Lady With Books

The Teal Pumpkin Project was inspired by a local awareness activity run by the Food Allergy Community of East Tennessee (FACET) and launched as a national campaign by FARE in 2014. FARE thanks FACET for their ongoing partnership as we work to reach families across the country and around the world with the Teal Pumpkin Project’s messages of awareness, inclusion and community.

Putting a teal pumpkin on your doorstep means you have non-food treats available, such as glow sticks or small toys. This simple act promotes inclusion for trick-or-treaters with food allergies or other conditions. The Teal Pumpkin Project encourages people to provide non-food items in place of candy so children with food allergies can enjoy trick or treating on Halloween night like every other kid.

Click here to download signs and flyers.

Their Facebook page can be found here.

Have a safe and spooky Halloween, everybody!

Posted in helpful/useful, holiday post, Uncategorized

Tags: food allergies, halloween, The Teal Pumpkin Project

Book Review: Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn

Oct 31

Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn
Published: July 5th 2016 by DAW
Format: Paper Book
Length: 378 pages
Genre: Adult, Urban Fantasy, Superheroes, Comical, Paranormal, Romance
Rating: 3 stars
Goodreads | Amazon

Being a superheroine is hard. Working for one is even harder.

Evie Tanaka is the put-upon personal assistant to Aveda Jupiter, her childhood best friend and San Francisco’s most beloved superheroine. She’s great at her job—blending into the background, handling her boss’s epic diva tantrums, and getting demon blood out of leather pants.

Unfortunately, she’s not nearly as together when it comes to running her own life, standing up for herself, or raising her tempestuous teenage sister, Bea.

But everything changes when Evie’s forced to pose as her glamorous boss for one night, and her darkest comes out: she has powers, too. Now it’s up to her to contend with murderous cupcakes, nosy gossip bloggers, and supernatural karaoke battles—all while juggling unexpected romance and Aveda’s increasingly outrageous demands. And when a larger threat emerges, Evie must finally take charge and become a superheroine in her own right… or see her city fall to a full-on demonic invasion.

If you want something fun to read, then Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn is right up your alley. This book is entertaining and packed full of action. The characters kick-ass and are incredibly diverse. It was a pleasure to see characters that break out of the mold, especially for superheroines. These girls were not secondary characters or love interests to the main male character. I loved the focus on female relationships, either between sisters or best friends. I did have a bit of a problem with Aveda/Annie’s behavior through the first and middle sections of the book. Her attitude made me want to reach in and slap her. Thankfully, she progresses and realizes how she is treating Evie and her other friends is unacceptable. I also adored Evie. Everything from her quirkiness to her fire power made me love her. She was an extremely likable character.

Heroine Complex can also be a little cartoonish and a tad drawn out. It felt like a Saturday morning cartoon, full of color and silly but a little jarring to read. Especially since this is an adult book, not YA. This is accomplished by dropping a fair amount of sexual situations into the plot and some nice cursing. Neither which I had a problem with. If anything, it made the characters more believable. It was just out of place with the tone of the writing. The ending also felt drawn out. Kind of like a ridiculous comic book situation that you have to roll your eyes at. It’s campy and outlandish but so much fun. As long as you don’t take the book too seriously and are looking for something comical, Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn is a good pick.

Posted in book review, books, fiction, modern fantasy, paranormal fiction, Uncategorized

1 Comment

Tags: adult book, book review, Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn, paranormal, urban fantasy

The friend of a friend; a cautionary tale.

May 3

The friend of a friend: a cautionary tale.

Girls? Are you listening? I’m here with a bit of advice. Now, I apologize for sounding like a bitch. I’m well aware this isn’t any of my business but this seems to be happening to everyone I know lately and I’m honestly convinced that nobody has told you flat out to just stop it. What am I talking about? Well, two things actually.

First a little background; I have a friend of a friend who is suffering the consequences of her bad choices. The first bad choice was that she smoked during her pregnancy. The second bad choice is that she got pregnant with her boyfriend. Why am I calling the latter a bad choice? Because that boyfriend abandoned her when the baby was a month old.

Now, that boyfriend is a dick. A grade A asshole. That’s on him. He’s scum. That is in no way her fault. But I see it happening time after time. This friend of a friend has a 9 year old daughter whose father also skipped out. So, I guess my first piece of advice is you better be absolutely fucking sure your baby daddy is going to stay. Honestly, no babies until you have a ring on your finger. Use birth control when you fuck your boyfriends, ladies. Get the Pill. Make him wear a condom. Have your own condoms so you are sure about them. Use both the Pill and a condom. You make sure you have that man’s balls nailed to the floor before you go popping out any kids.

