Hello and welcome to another episode of the matcha diaries, your favorite podcast with your favorite co-hosts, Cara and leo. Hello, hi everybody! And happy our favorite season. I don't think it's Cara's favorite season, but it's the podcast favorite season. I am slowly being converted, you know. It's the 2nd of September, autumn is in the air. I've started listening to the music, the playlist, you know, everything. So I'm starting, I'm feeling it. Also, it's been a hot summer.
So I'm just ready for a coziness. I'm so ready. It's always quite funny because we get in the mood, and then I always plan like holiday away. So I like finally get in the mood for autumn and like coziness, and then I go home to like 35 degrees heat and a swimming pool. So yeah, another summer, and then fully back to September. A September holiday is a weird one for me. I mean, I'm going to Venice in October. I actually don't think it'll be that hot though. So it'll be the same vibes.
We're going to the mountains and stuff, which is going to be. That's very awesome vibes. Yeah, cozy vibes. How many times count? Take a shot. How many times say coffee or matcha? Every time we say cozy in this episode, because we have some exciting plans for the months ahead. Okay, this episode is going to kind of be just a bit of a couch up, and we want to talk about like the things that we are excited about like switching seasons, reading updates, you know, all the good stuff. But we do have
a lot of grand plans for our autumnal podcast content. Kar, do you want to tell the listeners? I'm about me. Yeah. Okay, so we basically put on our Instagram story as well, which I haven't seen in a while, but basically we're doing, we're calling it the autumn diaries. We're basically doing very cozy, a autumnal themed episodes. So we're going to be talking about, we're going to do
like Halloween spooky story vibes. We're doing reading, we're doing movie racks. It's kind of like podmas, but for autumn, yes, we're also going to be doing some research into like specific stories. Yeah, like some witchy history we were thinking we'd look into like the slim trials. I feel like we even wanted to do that last year and we didn't end up doing it because of like the time, like we just missing a shocker. Obviously, we'll have to go into some Gilmore Girls theme content.
We were thinking of doing like a quiz of like which character we are and you can, you guys can do it with me. Basically, we have lots of ideas, but obviously please send us and you guys also had a lot of great ideas like when we posted about it on our Instagram, but if you have anything else that you think we should do, please message us. We were going to do like an episode on the disappearance of Agatha Christie as well. Yes, yes, yes. Good one. And then we're going to try do like
a baking episode. I don't know how it's going to work or like making autumnal drinks. So we're going to do our video episode. Wait, we should do that. Okay. So basically I'm coming. I'm coming to London in two days, which is kind of crazy. How quick that's coming by. Obviously my first job will be cars home and we were thinking we want to try and do like make pumpkin spice lattes at home, which it's a shame that you're not coming here because obviously I haven't told the podcast yet.
I have a new coffee machine. Oh my god. I can't believe you haven't told the podcast. We can okay, we have to do highs and lows and then I'll share it. Okay. Go on. Okay, you start highs and lows. Anyways, we can we'll try and we'll try and make some homemade things there on record an episode in person. Okay, highs and lows. Yeah, go for it. Has lows. Okay, so hi. I honestly the coffee machine has been a grand change in my life. So I have wanted the sage
barista express machine for a very long time. I feel like I've been talking about it for months. I'm not going to lie. And I had this packed with Marco that as soon as our very smart like espresso capsules because like we have a capsule machine right now or we had one as soon as the capsules were empty because we had ordered loads of like the you know subscribe and save function. Then I could look into buying a new machine. But then fate was on my side and our machine broke down.
