Tag: review

Books I am Unhauling in 2022 Part 1

.Reading time 15 minutes.

Hey hey, it’s MJ,

            I was not sure if I was going to reveal the books that I was unhauling before the end of the year, but at this point it’s something like 20 at the end of July so I will be doing a January-June post and a July-December post. I will probably have less in the second half because most of the books I am unhauling are from my TBR, not the books I am buying and mood reading. I think there has been one this year from that list that I am unhauling. 

            This was kind of the reason to have a TBR pile, to pick 50 books from the ones that I currently own and read them. I want to weed out books from my permanent collection that I don’t want in my permanent collection. I have two full bags in my living room of books from last year and books from previous years that I have decided to part with. If I made TikTok’s I would for sure make a video on this because let’s be real at this point my blog is a lot more book centered than anything else and I can’t say I am upset about it. 

            Another quick note, I might decide to unhaul more books from the beginning of the year as we get closer to the end, I don’t know yet so if that happens, I will add them to the second half of this post set. 

            All of these are my personal opinions, if you love these books, I love that for you, reading preference is subjective and you might hate the books that I love. That’s what’s cool about reading, we all can read and enjoy what we want. So, don’t come on here and tell me that you loved the book and I’m awful. Even my reading preferences have changed since last year, so roll with me.

            So, like I said, I am unhauling a bunch of books and I am just going to mention them and the reason why and then move on, I will link all of them back to their original reviews if you want to have more information. That’s going to be so much of a pain when I get around to posting this, well that’s okay, it’s for me to worry about and you to click if you want to. 

            I’m doing it by month, I changed my mind so I can just link the month because work smarter not harder or whatever. We’re doing it live. 

January: 

The Runaway Princess by Hester Browne

            I don’t remember much of this book; I had to go back and look at the blog post. It was boring and a lot of threads were just not pulled together right. It was super predictable and it did not age well from when it was published. It was cute, but not enough for me to keep. 

Buffering by Hannah Hart

            I know that people aren’t going to be happy about that one. I was not the target audience for it. I liked My Drunk Kitchen for a long time but I was also more into YouTube at the time. I have several YouTuber books that I have gotten rid of over the years and some that I loved. This one just wasn’t for me and that’s totally cool because it will speak to someone else so much louder than it ever could have for me. 

In the Shadow of Paris by Claude Izner

            It was like the second or third in the series and I was confused and bored. I don’t remember the mystery or any of the characters, there was no impact for me. The formatting and character shifts were confusing as well and just something that I couldn’t jive with. 

February:

Hiddensee by Gregory Maguire

            I thought it was going to be something very different, I love The Nutcracker, I didn’t like this one. The pacing was weird and I spent a lot of time confused. So much time confused. 

Radio Girls by Sarah-Jane Stratford 

            Interesting concept, didn’t expect the espionage and it’s based in true events. I said in my first review of this I expected more radio less espionage and that is still true. It wasn’t for me and that’s totally cool I promise. 

March: 

Yes I am aware that’s not in focus, that’s how little I cared for the book.

Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz

            This book had so many things that give me the ick and apparently that was not how the movie went. Like I have read some bad books this year, this one is in the top five and it’s going, it’s going no matter what. I wasn’t engaged and I was so lost and frustrated with all the tropes that were thrown in.

April: 

Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase

            I liked this book, but it’s not permanent collection material. It was a good one time read though there was a moment where it almost got thrown across my office, we don’t support incest in this house! 

Delicious by Ruth Reichl

            The ending was disappointing and terrible, the love story was weird, the main character was annoying and I just didn’t like it. It had some fun bits but for the most part it was annoying. I loved so much of it but the last 75 pages or so ruined it and I do mean ruined it for me. 

May: 

The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma

            I should have DNFed this one. I hated it, it had so much potential but it was lies and not fantasy and I didn’t like it. It triggered me from the first page and I was so against DNFing at the time I let this throw me into a book slump. I already put the second one in my donation bag not even cracked open. 

The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

            When I bought it, I would have enjoyed it, it was annoying. Too much useless and needless drama and it was William and Kate, but she makes out with his brother. There is a second one, I don’t care about it. There were times I was cry laughing but then there were times I was reading ahead. If it was like half the pages with about half the drama, I probably would have been really on board with it. 

In Falling Snow by Mary-Rose MacColl

            I enjoyed parts of it, I really did but I was so confused through others. I spent a lot of time wondering exactly when in the present it was and you find out all the family drama that just is insane. Like so many twists and I loved the historical part, the rest of it was just ehh for me. 

June: 

The Sleeping King by Bill Flippin and Cindy Dees (DNF)

            I don’t DNF books we all know this. I got like 4 chapters in and I couldn’t keep going, like the forced breeding that is implied, I couldn’t. I was done. It was like someone’s D&D game threw up. I didn’t like it. I have already put the whole series in my donate bag. 

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary

            It was cute, I wouldn’t read it again and I didn’t love it enough to keep it. It had a lot of really cute moments but I got triggered by Tiffy’s ex and then the miscommunication trope just didn’t do it for me. Leon’s parts read like a TV script and it was odd, the prose just made it weird. 

The Long Dark Tea Time of The Soul by Douglas Adams

            It was interesting, but every time I read Douglas Adams, I don’t like it. I love it as a TV series or movie, but not a novel. The concept was interesting I just struggled through it. Dirk wasn’t actually in it all that much if felt like and the story with Thor and Kate was what kept me reading, nothing else. 

Sea of Lost Love by Santa Montefiore

            This one took months to get into it felt like. I read it quickly because it was a compelling story but there was just a lot of weird in it. The parts in Italy were the most fun, but still a little weird overall.

