that's how she learned English

26:36But at the end of the note on languages, it says for many people in the world learning more than one language

26:40It's a necessity either because of migration or simply because the place they live in is a global one and survival dictates it

26:46It is a skill that requires an ability to adapt and challenge oneself and for many immigrants

26:51It's one of the most difficult humbling and uneasy parts of coming to a new country

26:54If you the reader find yourself confused

26:56I hope instead of giving up you might take a moment to imagine what it must be like for those who have to navigate this

27:01On a daily basis and then forge onward

27:03I just really appreciate that because it just gives you another perspective as someone that was born here and English is my only known language

27:09It's only speaking language

27:10Like it just it puts you in the other perspective of someone that's coming here

27:13For survival and to make a new life for themselves and does not know the language

27:17So I just really appreciated that so I'm only a chapter in but I feel like I'm gonna enjoy this one

27:22We will see and I'll give you more updates. I'm gonna continue reading today. I'm very excited to see where this one takes us

27:52I

28:22Don't know

28:32Okay, hello is the next day I'm coming to you live from my mom's room something about hanging out and reading in here

28:38It's just really nice to me sometimes and that's what I was doing today

28:41So I've read quite a bit honestly since yesterday and I think when I explain the summary of this book, I got it wrong

28:47I said that Suji our female main characters point of view

28:49I think was from the what did I say yesterday the present and then our mailman character?

28:55His English name is Howard, but it's high one. I don't know how to say it. Hi Juan. Hi win

29:00I don't know exactly how to pronounce it

29:02but his point of view is actually the one in present day which I love that so much because you see them seeing each other again

29:07And then they're in each other's lives a little bit. They have such a like extreme history not just with each other

29:12We're just like period in general. They've been through so much

29:14We obviously haven't gotten all of that but seeing it in his point of view

29:17He hasn't seen Suji in so long and they have that history together that we don't know about but you can still see the longing

29:23In his point of view and when there's having like normal conversations and all this

29:26He's just like seeing her through childlike eyes

29:28Like when they were younger and how Suji was when she was younger and obviously she's a different person after going through so much that

29:33We're gonna find out about but just seeing the way that he still sees her

29:37It's just like it's wonderful seeing it through his point of view after being through so much

29:41He still has the same just like view of Suji and who she is

29:44And he just wants to know

29:46Like all of the past that she's been through and she's just not like ready to like open up about it or talk about it

29:51Like she's very stubborn and like keeping it down

29:53And then the past point of view that we're getting is actually in Suji's point of view

29:57We haven't gotten too much about that

29:58We're getting like their culture where they're growing up and how their parents are raising them

30:02They definitely come from different upbringings like the way their parents are raising them and we saw how their friendship started how they met

30:08And he was very shy when they were younger and she was very outgoing and their dynamic when they were younger was really really sweet

30:14Really cute and right now in the past that I'm like reading about I think they're like 16 ish and in the very first chapter

30:20You find out that when they're 17 is when he leaves

30:22So I think we're nearing that point

30:24But again, we don't really know all like the middle stuff that's happened between them

30:27we have the very beginnings of how their relationship and their friendship began and with the very very end of them like

30:33Kind of hinting at little things that has happened like she'll mention a job that she had or how they saw each other at some

30:38Point between their history, but we just obviously don't know all the little details and I'm very excited to get all of that

30:43and I think the storytelling of this is so

30:46Interesting and I love the way it's going from past to present and from present to past and I think it's just gonna all come

30:51Together in the middle and I feel this one's gonna break me. I don't really know exactly why I don't know exactly what's gonna happen

30:56It's so character driven

30:57We're just getting little slices of their everyday lives

31:00But it's like making it so easy to get to know them and understand them as characters and the people around them and where their

31:06Lives ended up and where it started. So I love the way it's being told to us again

31:10Not much is really happening, but we're learning a lot about them and I found that with also Chris and Hannah books

31:15I don't this is just like a historical fiction type of thing where it's kept very character driven that

31:19It's a very slow start because you need to understand the characters

31:22Then understand what they went through and then feel it for yourself and really connect with it

31:26So not much is happening

31:28but I do think more is going to start like growing with the history we're gonna learn about because

31:33We're learning about the history of like what happened in China and like the Japanese

31:38Taking over and then them surrendering and now the American soldiers are in here

31:41it's like all that history also intertwining with like their relationship and like how that's gonna go and it's kind of showing now like the

31:48hints of

31:50what's

31:51happening around where they live and I think that's what's gonna change his our male main characters perspective of

31:56where he wants to go because they met when they were like seven and she saw him playing the violin and he is just

32:02In love with music and playing the violin and learning all these songs and stuff

32:06And it was also shown to us in the later days

32:09like I said

32:09the the present in

32:112008 is his point of view and he kind of mentioned how during the war like listening to the music where he really helped him

32:16Like he always just like saw and heard music in his head and that's always what like grounded him

32:20So there's a lot that we're learning about them and I really really love that

32:23I'm just like

32:24eager to find out like what happened between them and like when he went off to war like all the things that they've been through up

32:29Until now because I think it'll help us better understand them at age that they're at right now and

32:33The the families that they have now like they just went down a totally different path than they expected when they were young and that's

