Monday, September 9, 2019

Music Monday (89): Jidenna

   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’m currently listening to Jidenna’s new album, 85 to Africa. One of my favorite songs is Jungle Fever.



What are you listening to this week?


Friday, September 6, 2019

The Friday 56 (159) & Book Beginnings: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

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.


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Synopsis from Goodreads...
Under the streets of London there's a place most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, knights in armour and pale girls in black velvet. This is the city of the people who have fallen between the cracks. Richard Mayhew, a young businessman, is going to find out more than enough about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his workday existence and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and utterly bizarre. And a strange destiny awaits him down here, beneath his native city: Neverwhere....


Beginning: "The night before he went to London, Richard Mayhew was not enjoying himself."

56: ""A spy from the Upworld," said the Lord Rat-speaker."


Comments: Neverwhere is one of those books I've been meaning to read for a very long time. Recently, I finally got around to checking it out from the library, and I loved the story. What are you reading this week?


Wednesday, September 4, 2019

ARC Review: Well Met by Jen DeLuca

43189874Title: Well Met
Series: n/a
Author: Jen DeLuca 
Source/Format: First to Read; eARC
More Details: Contemporary; romance
Publisher/Publication Date: Berkley; September 3, 2019

Goodreads     Amazon     Barnes & Noble     Book Depository

Synopsis from Goodreads...
All's faire in love and war for two sworn enemies who indulge in a harmless flirtation in a laugh-out-loud rom-com from debut author Jen DeLuca. 
Emily knew there would be strings attached when she relocated to the small town of Willow Creek, Maryland, for the summer to help her sister recover from an accident, but who could anticipate getting roped into volunteering for the local Renaissance Faire alongside her teenaged niece? Or that the irritating and inscrutable schoolteacher in charge of the volunteers would be so annoying that she finds it impossible to stop thinking about him? The faire is Simon's family legacy and from the start he makes clear he doesn't have time for Emily's lighthearted approach to life, her oddball Shakespeare conspiracy theories, or her endless suggestions for new acts to shake things up. Yet on the faire grounds he becomes a different person, flirting freely with Emily when she's in her revealing wench's costume. But is this attraction real, or just part of the characters they're portraying? This summer was only ever supposed to be a pit stop on the way to somewhere else for Emily, but soon she can't seem to shake the fantasy of establishing something more with Simon or a permanent home of her own in Willow Creek....
I was here for the renaissance fair and stayed for the characters and romance. However, there was a lot more to like about Well Met than that. Everything from the writing, characters, story, and of course the romantic elements were done so well. At times, there were even hints of a will-they-won’t they kind of situation. So, I have to say, Well Met by Jen DeLuca is probably one of the most interesting, fun, and charming romance novels I’ve read in a while.

Well Met was a quick read, and the story was pretty straight forward. It was easy to get into and also the kind of book that kept me turning the pages, because I was so invested that I needed to know what happened next.

I liked the main character, Emily, especially after she was roped into volunteering at the annual renaissance faire in Willow Creek. I liked Emily’s emotional journey from beginning to end. She had issues to work through, and I liked the progress she made. Toward the beginning of the novel she was stuck in her past. While she was a good aunt and sister, she had a tendency to willingly put others before and above herself. So, I knew she would have to work on that before she could open up to anyone else, value herself, and move on with her life. I also liked Emily’s family—her older sister, April, and her niece Caitlin. I loved the bond between the three of them, especially Emily and Caitlin. She was very much the cool aunt kind of character, and I thought it was great that she was willing to do the faire so Caitlin wouldn’t miss out on the opportunity. There was a whole host of other side characters—including Simon—and they were as interesting as Emily. I liked the bits of backstory and glimpses of their usual lives outside of the faire.

I also liked the romantic relationship. Since the novel takes place toward the end of the school year and over a summer, I liked how gradual the relationship felt as it developed. The banter was a whole lot of fun since the characters often did so while using their faire personas. Speaking of which, one aspect that stood out was the renaissance faire. That’s a good thing, because it was such a large part of the story. The renaissance faire worked very well as a setting for the romance to take place. It was such a unique thing to do, and I enjoyed reading about how the faire came together: the auditions, rehearsals, costumes, and even during the summer when the event was going on.

Overall, Well Met was great. If you’re a fan of romance novels with a unique spin, then I would recommend giving this book a try. As for me, I’ll be over here waiting for Jen DeLuca’s next novel.   

About the author....

Jen DeLuca was born and raised near Richmond, Virginia, but now lives in Central Florida with her husband and a houseful of rescue pets. She loves latte-flavored lattes, Hokies football, and the Oxford comma. Well Met is her first novel, inspired by her time volunteering as a pub wench with her local Renaissance Faire.



Disclaimer: this copy of the book was provided by First to Read for this review, thank you!



Monday, September 2, 2019

Music Monday (88): Post Malone & Swae Lee

   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: Last week, I finally got around to watching Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse. It’s such a great movie. I loved the story and how urban and colorful the setting was (it’s now one of my all-time favorite animated movies, so there’s that). Also, the soundtrack for it was just as amazing as the rest of the movie. One of my favorite songs from the album is Sunflower by Post Malone and Swae Lee.



What's one of your favorite movie soundtracks or scores?


Friday, August 30, 2019

Let's Talk About Dark Crystal...

Dark Crystal is a movie I’ve been hearing about for what seems like forever—along with Labyrinth, which I hope to watch soon too—and with Netflix’s upcoming prequel series, there seemed to be no better time than the present to get to it. So, my sister and I watched Dark Crystal.

I went in knowing next to nothing about the film—I didn’t look at the Wikipedia page for it or search for any reviews about it—which was intentional. I wanted to really experience the movie without being influenced by, well anything. And I just have to say it: I loved Dark Crystal. I get the hype now. Not only was it a solid fantasy adventure movie, but it had an incredibly interesting world. There was a real story there, and a lot of lore. Not to mention the overall design of the film was fantastic. The puppets were awesome, and I loved how unique and interesting the environments were: such as Aughra’s home (with the orrery), the swamp, and even the Skeksis’s castle. There were also other details like how some of the customs were introduced within the first twenty to thirty minutes, and demonstrated the stark contrast between the Skeksis and the urRu. It was by far one of my favorite introductions for not only the hero, but also the villains. As a result, it created such an immersive world, and I could go on and on about every little detail about the story and characters.

There was so much potential, and I genuinely don’t know why they stopped with one film when so much could have been done with the Dark Crystal universe. So I’m not mad about the Netflix series being a prequel. Let me explain. While watching Dark Crystal, I came away conflicted. While I wanted to know more about the story, I wasn’t necessarily sold on a sequel. Not because I didn’t want to revisit the world with the original set of characters. I just liked the way the movie ended. It was a satisfying conclusion to Jen’s story. However, because it’s such a fascinating world, I wanted to know more about what happened before the events of the original movie. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of answers were provided by Dark Crystal thanks to the air-tight narrative, but there were no flashbacks to directly accompany them. As such, a number of my questions have to do with the origins of the prophecy, what led up to the situation with the Gelflings, and more of the history of the Skeksis, etc.. And from the way the final trailer for Age of Resistance looks, it seems like the series might cover a lot of what I wanted to know.

Now more than ever, I’m excited to finally watch Labyrinth.



If you haven’t already seen the final trailer for The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, I recommend that you do. The series is out today. Have you watched Dark Crystal? Are you planning to watch the prequel series?

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