            I said this in my June post, just because I unhaul a book doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy it, I enjoyed a few of the books on here, but these are books that I don’t want in my permanent collection. I read a lot, I write even more, and I spend a lot of time in fictional worlds with fictional character so if I don’t love it, I don’t keep it. 

            Well, I will be back later in the week with another post, so until then, I hope that everyone stays safe, happy, and healthy out there.

            -MJ

March Book of the Month Review:

.Reading time 8 minutes.

Title: Dating Dr. Dil

Author: Nisha Sharma

Hey hey, it’s MJ,

            I saw this book on TikTok a while back, before it was a choice for book of the month and I immediately thought of a YouTube Sims 4 series that I used to watch. It brought a smile to my face. Which is completely unrelated to this review, but just a bit of general knowledge about me as a person. 

            By now everyone knows that I have a weird relationship with romance novels, it should be no shock that I chose it though because I love a good enemies to lovers rom-com romp and this for sure was that. 

            This book was great, I really enjoyed it even though I am not a part of the culture, so some of the things were lost on me. I laughed a lot though and I hope there are going to be more because I can see some future couples from reading this book. Also, according Goodreads it’s #1 in the ‘If Shakespeare was an Auntie’ series and that title amused me greatly. 

            Let’s set it up, Kareena Mann is a career driven 30-year-old (as someone who will be 30 in a couple of weeks, that is scary) who is single, and in the culture being single at 30 is frowned upon. I mean that seems to be a cultural norm for a lot of people and that’s not fair. 

            There is a lot of strife in the family and Kareena is treated poorly by the other members of her family, they are a lot, I can for sure tell you that. Some of the running jokes with the family are hilarious though. She throws a drink on a hot-shot doctor and then they fake date, which leads to real dating, which leads to things, and then fights, doubting, and then well it’s happily ever after. Also, I love Kareena’s friends; they are real and a lot and remind me of some of my friends. 

            Of course, the love interest is a lot also, a doctor who has a very guarded heart of gold who isn’t in touch with his feelings and at the beginning is kind of painted as an ass. You learn to like him, I promise. I can’t ever see the word Charlie the same though now because of this book. That’s just a thing, I am trying not to spoil it, but there are several scenes that qualify as spicy, I didn’t expect so much spice, but I should have expected it to be honest. 

            I was a fun little book though and I breezed through it, it was a little predictable because it’s romance and they have that formula, this one was fun though and I enjoyed it even though I was lost some times with the cultural stuff, that is no one’s fault but my own. I am not part of it, so I can look at it from the outside but not understand it from an inside perspective. 

            Like Well Met, this one almost gave me New Girl vibes but more Cici and Schmidt, I really enjoyed New Girl, it was a really good show. 

            Will I read the rest in the series if this is a series? I will, it was fun and I like the characters. The epilogue in this book was really well done, as an online advice column, sort and sweet, and left it completely open. That’s the epilogue I like, let me draw my own conclusions. 

            I loved that Kareena was hard working and expected a lot of people, also this book just proved to me that online dating is for sure not for me. I do wish that a little more credence would have been given to her job because being a lawyer for a startup to help found women owned businesses sounds super cool and I felt like it was a little glazed over. 

            I didn’t get around to posting my rating up top though, so we are going to get to that here, I gave it a solid 4.4. It was good and I cannot wait for the rest if there are more, it was fun and I love interconnected standalones so much. 

            Well, there it is, my March BotM, I go an add-on this month as well and that was The Cartographers, I will get around to reading it eventually, but not quite yet. 

If you want to check out the other Books of the Month that I have gotten this year, you totally can with January and February.

            I will be back later in the week with another post so until then, I hope that everyone stays safe, happy, and healthy. 

            -MJ 

Books I Read in January 2022

.Reading time 23 minutes.

Hey hey, it’s MJ,

            Something I learned last year was that I read a lot of books. A lot more than I usually do and I enjoy reading, I always knew that. Here’s the thing though; I only had six parts to this series last year because I did it every other month. There was a problem with that, some months I read 3 or 4 books or 9 but in December when I read like 14 and that means that my longest post was either part 4 or part 6 and that is a lot of books to cram into one post when I know it’s a lot to read. You can still go back and see what I read last year and proof that once I finish my TBR I solely become a mood reader is proved at the end of the year, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6. 

I am 100% aware of how long those posts were and I was not expecting to have posts that long. I was expecting to read 45 books and then I read over 70 and here we are in another year and this year my TBR goal alone is 50, plus my 12 Book of The Month books, and any other books that I want to read throughout the year so I have a lot of books planned this year. I know people who can read 100 books in a year and that boggles my mind. 

            So, this year I am going to be doing monthly posts about my reading habits. Y’all are going to be seeing a lot of book content and that’s just where I am right now. I love the fact that my blog while is lifestyle, lifestyle can literally be anything so here we are, on brand, on theme. 

            Like last year I have some TBR pile goals and I am going to do the break down first and as always there will be a tracker at the bottom because by now y’all know how much I love to track like everything, well I like to track things that probably aren’t super important to most, but I enjoy it. I am also keeping a Book Bullet Journal this year and you can see some of the content of that in the Intro post I did that is linked just above. 

            What do I plan on reading this year? Most of the books that are in these categories come from my current collection or books I bought in 2021. I have a lot of books and I am trying to dwindle my current collection before buying more. I have had a lot of them for a long enough time that they aren’t really my genre faves anymore, so I might as well read them and unhaul them if I don’t enjoy them.

Fiction: This is my largest category because let’s be honest, I read a lot more fiction than non-fiction and that’s just my scene so it’s okay.

            – 10 General Fiction, this has not changed from last year, I just doubled the number of books in it and that is going to be a common theme. I also feel like when you say general it’s more contemporary or whatever I want to read that doesn’t fit into other categories.

