Happy New Year!

xx
*image not mine

Tome Thursday: Santa's Secret

Hello everyone!

The last of my movie-and-book blogs that's related to the holiday season, I swear! By January, I'm going to go back to my regular schedule and reviewing what comes my way in terms of non-Christmas-y and non-holiday spirit related.

Or so I hope, at least.

But in all honesty I couldnt resist adding this particular book to the pile because I was fortunate enough one afternoon in early December to be bored out of my skull and feeling the itch for some contemporary romance, in which case scenario I tend to turn towards three authors who have never failed me thus far: Kathryn Shay, Noelle Adams or Serenity Woods.

That afternoon the choice was Serenity Woods, and since it was December and I had made a pledge to myself to mostly read Christmas books this month, my pick for the day was Santa's Secret.

And boy, did I make a good decision about THAT.

It quickly became obvious (as in, about three subsequent rereads later) that this might be my favourite Christmas book.

Talkie Tuesday: When Calls the Heart Christmas

"Christmas comes but once a year."

Hello everyone!

So it took more than just one day which it usually does for me to finally find a good working link where I could watch the Christmas special When Calls the Heart put up for this holiday season. 

Now I've already written about the show and the books, I think, but in any event I shall check and link all my older posts down below as is my custom when I'm trying to make sense of everything that's come before (and at this point, trust me, it looks as though the only way for me to keep track is by using keywords all around).

In any event, however, I managed to watch the hour and a half special which I had honestly thought would be shorter, but luckily for me it wasn't!

I've missed these characters and their everyday problems, because the thing that initially drew me to the show wasn't the drama or anything of the sort, but what a person would have to get through in an average day on the Canadian frontier.

Plus, I will admit that I have a bit of a crush on Constable Thornton.

Saturday Snippet: Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

xx

*image not mine

Tome Thursday: A Secret Parcel

Hello everyone!

Christmas is now LITERALLY just around the corner, and I can honestly say that it's looking to be a good one.

Then again, I suppose I have the benefit of my family all being at home already, all the family gatherings scheduled and arranged for through the weekend, and then some, and of course there's a whole lot of great stuff to catch up on!

But, since it IS Thursday, and I'm trying to keep up, here's a book blog post for all of you, in the Christmas spirit of course.

Because why would you want to read anything that ISN'T Christmasy when you can so easily get into the holiday cheer with the right book you can leaf through? Besides, I have a trilogy to wrap up so that I can honestly say I've finished yet another book series.

And I mean, I HAVE been talking about billionaires for the past three weeks or so, maybe even a bit longer. There isn't much that can beat that.

Without further ado, let's get into A Secret Parcel, by Serentiy Woods!

Talkie Tuesday: The Spirit of Christmas

"Twelve days isn't nearly enough."

Hello everyone!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Meaning, I'm overdoing it with Christmas movies this week. Tonight on the menu is one of my all-time favourites, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (and coincidentally the only Jim Carrey movie I can actually watch), but yesterday I was watching something else. 

You know this season is one of those when ALL the cheesiness comes out in spades, but then again this is probably one of the only times per year when it's actually allowed.

So yeah, I watched a semi-cheesy movie. Actually, talking to a friend of mine, we classified it as 'medium cheese' because, why not.

If I hadn't known any better I would have immediately said Hallmark was the one who produced it, but then Hallmark goes overboard with the cheese most of the time, and this one wasn't exactly there yet, though it was close.

All in all, however, it had a fairly reasonable female lead, a VERY good-looking male lead + glasses, and mystery!

I'm talking about The Spirit of Christmas.

Saturday Snippet: Work

All work and no play leaves me cranky, but at the very least I see light at the end of the tunnel!

Working Sunday tomorrow though, which is a bit of a bummer, but can't help it.

xx

Tome Thursday: An Ideal Present

Hello everyone!

Back at it with books, and it's almost Christmas time! According to my advent calendar (Star Wars full of milk chocolate, if you please), after tomorrow there's only EIGHT MORE DAYS until Christmas eve!

Anyone else excited!?

