Scarlett by Rachel Morgan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Scarlett has been on my list forever but I haven’t read it since it isn’t exactly a Creepy Hollow story. But I’ve been craving a good fantasy novel and Rachel Morgan has never let me down so I figured this would be a fun quick read.
I was sucked in! It had been long enough since I finished reading the Creepy Hollow series that I didn’t really remember Scarlett.
Scarlett is a siren who lived in the human world until she accidentally almost killed her boyfriend. She runs away and finds a new family as well as new aspects to her power.
I loved seeing her transition from a scared little girl to someone powerful.
I miss the Creepy Hollow universe and this book made me think it might be time to return there.
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Category: Books
Fiction Friday: Book Review- Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I had little to no interest in this book until release day. I saw all the TikToks, had all the FOMO and then luckily stumbled across an audiobook on Everand (which btw I do NOT recommend, I kept forgetting everyone’s names). Finally a friend took pity on me and lent me her print copy.
I read this book with clear expectations and figured nothing would shock me. I knew who would win, what their life would look like afterwards, etc. But despite that, this book had surprises for me that I did NOT see coming. I cried at some parts (somehow it hit me harder this time that it was just kids in the arena).
After the last movie, I was a bit of a Snow sympathizer but about half an hour into the audiobook, I hated him (well done, Suzanne Collins). As the book continued, I wanted to kill him myself.
I sacrificed sleep, TikTok, meals and even let my Nintendo Switch die (something that hadn’t happened…EVER) because I was THAT invested in this book.
Just read the damn book. I have no one to discuss it with
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Fiction Friday: Book Review- Sweet Valley High Collection
Sweet Valley High: Three Novels: Double Love, Secrets & Playing with Fire by Francine Pascal
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
While I absolutely loved this series as a teen, as an adult I find that Jessica is unbearable.
Nonetheless I persisted since I have a growing collection of these books and now I feel like I have no choice but to carry on.
These first 3 books of the Sweet Valley High series introduce us to the students of Sweet Valley High. Although TBH I’m just invested in the Wakefields and their drama. And somehow Jessica almost always seems to be the problem.
This was a fun but overdone book but I enjoyed it immensely. I wish I had Power Play to dive into that one next.
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Fiction Friday: All Dhal’d Up by Kamini Pather
All Dhal’d Up by Kamini Pather
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I received a copy of this book from Penguin Random House South Africa in exchange for a review.
When it comes to cookbooks, I have a problem that few people seem to understand.
Firstly I can never find Indian cookbooks. At least, not ones that reflect the way my family actually cooks. Secondly, there’s never a cookbook that is truly simple. I have little to no skill in the kitchen, and the Indian method of “just add some of this” doesn’t work for me.
I own four beginner cookbooks and all I’ve learned from them is various ways to make eggs.
So when I saw that Kamini Pather had a cookbook, I felt a spark of hope. Surely, she would get it?
The book was delivered two hours ago, and I devoured it eagerly. I’m a fan! There are several familiar recipes that are easy to follow, along with exciting fusion dishes I can’t wait to try. Finally- a cookbook that gets me!
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Fiction Friday: Book Review- Wake-up Call by Diana G. Gallagher
Wake-up Call by Diana G. Gallagher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I MIGHT be too old for this book.
But nonetheless I enjoyed it. Mostly.
When Salem “pranks” Sabrina for April Fools by telling her that her aunts are getting her a cellphone, she decides that instead of waiting for their permission, she’d get her own Other Realm cellphone.
The cellphone is great…until it starts ringing non-stop.
What bugged me about this book is I thought it was such bad judgement of both Sabrina and her aunts to involve the Other Realm in their problems (which is why I think I might have outgrown these books).
But I was desperate to return to the nostalgia of my childhood so I enjoyed this books even if the characters annoyed me a little.
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Fiction Friday: Recommended Reads- Personal Finance
Managing money can feel like a game where everyone else got the rulebook except you. But the good news? You can catch up. You just might need to do a bit of homework first. Here are a few personal finance books that are both practical and actually engaging.