And now everything I did it. Is that why you got it? I thought you finished them. No. So it still kind of works but it like now we'll just empty out water with every go like the machine. Everything around it just gets flooded every time we try and make a coffee. Okay, so when I was making a game. Yeah, it was a sign. So because I was making tiramisu for Marco's birthday which I don't even think we updated the podcast about. It was Marco's birthday. I made tiramisu. We hosted
some like our friends at ours and it was really cute. And literally everything was just a puddle of water. So I was like oh my gosh. And then Marco gave me the permission to start scouring the internet for or aka I scoured the second hand marketplace in the Netherlands called Marked Plats. I'm so shocked you found it on marketplace or like second hand. There was loads. There was
loads. I was in comms with a load of people and this one was just the one that was like really close to pick up because she lived in Amsterdam at like 15 minute Uber away and then it was also only a year old. Oh, so and we got it. So why was she selling it though? Because she so she told us we obviously went into her flat to pick it up and she was really lovely and she was just saying that she's a doctor and she got inspired by TikTok and Pinterest. So like buy this machine because she
thought it would look cute. And then she was like well actually when it was 7 a.m. the last thing she wanted to do was to take like half an hour to make her coffee. So just in practice she didn't end up using it. So which makes complete sense. Like obviously if you're doing shift work like this honestly it's a time investment this machine because you also have to completely clean it like as soon as you use it you know because you have to kind dismantle it obviously if you want
to maintain it. It's not like a quick coffee to me. Yeah, it's the art. It's not. It's not. But anyways that's been so fun and I think it's also because it's you know the coldest season is approaching. Mark when I've been so desperate to get our routine back that we used to have and then we went on our first holiday in May to Sicily and ever since then our routine had been off. And now since we got the coffee machine to be honest we have been getting up like
consistently around 7 a.m. like I've been having so much fun making the coffee. I'm so kind of bad. So if you if you see any videos and giving me advice please do. But it's already tasting amazing like that's just been great. And in general I feel like the milk like the art. Yeah like the milk art. Don't even like it's so hard. I'm finding it hard to even just develop the froth you know. Like it's really like you're like it's the worst coffee I've ever had.
No it's good right. It's it's better than 99% of coffee shops. Even like the ones that like say they're like proper roasters. No my home coffee. It's really yummy. And we don't even have like the best beans yet. So I think like we got beans from the local coffee shop but the they're not like the best. I think they're a bit too intense in their acidity fair. But it's just been fun to be honest. Just have something to like
they're so good. Then like get obsessed with. Do you do it together? You guys make the coffee together. Yeah. So the honest Marco hasn't really been because the espresso itself like isn't the tastiest yet but like within like a latte tastes amazing. Yeah. So I've been enjoying it a lot and he's still been using the capsules most mornings. Which is probably good to be honest. And but it's been just been so fun. And I feel like yeah our flat is just it's really starting
to feel like home and I've just been. I feel like I'm still just feels like home now. And I realized in 20 in 21 days it'll be my one year anniversary here. Which is wild. I mean it's crazy but it also isn't like I also feel like you've been there for so long. Yeah. I was probably because you have like properly properly explored it and like made it your home you know. Like you've done a lot in a year. But I still feel like I've got so much to explore and see but yeah it's
starting to feel like. Don't you have like a Amsterdam map thing? I do have like all these. Yeah. I can share it in the description. For people who want to know it's it's a collection of places that I have been to and loved or places that I still want to go to. And now it's like over 144 places. That's getting a bit. See that is insane. That is a lot. I never had this for London. There are places to be people to see. Google Maps list is such a that's such a hack. And then we
we um I might start. I might start. And parents there on the weekend and we were at the Reyes Museum and we went to this museum shop and we saw a puzzle and we were inspired so then we got a puzzle. That's been the most beautiful thing. So was it there first time visiting Amsterdam? Yes. And what did they like the life that has been built? Yeah. I think it's always it's really special I think to show people like especially obviously
people that are close to us and like know us from before. That type of thing like yeah. Now what our home looks like and the city that we live in. And even so Marco's birthday we got to like bring in different friends that we'd obviously made in the city over the last few months. And even that was quite special like just realizing that you know what like bit by bit we have made.
Yeah you really have. We found like a group of people that we really like and do we feel very like comfortable with it? Oh. So that was special and I'm going to shut up very very special. But it's a good five-second moment. Um and I don't know. Oh I started therapy did I tell the podcast? I started therapy. I don't know if that's a low or high but something a little something to share. I don't remember if you have said this on the phone.