It would be so cool if it snowed before then - apparently there are some forecasts that say we MIGHT be getting snow come next week, but I have this feeling it's going to be another green one as far as that goes. 

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas ... just like the ones I used to know ...

Ahem.

Which is kind of silly since I'll be talking about another Christmas-time book that definitely has no snow in it, but the sea and hot weather (hot guys, too, but, ya know).

Book two of Three Wise Men, An Ideal Present, here we go!

Talkie Tuesday: Hairspray Live

"Good morning, Baltimore!"

Hello everyone!

So every once in a while I run into something that makes me think: I need to see this.

Desperately. 

When news broke that Derek Hough had been cast as Corny Collins in the new rendition of Hairspray which would air during the holiday season, I did a little happy jig.

I will admit here and now that I'm a Hough fan, whether it's Julianne or Derek, and especially of Derek because I honestly think the man is an artistic genius. The choreography he can put together is spectacular, either in it's complexity or simplicity, and I've loved watching him on Dancing with the Stars.

Ergo, I was sold on watching Hairspray Live! before they even released news about who would play Tracy or Link or anyone else.

Honestly, you'd think that I would have at least waited until the trailer, but nope, my excitement levels were high even before that.

Login Issues

Seriously.

The fact that I couldn't log into a fanfiction site for SIX MONTHS even though I had the right password was beyond frustrating. To top it off, however, I actually MANAGED it tonight after, wait for it, requesting a password reminder to my email account (which I also had to unearth, natch).

Of course, afterwards, it worked.

Say what, please?!

xx
*image not mine

Tome Thursday: The Perfect Gift

Hello everyone!

It's time for yet another book blog, and as with the two previous ones, this is going to be a Christmas-oriented piece.

I'm feeling festive considering the fact that I've managed to finish my Christmas shopping earlier today so now all I have to do is wait for the day to arrive so that I can stick the parcels under the tree and watch my family's rections!

Whew.

I have to say, the shopping trip was far less painful than it used to be, but maybe that was because I had company, or maybe I'd finished half of it already so it was only a matter of hashing out some details? Possibly.

In any event, I digress, and terribly so.

The book I'm going to talk about is the one that first got me into reading more work from this particular author, and is titled The Perfect Gift, by Serenity Woods.

Talkie Tuesday: Victoria's Secret 2016

"The biggest fashion show on Earth."

Hello everyone!

So this Tuesday's blog is a little bit different because it's not going to be about a movie or a TV show, even though I have way too many of those to catch up on and to write about. Oops. What can I say, I'm a bit of an addict here! 

But no.

Tonight I'm going to be talking about, what the quote up there says: the biggest fashion show on Earth.

I'm talking about Victoria's Secret, of course.

I got into watching the annual shows VERY late in the game, a couple of years back, because a friend of mine showed me some videos and the like, and I liked the production of it all (also, the models are gorgeous, let's be honest here, every girl gets a hit on her self-esteem when they show up, but I mean, what can you do?).

So instead of chattering on about an action movie or a comedy or even Timeless, I'm just going to dive right in, and talk about fashion tonight.

DCs Cross-over Event: Heroes v Aliens

"Best. Team-up. EVER."

Hello everyone!

So, like I promised this past Tuesday, I switched up the line-up for my blog posts because of the awesome and amazing thing that was happening during the week. Because why would I want to spend a long time developing and writing a blog post about a movie that can wait when we had that cross-over to look forward to?

Okay, yes, heads up, I'm a DC comics fan. And a Marvel fan.

I am firmly convinced you can like both and not have to glare daggers at either camps because, let's face it, all the superheroes and villains in there are for our entertainment.

They probably wouldn't want to be the cause of disputes (if they were real!).

But then I can totally hear Mick Rory already snarling a very trademark 'Speak for yourself!'

Anyway, as you can tell, I'm a fan, I geeked out this week while it was happening, and now that it's over and done with I can finally review it!

Beam me up, Scotty!

Tome Thursday: A Royal Holiday

Hello everyone!

As promised in my previous book blog post from last week, this December I'm going to be doing a series of Christmas-related reviews!