            – 10 Sci-Fi/ Fantasy, most of them are fantasy and about half of my planned Free Choice this year are also fantasy. It is very clear to me what my favorite genre outside of cozy mystery is. 

            – 10 Historical Fiction, self-explanatory, I have a lot of historical fiction in my collection and I have for a while so reading them sooner rather than later is probably a good idea on my part. 

            – 2 Thrillers, I actually really liked reading thrillers last year, but I don’t have enough in my collection to want to read more than two. 

            – 14 Free Choice, this is my flex category of books that I want to read that I can’t or don’t want to fit into a category, I thought this would be mostly cozies, but I ended up picking up several books last year that I really want to read as well as leaving some spots open for books coming out this year that I am waiting on.

Non-Fiction: 

            – 2 Autobiographies/Biographies/Memoirs, I just like to read about people, usually about people who I find really funny and this year is no different. 

            – 2 general non-fiction, one is a teaching related book the other is something fun and that is just want I want with non-fiction. 

Book of the Month:

            – 12, I mean, it’s going to be 12 there because that’s how many months are in the year, so it’ll just be my 12 BotM books. 

            Let’s get started! Also, this year because I am a literal idiot and didn’t do it last year (I might go back and augment every single post with the ratings), I am going to put my rating next to each book because why not?

Midnight Spells Murder by Mary Angela (3.5/5)

            This was the Once Upon a Book Club pick for Halloween of 2021, I got it on New Year’s Eve because well, shipping is awful right now and I didn’t want to wait to read it. It was a quick read, not my favorite cozy but the gifts that came with it were super fun. I probably will write a whole post on it at some point. It’s the second in the series so I was just a touch lost but it was good. The ending felt rushed to me which is weird for a cozy but this one was only like 203 pages which is also on the short side for books that I usually read. That is all fine, my longest book this year is like 700 something pages from my TBR so here we are. This one was a little magic and it was fun. 

The Velvet Hours by Alyson Richman (4/5)

            Well, I read The Paris Apartment by Michelle Gable in like 2016 and it is about the same apartment in Paris, I was a little worried when I realized that this was the same context because I didn’t end up really liking The Paris Apartment. This one was amazing; I loved the story how it switched by Marthe from the 1880’s to the present of the 1940’s and Solange who is her granddaughter living in the 1940’s. My favorite thing about all of this is that it’s a real place and a real painting that was discovered in like 2010 which is super interesting to me. This story was complex and vivid and I really enjoyed it throughout my reading. 

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab (5/5)

            I could not put it down, I read half the book in one day and it kind of broke me. It broke my heart just a little bit like all the best books do. I loved this book, I want I Remember You tattooed on me, I loved the characters and the story so much. It hurt, so much of it hurt but this book is one of those that will go on my favorite shelf. I love the writing style, the imagery, and how real it all feels to be trapped in the world where someone doesn’t remember you. I get it. I totally get it and I would love to read it again without knowing how it ends. There were so many moments where I was holding my breath and yelling at nothing because of what was going on. This book wrapped me up like a hug, a hug that is just a little too tight but you don’t want to let go because it feels good because you just need a good hug. 

Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins (3.6/5)

            I wrote a whole post about it and that will come out next because this was my first Book of the Month book for 2022, it was good, a little beach read thriller that went from 0-60 in like ten pages and left me with a few dozen questions. I am not going to spoil it but it felt very much like Clue to me but on a deserted island in the Pacific not a manor house. 

The Runaway Princess by Hester Browne (3/5)

            It was cute, I enjoyed it but I guessed the ending about 45 pages in. Which is frustrating because it hit a lot of those cliches and I walked into this book really looking forward to it and if I would have read it in 2014 or 2013 when I bought it; I probably would have been head over heels for it. It’s not so much that anymore, a prince to come and sweep you off your feet and then pretty much give up whatever for you. (I did that like touch because normally it’s the other way around.) I cannot judge a book in 2022 standards that was written in 2012 and it was cute but it left too many threads undone for me. It was made very clear that her sister had done something but you don’t find out what that is until about 45 pages to the end, maybe later and I felt like that rushed it, that it was just thrown in as a plot point. Her being normal, not super thin, a little weird, all of those were plot points to be almost mocked and I understand because of the royal aspect, but that was a lot for me. 

Buffering by Hannah Hart (3.5/5)

            I bought this when it came out and I watched a lot more YouTube at the time, I also loved My Drunk Kitchen. My tastes have changed since then and that’s okay. It was a good book, it talked a lot about struggling with mental health and as someone who deals with that one the daily, I get it. I have moved away from certain creators on the internet and that’s totally cool, I wanted to get it read and I did. This is just a book that’s not meant for me and that is also okay. It’s meant for a lot of other people and I hope those people find it. 

Love and Gravity by Samantha Sotto (4/5)

            This book was good, it was a lot though. I love a good time travel book and the crack in the wall very much reminded me of Doctor Who. I was totally cool with that. I did like all the twists and turns and everything that happened throughout. There was a huge plot twist that made the end of the book worth it, I was for sure going to say that I didn’t like the ending but it wasn’t too bad. I enjoyed the read and I did like how it went, it ended happily and its own way. It was a really quick read and that is not a bad thing but there were moments where I was slightly confused, also really sad. 

In the Shadow of Paris by Claude Izner (3/5)

            I was so confused, it’s my own fault because this is not the first in the series. It’s a mystery and it was fine but I know very little about 1890’s Paris. Also, the perspective shifted so many times I was getting lost. Not every book is for everybody and I know that, this one is not really for me. It was fine but I had no idea who did it until it was very suddenly revealed and I was even more confused because I just wasn’t keeping up with the story. I couldn’t keep up with who was talking at some points because there would just be a paragraph space and it would switch perspectives only to switch to someone else a page later. Not my favorite book and that’s okay. I could go back and read the rest of the series but I don’t want to, it was just a little too much for me. 

