Friday, January 28, 2022

I Listened to Pop?, Rap?, and R&B? by Tierra Whack


Welcome to the first “I Listened To” post of 2022. Today, I’m going to delve into my thoughts about Tierra Whack’s most recent music, a series of Eps with three songs each that were released in December 2021. They’re called Rap?, Pop?, and R&B?. 

Tierra Whack is one of those artists that I return to time and time again. Her music is always so creative, and her vocals are a distinctive part of what makes her work so memorable. So once I started listening to the Eps, I went through all three in one sitting.

Rap?, Pop?, and R&B? have all the characteristics—in sound and stylish vibe—of what I’ve come to expect from Whack’s music. Here though, that sound was mixed with the influence of the genre associated with the Ep titles. Some of my top favorite songs from them include: Millions, Stand Up, Body of Water, and Heaven.

All in all, in terms of music, this was a great way to start the year. And I’m excited to see what the rest of 2022 has in store.
 


Tuesday, January 25, 2022

ARC Review: The Appeal by Janice Hallett

Title: The Appeal
Series: n/a
Author: Janice Hallett
Source/Format: NetGalley; eARC
More Details: Mystery; Thriller
Publisher/Publication Date: Atria Books; January 25, 2022

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble 

Synopsis from Goodreads...
This murder mystery follows a community rallying around a sick child—but when escalating lies lead to a dead body, everyone is a suspect.

The Fairway Players, a local theatre group, is in the midst of rehearsals for an Arthur Miller play, when tragedy strikes the family of director Martin Haywood and his wife Helen, the play’s star. Their young granddaughter has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and with an experimental treatment costing a tremendous sum, their fellow castmates rally to raise the money to give her a chance at survival. But not everybody is convinced of the experimental treatment’s efficacy—nor of the good intentions of those involved. New actress Sam, a former NGO worker, raises doubts. But are her suspicions justified? Or does she have a history with the doctor involved? As tension grows within the community, things come to a shocking head the night of the dress rehearsal. The next day, a dead body is found, and soon, an arrest is made. In the run-up to the trial, two young lawyers sift through the material—emails, messages, letters—with a growing suspicion that a killer may still be on the loose.

A wholly modern take on the epistolary novel, The Appeal is a debut perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Lucy Foley.

When I got approved for The Appeal by Janice Hallett, I’ll admit, I could barely contain my excitement. With its epistolary form, it’s one of my most anticipated mystery/thriller releases of 2022. The Appeal was a page turner, and I enjoyed so much about this story. It had a cast of thoroughly unlikable characters, but it was the kind of story that made me want to read till the end. The driving force behind it, for me, was to see who did what, who knew, and when they knew it. The reveal was a big one. And Hallett excelled at laying down the clues, telling us who the players were, and how it all happened.

The Appeal tells the story of a mystery centered on a sick child and a family’s desperate race against time to fundraise enough to obtain an unapproved treatment that could help her condition. It’s centered on a local theater group called The Fairway Players and the people most closely associated with their latest production. The further I got in the story, the more it was apparent that there was something darker lurking under what first appeared to be a warm, welcoming, and sunshiny community. It was beyond just cattiness and friendly competition between friends, family, and new acquaintances. The theater group was built around one family, the Haywoods, and their cliquish social circle. It was cut-throat, and you were either in or out. It was to the point where fundraising for a good cause seemed to become a competition between who could be the most supportive for the Haywoods as well as getting the best number of donations for the appeal.

Since it’s told in the form of letters, newspaper clippings, emails, and text messages among others, it reads like a case study because it technically is. It’s pretty clear that the above mentioned things were assembled prior to the start, and I actually like the occasional story that gets told in this manner. I did get more of a mystery than the high tension of a thriller—due to the messages offering a limited view of the characters—but the story was interesting. My favorite bits were in the later half where there was more of Olufemi Hassan and Charlotte Holroyd’s comments regarding the case.

All that to say, The Appeal was an excellent mystery.
   

About the author....

A former magazine editor and award-winning journalist, Janice has written speeches and articles for, among others, the Cabinet Office, Home Office and Department for International Development. In screenwriting, Janice's first feature film RETREAT was released by Sony Pictures (co-written and directed by Carl Tibbetts) which starred Cillian Murphy, Thandie Newton and Jamie Bell. Janice’s stage plays have been performed at Theatre503, The White Bear, Hen & Chickens and TheatreN16. She was also one of six female playwrights selected by All The Rage Theatre for its Seize The Stage festival at Rich Mix. Her play NETHERBARD has twice been performed by Budding Rose Productions. Janice has had television scripts in development with Slim Film & TV and with Retort (part of FreemantleMedia). Her sitcom TWO LADIES was performed at the Museum of Comedy in June 2019. Janice was selected for the Triforce Creative Network year-long mentoring scheme and featured on the BBC New Talent Hotlist. She won Best New Screenplay in the 2014 British Independent Film Festival.