I feel like it's been a while since we've recorded. Yeah. That kind of shocker. But now it's going to we're going to be up to date because we have to. Made a commitment and I don't feel like I made my only lowest that I'm I was like looking forward to like traveling over the next few months like I was planning looking at the travels that I've planned. This is the most maybe I shouldn't even say it. The most like first world problem ever.
But I just almost wish that I didn't have to travel as much as I do. Because I'm just like I really want to just like be in one place for. I just really want to be an Amsterdam for like two or three months but that just never like I have at least one to two travels planned every month. Yeah. Which I don't mean. Especially in the season of like calmness and slowing down and stuff. It's almost like contradictory to that. But still I am it's all exciting things that like I've got planned and
I'm excited for London. So it'll be good. I'll just I'll you know really romanticize the heck out of it. That's the plan. I love learning in autumn. That in autumn is amazing. So it's my first time experiencing it properly. Okay. What about you now? Why some noise? I have a very similar height. Well not exactly similar. It has nothing to do with coffee but it just in terms of like finally well. So I don't know I have moved to London obviously.
And it's been just under two months now which is again crazy because it feels like yesterday we moved and I feel like so much has happened since we moved. So let's just spend. I know feel like you flipped there forever. You feel yeah fair enough. But I am really enjoying like making it feel like home and just like getting little bits and like home decorations and I don't know it's starting to feel really
homey and cozy. And exactly like you said like there's such it's like pride like you know I've had friends and stuff like I'm excited to show off not show off you know what I mean like be like this is it like this is what we sacrifice living in you before and like come see it and I want people to come see and stuff. So it's just been nice to like finally have a space that's like yeah okay
you are happy here. And I'm hoping it's not just the novelty of well we've just moved in everything's new and exciting like I'm hoping even a year from now or two will still be happy here. I'm so sure you will be. I think it's only going to get better. It honestly has just made me think like I don't regret living in Newbury but it's just made me realize how I guess much I missed out on living there because there's just so much more to do here and like people to see and things
like every day can be I think that's the thing I've been trying to do is treat every day as like you can still do stuff after work and make plans and stuff obviously I'm not trying to get overly exhausted but where is the newbie like that was not a possibility I could only make plans
on the weekend and most of the time no one was there you know so like if I had to make plans like people staying over and sleeping over for the weekend or like me traveling and stuff so even that was exhausting where is now I can enjoy like an hour after work of doing whatever and then
coming home to like my safe cozy cozy space. So yeah I mean it's still not perfect like I'm trying I'm gonna get rid of the sofa like we're gonna buy a new sofa um the kitchen still needs work on the tiny other bedroom needs work on but like we're slowly getting there and making it feel like home which is very very exciting um so yes I'm just I'm just happier which is good.
No and then in terms of my loy oh I guess another high another high is I'm out of my reading slump yes it's so happy because so basically I looked at I have a book tracker and I did not read any books in July like at all did not finish one book it's crazy but it's crazy and I don't know what
I I like I literally started a quarter of Thorn and roses in June and I only finished it in August but you've been taking breaks I feel like in but even from reading something else well kind of yeah so I started in June then didn't read it in July like didn't even pick it up and then I was
like oh shit our book club book so read the book club book and then went back to a quarter of Thorn and roses and stuff but basically I'm out of my reading slump which is good and I think my my little hack was I think I was just tired of reading the physical books and like I realized I
have less time to read now that I'm here so when I do read it's in bed and I find it harder to get cozy reading in bed if it's with a physical book because you have to like hold it in a certain way so I've been using my iPad to read which didn't think I would like but actually so cozy
and I'm reading so much faster now yeah and I'm now I'm tempted to get a kind of a kind of Kindle but because Kindle the problem with the iPad is that you're still like blue lighting yourself you know this is the thing I've noticed is I get my eyes get tired yeah quicker because Kindle
on a sea like I think it's such a good reading experience but I've done like a setting like I've done like a create a gray fade to the light so it's like better for your eyes I've made a black and white and I when I do use my iPad the brightness is on like the lowest yeah so it's okay the only
thing is this so it's quite big still yeah um but anyways that's a good hack if you're bored of reading or like if you're finding your struggle to get into reading physical books again try a little do like a little change because yeah what though that is a good tip because I feel like I've been