Yes, kids are amazing and awesome and fulfilling and all that bullshit but single parenthood sucks. Being on food stamps sucks. Being on welfare sucks. Trying to raise a kid on your own, child support or no, sucks. Do everything in your power to avoid it. You make sure that the dick in the relationship is going to stay there after playtime is over.

Now back to the first piece of advice. Do you smoke? Stop it! We all know that smoking is unhealthy. Why are you still smoking? Quit. Quit now. Did you just say it’s too hard? You’re under a lot of stress? It helps you relax? Tough. Suck it up, you piece of shit, and quit. Do you want to be dead by the age of 65, like my Mother? Do you want to be dragging an oxygen tube around the house, like my Father? No, you fucking do not. Quit.

Are you pregnant and smoking? Here, let me apply my boot to your face. What the hell would possess you to smoke while pregnant? Do you want to know what happens when you smoke while pregnant? You get a month long stay in the hospital, a tiny preemie baby that needs special care, and medical bills up the wahoo. Because you are a fucking idiot.

Friend of a friend’s water broke about 9 weeks early and she was rushed to the hospital. Luckily, baby appeared to be fine and what followed was about a month long stay in the hospital trying to keep the bun in the oven as long as possible. She kept losing amniotic fluid the whole time. She would sneak out in her wheelchair to smoke in the hospital courtyard. Her work place basically just fired her. (Don’t sign shit, people.) Then baby appeared to be in distress and there was an emergency C-section done. That was at just 33 weeks and she came out into the world septic and needing special care. The mother’s C-section wound then got an infection and is still not healing right, even a month later. She has a wound pump and has been out of work for about 3 months now.

And then her boyfriend leaves her. So, when I say you better lock down the dick in the relationship, I damn well mean it.

Don’t smoke while pregnant. Don’t smoke at all. Quit. Right now. Save yourself the money and a world of pain. Fucking stop smoking.

And, of course, there is no telling what problems the baby might have later in life because of this.

So…

Stop it. Just… stop it.

Do not be the friend of a friend.

Posted in Uncategorized

Tags: asshole boyfriend, bad life choices, do not be an idiot, do not smoke, do not smoke while pregnant, I am not a nice person, I curse a lot in this, loser boyfriend, no babies until you are married, personal post, preemie baby, smoking, smoking while pregnant, what happens when you smoke while pregnant

Top Ten Tuesday Feb. 9

Feb 9

Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and the Bookish Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.

Our prompt this week is: Valentine’s Day is next week… so we’re doing a Valentine’s Day themed freebie! Top Ten Books That Would Make Great Valentine’s Day Reads (or anti-Valentine’s day reads), Top Ten OTPs, Top 10 fictional crushes, top ten great love declarations in fiction, swoony quotes from books, etc. Get creative!

Ugh. Valentine’s Day. Bah Humbug! I plan to spend Valentine’s Day the same way I always have, on my couch with junk food and streaming Netflix.

Ok, I’m going to be honest here; I am a hypocrite. When I read books, especially young adult books, I am anti-romance. My favorite books barely have any romance to speak of. For me, the romance in young adult books is just painful; full of instant love, the guy being an asshole to the girl and they still get together, the girl having stomach problems because the guy is hot, and all sorts of dribble that makes me want to throw up. It’s superficial and silly.

I am also a slash fangirl. Pretty boys go well with other pretty boys. I will happily take two characters from a movie or TV show and smush them together in a relationship regardless of any factors to the contrary. (manic grin) I am happy as a clam with just a computer and a fanfiction website. I will read anything, really, that has my pairing in it, good, bad, or horrible. I am insane and I willingly admit to being insane.

So, these are my Top 10 OTP’s! (OTP means one true pairing and fangirls can be rabid about it.)

1) Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Oh god. I’m so sorry. This started out as a mild interest with the first Iron Man movie, where I was leaning more toward Pepper Potts/Tony Stark or Rhodey/Tony Stark. I found the Steve Rogers/Tony Stark pairing while reading fanfiction, which were more Marvel comic based and since I didn’t read comics, I was less interested. Then the Avengers movie happened and that was it. Full on OTP. This is probably my biggest and longest OTP I’ve ever had. When the Civil War movie comes out in May, I’m going to lose my marbles. I’m so, so sorry. (Not really.)