Yeah, 'tis the season, alright!

The link to the previous blog, talking about Darcy Burke's novella Where the Heart Is, can be found at the bottom of this post, but today's post couldn't be more different from the previous one because of the chosen book!

Okay, yes, it's still a novella, but it's also different because it's about a royal family as opposed to the Archers of Ribbon Ridge.

Suffice to say, no holiday could ever be complete without some sort of cheer from one palace or another, whether they be fictional or real life, and to be quite honest I've loved this series for quite some time now so I'm excited to share it with you!

Off we go, then, into the review of Royal of Valleria: A Royal Holiday!

DC's Cross-over Event!

Hello everyone!

As this week marks CW's DC Cross-over Event, which spans four episodes of four shows, I decided not to do my usual movie review. 

Instead, on Saturday, I'll be posting a combined recap of ALL FOUR shows, just to see what CW has done with them! I hope you enjoy this week just as much as I'm already enjoying it.

xx

*image not mine

Black Friday

Sums it up, I think,

xx
*image not mine

Tome Thursday: Where the Heart Is

Hello everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate it! For my part, living on the old continent, we didn't necessarily ever need to have any kind of turkey salvation situation, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the holiday just as much as you do, because unlike some, we actually studied about these holidays at university.

That being said, however, Thanksgiving also marks the starting point for all the December holiday festivities, which means that this year, while not doing blogmass, I will definitely be doing some more holiday-oriented book blogs.

I've accumulated quite a few stories I want to share with you in the next four weeks, not to mention the fact that I got more than twenty of them in e-format from Kobo for a steal.

Like, really, my country NEEDS to figure out the deal with these e-books, because they currently still sell them at the same price as the actual printed copies. And while some of the worldly ones are about the same in terms of price, most of the electronic books can be bought at much cheaper rates.

But I digress! Onward to my review of Where the Heart Is, by Darcy Burke.

Talkie Tuesday: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

"My philosophy is: if you worry, you suffer twice."

Hello everyone!

So this past weekend, my friends and I decided on a group outing and went to see what was probably one of the most (if not THE most) anticipated movies of this month, which just goes to show that a little bit of magic can go a long way in any movie. 

I'm talking, naturaly, of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the screenplay of which was written by Rowling herself (as opposed to something I will not name).

I can honestly say that I'd only ever seen the one initial trailer for the movie proper, and maybe it wasn't even a trailer but a teaser trailer, before it sort of fell off my radar because I was a bit busy with a lot of other things, so I went into the cinema pretty much with no definite decision of what to expect.

Which is just as well, actually, seeing as I probably enjoyed myself a whole lot more because of this. Seriously, I tend to get my hopes up WAY too much.

But then of course, this movie also had Colin Farrell ...

I digress. I should probably start the actual review now.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them!

xx
*image not mine

Tome Thursday: The Hobbit

Hello everyone!

Alright, alright, I will admit, I can never seem to get over the whole Tolkien phase at all, even for a little bit. I'm always reading something or other from the master, and recently I've discovered that I need to be very careful about what I do before bed or else I might end up awake until the wee morning hours.

So to try and combat that, I decided to read every night before I went to sleep, which means that I was going to pick something I would enjoy, of course.

Naturally, I picked the Hobbit, because for one thing it was meant to be a bed time story, and for another I just love reading about Bilbo and the Dwarves, who are pretty much a comedic relief in comparison to what you see in the movies sometimes.

Then of course, I'm now debating what else to read before bed and I might tackle the Silmarillion next, but we will see!

For the time being, let's dip into the review of the Hobbit, book version.

Talkie Tuesday: The Adventurer, the Curse of the Midas Box

"My father says that trust is earned, sir

.... consider what I am about to tell you a down payment."

Hello everyone!

The movie I'm going tot alk about today is one that I probably would never have seen if it weren't for one of the main actors. And THAT would never have happened if I hadn't watched the White Queen tv show to begin with. 

Sometimes, my process is incredibly convoluted, I do agree.