I had kind of the opposite like I for ever see gone back to the physical books now I'm back on the Kindle but after I think my holiday can feel like on the holiday like you obviously read so much you know so I was reading a lot on my Kindle and there was obviously like no other option and then
I came back and I was like god I really am craving just like the specialness of a physical book and I don't want to be relying on like the electronicness of it all so I'm actually kind of reverting back and I want to you know buy more physical books because I do think they're just so special
but then yeah on the flip side it's so much easier and faster to read when you're reading yeah like no I've not come any more or such and to be there I I'm so happy right now with what I'm reading like oh my god I am about I am a blaze what are you reading I am reading a fantasy series at
the moment oh yes and I people who listen to the podcast will obviously know that we're both big like fantasy readers I always have been an actor and forthwing and stuff I feel like we're series that really did like or you know anything to be honest like in the realm like thrown of glass
and they just really make you feel like you're in it you don't want to put or at least that's how they made me feel like I don't want to put the book down it's kind of like that Harry Potter nostalgic feeling of you're so invested in a world in the characters yeah you're just it really feels like
this other world that you get to step into and you're not questioning things about it or you know all those things because I was we were reading a book with book club which just happy doubting everything about anything it was so frustrating for me to read but anyways like belief is suspended
you know and I watched the book kind of wreck video of a youtuber called Darling Dezi who I feel like we've mentioned before I I think she's especially if you are trying to get in the autumnal vibe like give her channel a watch because she creates the most perfect seasonal magical
videos that just set a scene so well and they will get you inspired like 100% and she made a video about like her favorite books this year so far and her top three books were the lost story by make shaffer this series that I started reading and then another one I think it's called Anastasia
now and I want to read all of them because I do I think I have quite a similar book taste to her and I was like oh my god I I think I'm in the mood to get into another series and to give it another go a lot of series I feel like I've read since fourth wing I've just kind of been a bit
lackluster and like a little bit they just don't hit the spot as as much and this one it's called the Kindreds curse by pen coal put it in the description as well it's so good it's so good I do not understand why more people aren't talking about it can you give like a quick summary it's about
a world where they're like it kind of mortals were living their like normal human beings were living there and then gods came like they were kind of like banned from their world and they ended up in in this world and they actually kind of like took over obviously but they made it with human
beings are nine gods and then they're descended like their children yeah obviously like you know demi gods in such but they then split the realm in kind of nine parts and all demi gods have like kind of different abilities like whether it's like mind reading or flame wielding or you
know they'll be able to like communicate with plants or healing whatever whatever yeah but now a lot of time has passed and the gods their intention was for mortals and descendants like live in peace which is why they like they all had like mortal lovers you know and they really
wanted the realm to be peaceful but the descendants have obviously taken power and it ended up as a lot of you know things will always happen when people have too much power they've ended up in a massive power imbalance with mortals and others like a rebellion on the rise and there was a big
rebellion many years ago which ended very faithfully like for the mortal rebellion and that obviously made things even worse and our main character a DM bellator she grows up in like a mortal family and really is like lives in poverty and suffering and her she's a healer like her mother and then
obviously things happens and she meets the descendant like for the first time like the the royal family blah blah nothing it's as it seems blah blah blah blah blah yeah love it and it's great I wonder you like it because it's similar like it obviously it's not exactly the same but similar to
Akasara and some of like the different courts yes and like mortals and then the actual like and I was at the beginning I was like oh is this like the first half of the book or the first like three quarters of the first book I was like oh is this just gonna be a cliche type of trope
and I was kind of predicting certain things to happen and I was like oh obviously this is like and I kind of was like oh yeah I'm knowing like I know what's gonna happen but actually it surprised me and it's not super predictable and then the second was just amazing amazing and now the
third is just amazing amazing amazing amazing and it's a thousand it's a thousand pages so I'm just so excited I don't want it to end I do not want it to end I'm like that's so long I mean I'm now I started this year so big last week and I'm already on the third yeah that's insane it's just I cannot