2) John Sheppard/ Rodney McKay
I was so disappointed when they canceled Stargate: Atlantis and put on that stupid Stargate: Universe on. There were supposed to be movies to wrap everything up but that never happened either. I also like Jack O’Neill/Daniel Jackson but for some reason I liked Stargate: SG1 less than Atlantis. I don’t know why.

3) Illya Kuryakin/Napoleon Solo
New fandom! I’m too young to have caught the original The Man from UNCLE series and had no interest when there were reruns. This pairing is all the fault of the movie remake last year. I’m weak. Weak! You can’t give me two male leads with 4 inches of height difference and not expect me to smush them together.

4) James Kirk/Spock
Pretty much the original OTP of the world. I was reading Kirk/Spock stuff before fanfiction was even very big. Then the movies with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto came out and the fandom exploded with a fresh generation of slash lovers and fanfiction writers.

5) Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy & Ron Weasley/Hermione Granger
These guys are just going to have to share this spot. On one hand, yay! for the female lead not ending up with the male lead. Ron and Hermione are fabulous. However, Harry ends up with Ginny Weasley and, well, I can’t have that. He obviously belongs with his nemesis and tortured bad guy partner, Draco. (pats on head)

6) Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
I don’t care what time period it’s set in, Sherlock and John belong together forever and ever. Amen.

7) Arthur/Merlin
From that BBC TV show Merlin a couple years back. Yep. Still love them.

8) Castiel/Dean Winchester
From Supernatural. This is Canon and you can’t convince me otherwise.

9) Hiccup Haddock/Astrid Hofferson
Oh, look! A straight pairing! How did that happen? The whole How to Train Your Dragon world is awesome and those two are awesome and they belong together in awesomeness. The End.

10) Katniss Everdeen/Gale Hawthorne
Peeta is a freaking twit. That is all.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everybody! I’m going to hell in a hand basket, yes I am! La la la la! Must remember to pick up marshmallows.

Thank you for reading!

Posted in Uncategorized

2 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday Feb. 2

Feb 2

Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and the Bookish

February 2

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.

Our prompt this week is: Top Ten Historical Settings You Love/ Ten Historical Settings You’d Love To See or Top Futuristic Books You Love/Ten Futuristic Societies I’d Love To Read in Books — basically this week is all about the past or the future….spin it however you choose!

So, of course, I had to pick…

Victorian England

…and my top 10 books set in that time period, both good and bad.

First, the good:

Book Illustration Depicting Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in a Train Cabin 1) Let’s start with my original Victorian England obsession, the one that started it all; The Sherlock Holmes series by Arthur Conan Doyle. My favorite of the Sherlock stories is The Hound of the Baskervilles. I think it’s everyone’s favorite, really. It’s hard to pick a favorite of the short stories because there is honestly too many great ones, but of the short story tales I like The Adventure of the Dancing Men and A Scandal in Bohemia. Irene Adler will always be The Woman to me.

There is no little amount of modern adaptions either. My Sherlock will always be Jeremy Brett, which I watched on weekend mornings on PBS as a teen. But I also love the Sherlock movies with Robert Downey Jr., the BBC adaption with Benedict Cumberbatch, and even the CBS TV show Elementary with Jonny Lee Miller, although that is my least favorite. I’m even known to pull up a couple of the Basil Rathbone movies, although I hate how Watson is portrayed in those. I also liked what I saw of the Russian Holmes played by Vasily Livanov, which I found hiding on the internet a couple years ago. The most recent Mr. Holmes movie with Ian McKellen was also a treat. Honestly, I’m guaranteed to like pretty much any Sherlock Holmes adaption.

2) I have an unhealthy obsession with Jack the Ripper. It’s unseemly. There is a shelf dedicated to books of him in my apartment, both fiction and non-fiction. He’s my favorite Victorian England murder mystery plot device. I probably need mental help.

3) Black Butler; it’s an anime. It’s set in a fictional Victorian England. There are demons. I really need mental help.

4) The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill. (begins laughing) I’m ashamed to admit I saw the movie first and I love that piece of crap. It took me a while to hunt down copies of the comic but now I love them too. It has Professor Moriarty, nemesis of Sherlock Holmes. (Because my interests tend to cross-pollinate.) And Mina Murray is a badass in a skirt, even outside the whole Dracula thing. If you do not love Mina Murray than you are wrong.