But from what I can see and what I've been following online it looks as though it might just be a stand-alone movie instead of turning into a movie franchise, though it really wouldn't have done well I don't think.

Sadly, this really was one of those one-of-a-kind movies which you put on to watch when you're super bored and want to be distracted.

Don't get me wrong, it was certainly entertaining enough! And I mean, any movie with Michael Sheen in it has to be somewhat good, because lord knows he's a magnificent actor.

I'm talking about The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box.

Saturday Snippet: Democracy

xx
*image not mine

Tome Thursday: Semper Fi

Hello everyone!

I had a bit of a tough time deciding which book to talk about tonight, but then after a few bumps and bruises in RL (nothing too important or even dangerous, don't worry) I figured I needed some cheering up, and what better way than to pick a Keira Andrews book?

The thing with this particular author is that while she does say there will be some trials and tribulations along the way before the main characters get it together and get together (see what I did there?) she's a firm advocate of happy endings, which means that no book of hers is going to pull a Nicholas Sparks on you!

Yes, I just did that, too.

So that being said, when you know the ending is going to be happy, why wouldn't you want to read through and see what the guys are doing?

I think I've read through quite a bit of her books by this point - because once I find an author I enjoy, I tend to devour their work, more or less, whoopsie - but this one remains one of my top two. 

Onwards to a review of Semper Fi!

Talkie Tuesday: Poldark, cont.

"My true, real, and abiding love is not for her. 'Tis for you.

She will never come between us again."

Hello everyone!

This weekend saw the end to the second season of Poldark, and I have to say I'm going to miss these ridiculous people from Cornwall. Not only did they give us heaps of entertainment, they've also managed to tug on everyone's heart strings along the way and for me, personally, the fervent wish to bash my head against the wall a couple of times. 

Ahem.

That being said, the last five episodes of the season were a whirlwind of emotions, jagged edges and reality checks, which I did applaud and exult over.

After all, you can't necessarily live in the 18th century and act the way you do without some form of consequence, even if you aren't expecting it! Right?

Still, it's now time to hang up our tricorns and wait for season three to premiere, but to tide us all over there are eighteen episodes from start to finish of Poldark so far, and a preview of what's to come. For those even more impatient, you can read the books to find out what happens.

In the meantime, on to the review!

Saturday Snippet: Alibi

xx
*image not mine

Tome Thursday: The Elfstones of Shannara

Hello everyone!

So, apparently, I really, truly need someon to make sure I keep my promises, and especially to make certain I do the blog posts that I say I'd do.

Also, for some inexplicable reason I was fairly, one hundred percent sure I'd done a blog post (or more) concerning The Shannara Chronicles, which is of course the MTV show that we are waiting on baited breath for with a promise for a second season.

But, apparently, that's a no go.

The only posts I could find were of the previous two books in the original Shannara series, so I suppose I WANTED to do the other post, but never got to it.

Sounds just like me, honestly.

Before I run over all the many reasons why I seem to be in desperate need of a Remembrall, let's first take a moment to go through the review of the second book in Terry Brooks' original trilogy, namely the one that the show was based upon.

The Elfstones of Shannara.

All Saint's Day

Remember, remember ...

xx
*image not mine

Saturday Snippet: Halloween

xx
*image not mine

Tome Thursday: Poldark 1-4

Hello everyone!

I'm picking up the pace with my reading a little bit, because even though I've been working quite a bit in the past couple of weeks, I've found that reading does in fact help me relax a whole lot more despite my initial thought that I couldn't focus on anything beside the manuals and stuff.

But all the same, some of the books I've read have been very mindless, very easy, and definitely not as time-consuming as you'd think.

Of course, there have been exceptions to this rule. After all, rules (about books) were made to be broken.

I'm a bit behind with my watching of Poldark, I have yet to see the latest episode but luckily for me, I'm actually AHEAD of BBC in terms of reading through the books. Since season two is an adaptation of books three and four, and I've finished four, I think I have quite a good jump ahead on the lot, don't you?

This blog post will briefly cover the first four books in the Poldark saga, without going into too much detail since there ARE four of them, not just one.