stop I cannot stop I cannot stop I cannot stop I cannot stop okay I'm gonna add that I need to finish the actor series first yeah you do and then I will read it I'm on the second one I'm getting there this one is only three so actually it's kind of short and I'm kind of upset about it because
is it the last of the series or will she make another I think it's supposed to be a trilogy but I'm gonna have to look into it when I'm done because I don't want to like accidentally read any spoilers by now it's it's not that like popular yet like I haven't seen anyone talking about it before I
saw but I feel like you're ahead of the game always like you put if you put look at our book wrecks uh highlights on our Instagram you could see that Leo posted about the actor series in like 2021 before the hype so you know well let's just trust Leo
it's what we're saying anyone if anyone reads this please let me know because I want to like talk to someone about it and I haven't found it yeah okay I will read it I promise you um can I give my controversial opinion about actor so far please do please do we're here for the controversy
I think I'm not scared to say um the first book was cute but it was very slow like the first 200 pages I could not get into I was like okay where is this going what is this gonna what is gonna happen but the ending it all kicks off like there suddenly you're like there's a hundred things
happening you get into it okay I'm on the second book now I think this is actually just generally like I've realized I'm not a big fan of this in general but like smart is good sometimes but I don't know what it is with books nowadays every single book is like I feel like it's literally
porn yeah on a page which I think is fine but I prefer like the tension and the beforehand like I literally like skip like quick read when it's like oh his fingers and this this this I'm like okay skip his I don't care about it his wings oh my god I but it's like so detailed and like I
like it sometimes but it's when it's like every other chapter yeah I just I don't I don't know and everyone's like on I'm on TikTok where everyone's like oh my god yeah like talking about then I'm like I don't like for me actually the part that I'm enjoying more is this is the storyline
yeah I think I'm very tired or like the tension building yeah the tension like the tension I love so much more before they even kiss I'm like love it love it love it love it yeah as soon as they they kiss and then it goes into literally explicit details of what they're doing I
do not care for it no I think that's fair I think you're gonna love the Kindreds curse like it's so slow burn like they haven't even had sex I'm on the third book good I prefer that and yeah it's they I think that's why I like that likes upon our kisses or something yeah that's
cute I think that's why I like the ones upon a working hard series as well because they they just kissed yeah but I felt like the tension so much more in that book I used to really love smart I'm not going to lie and I I think I really enjoyed that aspect as well about like Akatar and
throwing up glasses less smart as well so that's maybe also a note for you a few of you want to read that series yeah but I do understand I feel like once you get to a certain point of reading more and more smart books it does feel a little bit not cheap but it's like okay yeah
it's like I know what like I get it it's kind of like with the fourth wing series like the first book I thought it was a good amount like it was still very smutty but then iron flame I literally skipped chapters well not skipping you know like yeah right then quickly because I knew it was just
gonna be like five pages yeah of just like smart that I think yeah if it's just smart for smart sake I do not I think yeah can be less I mean if it's just because you know what's gonna get you certain readers you know or like get hype on TikTok then I think it's a bit pointless not
saying like obviously Sergei mass wrote all these books like before TikTok even like yeah exactly yeah exactly and but I do think that if it like for example if it's like the slow burn or like the enemy lovers like I do think sometimes smart has its place and like it does add to like the
excitement and like the tension building and stuff to be fair I think it depends on the book as well because I read I read every summer after and the summer one is that the summer will be different and both work quite smarty but I enjoyed it more because it was about like the whole book was
about their romance and will they will they not what's gonna happen you know but then I think well I think what I find it hard to like fantasy books is like they say things like oh she growled or I don't know it's like I'm like then picturing like an animal having sex
like it's really weird that's what I mean you have to suspend your disbelief maybe I've just been I've been too into this world for such a long time like I I don't even see it as a weird thing anymore like I'm just I think I'm just like I know when she's the she like like literally she'll
be like oh he when he like oh he purred I'm like I don't know so maybe I enjoy smart more when it's in romance books yeah rather than when it's in like fantasy books for just for the sake of smart but if it's like necessary for the movement and the development of the characters