5) Finishing School series by Gail Carriger. It’s steam punk and espionage and Victorian England all rolled into one! Even if the pace of the books frustrated the hell out of me (so. freaking. slow.), I still liked them. It had the best mix of awesomeness. I’m going to read her Parasol Protectorate series next.

Then, the bad:

Ok, what follows is a list of classic books set in Victorian England, or close enough. I want you to all know that I have a love/hate relationship with these books. I read them all for school and, if I hadn’t been forced, I probably wouldn’t have chosen to read them on my own. I like them but I have a deep hate for archaic language. It drives me nuts. I have no patience for it. And a good majority of them are just love stories, which I loath. But it’s Victorian England, which I love. So, I want you to know that while they feed my love of Victorian England, reading them was a chore.

6) Dracula by Bram Stoker. Probably my least hated of the ‘classics’.

Annex%20-%20Lugosi,%20Bela%20(Mark%20of%20the%20Vampire)_02

Bela Lugosi’s dead! … sorry. I actually liked The Vampire Acadamy movie. Don’t judge me!

7) Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Another not so horrible one. I seem to be on a theme here. Monster books for the win!

8) The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Read to me by my Grandma, less torturous than having to read it myself. I think I impressed the hell out of my 7th grade English teacher when I selected The Secret Garden for my big book report. More fool her.

And, honestly, the ones I loath.

9) Brontë siblings. Just all of them. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Wuthering Heigths by Emily Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte. I’ve read both the revised and original Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Well, mostly. All three books drove me nuts.

10) Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma. All of Austen’s books are the same. Girl seeks husband, girl encounters obstacle, girl wins and marries boy. Again, I was forced to read them for school and I was bored to tears.

Save me from pompous romance books. Oh god…

Thank you for reading!

Posted in Uncategorized

1 Comment

Book Releases February 2016

Jan 29

February 2016

A couple of the books I noticed are coming out soon and look fairly interesting.

queenofthenight The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee
Publication : Feb. 2nd

Lilliet Berne is a sensation of the Paris Opera, a legendary soprano with every accolade except an original role, every singer’s chance at immortality. When one is finally offered to her, she realizes with alarm that the libretto is based on a hidden piece of her past. Only four could have betrayed her: one is dead, one loves her, one wants to own her. And one, she hopes, never thinks of her at all. As she mines her memories for clues, she recalls her life as an orphan who left the American frontier for Europe and was swept up into the glitzy, gritty world of Second Empire Paris. In order to survive, she transformed herself from hippodrome rider to courtesan, from empress’s maid to debut singer, all the while weaving a complicated web of romance, obligation, and political intrigue.

Featuring a cast of characters drawn from history, The Queen of the Night follows Lilliet as she moves ever closer to the truth behind the mysterious opera and the role that could secure her reputation — or destroy her with the secrets it reveals.

Blackhearts by Nicole Castroman
Publication: Feb. 9th

Blackbeard the pirate was known for striking fear in the hearts of the bravest of sailors. But once he was just a young man who dreamed of leaving his rigid life behind to chase adventure in faraway lands. Nothing could stop him—until he met the one girl who would change everything.

Edward “Teach” Drummond, son of one of Bristol’s richest merchants, has just returned from a year-long journey on the high seas to find his life in shambles. Betrothed to a girl he doesn’t love and sick of the high society he was born into, Teach dreams only of returning to the vast ocean he’d begun to call home. There’s just one problem: convincing his father to let him leave and never come back.

Following her parents’ deaths, Anne Barrett is left penniless and soon to be homeless. Though she’s barely worked a day in her life, Anne is forced to take a job as a maid in the home of Master Drummond. Lonely days stretch into weeks, and Anne longs for escape. How will she ever realize her dream of sailing to Curaçao—where her mother was born—when she’s stuck in England?

From the moment Teach and Anne meet, they set the world ablaze. Drawn to each other, they’re trapped by society and their own circumstances. Faced with an impossible choice, they must decide to chase their dreams and go, or follow their hearts and stay.

reignofshadows Reign of Shadows by Sophie Jordan
Publication: Feb. 9th

Seventeen years ago, an eclipse cloaked the kingdom of Relhok in perpetual darkness. In the chaos, an evil chancellor murdered the king and queen and seized their throne. Luna, Relhok’s lost princess, has been hiding in a tower ever since. Luna’s survival depends on the world believing she is dead.

