Tome Thursday: Here Ghost Nothing

 

Hello everyone!

 

I'm back with a slightly shorter book to review this week, but that's okay because I'm probably going to drag out some sort of behemoth some other time.

 

I usually do, in any event.

 

But that doesn't mean the book I picked is bad or anything of the sort!

 

Actually, it's the kind of cozy read that I really love during the late autumn/early spring days, when it's still dreary enough outside that you want to just snuggle up under a blanket and not leave your room for the foreseeable future.

 

Anyone else feel that way? No? Just me? Hmm ..

 

Anyway, without further ado, let's hop right back in, because Salem awaits us, and it isn't with the witch trials, either.

 

It's with an amateur sleuth who returns in Here Ghost Nothing!

 

Talkie Tuesday: The Royal We

 

"You are the author of your own story."

 

Hello everyone!

 

And welcome back to a Hallmark movie blog.

 

I know, it's been a while!

 

I had a full on faze for a while where the ONLY thing I'd watch were Hallmark movies, but then I got over-saturated and I stopped.

 

Now, I'll still watch one every once in a while, but for the most part I've moved on.

 

I was kind of hooked on the trailer for tonight's movie of choice, however, mostly because of the wardrobe depicted within that reminded me VERY strongly of Catherine, Princess of Wales.

 

And turns out I was right in that it IS quite reminiscent of it!

 

But the movie itself falls kind of in the middle of the scales, neither horrible nor good, so without further ado let's have a look at The Royal We.

 

Tome Thursday: Possession Under the Southern Stars

 

Hello everyone!

 

Welcome to another book choice of the week.

 

This time, we're returning to my favourite contemporary romance author.

 

Honestly, you probably all know this by now, as I say it enough, but Serenity Woods is just something else entirely.

 

Having found her quite at random years and years ago through her Three Wise Men series, I've since gobbled up practically every single book she's ever written, and I have no plans on stopping any time soon!

 

As far as I'm concerned, as long as she keeps writing, I'll keep reading.

 

Tonight's choice is the conclusion to her museum-slash-archaeology trilogy taking place in the beautiful New Zealand, and I honestly couldn't have come up with a more fitting ending to the story myself.

 

Not that I reach even her ankles when it comes to storytelling.

 

But enough about me and my dawdling over here. Let's jump right in and see what awaits us in Possession Under the Southern Stars!

 

Talkie Tuesday: The War of the Rohirrim

 

"Forth Eorlingas!"

 

Hello everyone!

 

Or should I say Westu hal?

 

Either way, welcome, welcome, to tonight's blog post of choice.

 

I was THRILLED to discover that, since it's release in December 2024, this particular movie has now been more widely distributed among streaming services, because although our country's Netflix is pretty good about releases, honestly, I was still kind of waiting on this particular one.

 

Not that I was going in SUPER excited, mind you. I've been hella cautious since Rings of Power came out and started botching things up so badly it's insane.

 

But I was cautiously optimistic that there MIGHT be something good to find in the anime that I chose to watch this weekend.

 

So buckle up, get those swords polished, and make sure you're ready to ride. Because we're about to see just what was good and what wasn't so good in The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

 

Tome Thursday: Forbidden Gift

 

Hello everyone!

 

Welcome back to the blog and all our bookish adventures.

 

Tonight's reading material of choice belongs to an author I found completely by accident while browsing BookSirens, and liked the initial premise of her series.

 

Turns out, she's written ANOTHER one (that I'm currently slowly chomping my way through) and is working on expanding her ongoing adventures in the mythical land of Teutonic witches.

 

Aka, there may or may not be people among us who can and do wield elemental magic, hopefully staying on the right path and not worshiping a demon lord in their spare time ...

 

I digress.

 

Tonight, we take a look at the second in her series, and just be aware that these aren't full-length books a la Outlander, they've got WAY fewer pages.

 

But they're page-turners just the same.

 

So let's hop right into Forbidden Gift.

 

Talkie Tuesday: Atlantis the Lost Empire

 

"... in a single day and night of misfortune, 

the island of Atlantis disappeared into the depths of the sea."

 

Hello everyone!

 

After taking last week off, we're back with a new round of blog posts for this one, and the first to begin them is a Walt Disney Pictures presentation.

 

I mean, if it's not Disney it's gonna be Bollywood, ya know.