So, without further ado, let's get into it!

Talkie Tuesday: Everest

"The last word always belongs to the Mountain."

Hello everyone!

Okay, so for this Tuesday, I decided to open up the flood gates. And I don't mean fictional ones, either. 

While I was at the seaside, just, you know, relaxing on my vacation and soaking up some much-needed vitamin D which has by now apparently evaporated between the wind we have here and the incoming rains, I also watched a bunch of movies that made me wish I could go back and maybe never make the decision to watch.

Not because they were so crappy.

But because they were so good, and unfortunately so realistic (as based off true stories will obviously go) that I bawled my eyes out like a huge, oversized baby.

It was not, in fact, a pretty sight.

The movie I'm talking about this time around is aptly titled with one word only, but it doesn't really need any more introduction than that: Everest.

Saturday Snippet: MacGyver It

"Have a problem?
MacGyver it."

xx
*image not mine

Tome Thursday: Last Call

Hello everyone!

Whew, I'm finally bringing another series to a close!

Not that I won't be reading them again. Actually, I'm definitely feeling up for some Simon and Caroline cheerfulness, if you know what I mean, because the weather here turned into an absolute downpour and it's been raining since yesterday evening. Which does in fact mean I'm too lazy to do anything else but curl up and read.

Mostly.

Anyway, to get back on track, the book I will be talking about in tonight's blog is the last in the Cocktails series by Alice Clayton, which began with the infamous Wallbanger.

This is actually more a novella than a full-length book, it's mostly a summary and a nice epilogue to the couples that we've grown to love over the course of the entire series, and I have to admit that this has to be one of my favourites, for the simple reason that the characters are believable, real, and face the challenges life throws at them like you and I would.

So, let's get right into Last Call!

Talkie Tuesday: The Lone Ranger

"Never take off mask."

Hello everyone!

I had a different review lined up for this Tuesday, but then what happened was that my mother saw that The Lone Ranger would air on television, not for the first time, you understand, but for the first time at an hour when she could actually watch it and go to bed decently enough to be up for her morning shift at work. 

Ergo, she then decided to splurge a little and turned on the HD setting on the big television in the living room, and what did yours truly do?

I siddled over and watched, duh. It was like watching in theatre!

That being said, I HAD seen the movie before, almost right after it came out, because I fell in love with the first trailer and the fact that this was the same team which had brought us Pirates of the Caribbean, Gore Verbinski at the helm. 

Who doesn't want some Wild West humour?! Plus, it has Armie Hammer, too. I mean, do you even need more reasons?

Saturday Snippet: Rain

"A rainy day is a special gift to readers."

Amy Miles

xx

*image not mine

Tome Thursday: The Count of Monte Cristo

Hello everyone!

As I've promised, here is the accompanying blog post to Tuesday's movie review, because, as some of the most memorable movies that have ever been made, a lot of them are based off literary works.

The Count of Monte Cristo was no exception.

The thing with the movie, however, was that it was pretty severely hacked down. If you can imagine a tree with a lot of branches and leaves and everything, that would be the book that Alexandre Dumas (Pere) wrote down.

And then take a chainsaw, rev it up, and hack off most of the foliage.

Then you get the movie.

No offense meant to the movie makers, of course - they took the main story of the book and dropped the accompanying ones, and no one is any wiser unless you've actually sat down to read the monstrous thing itself.

Trust me, it should come with its own insurance.

Talkie Tuesday: The Count of Monte Cristo

"How did I escape? With difficulty.
How did I plan this moment? With pleasure."

Hello everyone!

This week is going to be a bit Alexandre Dumas-coloured, if I do say so myself. I've been meaning to do something of the sort for a LONG time, but unfortunately, other things kept on happening and distracting me, this included but not limited to Rick Riordan and his books popping in and out of my reading list.

Yeah, I should probably dial down on the whole Jack the Sword quotations, right?

Anyway.

A while ago (this being now a long while ago) I decided, for some reason, to sit down and read The Count of Monte Cristo from beginning to end. As luck would have it, this took a bit (that thing is HUGE).