32:38Just due to like everything around them and the choices that they made

32:41So I'm very very eager. Like I said to find out what happened. I have a feeling I'm gonna binge this book

32:46It's very very easy very digestible. And even with the the words that I may not know

32:50There's a bit of a I think it's like a glossary something in the end

32:53Like she'll put a little number next to it and you can kind of see more of like the explanation of what she's talking about

32:57which I appreciate so I like what I'm learning about I like reading about our two characters and

33:02I

33:03Don't want to say I'm excited to see what's gonna happen. It's like I'm not excited in a positive way

33:07I know it's gonna be like a lot of hardship that they go through but I am excited to see

33:11Where the story is gonna go so I'm gonna go grab a matcha. That's my plan right now

33:15We'll go grab a matcha gonna go read some more and I'll give more updates when I get further in

33:19And again, I have a feeling this one's gonna break me, but we shall see

33:32You

34:02You

34:26Okay, I finished home seeking yesterday this was such an

34:30Interesting story to read especially just being in the history of China and not knowing a lot of stuff that goes down and what has happened

34:38Being in the point of view of our characters and seeing what they went through especially like families there and decisions that had to be made

34:43I really really enjoyed reading along with this story

34:46I was expecting the ending and a lot more points of this story to make me cry or just have like more of a physical

34:52Emotional reaction and I was so confused why I wasn't having that reaction and why some parts weren't sad

34:57And I saw this Goodreads review and it had the kind of exactly

35:01how I was feeling after because it did have so many just like sad moments and things that these characters go through and a lot

35:07Of it is just like the climate of what they're living in when they're younger

35:10Especially like the war going on around them that dictates the decisions that they have to make

35:14especially high wind for like his family and everything like he

35:17Puts his family and the people he loves ahead of him because of the situation around them

35:21The Goodreads review said that lots of sadness for sure, but it wasn't an entire box of tissue sadness

35:26The story was slow in that it took place over many years

35:29But it was also fast and that the pace went quickly enough

35:32But I didn't really have time or need for those tissues, even though there was a lot of hardship throughout

35:36So it's exactly how I felt like there was so much other characters were going through that was sad

35:40like the ending had so much sad moments as well like piecing everything together of what

35:45Kind of went down like and having the whole story in front of us

35:47But I didn't have tear-jerking reactions because of the way I think that it was told like we got all these pieces

35:51Separately so that when I saw like the full story after I was like, oh

35:54Like that was a lot of hardships like the review said that they went through but it wasn't like I needed tissues and I was

36:00Crying over it. So I think just overall this book I would say is like I don't know how to describe like it's it's quiet

36:06Does that make sense? It doesn't keep you on the edge of your seat. You're not anticipating anything

36:10You're just going along the story with these characters

36:12like I said

36:12so character-driven that it's just like a timeline of following these characters, especially with a lot of like

36:18Huge events and things going on in their lives, but I don't think anything was meant to shock the reader

36:22And I think that's where you get like those physical reactions

36:24like nothing was really really shocking except like maybe one thing towards the end, but it's kind of also telling how once you hit the

36:30age of

36:31Reminiscing, you know, they see each other again after 60

36:34However many years they're talking about the past and all the things that they missed out on the life that they kind of missed out

36:38On with each other, but you can't dwell on that at that point

36:41You can appreciate the memories for what they were

36:43But you can't have many regrets because you can only move forward and be present in the time that you are

36:47But you can talk about your history, but it can't dwell on it

36:50and I think that's kind of like a theme towards the end of it because

36:52She just did not want to talk about the history and bring it back up

36:56it's very painful for her especially but high wind just really wants to talk to her about it again and

37:01eventually, it's just like you can't dwell on it, but

37:04It is something that will stick with them obviously

37:06Forever and to talk about it now finally with each other will say that the ending was a little bit

37:11Unfulfilling like I liked what the author was doing with the ending

37:14But I didn't love the way it like actually completely like ended

37:18I wish we got a little bit more but again, we were just following their story

37:23So I think it was a beautiful way to kind of like piece everything together by the end of it

37:26And I had a great time going along this journey with them and seeing what they went through

37:29So this is a great choice and definitely is one of the big books of 2025 Goodreads was correct on that one

37:35I would definitely recommend this if you are trying to get into historical fiction

37:39If you don't know much about Chinese history

37:40Or you just like a story like this telling about two characters that were very very close when they were younger

37:45but all the turmoil around them and

37:47Separating going through years and decades without each other and what they went through and coming back together by the end of it

37:52So that was a really long way of saying if you like historical fiction a subplot of romance and a character-driven story

37:58I think you'd really really enjoy this one and also listen to the audio a little bit and I liked the audio a lot

38:02I liked the audio voice also with some of the words. I couldn't pronounce hearing them pronounce

38:06It was a really really really nice. That is it for today's video. I hope you guys enjoyed

38:10Let me know if you've read any of the other books on the list of the big books that Goodreads says for this year

38:14I read a couple of them earlier in the year

38:16I think Beautiful Ugly was on there and a couple other books that I read

38:19So I definitely would go back to this list and read some other ones on there that I haven't heard of yet

38:23It's a good way to find some books that are coming out this year. You may have not heard of so

38:26Thank you guys for coming along with me. I had so much fun. I hope you enjoyed

38:30Let me know if you did and I will see y'all in the next one

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