 

I have to admit that I NEVER watched this as a kid. I remember it's initial release, because McDonald's did Happy Meals with toys from this thing in them, and I thought the princess, with her white hair and such, was super cool, but that's about it.

 

Dishonor on my cow, I know.

 

I finally got round to watching it a little bit ago (okay, a WHILE ago, but I had a chance to rewatch it since) and I have to say I'm dutifully impressed by the end results of it all.

 

Plus, I mean, this is about the legend of Atlantis, in Disney version. What's NOT to like with that sort of premise?

 

Buckle up and let's descend leagues under the sea, in Atlantis the Lost Empire.

 

Tome Thursday: A Court of Silver Flames

 

Hello everyone!

 

And that's a wrap.

 

Did it take me literal years?

 

Yes, yes it did.

 

Am I ashamed of that fact?

 

No, I am, in fact, not ashamed. Not at all.

 

Because, while, as you'll see, this is a book I ended up partially liking, it's still got a host of problems and I'm not all that keen on reading it again, although I possibly MIGHT before the next one releases, depending on what mood I'm in.

 

For me, it's all about the main characters. Or character, in this case.

 

Sarah J Maas usually kicks it out of the park for me, but this time it was a hit-and-miss, depending on circumstances.

 

Without further ado, A Court of Silver Flames.

 

Talkie Tuesday: Reality Bites

 

"Inevitably, there are always surprises."

 

Hello everyone!

 

Welcome back to the delightfully delicious reviews that center all around Hannah Swensen and her moonlighting gig as a detective.

 

Honestly, the whole premise is cute, even if slightly unbelievable, but hey, we've seen way worse on this blog site.

 

The latest installment in the series FINALLY seems to establish a bit more ground in the romantic department, and here's to hoping the writing follows up on what's already been TWO invitations to a date, or else we riot.

 

I mean, Hannah's already basically said yes twice.

 

So without further ado and more jabbering from me, let's get right down to the nitty-gritty, and figure out why this one didn't land as well as the others before it.

 

The resident baker-sleuth is back in Reality Bites!

 

Tome Thursday: Mystic Passage

 

Hello everyone!

 

Once again, welcome back to the land of Teutonica.

 

I swear I need to get better at this, because I'd read this one towards the tail end of LAST year, and yet here we are, nearing the end of February, but I'd never put the review up on my blog until now.

 

Sigh.

 

There's so much going on all the time though that it's almost impossible to really make a full schedule and stick to it, at least at the moment, because I keep getting ARCs that twist through it all and make me reschedule EVERYTHING.

 

But anyway, we're going back into the magical world C L Carhart invented tonight, and boy oh BOY am I excited to do it.

 

Because, and I kid you not, we finally get to meet our main character. Well, main MALE character in any event, which funnily enough does NOT happen in book one of this series.

 

So strap on your witchy hats and make sure your intentions are good, because I can assure you, even they might not be able to help. Not in Mystic Passage.

 

Talkie Tuesday: Sirens of the Deep

 

"It takes bravery to stand against a crowd."

 

Hello everyone!

 

Welcome back to the Continent.

 

Or, shall we say, welcome back to Jaskier's world, which Geralt is only living in, and he's mostly disgruntled about it.

 

When tonight's blog choice was first announced, back in the day, I was super stoked, because Nightmare of the Wolf had been a pretty good addition to The Witcher universe, and it seemed like Netflix was really going to go places with these adaptations.

 

... of course, then the Henry Cavill thing happened, and one thing led to another, and now I don't know when season 4 is even airing, nor will I be watching it.

 

But I DID watch this one, because it's an adaptation of a short story that Andrzej Sapkowski wrote, called 'A Little Sacrifice'.

 

I loved it back then, and I love it even more now, so let's go ahead and have a look at Sirens of the Deep, shall we?

 

Tome Thursday: Onyx Storm

 

Hello everyone!

 

Welp. We back, baby.

 

I'm not entirely sure how long it's been since the last time I set foot onto the Continent (literary speaking, of course), but I do know it's been a WHILE.

 

And man oh MAN have things gone from bad, to worse!

 

Now that THAT's out of the way, let's dive right into the nitty gritty of it all, shall we?

 

Because these dragons aren't messing around.

 

Neither, it turns out, are their riders either, which means that we really should be prepared for the fourth book when it eventually releases.

 

For the time being, buckle up, bring all them alloy daggers that you own, make sure you tell the people you love that you love them, and above everything else: do NOT, I repeat, do NOT piss off the largest dragons on the Continent.