The Alienist by Caleb Carr (3.6/5)

            I wanted to watch the series so bad when it came out because it sounded so cool. I enjoyed the book it was just dense like a lot of turn of the century based literature is, it was written in the 1990’s so it’s not like it’s that old. It was a good story with compelling characters and I enjoyed it. It was a lot, but most books are a lot. It was a gruesome story for sure and that threw me for a few moments but this book took me almost a week to read. For me it’s usually about three days to read a book but this one took some time. It had some amazing treatment of mental health and psychopathy from that time period, not a lot was known about the human brain and reading it through the lens of today it was fascinating.

            I was hoping to have one more on here, but that was just not the case. It will be the first one on my February post and it’s a good one. I promise, if you are into fantasy and murder plots, it’s for you. 

            I only read nine books in January, I mean compared to last January I think I only read three or four, I shouldn’t complain about reading nine books but I have seen people on the internet who read like 20 in a month and I am like “How?” I also have a full-time teaching job and you know writing that I do so I don’t have the undivided attention that some people do for reading. I also don’t have the attention span or the want for sleep deprivation to stay up all night and read books anymore like I did when I was younger. 

            This post was supposed to come out sooner, but I wanted to try and finish a book and then we had some snow so I wasn’t home to take the pictures, so this is coming out later than planned, oops! I also was not home because it snowed so I was snowed in at my parent’s house and this idiot didn’t take any pictures before she left her apartment, so it’s quite a bit later than planned!

            I will be back later in the week with another post so until then I hope that everyone stays safe, happy, and healthy. 

            -MJ 

Let’s Keep Track Shall We?: 

General Fiction: 1/10 (The Runaway Princess)

Sci-Fi/Fantasy: 1/10 (The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue)

Historical: 2/10 (The Velvet Hours, In the Shadow of Paris)

Thriller: 1/2 (The Alienist)

Free Choice: 1/14 (Love and Gravity)

Memoirs/Autobiographies: 1/2 (Buffering)

General Non-Fiction: /2

Book of The Month: 1/12 (Reckless Girls)

Extras: 1/? (Midnight Spells Murder)

August Book of The Month Review:

.Reading time 7 minutes.

Title: Not A Happy Family

Author: Shari Lepena

Hey hey, it’ MJ,

         I know that some of you, if you read my Book’s So Far Part 4 post, will have seen a very short blurb on this book because I had this post coming out a few weeks later even though I read the book last month. 

         I read it in three days, I was not planning on reading it in three days, but I did. It kept me guessing from when the murders happened to the end on who actually did it. I was shocked.

         I gave this book a 4 out of 5 because I apparently like thrillers now. Who knew? I probably liked it most because it’s a murder mystery and everyone knows that I love a good mystery.

         If you are planning on reading it, skip this post because I will be spoiling like all of it. I won’t spoil the murderer, but I don’t plan on keeping all the spoilers out of this post. 

         The book is told from several perspectives, I would say roughly a dozen or so in total and that really added to the overall tension of the novel because it kept switching. It gave a full picture instead of being told by one narrator who is either a character or outside of the story itself. This was a good read and it did the omniscient perspective so well. 

         For some reason the phrase, ‘those who live in glass houses should not throw stones’ comes to mind and I cannot put my finger on why. You have an entire family that is being put through a murder investigation, all of them have secrets, and they all proceed to turn on one another. You are left wondering and guessing who actually did kill Fred and Sheila Merton.

         I cannot imagine having parents like that to be honest, but I have friends or at least people I went to school with who did have parents like that. Nothing was ever good enough for them. (My parents weren’t like that but my grandmother was, so I do get it on some level.) Competition and being measured up against your siblings builds animosity and that was a huge theme in this book. 

         Also with the subtle hints that their father was straight up a psychopath, that is proven in the book but I don’t want to spoil that. 

         You learn so much about the Merton kids, from the lies, the scandals, the problems that they all seem to be able to cover up because that is what society needs to see, that is what is expected of them. I wouldn’t want to live like that. 

         Like I said this book kept me guessing on who actually had committed the crime and I was shocked when it was finally revealed. The author throughout the book led the reader to contemplate several possibilities on who the murderer could actually be but the real murderer came out of left field and I was so surprised. 

         The ending itself did leave me with questions because it kind of goes unsolved in a way, or at least no one is prosecuted for it. I think that the Epilogue does give some potential for justice to finally be served and I would love to see that in novel form, to see the family have to live through it again after finding out who actually did it. I think that would be a really good sequel. 

         In truth, I wasn’t sure if I would actually like this book. I was wrong, I could not put it down. Because of the short chapters and how often it switches from character to character it keeps you engaged and flipping pages because you want to know if any of the suspicions are correct. 

         I cannot say that this book has a happy ending, it’s not meant to as books like this usually don’t. Everyone survives, that’s about all we get, it’s not happy, relationships and trust is broken and because the end skips a year we as the reader don’t really know how anyone is doing. We don’t know if their relationships have really survived or if they are working on their demons; it was clear in this book that everyone needed therapy. Like years and years and various kinds of therapy to get over the trauma. 

         If you like the pristine family that is really hiding like a mountain of crap, a murder, an investigation, and a whole bunch of lies folded in, this is for sure the book for you. 

         I will see everyone later in the week with another post, so until then I hope that every stays safe, happy, and healthy.

         -MJ 

July Book of The Month Review:

.Reading time 7 minutes.

Book: Half Sick of Shadows

Author: Laura Sebastian

Hey hey, it’s MJ,

         I have been thinking about doing book reviews passed my little blurbs that I write when I read a book normally. If this isn’t your scene, that’s totally cool. Also if you are planning on reading this book and you don’t want spoilers, scroll away.