But that doesn’t stop Luna from wanting more. When she meets Fowler, a mysterious archer braving the woods outside her tower, Luna is drawn to him despite the risk. When the tower is attacked, Luna and Fowler escape together. But this world of darkness is more treacherous than Luna ever realized.

With every threat stacked against them, Luna and Fowler find solace in each other. But with secrets still unspoken between them, falling in love might be their most dangerous journey yet.

With lush writing and a star–crossed romance, Reign of Shadows is Sophie Jordan at her best.

girlfromeverywhere The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heiling
Publication: Feb. 16th

It was the kind of August day that hinted at monsoons, and the year was 1774, though not for very much longer.

Sixteen-year-old Nix Song is a time-traveller. She, her father and their crew of time refugees travel the world aboard The Temptation, a glorious pirate ship stuffed with treasures both typical and mythical. Old maps allow Nix and her father to navigate not just to distant lands, but distant times – although a map will only take you somewhere once. And Nix’s father is only interested in one time, and one place: Honolulu 1868. A time before Nix was born, and her mother was alive. Something that puts Nix’s existence rather dangerously in question…

Nix has grown used to her father’s obsession, but only because she’s convinced it can’t work. But then a map falls into her father’s lap that changes everything. And when Nix refuses to help, her father threatens to maroon Kashmir, her only friend (and perhaps, only love) in a time where Nix will never be able to find him. And if Nix has learned one thing, it’s that losing the person you love is a torment that no one can withstand. Nix must work out what she wants, who she is, and where she really belongs before time runs out on her forever.

shadowqueen The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine
Publication: Feb.16

Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She’ll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen.

In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol’s father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman…and bring her Lorelai’s heart.

But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.

ForbiddenWish_BOM.indd The Forbidden Wish by Jessica Khoury
Publication: Feb. 23

She is the most powerful Jinni of all. He is a boy from the streets. Their love will shake the world…

When Aladdin discovers Zahra’s jinni lamp, Zahra is thrust back into a world she hasn’t seen in hundreds of years — a world where magic is forbidden and Zahra’s very existence is illegal. She must disguise herself to stay alive, using ancient shape-shifting magic, until her new master has selected his three wishes.

But when the King of the Jinn offers Zahra a chance to be free of her lamp forever, she seizes the opportunity—only to discover she is falling in love with Aladdin. When saving herself means betraying him, Zahra must decide once and for all: is winning her freedom worth losing her heart?

As time unravels and her enemies close in, Zahra finds herself suspended between danger and desire in this dazzling retelling of Aladdin from acclaimed author Jessica Khoury.

arch book merlin

Holy fairytale retellings, Batman! I see the popularity of the fairytale retelling hasn’t waned any.

Thank you for reading!

Posted in books, Uncategorized

Tags: book releases, book releases February 2016, books, february 2016

Friday Ramble Jan. 15

Jan 15

7 Ways To Boost Your Self-Confidence & Feel Beautiful Again

fridayramblelogo

Happy Friday, everybody. Welcome to the Friday Ramble, where I recap the week and include some of my favorite posts and inspiration from other bloggers.

girlboarder Hello 2016!

I haven’t posted a Friday Ramble since before Christmas. The end of the year is super busy at work and then socially I was doing way more than I’m used to and blogging was the last thing on my mind. Suddenly, it was a week into 2016 and I hadn’t posted anything. Good thing ‘blogging more’ isn’t one of my New Year’s resolutions.

Christmas was good. We held it on the Saturday after, since Tina’s, my brother’s girlfriend, family does a big thing on Christmas. Our family is so little it hardly matters. Dan made lamp chops. They were something a little different for us and were super yummy. I made my grandmother’s chocolate cake, of which I managed to get one piece of before the rest of it was stolen out from under my nose by my family. I think my Dad made off with at least half of it. He’s a chocolate fiend. Then Tina made roasted veggies and the pan had to be pried from my hands. I love me some roasted veggies.