 

And no, you don't need an umbrella to brave this Onyx Storm.

 

Talkie Tuesday: Mary

 

"Love will cost you dearly. It will pierce your heart.

But in the end, love will save the world."

 

Hello everyone!

 

Something a little different from me to you tonight.

 

I don't usually watch or consider movies with any type of religious message, although granted I suppose Quo Vadis could definitely land on that list ... but I digress.

 

This one kind of fell into my lap completely by accident because I thought the trailer screenshot looked nice.

 

Then I watched the trailer and decided, hey, I could watch this.

 

This weekend was the time I decided I was actually going to watch, and I have to say I enjoyed it, as a casual viewer who only has the most basic knowledge of religious tenements, and who was never brought up religious. 

Without further ado, then, let's have a look at Netflix's version of Mary.

 

Tome Thursday: Addie and the AI Boyfriend

 

Hello everyone!

 

Welcome back to the blog for another interesting ride tonight.

 

I first stumbled over this author on BookSirens when I randomly chose a book of theirs that talked about vampires - I know, cliche, right?

 

But I ended up liking their writing style so I figured, when I got the notification that they had another ARC up to choose from, I could take a second look.

 

Turns out, their contemporary stuff is even better than their historic fiction one!

 

And I'm not even joking.

 

You might look at the title and think to yourself: oh this is some Avengers stuff. You'd be right, too, BUT it's still a fun thing to read through and you have tons of fun while trying to figure out what's going on.

 

So without further ado, let's hop right in and see what exactly Sarah Saponiara has to say in Addie and the AI Boyfriend.

 

Talkie Tuesday: Beauty and the Beast

 

"Tale as old as time ..."

 

Hello everyone!

 

I honestly can't believe I've never put this one on my blog. I'm not ENTIRELY sure what happened here, but I've pretty much covered about a dozen other topics that are somehow connected to this, and yet never touched the OG.

 

Or, the OG as my generation knows it, at least.

 

This past weekend, I was playing Dreamlight Valley and working my butt off to get the two main characters from tonight's movie choice to my village. After succeeding, I felt so inspired and nostalgic that I had to pull up Disney+ just to watch the movie.

 

... I did then follow it with the live-action from 2017 as well, but who's counting?

 

In any event, make sure you have your tissues ready, that you've locked the doors from any and all silly suitors, and that you're prepared for adventure that you can't find anywhere else but in this story.

 

Because we're headed to an enchanted castle to meet a beast, and free him from his curse. Beauty and the Beast a la 1991, everyone!

 

Tome Thursday: Crusader Gold

 

Hello everyone!

 

Welcome back.

 

Tonight's blog post is a bit of a return to my roots, in a sense, because this particular book series was what got me "re-hooked" or, hooked again, on REALLY reading, seriously and furiously.

 

I can still remember randomly picking up the first one at a store, thinking it was going to be some la-la land thing, and ending up devouring it because of how vividly and realistically it was written.

 

Then I hunted down the rest of the then-translated books (I think the first five or six were translated into my language) in my local library and gobbled those, too.

 

After finding out that the author had written more, I got them for my e-reader in English, and am now pretty much almost caught up with the series, but I figured, before I dive into the last few, I'd start it all from the beginning. And every first step is always followed by a second one, so here we are with that tonight!

 

Jack Howard dives again, and honestly? David Gibbins knows what he's doing with these.

 

Crusader Gold is up next.

 

Tome Thursday: Rise of the Fae King

 

Hello everyone!

 

Look at us going, making it almost all the way through January already.

 

However, 2025 has been ... a lot, already. And it's difficult to put into words the feelings that come along with such a realization.

 

I think that, if this is just the beginning, we better buckle up, because DAMN the year's going to be BRUTAL.

 

On the other hand, my copy of Onyx Storm is in the mail and on the way to me, so there's at least a spark of hope somewhere down the road.

 

In the meantime, I'm working my way backwards through my read pile, having finished most of these before the Christmas season started, and then I put them on the back burner to keep handy when I needed to write a review.

 

So we're going back to see some cute little dragons this time! They're actually cute, and called fliers, while they're at it. Make sure you don't call them anything else, and hop along through the Veil with me in Rise of the Fae King.

 

Talkie Tuesday: A Sprinkle of Deceit

 

"Not again."

 

Hello everyone!