         I decided that this year I have not actually purchased enough books and I have been thinking about doing Book of The Month for a few years now. I love the idea of getting a new book every month. I didn’t choose a July book, I chose one of the June books (Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian) because this book came across my Facebook feed in an ad and I loved the cover. I also really love the Arthurian legends so here we are. 

         I gave this book a 4.5/5, which is a very high score for me. I loved the bad ass ladies in this book. We all grew up with stories of King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, Morgana, and the Knights of the Round Table. We all grew up on it whether it was on TV with shows like Merlin, movies like Sword in The Stone, or books like The Once and Future King. I was exposed to all of these forms of the Arthurian legend and they stick with you. Knights, swordfights, magic, and destiny. Destiny and fate are very large themes in this book. You cannot escape your fate and destiny. 

         Elaine is a Seer, I think that would be an amazing but terrible power, to see all the possibilities of the future. I would like to know the future some days, but knowing that, knowing what would or could happen to the people you care about. That would kill me. I love the character though, she’s amazing and a powerful force that sits just behind Arthur. 

         Most stories tell you that Merlin is at his hand and has been since he was a child, in this Merlin is kind of sketchy. 

         I want to visit Avalon, I want to see it, the island beyond the mist. The one where the Fey live, I think it would be cool. You know that all of the people around Arthur are young, but I think even I forgot how young they were. We think of kings as middle aged or the most part, at least I do. You can disagree with me and that’s fine, but they are all young and they have so much on their shoulders. 

         There is for sure a trigger warning in this book and that is drowning and suicide, I really don’t see it as that in this case, it’s an escape a way to change things. If you read it you’ll see, it’s done beautifully. 

         The first line of the book hooked me, “I will die drowning; it has always been known.” That is such a powerful first line and I aspire in my writing to have that kind of first line! 

         It’s tragic, it’s heartfelt, it’s obligation and duty, it’s magic and manipulation, and it’s woven together beautifully. This book blends the past, present, and potential futures together without incident and with such care that nothing feels out of place. I want more. I know that the book has ended, but it left me wanting more. I love a good happy ending and this one doesn’t have a happy ending, it has an ending that leaves threads loose. There is nothing wrong with that, I loved it, but let left me wanting more. It did end a lot different than I expected it to, but it was a fitting end. I suppose the challenge to an author is to allow people to think one thing was going to happen and then throw all of your expectations out a window. I am totally cool with throwing all of my expectations out of the window when it comes to a book that I really enjoy. 

         The writing was beautiful and descriptive, I could picture places and almost hear what was going on on the page. I can lose myself in a book like that, I have a very vivid imagination. 

         I would recommend this to anyone who likes fantasy, Arthurian legends, badass strong female leads, and learning that sometimes fate and destiny, while binding, are not the end all be all. 

         I will be back later in the week with another post so I hope until then everyone has a great start to the week. Stay safe, happy, and healthy out there. 

         -MJ 

Once Upon a Book Club Sweet Halloween Unboxing and Review

.Reading time 8 minutes.

Hey hey, it’s MJ,

            Happy spooky season y’all, by the time this goes up it will be November 1st so after spooky season so welcome to 60% off chocolate season leading into Thanksgiving season but that is not what this post is about. This is about a really cool service and the fact that they make reading experiences immersive and who can be mad about that. All the opinions in this are my own I’m just willing to support brands and services that create things that I enjoy. 

            I found Once Upon A Book Club well over a year ago and my first box I purchased was their Sweet Halloween box last year and that book was Housewitch by Katie Schickel which took me a long time to read because last October and November was difficult for me, let’s be real all months are hard for me but I’m still kicking. But I loved that book when I got into it and the gifts were perfect, a pink scarf and mud mask and I have enjoyed both. 

            This year I decided that I wanted to write a post on the book I got this year which was 15 Minutes of Flame by Christin Brecher which is the third in the Nantucket Candle Maker Mysteries and if you think that I am not purchasing the first two you are wrong. (I will probably have them by the time this post goes live if I am lucky.) I devoured this book it was so good. I am a sucker for a cozy mystery and the story in this weaving Nantucket history and current affairs on the fictional version of the island. I loved it so much and I am excited to see the beginnings of Stella Wright in the first two novels and all of the rest that will eventually come out in the series. 

            Because this was the third in the series I did feel like I was missing some things so I want to rea the other two though I am no stranger to reading mystery series out of order I read like the 19th book in the Meg Langslow series by Donna Andrews first and then the 16th before I read the first one so I understand reading it out of order and needed to go back and meet the characters for the first time. 

            So what was the book about? The lead up to Halloween, a skeleton found in a wall of a 19th century chandlery, a murder near an old well, a mysterious map, a more mysterious map, and trying to unravel a mystery that happened over a century ago. 

It is for sure worth a read just in general, I will put this one my list for my Books Read This Year Part 4 which I expect to come out at the end of the year because I finished this book just a day after I posted the last one, (you can check out 1, 2, and 3.) 

            I don’t want to give too much away about the book but I will tell you about the gifts. On the page where you are to open your gift is a sticky note and it’s important not to open your gifts until you get to those pages and they were all late in the book so I had to wait to get them. 

            The first gift was a candle clock with a prominently featured throughout the book and it’s a really interesting concept so I am excited to actually give it a try, but I live in an apartment at the moment and I can’t burn candles so it will just have to wait until I get a more permanent place. 

            The second gift was a cup that has to do with a cup in the book and I kind of love reusable coffee mugs and this one has books on it so I cannot be mad at all about it. 

            The last gift was my favorite, in the book the group of women that come to the main character’s candle classes are called The Candeleer’s and they made cobwebs for the Halloween Haunts event and for the “cobwebs” it is a beautiful spiderweb shaped table runner which will fit perfectly on my bistro table next year when I have a chance to put it out before Halloween and I am so jazzed to have something really cool and kind of spooky to put on my table next year.