Then on the Monday after Christmas, a friend of mine was in town for her Dad’s birthday and we all gathered at a Chinese buffet to spend time with her since she was only here for two days. We pretty much took over a corner and spent the evening. Our waitress, however, seemed to take issue with us and acted pissy and disappeared after an hour. It’s a buffet, lady. All you have to do is refill the drinks. I know as an Asian person, working in a Chinese buffet is the 9th circle of hell, but you need to control the attitude. You are working a job and you lost yourself what would have been a substantial tip from our group. We kept having to flag down different people to get drink refills and dirty plates taken away and the place wasn’t even busy.

Then I was feeling particularly social, so I agreed to go out to a New Year’s party at a friend’s house. It was very wild. We were all drunk. Cops came. I slept in a potted plant. I’m kidding. But, seriously, I had a great time. We played Cards Against Humanity and Werewolf and ate a truly astonishing amount of pizza and girly wine cooler drinks. I could have done without the two hyper little kids underfoot. I came, I had fun, I called it a success.

Until 24 hours later when I developed a sore throat and chest congestion. This is what I get for exposing myself to people. (Get your minds out of the gutter.) I dragged myself to work until I just couldn’t anymore and ended up leaving early on Wednesday and taking Thursday and Friday off last week . Not how I want to use my vacation time. How annoying. I was sick all weekend. I’m still coughing now. Plus I broke out around my mouth and on my chin because I wasn’t keeping up with my routine. I was too busy cuddling my cat, wrapped up in every blanket I own on the couch. So far, the start of 2016 sucks.

And we lost some great people this past week. David Bowie on Sunday and then Alan Rickman on Thursday. Both aged 69. Both died from cancer. Not funny, Universe. Not funny. Fuck cancer. Fuck it. Those people, my Mother, were not done living yet. Damn it.

linkylove

10 Indulgent Potato Recipes for Winter Yummy. Potatoes. Starchy goodness.

16 Confessions From Librarians That Will Surprise You – BuzzFeed

5 YA Books You Should Be Reading This January – BuzzFeed I’m not so sure about This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp. I mean, a book about a school shooting seems kind of in bad taste.

These Are The 2016 Books Readers Are Most Pumped For – BuzzFeed Meh. I might read Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard but I’d have to read Red Queen first. I’m kind of growing uninterested in YA lately.

19 Books To Read Before The Movie Comes Out In 2016 – BuzzFeed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Through the Looking-Glass. And of course Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

5 Ways Book Blogging with Anxiety and Depression Sucks Balls Yes. All the yes in the universe. And add in lack of motivation to even do anything and you often feel like you shouldn’t even bother blogging at all.

I have yet to find a book coming out in 2016 to really get excited about. I hope that is not indicative of how the year is going to go.

The Books

Let’s see; what have I read since the last time we talked….

Finished: Waistcoasts & Weaponry by Gail Carriger, Bad Girls by Jane Yolen, Poison by Bridget Zinn

Started: Manners & Mutiny by Gail Carriger (I am determined to finish this series if it kills me. It’s so slow, it’s practically torture.)

Next: The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani (Even though every book in the series is huge and I’m probably going to both love and hate it, I’m going to read it.)

Spy2015_TeaserPoster I have to rant. This is the first time a movie has pissed me off this much. And it’s supposed to be an effing comedy too. A few days ago I watched Spy. Yeah, that movie with Melissa McCarthy and Jude Law. McCarthy plays an overweight CIA tech that takes up field work to avenge the death of her agent partner, Jude Law. It’s supposed to be funny. It’s insulting. It is the worst dribble I have ever been forced to watch. McCarthy’s weight is played for laughs. Her character is made to act like a buffoon and even when she is kicking bad guy ass, it’s done in such a way as to remind you that it’s amazing that she is going this while being overweight. Look at this lady getting shit done; too bad she’s worthless because she’s fat. Law’s character doesn’t even see her as a person. The main character is portrayed as a pathetic and useless cartoon simple because she is not a 100 pounds.

I am filled with rage. Unrequited love is the theme, because obviously an overweight person doesn’t deserve love. It’s two hours of body shaming and fat person humiliation. ‘A woman only has value if she’s beautiful.’ Sexist degradation abounds in this piece of shit movie. I’m ashamed for all the actors, I really am. Paul Feig, writer and director, is an asshole for even thinking this crap up.

Thank you for reading!

Posted in Uncategorized

Merry Christmas 2015

Dec 25

snow-man-1061526_640

I hope everyone has a joyous, safe, and peaceful holiday.

Be kind to each other.

Posted in Uncategorized

Holiday Blogging Challenge Day 3

Dec 21