The Money Answer Book by Dave Ramsay
This book is a quick, no-nonsense Q&A-style guide covering budgeting, debt, investing, and saving. Ramsey’s approach is simple: live below your means, get out of debt, and build wealth the smart way. I loved that this book was so quick and easy to read. It’s just a bunch of relatable questions other people have asked.
Manage Your Money Like a F*cking Grown Up: The Best Money Advice You Never Got by Sam Beckbessinger
Basically the book, I wish I read in school. I felt like Sam understood life as a South African which is what made this so fun for me to read. Packed with humor, real-life examples, and a much-needed dose of reality, this is a book I go back to over and over again.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
I know there are often conflicting opinions about this book but what I really liked was looking at the way the two dads thought. My uncle made me read this book as a kid (I don’t know why) but until I reread it as an adult a few years ago, I had no idea how many ideas from this book, I still carry with me today. This is an entertaining read but I do wonder if it is still relatable today.
The Latte Factor: Why You Don’t Have to Be Rich to Live Rich
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say this book changed my life. If you want a mindset shift that makes saving feels effortless, this is the book for you. Despite this title, this book has little to do with coffee. Instead it talks about how to save money in a way that won’t make you feel deprived.
Personal finance does not have to be overwhelming. These books break things down in a way that’s easy to understand and implement. Whether you’re looking to get out of debt, build wealth, or just feel more in control of your finances, there’s something here for you.
Book Review: The Curated Closet by Anuschka Rees
The Curated Closet: A Simple System for Discovering Your Personal Style and Building Your Dream Wardrobe by Anuschka Rees
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book changed my life.
Filled with super helpful tips that will help you declutter your wardrobe while building a collection of clothing that you will love (AND more importantly- actually use!).
I strongly recommend this book to anyone struggling with the dilemma of having “nothing to wear”.
There is a TON of work involved in this book but it is so worth it.
I have 4 cupboards…but mostly use gymwear or PJs (I’m a freelance writer). This book was the push I needed to get the closet I deserved and let go of clothes that I was keeping just because.
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Book Review: The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella
The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Samantha Sweeting wants one thing in life- to become partner at her prestigious law firm.
She’s worked overtime, birthdays, given up holidays. The partnership is almost hers..until it isn’t,
She makes a major mistake that costs the company millions. Unable to handle seeing her dreams die, Samantha walks out.
She ends up on a train and then in the middle of nowhere. When she stops to ask for directions, she’s mistaken as an interviewee for a housekeeper position. One thing leads to another and Samantha doesn’t correct the error. Instead, she starts working as a housekeeper.
Samantha has absolutely no domestic skills and this is made clear from the very start.
What interested me about this book is that I felt like I could relate to it. With absolute no domestic skills, the first thing I did when I faced a career setback was start cooking. So it was fun to see someone else go through that strange transition.
Like most of Sophie Kinsella’s books, this was a funny read. It really pulled me in and I couldn’t go to sleep until I had finished this book.
I would give it 10 stars if I could because it was that good.
The characters were lively and entertaining, there’s some small town vibes which I always love and of course a hot love interest.
What more could you want?
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Must Read Fairytale Retellings
categories: Books
Title: Alias Hook
Author: Lisa Jensen
Genre: Fantasy
Based On: Peter Pan
My Opinion: Before this book I couldn’t care less about Hook. I loved the character in Once Upon a Time but that was about as far as any nice feelings towards him go. But this book sucked me in and now I’m a fan. With great worldbuilding and fully fleshed characters, I was sad to finish this book. Send more Hook stories my way, please. Thanks
“Every child knows how the story ends. The wicked pirate captain is flung overboard, caught in the jaws of the monster crocodile who drags him down to a watery grave. But it was not yet my time to die. It’s my fate to be trapped here forever, in a nightmare of childhood fancy, with that infernal, eternal boy.”
Meet Captain James Benjamin Hook, a witty, educated Restoration-era privateer cursed to play villain to a pack of malicious little boys in a pointless war that never ends. But everything changes when Stella Parrish, a forbidden grown woman, dreams her way to the Neverland in defiance of Pan’s rules. From the glamour of the Fairy Revels, to the secret ceremonies of the First Tribes, to the mysterious underwater temple beneath the Mermaid Lagoon, the magical forces of the Neverland open up for Stella as they never have for Hook. And in the pirate captain himself, she begins to see someone far more complex than the storybook villain.