and fair enough again I think another series that I want to recommend to everyone especially going into autumn I already recommend this to you Cara but again speaking of the no smart realm but still I wouldn't even say it's romanticy to be honest the Emily Wilde series yeah
and it the first one's called Emily Wilde's encyclopedia of fairies it's so cozy fantasy there's a little bit of romance but there's literally no smart whatsoever like but I'd it's not missing there like it just feels perfect as it is I think I like some smart but it's just like not
not like six seven pages of it ongoing yeah I understand that that is fair I think also I've been used to smart from a very young age like I grew up reading my like the females in my family have always read like historical romances by like Julia Quinn etc like similar authors like
are like if you don't know Julia Quinn she's the author of the Bridgerton series and if you haven't read those books you probably wouldn't know that they are even smarter than the films like this films really aren't anything in comparison to those books so I almost had like my first experience
with like sex wasn't porn it was like those books and how which I actually think is quite a beautiful way to like because it's obviously very female gay is driven versus like male gay is but so yeah I feel like I'm just almost not immune to it but like no but you're probably right because
I have never been exposed to like the first smarty book I read was like a calling Hoover book like two years ago oh yeah so it's very new very new to me it's so funny though because I took a picture of one of the one of the pages and I sent it to my sister being like when I say I'm reading this is
really and and she was like why does this remind because she said she used to watch not watch she's to read like fan fiction what part like like Larry so Louis and Harry and she's like why do I feel like I've been transported back into my one direction days or I also used to read those
fanfics I was not for that I used to read 14 yeah god I was so innocent I didn't know this world existed that was very educational to be fair I understand I think you can't read it out of context you can't think about it too much otherwise it is going to cringe you out like I hate I'm on that
side of threads we're like I get notifications for things or where it's like just like one line of a book or something and it's like something really smart and I'm like I don't want the whole premise of the book to just be that like that's a big about that yeah I don't know I mean that's true I
think that what's good about no Tino Shade whenever you like to read is completely fake yeah yeah game it no this is just my my opinion but I think what makes it good in these books is actually how the plot is actually really good so it's worth worth it I don't have a low we can skip it oh my
god true okay that's good wow look at us there we go you know something else that I want to mention another high but I'm thinking a shared high it's the last episode that we just uploaded with Lauren and if you haven't Lauren Martin author of book of moods and if you haven't listened to it I
just want to strongly advise you to listen to it because that interview like whilst I was editing it I was like listening back to things and I was just like wow I feel like she said so many amazing things like I was kind of in a slump before like I was super tired as I remember before that cold
it was so reinvigorating we felt so much better yeah I also reread the book for the call so I recommend rereading it as well or if you haven't read it do read it because it's just it's such a feel good book yeah and you just feel like you're not alone and you're just like talking to all
women out there that are going through life yeah so if you if you find like our like the emotional sides are like us sharing insecurities like that type of thing quite relatable you are going thinking yeah you are going to love her book and obviously you're gonna love that episode
because you talk about it with her okay so it was a video episode which we're doing yes a bit more of which is good please bear with us like well the editing might be not as smooth as like our audio episodes because we're kind of still figuring it out but he he hope you patience leave also you
know what I'm very excited about the perfect couple which is a book that I read like earlier this summer by Eden Hilderbrand is coming out in like three days as a limited series on I think Amazon Prime or Netflix I've kind of forgotten which of the two with Nicole Kidman and it looks amazing
like the series looks so good and the the book itself I can also highly recommend like it's a very fun I think end of summer read would be good it's technically a summer read but I think because it's got like the mystery vibe I think it could still be good one for this time of year yeah
I mean I rated it 3.5 so it wasn't like best book ever but I did enjoy it kids do you do you want to give a your favorite your top three books that you've read this summer or do you want to do this year because I mean I've read now I'm on my 30 second I would love to do that
you're in your 50 second yeah you oh my god you've read more than double me it's also not I feel like it's about also how much more you're reading now than last year yes you know it's not a race I it's not a race at all not a lot of books last year um okay my favorite books okay three
of my top favorite books I'm actually I'm gonna do summer go on okay I really enjoyed the summer job by Lizzy Dent should I give it quick description yeah I haven't read that one so I'm keen to hear okay it's about this girl for her name the main character but it's about this girl who um