As luck would ALSO have it, in the meantime they aired the movie adaptation on television, though I had to double back and watch it later on as well because ... let's face it, I missed the whole beginning.

With that in mind, let's launch into our Monte Cristo-themed week!

Saturday Snippet: Mayor Handsome

"'Mayor Handsome', they call you. Not for long, though."
"If you hit me again ... I'm gonna kill you."

Arrow, S05E01 (1:45)

xx
*video not mine

Tome Thursday: Crown of Midnight

Hello everyone!

So I am slowly trekking my way through these book series, even though sometimes it certainly does take me longer than one would think! In my defense, I tend tor read SO many books and start SO many series that I sometimes forget to go back to the ones I'd already read, or something else catches my eye, and then of course before I realize it, it's already been ages from the time I've read a certain book!

Then again, I also have to be into the story, so to speak. If I'm not, those books will be left waiting there on the shelves forever ...

I'm not exactly sure what my issue is with Sarah J. Maas' first published series though.

I absolutely love Celaena, she's the kind of character I could go for any day of the week, and yet when I actually sit down to read the books with her as the titular character, time seems to slow down into a crawl.

I start them alright - and when I actually read them I can breeze through them. But STARTING them to begin with is a complete chore for some reason!

Which is sad, because they're amazing. So, on to Crown of Midnight!

Talkie Tuesday: Poldark

"I make no apology for my actions."

Hello everyone!

I believe, at some point in these reviews and recaps, I promised that I would be doing something connected to Poldark, but decided that I was going to wait at the very least until the first half of season 2 was over. 

The thing is, last year we got eight episodes (one hour each, of course) and this year, we get ten, which means I've been waiting for five weeks to get this post up!

I do absolutely adore this show. It's not even all about Aidan Turner (but let's face it, it might just be anyway), especially not this current season as he has quite a few who can compete for the ladies' hearts now! Can anyone say Doctor Enys with me, please?

That being said, this blog post won't be going into incredible length and all the microscopic details I would have gone into had I been doing one review per episode from the beginning. This one is going to be a bit more of a brief than anything else, something you can grab onto and dust off when you've taken a bit of a break, maybe, and need to get back into it before continuing the show itself.

So, without further ado, enter Poldark, season two, stage right!

Saturday Snippet: Girl's Movie Night

"You might call it 'girl's night'.
I call it therapy."

Unknown

xx
*image is mine

Tome Thursday: The Surgeon

Hello everyone!

I'm back with a book review, although granted I hadn't actually decided WHICH book I was going to talk about in this blog post tonight until the moment I sat down to type the Twitter announcement.

I'm like that sometimes. I read a lot, but I don't always write EVERYTHING down.

Which means that, sometimes, I can have a difficult moment or two cracking through the piles of information inside my brain and sifting through the lot so that I can find something that would be worth while. And I'm not evn sure I did find it, but oh well.

In any event, because I recently started rereading a few series I'd already finished back in the day, I figured I might as well talk about a book that was very close to mein terms of how well I remember what was going on inside it.

Since I never did make any notes about it, might as well get it out in the open as fast as humanly possible, right?

Right.

And, since I'd already written about one book by the same author, it makes sense. I'm talking about The Surgeon.

Talkie Tuesday: In the Heart of the Sea

"The tragedy of the Essex is the story of men.
And a Demon."

Hello everyone!

So this is going to be an upbeat blog post regardless of the rather negative downsides of the story that unfolded in the movie (and the books, of course; let's not forget the books). But the fact remains that I absolutely LOVED it, and couldn't get enough of the movie which I have to get a better copy of, potentially Blu-Ray if I can.

Although ... come to think of it, maybe I don't necessarily need that kind of high-res image of the whale in my brain. 

Hmm.

ANYWAY.

This is yet again one of the movies from my vacation hoard, although this one I watched while I was all by my lonesome at the seaside and enjoying some peaceful time away from everything. It was a very cool thing to be able to snuggle down on the veranda and enjoy the sea breeze while watching this. Gave the story some credibility.

I'm talking about In the Heart of the Sea, of course.