            So I think that this Halloween box is going to be a yearly tradition for me because I love the idea of this whole Once Upon a Book Club idea, eventually I would love to subscribe to their regular box or get their Advent Box one year but this year is not that year for either of those things. It’s such a fun concept and I love the suspense of waiting to open a gift that goes along with a book that I am reading. 

            If you like cozy mysteries give this one a read because it is totally worth it and I know that I am going to sink my teeth into the first two as soon as I can. 

            I hope everyone had a really Happy Halloween if you celebrate it and I hope y’all have a great start to November and I will see y’all mid-week with a new post. 

            -MJ 

Good Omens: A Witty and Only Sometimes Serious Mini-Series

.Reading time 11 minutes.

Hey hey, it’s MJ,

So I am late to the party, I have been walking around like a zombie for a week or so now but I did manage to binge the entire limited series Good Omens on Amazon Prime. I feel like I am making my blog what I want and sometimes that’s not just beauty, sometimes it’s really interesting things that I watch on TV and Good Omens was amazing. I am not the first to review it, there are probably better, more put together, and more insightful reviews other places on the internet but this is my review and I’m sticking to it. 

            I mean, it’s going to have spoilers, if you haven’t seen it; don’t read it. If you don’t plan on watching it or you don’t care I will see everyone on Sunday with a different post. 

            I have been waiting for its Amazon release for a while now and I was so happy when it came out that I didn’t waste any time watching it. Now I didn’t watch all six episodes in one night, I stretched it from Friday night to Sunday night because I wanted to savor the story. I am going to say this right here right now, I have not read the book yet; I own it but I have yet to read it and since I am packing to move it’s going to be at least another month before I can sink my claws into the novel. 

            The show itself is quirky and the characters are very well played by their respective actors. I mean I now want a 1930’s Bentley that survives on sheer power of will and only plays Queen. It interweaves so many overlapping storylines and brings all of them to a crescendo so beautifully. 

            I am a huge Doctor Who fan so having one of my favorite doctor’s playing a slightly annoyed at all times demon was such a win in my book. 

            The dynamics of heaven and hell play off each other so well in this series that is the lead up to the apocalypse, both sides wanting a war and only two celestial beings, a band of children, a witch, and a witch finder can seem to solve. 

            Now I am not going to make comments on the similarities and differences from the book to the live action adaptation because I cannot make those connections, maybe one day I will do an in depth read through and watch over comparison but at this moment, I sadly am unable.

            I loved all of the Easter Eggs throughout the show that harkened back again to Doctor Who, many have been pointed out on Tumblr and more than likely many other social sharing platforms, I really enjoyed the small Easter Egg of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods novel being read in the series as well. 

            Cinematically is was stunning, blending so many different settings, time periods, styles, and characters into this fully amazing and realized tapestry of a masterpiece. 

            There is quite a bit of swearing, some violence, and some mildly explicit content so if you have aversions to any of those things, this may not be the show for you, I am going to give you that warning on the show right here and right now. 

            So what’s it about? For those of you who might be a little interested but aren’t convinced yet: 

            Good Omens follows an angel (Aziraphale) played by Michael Sheen and a demon (Crowley) played by David Tennant in the bringing and the coming of age of the anti-Christ, they are a bit bumbling at their jobs because they have both been on Earth since its beginning and 6,000 or so years is a long time. It follows them from the bringing to the week of the child’s 11th birthday, the whole show pretty much is contained in that one week in the lead up to the apocalypse. There are tangents showing the building of Crowley and Aziraphale’s relationship. (I will leave that up to interpretation.) Now as the time counts down heaven and hell are both on edge for a fight while our heroes? Anti-heroes? Saboteurs? I don’t know what you want to call them try and prevent the end of the world. They are not alone in the quest to make sure that the world doesn’t end but they are also opposed by the four horsemen (who ride really awesome motorcycles if I do say so myself) and the powers that be in their respective dimensions of the heavens and the underworld. As the boy comes into his power he starts to create things, things from his imagination come into being and it begins to start a global panic. While the main characters are trying to find the boy, there is a witch who goes to the village where he lives and tries to find him because of prophesies written some 400 years prior and a witch finder looking for her as well as the boy, that was a great sub-plot over all I must say. I’m not going to spoil the ending, except to say, when in hell ask for a rubber duck.

            It’s a fun watch and something that keeps you riveted from the first moment of narration to the very end frame and I will be watching it again at some point soon. (I also binged both seasons of Dirk Gentley’s Holistic Detective Agency this weekend so I was on a books made into shows kick. Such a good show, so short lived, can we get that back for the not so large audience who wants to know what happens next and see the rest of the Black Wing associated projects. Like I am raising my hand hoping beyond hope that someone picks it up even though it’s been off for two years and now I am rambling in a sidebar instead of finishing my review, my bad.) 

            Back to what I was saying, Good Omens was a great show, it really and truly was. I am not a critic so I don’t try and find fault in shows I sit, I watch, and I enjoy. It is one of those shows that you could watch over and over again and catch new and different things and because it is based off a book I now have the opportunity to go and read the book as well so I get even more insight and understanding into maybe some of the things that I didn’t fully understand from the show. 

            So if I have convinced you to give it a chance, awesome, I hope that you are not disappointed. If you don’t like my opinions, awesome, that’s why we have opinions. If you have already seen it, awesome, I want to know your thoughts! 

            Anyone have any suggestions on shows I should binge watch or just casually watch? 

I’ll see everyone Sunday with another post, I hope everyone has a great end to this week and I will see you then!

            -MJ

May BirchBox Unboxing

.Reading time 7 minutes.