Janice's debut novel, THE APPEAL, published by Viper (Serpent's Tail) in January 2021.


Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by the publisher (Atria Books) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!


Monday, January 24, 2022

Music Monday (185): Brux, Kimbra, & Tetrarch

 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 somehow missed this song when it came out in October 2021. It's called Take by Brux and Kimbra. 


Adri: I found a lot of rock / metal songs last year that I liked, but I didn't get around to using them for Music Monday. So I'm going to start now. My pick for today is Trust Me by Tetrarch. It's one of the slower songs from their album Unstable. I'd equate it to simmering water.



What are you listening to this week?



Friday, January 21, 2022

Most Anticipated Books & Music of 2022


Welcome. Today, I want to talk about my most anticipated books and music of 2022, as well as some of the other titles I want to get to before the year is over.

Books…

The middle grade horror include: Empty Smiles by Katherine Arden, Camp Scare by Delilah S. Dawson, and The Girl in the Lake by India Hill Brown. Other books: A Thousand Steps into Night by Tracie Chee, The Couple At Number 9 by Clair Douglas, the next volume of The Case Study of Vanitas by Jun Mochizuki, and The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah. The classic I want to read this year is The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The series I want to finish in 2022 are The Folk of the Air by Holly Black and Sands of Arawiya by Hafsah Faizal.

Music…

There are a couple of albums I’m waiting for this year. Some of the ones I’ve included here have already come out, but I haven’t had a chance to listen to them yet.

In January: Icy Season by Saweetie (January 7), Caprisongs by FKA Twigs (January 14), The Gods We Can Touch by Aurora (January 21), and Motordrome by MO (January 28).

In March: Crash by Charli XCX (March 18).

Other releases with details to come: Kimbra’s fourth album, album by Kim Petras, Rina Sawayama's 2nd album.


So that’s what I’m currently waiting for this year. And, as always, this list will evolve as the year goes on. What are you looking forward to in 2022?

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

I'm Back....

My break from blogging is over. I hope everyone had a great New Year. I enjoyed my time off, but I’m ready to try and get back into the swing of things. Posts will be kind of sporadic for a few weeks, and Short Stories is still on hold this month while I prepare February’s edition. So I thought I would start the year with a chatty catchup type of thing, which I rarely do on the blog.

So what have I been up to?


Over my break, I did a lot less reading than I thought I would. Instead, I spent way too much time making miniature clay animals (many hedgehogs, two penguins, a possum, an owl, and all the other ones I haven’t had the chance to paint yet). I originally started the project with the intention of making Christmas gifts (and those ones aren’t pictured here), and I discovered that I really like making tiny animals. The process was time consuming, and so it remains an ongoing activity on my end. I also made some ornaments based off of a DIY project I saw in a Michaels newsletter in early December.  
Baking…

I didn’t try many new recipes this year. Although, Emmymade, a Youtube channel I follow, made a master cookie recipe. You can find the video HERE. Master Cookie recipes have been on my baking list for the longest time. And, during December, I wanted to make some thumbprint cookies. I figured it was a good time (and a good excuse) to see whether or not I liked the way the base dough baked.

It’s a fantastic cookie on its own, but with the jam it was absolute delicious. The texture is crisp on the outside but soft on the inside, and the taste is lightly sweet and reminded me of a very rich shortbread cookie.

As mentioned on the recipe, there are other flavor combinations for this dough: peanut butter, chocolate, etc. I eventually want to try them all.

Reading…

As I mentioned above, I did very little reading. But I did get to Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake and Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan, two books that were delightful reads for vastly different reason. I recommend both.

Games...

Animal Crossing New Horizons. There's so much to do in the game with the 2.0 update and the Happy Home Paradise DLC. I'm having way too much fun decorating houses, but as I told Adri before the Animal Crossing Nintendo Direct, I had my fingers crossed that Happy Home Decorator would be ported for the Switch in some form. I literally got what I wished for. 

So, I’m back, and I’m looking forward to the year ahead. Up next, I’ll do my most anticipated 2022 books and music. So, keep an eye out for that. Happy reading!

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