Wednesday, April 2

Best of March




Here are our bests from March!!!! 


Best Book of the Month:

"This one gets best book because it was a well written story."







"Such a powerful book. 100% recommend."





Best Movie of the Month:

Carole -  Nosferatu (2024)
"Creepy....weird....odd....but oh so good."


"Best movie. Saw Paddington 3 in the cinema :D"




Best TV show of the Month:


Blodeuedd - Ghosts (s2)
"I watched s2 of Ghosts and now Netflix have no more cries!"



Carole - Ghosts (s4)
"Is the season over? I need more! I'm not ready for the season to end!"





Best Cover of the Month:

C's pick:
Sooooo pretty! Even prettier live!



B's pick:
It also gets best cover cos look what a cutie














Tuesday, April 1

Book Review: Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic by Meghan Ciana Doidge


Author: Meghan Ciana Doidge
Title: Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic
Series: The Dowser #1
Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Paranormal
Format: ebook
Pages: 266
Published: June 18, 2013
Where I got It: My shelf (Amazon)



Summary: 
If you’d asked me a week ago, I would have told you that the best cupcakes were dark chocolate with chocolate cream cheese icing, that dancing in a crowd of magic wielders — the Adept — was better than sex, and that my life was peaceful and uneventful. Just the way I liked it. That’s what twenty-three years in the magical backwater of Vancouver will get you — a completely skewed sense of reality. Because when the dead werewolves started showing up, it all unraveled … except for the cupcake part. That’s a universal truth.

Review:
Picked this up because I loved the cover and the title....and it just sounded like pure fun. Oh and free is always nice ;) 

Here we follow Jade who owns her very own bakery. She loves baking and that is all she wants to do in life. However, she is dragged into the magical world....a world she has tried to avoid....and into a murder mystery.

Jade was a nice girl. I liked her a lot. She is sassy, but she has a deep avoidance issue so it was nice to see her dragged into things. 

Sadly, I only liked Jade. Everyone else was kinda crappy. Sienna is selfish and manipulative. Her Gran is overly protective. Her mom is not even there. Rusty was eh. The wolves....eh. The vampires? Super eh. Maybe in book 2 I'll grow to like someone other than Jade. 

This was campy, but fun. I did struggle because I didn't like anyone except Jade so it made it hard to appreciate more of the story lines. 

Oh! I loved the Canadian setting! That was super different. With this genre, we are so often stuck in a big US city so it was nice to get a different local. 

All-in-all, I did have some fun with this one. Jade was a delight and I loved the setting. Plus...cupcakes? Nommy. Not sure if I'll read forward though. Maybe...one day....we'll see.

I'll give this 3 stars. Bonus star for a fun local and an awesome cover.

Favorite Character(s): Jade
Least Favorite Character(s): Everyone else.


  

Challenge(s):
- Cloak & Dagger #7


Monday, March 31

Blodeuedd's Monday: Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen

Format: 290 pages, Hardcover

Published: August 30, 2022 by St. Martin's Press

Fiction/own





It has been ages since I read this author, I like her magical realism books. Though here the magical realism, well it was so real so...well I have to doubt things a bit. But here there clearly are ghost.

Zoey moves into a flat. She has her own problems, horrid family. Her mum died long ago. She befriends other in the building, all with their own ghosts. And then of course someone dies the first day too.

Old secrets are slowly coming to light and all these strangers will become friends

Trying to make it short. Good book. Very lovely




Between the real and the imaginary, there are stories that take flight in the most extraordinary ways. Right off the coast of South Carolina, on Mallow Island, The Dellawisp sits—a stunning old cobblestone building shaped like a horseshoe, and named after the tiny turquoise birds who, alongside its human tenants, inhabit an air of magical secrecy.

When Zoey comes to claim her deceased mother’s apartment at the Dellawisp she meets her quirky and secretive neighbors, including a young woman with a past, two estranged middle-aged sisters, and a lonely chef, and three ghosts. The sudden death of one of Zoey's new neighbors sets off a search that leads to the island's famous author and to a long-estranged relative of the sisters.

Each of them has a story, and each story has an ending which hasn't yet been written.



Saturday, March 29

Audiobook Review: The Scandalous, Dissolute, No-Good Mr. Wright by Tessa Dare



Author: Tessa Dare
Narrator: Carolyn Morris
Title: The Scandalous, Dissolute, No-Good Mr. Wright
Genre: Historical Romance, Short story, Novella
Format: Audiobook
Published:  December 11, 2012
Where I got It: Borrowed from library

Summary: 
Miss Eliza Cade is a lady in waiting. And waiting.

Because of a foolish mistake in her youth, she's not allowed "out" in Society until her three older sisters are wed. But while she's trying to be good, she keeps bumping elbows—and, more distressingly, lips—with notorious rake Harry Wright. Every moment she spends with him, she risks complete ruin.

The sensual passions he stirs in her are so wrong . . . but Eliza just can't resist Mr. Wright.

Review:
After a string of not great books...I turned to a Dare story because Dare has never let me down so far. 

Eliza is always waiting. Waiting....and waiting. Due to a foolish mistake in her youth, she is not allowed to take her turn in Society until her three older sisters are wed so as long as she behaves. While she is trying to stay good, she keeps running into Harry Wright who is a rake. She hates him. She must stay away...but she can't resist. 

This was a fun little number. I loved watching their journey over a few years. Yes, years. They obviously are perfect for each other, but she is not allowed out in Society even though she is of age until her sisters are married off. Which! Was utter BS in my opinion. >_> Poor thing. 

Harry is a rake and scoundrel who, on the surface, hasn't done a good thing in his life. I loved that there is more underneath it all and he actually has a heart of gold. Sure he has done some wicked things, but he is sweet to those he actually cares about. What a sweet, but devilish man. 

Yes, Dare has saved me again. Loved this and the length was perfect. No spoiler, because it is a romance, but everyone is happy and in love. Very sweet! That ending was pure perfection. 

Oh! Nearly forgot....the narrator did wonderful. I've listened to her voice before so I was extremely happy to hear her narrate a Dare experience. 

5 stars. Perfect in every way. 


- Favorite Character(s): Eliza and Harry
- Least Favorite Character(s): Eliza's parents




 Challenge(s):
- Audiobook #15
- Library love #7