 

I seem to be in a rather mysterious mood at the moment. Or, at the very least, in a mood to solve a whole lot of mysteries, judging by the book blog from last week and this week's choice of movie review.

 

Yes, yes, I know, the inauguration was yesterday, blablabla.

 

Not really in the mood. I'd prefer something a lot more drama-friendly!

 

So here we are, returning to one of my usual favourite sleuthers that I kind of tucked away by the wayside to return to at some point or other. The movie I watched this weekend actually aired, er, well, in autumn of last year. They're releasing the newest installment this February so I thought to myself, you know what? Maybe I should catch up!

 

So I did.

 

And honestly, I keep forgetting how much I enjoy this light-hearted kind of thing where you don't have to use so much brain energy and just have fun.

 

Hallmark Movies and Mysteries serves a lot of that in A Sprinkle of Deceit.

 

Tome Thusday: Ghost Writer

 

Hello everyone!

 

Welcome to another fun, cozy mystery review.

 

I like me some of those, particularly when the weather turns a little bit foul in some aspects. There's something so NICE about curling up with a book that deals with, say, crime of some sort, or even Jane Austen (completely other end of the spectrum, I know), as opposed to action and adventure when it's all sunny and nice outside.

 

But I digress.

 

I'm actually working through a backlog of my book list, because I'd been reading these voraciously as last year was drawing to a close, and then of course December happened and I always only do Christmas-themed reviews at that time.

 

And so, more typing fodder now!

 

So hop along for the ride as we return to Salem and a really fun author, Dina Marie, takes us along for a ride with her character, Clara. She's renovating an old house and running into spirits of the deceased, because apparently the renovation is a hobby, and the investigation is her main job now! As you'll see in Ghost Writer.

 

Talkie Tuesday: Gladiator II

 

"What is the dream of Rome if her people are not free?"

 

Hello everyone!

 

And yes, once again, welcome back.

 

You didn't think I was actually going to leave you hanging and NOT drop a review of this movie, did you?

 

Considering I pretty much promised to watch and review it last week, it should be obvious by now that I try to keep my promises, as many as I possibly can in any event.

 

However circumstances were just a little bit different than how it was initially planned.

 

See, supposedly, I was supposed to go watch this in the cinema, but alas, that didn't happen, and I got to watch it on my big-ass home screen TV instead.

 

Either way.

 

It's time to head back to Ancient Rome and see what happens when you try to make a sequel to one of the best movies of all time. Back to the Colosseum, baby, in Gladiator II.

 

Tome Thursday: Obsession Under the Southern Stars

 

Hello everyone!

 

We're well underway into 2025 now, and I feel as though I have a pretty good grasp on how this year is going to unfold (spoiler alert: it's going to be busy, LOL), which hopefully means that everyone else is settling into their paces as well.

This ALSO means that, considering I'm now out of my Christmas blogging, I can focus on all the stuff that I had to push to the side while that was happening, and catch up with all that I read prior to December hitting with full force.

And it gives me the perfect excuse to start the yearly book blogs with my favourite contemporary romance author, Serenity Woods.

Not only is she a fantastic writer, but she's also just a lovely person in general, so if you ever get the chance to read any of her books, give them a go! She writes strong heroines who nevertheless don't act like witches (another word rhymes with this one ...) and heroes who sweep them off their feet, but who always brighten your day and don't just flash their money and expect things to be solved.

Tonight we're continuing with her Southern Stars series, the end of which is coming sometime in the beginning of this year, and I'm excited! But first, the bridge book if you will, the second of the lot leading the way to the finale, Obsession Under the Southern Stars.

Talkie Tuesday: Gladiator

 

"Are you not entertained?"

 

Hello everyone!

 

Happy New Year!

 

I hope you said goodbye to the last one in good spirits, and that you're ready to take on all new challenges in this brand sparkly new one.

 

At least, I'm telling myself that. As well as trying to set reachable goals that won't break my spirit if I can't manage to achieve them! I've learned (a little bit the hard way) that I need to set more short-term ones, smaller ones, than try for the big guns all blazing because I'm less likely to be disappointed this way.

 

Or, well, that's my take on it!

 

Anyway, back to the show, which is to say, back to the regular reviews that have nothing to do with the holidays.

 

And I decided to start it off with a right banger.

 

So strap on your armour and hold on to your butts, because we're headed back to Ancient Rome, baby. It's time for Gladiator!