With Stella’s knowledge of folk and fairy tales, she might be Hook’s last chance for redemption and release if they can break his curse before Pan and his warrior boys hunt her down and drag Hook back to their neverending game. Alias Hook by Lisa Jensen is a beautifully and romantically written adult fairy tale.
Title: The Wrath and the Dawn (The Wrath and the Dawn #1)
Author: Renee Ahdieh
Genre: Fantasy
Based On: One Thousand and One Nights
My Opinion: Even if you haven’t read One Thousand and One Nights (I hadn’t), the premise of this book is too good to pass up.
With lush world-building and intense sizzling chemistry, this is a must-read for fans of fantasy romance or the enemies to lovers trope.
In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad’s dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph’s reign of terror once and for all.
Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she’d imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It’s an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid’s life as retribution for the many lives he’s stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?
Title: A Curse so Dark and Lonely (Cursebreakers #1)
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Genre: Fantasy
Based On: Beauty and the Beast
My Opinion: This is one of the best Beauty and the Beast retelling I’ve ever read (and I would know because I’ve read so many). This book stays very close to the original story with enough of a world built around it that you’re still invested in seeing the series through.
I loved this series. The characters are well-developed and there’s so much going on that you really feel like you’re in another world.
It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl fell for him. But that was before he learned that at the end of each autumn, he would turn into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. That was before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.
Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother barely holding their family together while constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, she learned to be tough enough to survive. But when she tries to save someone else on the streets of Washington, DC, she’s instead somehow sucked into Rhen’s cursed world.
Break the curse, save the kingdom.
A prince? A monster? A curse? Harper doesn’t know where she is or what to believe. But as she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what’s at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall . . . and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin.
Title: Hunted
Author: Megan Spooner
Genre: Fantasy
Based On: Beauty and the Beast
My Opinion: This is another great Beauty and the Beast retelling.
The character of “Beauty”, Yeva is a skilled huntress which made for a fun twist.
The end had me a bit confused but besides that this was an absolutely incredible book.
Beauty knows the Beast’s forest in her bones—and in her blood. After all, her father is the only hunter who’s ever come close to discovering its secrets.
So when her father loses his fortune and moves Yeva and her sisters out of their comfortable home among the aristocracy and back to the outskirts of town, Yeva is secretly relieved. Out in the wilderness, there’s no pressure to make idle chatter with vapid baronessas…or to submit to marrying a wealthy gentleman.
But Yeva’s father’s misfortune may have cost him his mind, and when he goes missing in the woods, Yeva sets her sights on one the creature he’d been obsessively tracking just before his disappearance. The Beast.
Deaf to her sisters’ protests, Yeva hunts this strange creature back into his own territory—a cursed valley, a ruined castle, and a world of magical creatures that Yeva’s only heard about in fairy tales. A world that can bring her ruin, or salvation.
Title: Cruel Beauty
Author: Rosamund Hodge
Genre: Fantasy
Based On: Beauty and the Beast
My Opinion: Listen…if a book is good, it’s good. IDK what to tell you. Beauty and the Beast retellings just work.
From the second the “Beast” is included here, it’s hard not to fall in love with him. He’s very charming.
The only reason why this book isn’t my favourite retelling is because the castle was magical and very confusing to me (obviously I am not meant for an enchanted castle)
Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom—all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.
With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she’s ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.
But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle—a shifting maze of magical rooms—enthralls her.
As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex’s secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.
Book Review: The Last Battle by C.S Lewis
The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I had to brace myself going into this book since it was the last book in my boxset.
The Last Battle opens with a toxic friendship between a not so clever donkey and a very devious monkey.
When the monkey comes across a lion skin, he invents a scheme that changes all of Narnia for the worse.
Aslan summons the Friends of Narnia to help but this time it looks like they might be too late.
This was a great book but it felt like all it did was make me cry and smile and feel all warm in my heart. Over. And over. And over again.
This was a great series that I enjoyed despite my very adult age
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