The Friday 54 (174) & Book Beginnings: The Forgotten Girl by India Hill Brown

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice where every Friday you pick a book and turn to page 56 or 56%, and select a sentence or a few, as long as it's not a spoiler. For the full rules, visit the the page HERE

Book Beginnings is a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader that asks you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you're reading.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

"Do you know what it feels like to be forgotten?" 

On a cold winter night, Iris and her best friend, Daniel, sneak into a clearing in the woods to play in the freshly fallen snow. There, Iris carefully makes a perfect snow angel - only to find the crumbling gravestone of a young girl, Avery Moore, right beneath her. Immediately, strange things start to happen to Iris: She begins having vivid nightmares. She wakes up to find her bedroom window wide open, letting in the snow. She thinks she sees the shadow of a girl lurking in the woods. And she feels the pull of the abandoned grave, calling her back to the clearing... Obsessed with figuring out what's going on, Iris and Daniel start to research the area for a school project. They discover that Avery's grave is actually part of a neglected and forgotten Black cemetery, dating back to a time when White and Black people were kept separate in life - and in death. As Iris and Daniel learn more about their town's past, they become determined to restore Avery's grave and finally have proper respect paid to Avery and the others buried there. But they have awakened a jealous and demanding ghost, one that's not satisfied with their plans for getting recognition. One that is searching for a best friend forever - no matter what the cost. The Forgotten Girl is both a spooky original ghost story and a timely and important storyline about reclaiming an abandoned segregated cemetery....

Beginning: "Iris's nightmares terrified her."

56: "Everything seemed sharper around the edges. Stark. The branches of the trees pointier at the ends, the twigs on the ground like worms."

Comments: I have finally read The Forgotten Girl by India Hill Brown. It was a good ghost story that also touched on the history of segregated cemeteries. What are you reading this week?

I Listened to Treat Myself by Meghan Trainor...

Meghan Trainor’s long-awaited album, Treat Myself, is finally out, and I gave it a listen. 

I have been waiting for Treat Myself since I heard about it from one of my co-bloggers sometime last year. It was one of my most anticipated albums of 2020, and it's finally here. It was as good as I hoped it would be, and it was also nothing like I expected—and I mean that in a good way too. Meghan Trainor outdid herself. Treat Myself is a light, fun, and creative foray into the pop genre. It's probably my favorite body-of-work by Meghan Trainor to date. 

Treat Myself had a strong “love yourself"/self-empowerment message throughout the full track list. The lyrics, the sound, and the energy of the tracks complimented Trainor’s vocals. The collaborations are particularly good like Nice to Meet Ya featuring Nicki Minaj, Genetics featuring The Pussycat Dolls, and After You featuring AJ Mitchell, etc.. The solo songs are just as good on their own, and some of my favorites include Babygirl, Evil Twin, and Blink. 

Treat Myself is definitely a new favorite. I enjoyed the whole album, and I'm looking forward to Trainor's next project.

Have you listened to Treat Myself? If so, what did you think about it?

Music Monday (106): Chicago, Kerli, and Cleo Sol

   Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: Another artist I recently added to my playlist is Cleo Sol. One is now one of my favorite songs.

Adri: Lately, I've been listening to a lot of Kerli. I have a lot of songs that I like from her album Shadow Works, but I decided to narrow it down to two. My first pick is Mimicry.

And my second pick is Giving Up the Ghost, which I find, for the lack of better words, hauntingly beautiful.

Andrea: Last week when I was watching The Talk, Chicago performed. This reminded me of how much I used to and still do love their music. Will You Still Love Me is one of my all time favorite songs by this group. You can watch the music video below. I can't wait to discover what you're listening to. And as always, have a wonderful week!

Have you found any new music this week? If so, leave your recommendations in the comments down below.

Review: The Case Study of Vanitas Volume 2 by Jun Mochizuki

Title: The Case Study of Vanitas
Series: The Case Study of Vanitas #2
Author: Jun Mochizuki
Source/Format: Gift; Paperback
More Details: Manga; Fantasy
Publisher/Publication Date: Yen Press; May 23, 2017

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble     Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads...

Now installed at a hotel in Paris with the help of Count Orlok, Noé and Vanitas take their awkward partnership on the road...to a vampire masquerade ball! The order of the evening may be small talk and hobnobbing with fellow guests, but the mystery of the curse-bearers is never too far behind. The intrigue swirls as quickly as the dancers twirl, a blue moon ascends upon the guests...and all hell breaks loose!

Well…that escalated quickly. If you know anything about Pandora’s Hearts, there was tragedy all over the place in that series. Now, some of the darker themes of The Case Study of Vanitas are starting to show through. While the first volume was already exciting enough, it was more of an introduction to the story, characters, and world. While volume two, on the other hand, starts the next arc of the story. It also ramps up the action and world building as Noe and Vanitas take on more curse-bearers set against the dazzling backdrop of a masquerade ball.

So far, Mochizuki’s take on vampires is proving to be one of my favorites. They have some of the usual traits—super strength, immortality—but they don’t need to drink blood to live (it seems like more of an indulgence, so far) and they live in another world entirely. The artwork for Altus Paris was gorgeous. I loved the style of the city, and how different it was from the steampunk Paris the story began in—just by changing one aspect about the sky. I also liked the details about names. Names have meaning and importance. It comes up all the time in fiction, in particular fairy tales or stories based on them (think Spinning Silver, The Cruel Prince, and most stories involving fairies). Names, true names, have power in this story, and I was surprised at how closely linked it was to curse-bearers. I’m looking forward to seeing how that develops later on.

I also enjoyed how quickly volume 2 delved into talking more about the world, and mentioned some occurrence called Babel. I found this quote—“Babel really was an astounding incident, wasn’t it? Rewriting the principles of the world like that…”—pretty interesting since the magic-type system in this world is related to world formula revisions.

As for the events in this volume, it presented some interesting questions as to the source of curse-bearers themselves. It also fleshed-out the dynamic between the dual protagonist, and it directly showcased more of the vampire society/politics that were hinted about in the last volume. That also included the introduction of a few new characters.

With the way the twists keep coming, The Case Study of Vanitas is shaping up to be one of my favorite series. The current arc of the story isn’t over quite yet, and now more than ever I’m excited to read volume 3.

Music Monday (105): Tinashe, Moods, Sister Sledge

   Rules:

• Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Lauren Stoolfire at Always Me that asks you to share one or two songs that you've recently enjoyed. For the rules, visit the page HERE 

Breana: I know I talked about Save Room For Us by Tinashe featuring MAKJ on a different music Monday post (here). But I wanted to mention it again, because it now has a music video. The choreography is great, and it fits the song so well.  

Adri: I've been listening to music with a chill/low-fi vibe. So my pick today is Where I Met You by Moods. 

Andrea: Flashback to the oldies! I'm currently listening to We Are Family by Sister Sledge.

What are you listening to this week?