Okay so I am trying to get back to my regular posting schedule and let’s be real, sometimes that works better than others. I got my Birchbox last week and I have been having mixed feelings about it. 

            I already reviewed my box on the website because I honestly wasn’t feeling this month’s box. I know I have been saying this for the last few months and I feel like I am starting to sound like a broken record but this may be one of my last boxes. I am going to get June’s box and see if their algorithm has changed at all with my added reviews from this month. 

            I am going to dive straight into the products, I liked the box it was nice but I am more focused on the products this month. It was six items again this month but I still had NO tracking information to know when my box would be at my apartment.

            Arrow Enhance Waterproof Eye Brightener:

            I don’t wear eyeliner, I haven’t since about 2008 at the end of my emo phase. I have never put any eyeliner in my waterline because I have a thing about getting pointy things close to my eyes. I can imagine using this for a wing if I could do those either but I cannot. I think that eyeliner is great but it’s just not for me. So this product was a no for me.

            Beauty Protector Protect & Detangle: 

            I rarely put any product in my hair besides shampoo and conditioner because I don’t like how my hair feels when it is full of product. My conditioner does a great job of detangling my hair so I just don’t use products like this. Again, this was kind of a no for me, I just don’t feel as if this one was relevant to me.

            Coola Classic Moisturizer:

            I have a full sized Coola sunscreen; I actually have two. I like the brand I like the product but I already have so much of it that this was kind of a letdown for me. I like that it’s fragrance free and it would be good for travel but other than that I don’t mind this one.

            Jane Iredale Just Kissed Lip and Cheek Stain: 

            It adjusts to your skin and it turns into a nice shade so I don’t mind it but I am not usually someone who uses a multi-purpose stain or even stains in general, they are just not up my street. Nice shade and would love some lipstick this color so this is a maybe at most for me. 

            MAC Cosmetics In Extreme Dimension Mascara:

            I love mascara but I have so much of it, I feel like in most of the subscription beauty I get there seems to be a lot of mascara involved and I know that is partly because there is a lot out there and I am looking forward to trying it because I like MAC but I haven’t gotten to use much of it. Again a maybe from me. 

            Wilma Schumann Skin Care Hydrating Collagen Eye Pads: 

            I have gotten into eye masks recently so I was actually really excited to get these, I think this was the highlight of my box. I am looking forward to trying them out, this was the only product in the box that I was presently surprised with. 

            Well that’s about it for this one, I am taking stock of this service and I have been mildly disappointed in it for a few months now, I know they are making changes to the service and maybe I just need to put this on pause for right now while they work out their service and get everything going with their new changes and new products. 

Want to read my last couple of reviews for Birchbox? Click on the month you want to read, January, February, March, and April !

            Do you subscribe? Did you have a favorite product this month? How are you feeling about the changes?

            I’ll see everyone on Saturday or Sunday, I hope everyone has a great week!

            -MJ

Fall fabfitfun Unboxing

.Reading time 10 minutes.

 

Well I got this box almost a month ago and I have been in another world when it comes to actually writing and posting the blog itself. My bad, I loved the box itself and I must say these boxes do not disappoint, if you want to read what was in my Summer Box, you can read that by clicking on the link. Like the last unboxing I am not going to tell the value of my box but the box is valued at anywhere between roughly $286-$376 dependent on the selections and items in the box that you receive. This box runs $50 each season and getting full sized products is great because it gives you a chance to try the beauty items for an extended period of time and enjoy some really cool things that aren’t per say beauty related.

 

IMG_8304.jpegThere were a few things that I chose for this box because of my personal preferences. I will get to those later though, first of all was a set of Glam Glow Bubble Sheet Masks, now I have been meaning to try out Glam Glow products for a while now and I feel like sheet masks are such a good way to go when you want to test a brand for their skin care products. Because I have such sensitive skin sometimes that is how I test brands and I have found in the past that it works pretty well. Trial sizes or travel sized products work as well to get the same effect because you can see if your skin has a negative reaction to something without purchasing a full sized product and then not being able to use it.

 

 

IMG_8305.jpeg

 

 

Next was the Skin & Co. Blue in Capri shower gel, it smells great and I am a hoarder of shower gels and soaps. If it goes in the bathroom and makes things smell nice I hoard it. I have never heard of Skin & Co. before but I am excited to use it because I love the smell. It is a very light almost floral scent. According to the fabfitfun magazine the scent notes are wild sage, lemon, and alpine rose, so it is a light scent that has an undertone of freshness as well.

 

 

 

IMG_8306.jpeg

 

Now this is something that I kind of touched on in my Foundation Application post from a few months ago where I said I didn’t want to spend $20 on a Beautyblender and then in this box there was a beautyblender and I was actually rather happy for that because it gives me a chance to have my first ever on brand beautyblender. I am actually not going to even open it at the moment because I have other beauty sponges that I already have open. I however am excited to use this to see if it really is worth all of the hype that beautyblender gets from fans.

 

 

IMG_8311.jpeg

 

The last item that was in every box was a set of tea towels in a modern geometrical grey and white from Simply Whimsical and I love tea towels, these are already in my kitchen, they are currently in a drawer but they are so cute. I really like getting homeware items in these boxes beyond the beauty items as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of the items were choices or options where some boxes had certain items and others had the other options, I don’t know how else to put it. Two of the following options I chose and the others were picked for me.

 

IMG_8308.jpeg

 

I have the iPhone X and so I do not have a headphone jack on my phone and that means that either I have to have wireless headphones or I have to use the adapter that came with my phone to actually use headphones. Well in this box one of the options was either an umbrella or wireless headphones and I left it up to chance on what I got. I was happy to get the Cylo Cobra wireless headphones because I really wanted the headphones, they are white with a rose gold ring on the ear bud and I have used them already and loved them.