it's kind of just like going through life she's not she doesn't have a job that she loves she doesn't really know who she is you know what she wants to do their life and she has this best friend that's a similar year so like wine tasting yeah expert and her friend decides to like
go on uh this romantic trip to Italy to like chase after this boy but she had this like summer job lined up to be a familiar at this like Scottish restaurant which was supposed to be like run down and she just did it to get kind of experience whatever and so she tells her friend can
you just phone them and let them know that I'm not coming anymore but instead of the friend doing that the friend decides to have a little summer where she can escape and she pretends to be her friend does the friend know she's pretending no no that's kind of a red one that's kind of bad
Loki it is kind of bad well she feels bad about it and she wants to say but in her mind she's like oh it's a run down restaurant like it wasn't anything fancy like you know it was just a job to get through the summer um that's how she justifies it in the book yeah but then she shows up to the
restaurant and actually they've had like massive renovations and they were just like doing this massive opening um and so she wanted her friend's career no literally it's not a it's not a joke um so then she has to pretend to know what she's doing whatever but then she meets people there she meets
the chef you know how a real man's pretty cute but it's basically she discovers a lot about herself through this experience um and it's just really cute and the way they describe the food in the environment in the setting it's all just like very beautiful like it's really beautifully
described so I just enjoyed I read that while I was on holiday in Jordan so I was very like on the beach reading it well on the pool side reading it so really good book and then you find out actually the place is a lot more interconnected than you think like it's not just some random like
Scottish hotel or whatever there's like a reason she applied to go there and you find it out later on in the book oh okay so that was really good I I also recommend every summer after actually I've already mentioned it but that is basically it goes I think it's like seven summers
it just goes into the it's like a past and future book goes into the past of her like meeting this guy she they had like a summer cottage somewhere and she meets the neighbors of the cottage um obviously she's like a teenager and it goes through like them being young and discovering each other and friendship and um you find out in the future that they no longer talk and she's actually returning I don't know spoiler basically she has to be reconnected with him in the future so you
go from like them not speaking for a decade and reconnecting in the future to then tapping into them actually being really close friends in the past really sweet premise of a book just really cute like falling in love yeah it gave me a reminder of the summer I turned pretty just without
it's described and stuff people don't like the plot twist at the end I didn't care too much for it like I wasn't that upset by it that it put me off the book I just thought it was really feel cute feel good book so I recommend that and then I would recommend the seven year slip that I
told Leo that might be my favorite book of the year wait I don't know what it was about this book I was just like hooked from start to finish everything the way that she describes her aunt um you know the way the book discusses grief the way the book has like a magical realism element of like time it's not really time traveling it's like time slipping um the apartment's like I don't know it was just like a perfect book um so I highly recommend those three books
what about you? I have to echo you on the seven year slip I think that's the best romance I've read in a really really really long time like definitely this year maybe even longer than that I just think it was so special I also can't quite put my finger on you why because I think
the story is quite unique in terms of like the magical realism of like there's you know like time travel and it's set in New York and it also goes through like her finding herself like her own career path and but there wasn't I don't know it was just the writing of it all I think was so
yeah special I don't know I made me feel and my character is weren't cringey no yeah like their connection was like real you know yeah it felt really real I also don't think it was that predictable like obviously you know the you know main characters are gonna end up together it's gonna be happy
ending obviously wouldn't be otherwise it wouldn't be romance but apart from that I don't think it was a very predictable story also that's what the characters made the past affecting the future yeah they were part of it where I'm like we how does this work though how was like yeah
her going to the past gonna affect the future and stuff like that so yeah it's you're a bit like oh how's this gonna turn out it's very thought provoking yeah I think it was amazing if you're looking for something to make you feel good like you're looking for a feel good movie like almost