Saturday Snippet: Movies I Never Finished

Hello everyone!

Every once in a while, I run into something that I would call a movie wall - that is, a proverbial wall in the form of a movie I just can't watch. So I thought I'd share a few tonight!

Queen of the Desert - the trailer for this one looked SO amazing and I was looking forward to it! But then I started watching ... and not only does Nicole Kidman not have what it takes to play an explorer daughter anymore, but I wanted to fall asleep forty minutes in. Fast-forwarding didn't help, either.

Noah - I actually don't know why I didn't finish this one. I think I got distracted by something and never got back to it. I might try it again.

Wolf of Wall Street - if I wanted to fall asleep with up above, I fell asleep half an hour into this movie. I don't get the hype, I really don't. 

And on a parting note, I watched the series premiere of the MacGyver revival tonight! Not quite sure about this yet, but ... we will see.

xx

*image not mine

Tome Thursday: Dreams of Gods and Monsters

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil pressed their hands to their hearts,
and started the Apocalypse.

Hello everyone!

You know, I'm feeling quite accomplished today. Not taking into account my feeling a bit like a yo-yo in my professional life for a while there (to all good results, before anyone starts asking!) I'm coming to an end of a series of reviews which is ALWAYS satisfactory and cause for celebration. After all, I don't often get to say this.

That's because while I tend to START a series, I kind of forget to keep putting reviews up. 

I'm that bad, I know.

And for some reason I sound like Demelza from Poldark right now ... might have to lay off binge watching that one!

Anyway, it's been almost a full year since I posted the very first review of the very first book in the series, and now it's time to come full circle after the second one came along in mid-summer. And I'm insanely proud of myself for achieving as much, really! I think I should group my blog posts somewhere in one place at some point so that people can look them up quickly.

But before I go off-tangent, let's dig right into the review for Dreams of Gods and Monsters!

Talkie Tuesday: The Martian

"In the face of overwhelming odds, I'm left with only one option:
I'm gonna have to science the shit out of this."

Hello everyone!

Back with another movie review, and this time I picked one that I honestly wasn't expecting to like as much as I did in the end. I mean, I try not to go into any movie prejudiced, but sometimes it's hard because you have preconceptions, or you've read the books the movies are based off of, or you've seen the trailer and it doesn't look like something you'd enjoy. 

Of course in a lot of the above-mentioned cases, you end up going in the totally opposite direction of what you expected to feel or think when you sat down to watch the chosen movie.

This was what happened to me.

I didn't see a trailer though, or hear about it from a friend, or even read the book. I didn't actually know what it was all about until I got my hands on a copy and sat through the whole thing. I noticed it mostly because the internet kept blowing up with news about it, Matt Damon seemed to be making some kind of a come-back akin to his Jason Bourne movies, and I swear every single one of the Youtube vloggers I subscribe to dedicated at least one video (if not more) to it.

I'm talking about The Martian.

Saturday Snippet: Banana Pudding Pie

Hello everyone!

So my sister can make me do just about anything. Seeing as she's my LITTLE sister, you can probably understand how this happens. This time, it was incessantly begging me to bake a pie. Not just any kind of pie, but banana and vanilla pudding pie.

Of course I had no clue how to do it, and so off to the interwebz I went to get some information. I found a recipe alright (not the one above), but the dough did NOT cooperate so I'm going to give you what I did to make it work.

The dough itself I made from my apple pie recipe; the other dough was left to "rot" although I threw it into the oven for 20 minutes after it had been left alone for hours. I think I might retry the original recipe sometime and leave the thing overnight in the fridge, then bake the next day. Might just work.

Anyway, the only difference in this apple pie dough is that I added rum and vanilla sugar into the mixture (per special request). Then I spread it into the pan (which I first rubbed with some butter) and made a rim.

For the filling, I made vanilla pudding from half the bag (or you can cook a full batch, it usually comes with instructions on the back, follow those to a T and then just take as much as you think you need), mashed three bananas (the original recipe says two, but three is better!) and mixed them in, poured it over the dough, popped it into a pre-heated oven at 175 degrees, and baked for roughly twenty-three minutes, but at twenty I started checking if it was baked. It was, I just left it a little longer since my family likes a slightly more baked pie.