 

 

 

Next choice was either a Vince Camuto tote bag or a set of six brushes from Crown Brush and for my lifestyle the set of brushes from Crown Brush was a better option for me, I actually did choose this option because I have enough bags to last me a life time and I am always on the hunt for good brushes. The woman who used to do my eyebrows when I still lived in Indiana used Crown Brushes in her makeup business so I knew about them through her and I was excited when they were presented as a choice item in this box. It is six brushes in a handy carrying case in either all black handles and rose gold writing or in silver and I got the all black. They are amazingly soft and I am a huge fan of them already.

 

IMG_8314.jpegThe other choice item that I picked was the Alfred Teapot, it was either that or a French Press and I don’t drink French Press coffee so I would not have used that item, the teapot however I plan on using all of the time when we have some sustained cold weather. It’s so cute and it will work really well for a nice loose leaf tea steeping. It has a cute floral pattern on it and it already is sitting with the rest of my tea paraphernalia on my kitchen counter.

 

IMG_8309.jpeg

 

Two more items, the first one is from Grown Alchemist Polishing Facial Exfoliant, all of the items in this category were from Grown Alchemist. I will have to do a patch test on this product because of my skin but I am hoping that I don’t have an adverse reaction to it because for the most part the products that I have gotten in these boxes have all been gentle enough to work with my skin.

 

 

 

 

IMG_8310.jpeg

 

One last item and this one I was actually really happy to get it and that is the Cuccio Somatology Yogahhh! Detox Bath, I am a huge fan of baths even though I don’t seem to have time to take a bath over a shower, I am exciting to try it though because a skin detox sounds really great right about now.

 

 

 

 

 

I loved the box, it was amazing and every box seems to impress me more and more with each season and each box. I think that subscribing in the spring was one of the best ideas I have had this year. These products and boxes are curated to such a high quality that I never worry about not liking the box or having items that are not good quality. I cannot speak more highly about this subscription service.

 

Do you subscribe? What did you get? What did you enjoy most?

 

-MJ

Marvel Collector Corps Venom Unboxing

.Reading time 7 minutes.

This is Amazon’s second attempt at replacing the Funko Subscription Box, Marvel Collector Crops and after the last box I was almost sure that this would be my last even though I was a loyal subscriber since mid-year one of the original Funko subscription service. Now I will say that they stepped up their game on this box as opposed to the Deadpool box from a few months ago.

Now before I start the unboxing, I do not have a huge knowledge base when it comes to Venom, I understand who he is as a character and I know they are pushing this because the movie just came out. I have not seen it and I don’t know if I will to be honest. The last Marvel movie that saw was Avengers: Infinity War and that was in May so I am two or three movies behind in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the Marvel tie in films. This box was all Venom themed so I was not expecting any different and I am basing my review off the box itself not the character it represented.

This box was for sure different than the last one, it was smaller and more compact and I went into it with an open mind because I didn’t want to be disappointed because I had expectations on it like I did with the previous box. Amazon is finding its feet with this box and I am happy to say it was a lot better than the first one. (After reading reviews of the Deadpool box on Amazon it seemed like a lot of people agreed with me about the box and its quality.)

 

On to what was actually in the box itself. I still miss the pin and the patch that you got with the first few years of the Collector Corps boxes. I also miss the comic book but that I will save for another day. This box unlike the last one at least had a listing of the items but again I still miss the product card that had the design inspiration and insights into the products but again, Amazon is finding their feet with this service.

 

IMG_8351.jpeg

 

Now there was something in this box that I have never seen in one of these boxes before and that was rather exciting because it was a break from the normal box format that I have come to expect and that was a car decal of Venom in silhouette. Now all of the windows of my car are tinted so there is a good chance that I will not be putting it on my car but I know people who would love it so someone is getting this little decal.

 

 

IMG_8354.jpeg

 

Of course there was a Pop! Involved because if there wasn’t I think that I along with many other collectors would question it. This month was a leaping Venom Pop! It is actually a really cool Pop! The detail on it is pretty great, tongue out and everything. I really liked all of the Pops! That came out for this film because it was the Venomized versions of some of the Marvel characters and they were all kind of great.

 

 

 

 

 

FullSizeRender.jpeg

This was another item that broke away from the normalcy of the box itself and that was a squishy Venom stress toy, it’s great I was really happy to get that because sometimes you just need a stress ball that doesn’t form back right away. The last stress toy they had was in the Hulk box last December I think but that was a traditional stress toy that wasn’t the squishy texture that the Venom one is.

 

 

IMG_8355.jpeg

 

Two more items in the box and they were pretty great, first let’s talk about the tee-shirt, now in the Deadpool box there was no wearable item which was odd for this service, in this box however there was a tee-shirt. (I think in the November box there isn’t going to be a wearable either but I am unsure.) It is just about the same quality as the shirts were from the original subscription service so I was happy to see that as well. I actually really like the shirt because it is simple but different from those tee-shirts of boxes pervious.

 

 

 

IMG_8353.jpeg

 

Last item, a tiny pint sized hero, which you can’t tell by the picture but it is slightly translucent, it is also so cute; which is an odd word choice when it comes to Venom but this pint sized hero, like most pint sized heroes are meant to be really cute. I have a Red Skull one from one of the boxes last year, it was the Superhero Showdowns box from I think February of 2017 (I don’t remember) and it was also cute. They take these character who aren’t supposed to be “cute” and make them real cute.

 

 

Overall, this box was a lot better than the Deadpool box and I am pleased to say that the next theme has been revealed to be 10 Years of Marvel and I am super excited for it. I was glad to see an improved box from the box previous and I will continue to subscribe because it is something that I enjoy.

Did you get the box? Do you have thoughts on it? Share them in the comments below!

 

-MJ