like about time type of thing yeah which please watch that movie if you haven't already or rewatch it it's always always a good one and then I think this book is is it and I think that's kind of doesn't matter what time of year you read in like it's kind of across it all then okay my other
faves I'm just going through like my list emmy wild encyclopedia theories already mentioned it it's about a I think I've already given a description of it in the podcast I think I have let me have a go for it yeah in short it's about a professor a female professor at Cambridge and
her subject of study is dry a dology don't know if I'm pronouncing that right but that's the study of theories again obviously you know it's a fantastical world where there's elements of the real wood in it like Cambridge exists and one of her fellow professors is someone that ends up joining
her on this kind of field trip that she needs to do this excursion that she needs to do like to the north of Europe where she is kind of investigating the specific type of theories which is kind of the last part of what she needs to complete her encyclopedia theories which is
the first work of that sort ever published and the book is written as an academic journal so again it's quite a unique style of writing and there's footnotes and all of it which I think is it was just it made it very fun to read her dynamic with her and the fellow professor is very
engaging very endearing her interactions with like the whole village are very sweet and the fantasy element feels very very thought out like it feels like she's really put the into it because of like the academic aspect there's a lot of like background to you know the different the fairy worlds of
it all like the different types of theories it's not just like oh this is a fairy like no there's so much thought to it and they're not just like good or bad you know there's there's layers as complexity to it I think it's great um and then to be honest it might be the current series that
I'm reading that's kind of boring because I've already talked about all of those let me try and think what about one from like earlier on this year that you're on a little life also was one of the best books I've read or one of the most impactful books but I don't really want to recommend it
to be honest heartless hunter is another amazing fantasy book that's the other one that I've enjoyed the most this year um by Kristen Chicarelli or something I don't know how to pronounce her name but that's also great and that's the first in a series which the other ones haven't come out yet.
I tried to find it in water zones and I couldn't it's I think it may have a different name as well in the English version so maybe check I don't know why but I think they've changed it because I was also confused because I saw like two copies next to each other by the same author but they had
different names and they were the same book just the different um people also I read Jane Air this year which I thought was really really amazing and I do want to read a bit more classics I'm very excited because for a book club we're reading love in the time of cholera which
is like kind of like a more modern classic I would say yeah have you skimmed through the book though because I don't think there's like clear chapters it's like I think they're like really long that's what I've seen I don't think it's like a book where there's like six pages in
a chapter I think it's just like paragraphs after paragraphs oh my god it's worth though because I've seen quite good reviews on it as well yeah I've seen okay we can talk about it when we read it as well oh my god because I've seen one review where it's was like they don't like that the male
character is being romanticized oh interesting but I don't know any context into why like they said that so anyways I'm excited to read that that's our book club book if you guys want to join that's what we're reading yeah thanks is always in our description then the last one it's just I finished
this series this year I've been reading it very very slowly which is the my brilliant friend series by Elanepherent and I finished it beginning of this year and it was yeah oh my airpods are dying that's bad okay I think maybe this is a sign that we need to wrap it up yeah I have been
getting a lot of work emails I'm not gonna lie oh one of maybe the next episode we want to do is about our autumn TBR so please send us any and all recommendations that you have read or want us to read so we can share our reviews with you and just any general recommendations for
this autumn series we have asked people on Instagram both there's anything specific you'd like to see let us know activities you want us to do places to be places to be music about and films to watch tell us everything things to eat things to bake things to make tell us how to live our lives please
I'm just so excited so excited favorite season has begun and honestly I'm feeling so much better already I can't even lie it's something about it it just hits just it's so happy beginning of autumn I know that it only officially begins in the 22nd of September but who gives a buck to be quite
perfectly honest I feel like summer is over autumn is as soon as it's September August is like the tipping point where you're like can I start feeling autumn and then you know that's when August by a tanner shift comes out you listen to it a couple of times to get in the mood and then as soon as it's first of September that's it you can officially I guess the way you're okay on that note we hope you enjoyed on that off note um we'll speak to you soon and thanks for listening bye bye bye