And that's it!

xx

*image is mine

Tome Thursday: Mai Tai'd Up

Hello everyone!

I'm beginning to run out of books to review on here which is kind of a mystery since I do believe I haven't ever stopped reading from the last time I reviewed one! But I think the problem might be that I keep forgetting to note down my thoughts about what, exactly, I'm reading or what I've finished reading at this time, I suppose. 

I'll have to remedy that.

So between battling some bouts of insomnia that have come on me from Lord knows where, becoming addicted to Air Crash Investigation and just generally working, I needed to figure out what I was going to write today.

Turns out, at least I still have a couple of series in the works and that means that I get to pick some of the books in there to talk about.

Worse comes to worse, I can always fall back on the Black Dagger Brotherhood series (but I just started the Fallen Angels one though and it might be JUST as good; seriously, who knew Angels have this kind of warped sense of humour?).

For tonight's book, I'm going to talk about Mai Tai'd Up.

Talkie Tuesday: Allegiant

"EVERYONE is worth saving."

Hello everyone!

I debated long and hard about what I wanted to talk about tonight in this blog post, as when I browse the web, there are certain things that I don't see, but want to. Like, for instance, recaps of the Poldark episodes, because sometimes I don't have time to actually watch the episode but would still love to learn what happened ... 

So I waged an internal battle about whether or not I want to do an ep-by-ep recap of the Poldark season as I did with Game of Thrones, then decided I would compromise and do a review after the first half was over.

For tonight, I needed a different thing, then.

Going to consult my trusty sheep booklet, I perused through the notes I'd jotted down while I was watching different movies, and finally decided on one that I'm so puzzled about that I doubt I've seen the light yet.

No, scratch that, I haven't, let's be honest here.

I'm talking about Allegiant.

Saturday Snippet: Work

Lost somewhere in translation and looking up old writing I did a LONG time ago ...

Tome Thursday: The Inn at Eagle Point

Hello everyone!

Back with another book review, and I have to admit that I've been reading voraciously in the last little while. It's something I'm quite happy about considering I can definitely get into reading slumps as everyone else does, and then of course I don't always have the time or energy to actually keep my eyes open long enough to read through a book properly.

That being said, however, I can then go through periods when I will devour anything and everything that I can get my hands on, at such a rate that I almost can't keep up with my own brain.

This probably comes from my in-bred love of reading, because I've been doing it ever since I can properly remember myself. My parents used to say that I would doggedly try to get through a book when I wasn't as skilled in the art until I mastered it, or learned it by heart.

Hey, whatever worked, right?

The book I picked to talk about today is the first in a series which I came to discover only after Hallmark Channel premiered yet another intriguing series (they're really beginning to make their mark in this show-hungry world) titled Chesapeake Shores. A little Google magic later and I had thirteen new books to read, the first of thes being The Inn at Eagle Point.

Talkie Tuesday: The Lord of the Rings

"One Ring to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them."

Hello everyone!

Okay, so I bet you're all thinking this is some sort of weird blog post considering the fact that I've talked about Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings so much in the previous ones even when they didn't need to be talked about that it's pretty funny, I guess. And then I go and finally make a totally separate post! 

It's not that bad, I swear.

I mean, okay, yes, it's bad because my love and almost-obsession with this thing is probably something I should at some point be ashamed of, but so far I'm not (and I'm ignoring the coughs and eye rolls from people who will take the almost-obsession and strike the almost out of it!). I think it's one of those literary pieces that stay with you, if you only allow it.

Which is exactly what happened with me, of course, though I won't be talking about the book in this blog post.

I've actually seen the movies so many times so far that I probably know the scripts by heart and I can voice along with the rest of them without looking at the screen. But the movie I'm going to talk about wasn't made by Peter Jackson.

In fact, it was made decades before, in 1978 by a man named Ralph Bakshi.

Saturday Snippet: Friendship

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead.

Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow.

Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Albert Camus