Always Me

November already?  What the heck!  Anyway, now that means that I've completed 20 out of 24 books of  Book Riot's 2019 Read Harder Challenge !  The tasks I completed  this month required me to read a cozy mystery and a business book .   For the tasks, I selected   Elementary, She Read  ( A Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery  #1)   by Vicki Delany  and  #Girlboss  by Sophia Amoruso .   Read on to see my mini reviews and what's next for November: ❋  ❋  ❋  ❋ Cozy mysteries aren't usually my style, but as a fan of Sherlock Holmes I really got a kick out of Elementary, She Read by Vicki Delany.  I've never read the author before, but I know that I'll need to come back for the sequel to this series opener, Body on Baker Street .  What really makes this mystery for me is the cast of characters, Gemma herself being my favorite but her friend Jayne is also pretty great as well....

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to the Top Ten Tuesday now hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl .  This week's topic is a Halloween themed freebie, so I thought that this time I'd share some horror movies I want watch this season.  You can also view this list of movies on Letterboxd  (I'm including all 13 here because I couldn't narrow it down).  All of these will be new to me as well.  Here we go in alphabetical order by title: Bird Box   - After enjoying the book, I'm hoping the Netflix film adaptation will work for me as well. Devour   - Pre- Supernatural Jensen Ackles? I'm here for it. Drag Me To Hell  - I've heard a lot of good things about this and it's about time I check it out. Freaks   - I'm been meaning to pick up this cult classic for ages and this year I'm finally going to get around to it. Green Room   - Rest in peace, Anton Yelchin. Gothika  - Halle Berry and Robert Do...

Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately!  If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below. Rules: Every Monday share a few songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up by sharing your post's url. Each week of this month I've been sharing some of my favorite lesser known Halloween songs - and this is the fifth and final week.  This week I'm sharing a couple songs from the local Columbus band called The Recently Deceased - and yes their name comes from the Handbook for the Recently Deceased in the movie Beetlejuice .  Anyway, I heard a...

Happy Sunday everyone!  Today I'm sharing two ARC mini reviews with you:  Ordinary Girls  by Jaquira Díaz  (available October 29th, 2019) and  The Delinquent Crown: A YA Fantasy Adventure ( Olexia Legends #1) by Sydney Faith  (available September 9th, 2019).  Thank you very much to the publisher for providing me with an ARC of Ordinary Girls  and to the author of The Delinquent Crown  for the ecopy of the novel in exchange for my honest reviews.  Read on to see my thoughts on these two books: ❋  ❋  ❋   ❋  ❋ Ordinary Girls by Jaquira Díaz is one of the most unflinchingly raw memoirs I've luckily had the opportunity to read. It's also a lyrical and triumphant tale of hope. Díaz didn't have a comfortable life growing up in both Puerto Rico and Miami Beach. Her parents were emotionally and physically absent and suffered from mental illness and addiction. Even though Jaquira's friends were hood girls, ...

On Friday's I take part in three weekly link ups - The Friday 56, hosted by  Freda's Voice , Book Beginnings, hosted by  Rose City Reader , and 50/50 Friday is a new weekly link up and it is hosted by  Carrie @ The Butterfly Reader  and  Laura @ Blue Eye Books . For The Friday 56, you choose a book, a book you have just finished, a book you are about to start, your current read, and share a line or a few lines that grab you (but don't spoil anything) from page 56 or 56% of the way through the ebook. Post it and share your post's url on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. As for Book Beginnings, you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires, and then link up your post's url with Rose City Reader. Then, for 50/50 Friday, every week there's a new topic featuring two sides of the same coin - you share a book that suits each category and link up on the hosts blogs. This week I'm spotlig...

I'm very excited to welcome you all to my leg of the  Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky  blog tour , hosted by  Rockstar Book Tours !   Today, you'll find the details and summary for this novel, an about the author,  Kwame Mbalia , a giveaway, and the blog tour schedule.  Thanks for visiting my stop on this b log tour! About the Book: Title: TRISTAN STRONG PUNCHES A HOLE IN THE SKY Author: Kwame Mbalia Pub. Date: October 1, 2019 Publisher: Disney-Hyperion, Rick Riordan Presents Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook Pages: 496 Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD Seventh-grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. All he has left of Eddie is the journal his friend wrote stories in. Tristan is dreading the month he’s going to spend on his grandparents’ farm in Alabama, where he’s being sent t...

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Welcome to the Top Ten Tuesday now hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl .  This week's topic is Books I’d Give Different Titles To (and tell us what title you’d pick!).  I'm doing something a bit different and sharing Titles That Could Have Been. Here we go: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - The High-Bouncing Lover Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - Something That Happened 1984 by George Orwell - The Last Man in Europe Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell - Mules in Horses' Harness Dracula by Bram Stoker - The Dead Un-Dead Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Alice's Adventures Under Ground Alternate Titles In Other Countries: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - Cross Stitch The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin - The Collected Works of A.J. Fikry The Wilding Sisters by Eve Chase - The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde Mr. Flood's Last Resort by Jess Kidd - The Hoarder What are some of your favorite alter...

Happy Monday everyone and welcome back to Music Monday! Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately!  If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up below. Rules: Every Monday share a few songs you've been enjoying lately.  It doesn't have to be a specific genre, new, or one of your favorites - just something you'd like to share with others.  If possible, share a music or lyric video of the song and your thoughts on the song(s), artist(s), and/or music video(s). If you would like to participate in Music Monday, please join the link up by sharing your post's url. Each week of this month I've been sharing some favorite Halloween songs and this time I'm sharing some of my favorite songs featured on the  Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) soundtrack - Sarah's Theme, Harold, Pale Lady, and Me Tie-Doughty Walker.  I grew up love the collection of short stories by Alvin Schwartz, and I think the ...

Welcome to Sci-Fi Month 2019!  Sci-Fi Month is a month long celebration of all things sci-fi and it's hosted by Lisa @  Dear Geek Place  and Imyril @  One More .  You can also follow along on Twitter if you like. (Image credit: Photo by  Sebastien Decoret  on  123RF.com  with a quote from This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone).  I had a lot of fun participating the last three years, so I'm glad to be back again!  I'll still be doing my regular posts, but some of them, like my Music Monday, Top Ten Tuesday, and The Friday 56 (With Book Beginnings) + 50/50 Friday posts, may have a sci-fi flavor.  Also be on the look out for sci-fi movie and/ or tv reviews and a few other special things I've got planned.  At the end of the month, I'll also be holding a giveaway - so be sure to keep your eyes open for that!  Read on for my potential sci-fi tbr for the coming month: ...

On Friday's I take part in three weekly link ups - The Friday 56, hosted by  Freda's Voice , Book Beginnings, hosted by  Rose City Reader , and 50/50 Friday is a new weekly link up and it is hosted by  Carrie @ The Butterfly Reader  and  Laura @ Blue Eye Books . For The Friday 56, you choose a book, a book you have just finished, a book you are about to start, your current read, and share a line or a few lines that grab you (but don't spoil anything) from page 56 or 56% of the way through the ebook. Post it and share your post's url on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post. As for Book Beginnings, you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires, and then link up your post's url with Rose City Reader. Then, for 50/50 Friday, every week there's a new topic featuring two sides of the same coin - you share a book that suits each category and link up on the hosts blogs. This week I'm spotlig...