Hello, hello! How’s everyone this lovely Wednesday. Yesterday was kind of busy, so I’m skipping the blog again. I’ll be back with a book review next week.
Busy Day Was Busy
Can’t Do It Yet
Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? I’m not good. I’ve tried my damnedest to think of something fun or happy to ramble about, but I can’t do it. It’s been a week and I’m still just a ball of fear and rage. If you don’t understand why a cripple who is dependent on Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security in order to simply survive is terrified and angry, then you don’t understand the repercussions of the far right agenda and I’m not in a place to calmly explain it to you right now. So! I’m going to go play mindless games while I can, read while books are still a thing we have access to, and maybe even listen to loud music until they ban that too. Am I exaggerating? Maybe. Anyway, I’ll try to be in a better place next week. For now, a pretty picture by Yuumei.
A Look Inside Pho Garden
Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? I haven’t seen any news about the end of the US yet, but it’s only 6:30pm on Tuesday as I’m writing this. Fingers crossed things go well. And by well, I mean anything but orange. Anyway, we spent most of the day in Rockwall so I could see the ENT. While we were out that way, we decided to stop for pho! It’s been a long time since we had it and it was our first time at this place. It’s called Pho Garden and is in the plaza at Rockwall (a strip mall) near the 24-Hour Fitness. You can find the address on their website above. I didn’t think about pictures, so everything here is borrowed from Google.
First, a reminder of my rating system:
MMMMM = Everything is magnificent!
MMMM = Great, but something is off.
MMM = Pretty good, but a couple of things could be better.
MM = The bad’s starting to outweigh the good.
M = Definitely more cons than pros.
… = I couldn’t find anything nice to say.
Accessibility: The nearest handicap parking space has one of those tiny loading zones that even able-bodied people have to squeeze through, so we had to block traffic a bit while I unloaded. It happens. Whatever. But going into the restaurant was the worst part. It’s one of those annoying double door things where you have to go in, turn, and go in another door. It’s a tiny space. In all honesty, I wouldn’t have even tried the place if I knew it had that kind of entrance. You literally need two people just to help you get inside. Once you make it inside, it’s great. Plenty of room to maneuver between tables. The tables are on the high side of normal, so I had no problem getting underneath. Nothing to block my footrests or bang my knees on. Perfect.
Service: It was great. Everyone talked to me like I was a normal human being. That’s pretty much all it takes to get on our good side. They kept everything full for the most part and made sure we had everything we needed and were super nice in general.
Appetizer: We got the spring rolls with shrimp. They were pretty good. The peanut sauce had a chocolaty flavor that was weird but not unpleasant.
Pho: Dad got the pho garden which had steak, brisket, meatballs, and tripe. He really enjoyed it. Loaded it up with chili oil. Yum. And I got the seafood pho which was shrimp, fish balls, and krab (imitation crab). It was really good too.
Price: It’s in line with everything else nowadays. About $45 pre-tip for two people, so not that bad.
My rating:
MMMM
Thoughts on THE DEBUTANTES
Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Things here are normal. Nothing really to complain about that anyone would care about. Anyway, it’s the last Wednesday of October, so you know what that means. Book review time! This month, I went with a more traditional YA thriller mystery type thing. The Debutantes by Olivia Worley was released on the 29th (Tuesday) from St. Martin’s Press. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s do it!
The Debutantes follows Vivian, Piper, April and Lily as they each struggle to come to terms with their places in life, the mistakes they’ve made, and the traditions they’ve inherited from the elite of New Orleans. The Les Masques Ball is the event of the year where teenage girls are paraded in front of their parents and the rest of the city’s elite. The Queen and her Maids. This year is no exception, despite the fact that last year’s queen died. When a protest takes place at the event, tensions run high. But when Lily, this year’s queen, goes missing, the adults are oddly unconcerned. A text from Lily to Vivian, Piper, and April urges the trio to discover the truth behind her disappearance. And what does it have to do with the death of the previous queen?
The plot ends up being super convoluted. There’s the secret society type club that everyone knows about. Then, there’s a secret society within the not-so-secret society that’s just for the white dudes. It’s basically a bunch of dudes in power that do weird stuff in front of barely legal girls and who also help each other cover shit up when one of them does something illegal. Yeah. It’s not a great club. Anyway, the plot consists of kidnapping, murder, attempted murder, harassment, blackmail, etc. It’s not bad, it’s just too much. And the ending is one of those unsatisfying ones where some people get off without any repercussions because they’re rich and no one will talk about their involvement. I know that’s how it would happen in real life, but I don’t read books to see what would happen in real life. I want the spoiled little rich girls who claim they hate their lives to actually rat out the people in power. They only do a half-assed job of it though, so only two people get their comeuppances. Boo.
The characters were all pretty unrelatable. The parts of their personalities that should be relatable feel forced and unnatural. The stuff that feels natural is the rich girl privilege. Which is fine. Lean into it. Don’t force the other stuff. Lily obviously doesn’t hate her position of power, so stop telling me she does. She’s manipulative and gross. Let her be herself. Vivian’s weird lust for Wyatt doesn’t even exist except to forward an unnecessary plotline. Either weave it throughout the book or leave it out. Piper just feels like a caricature. April is probably the best character and honestly, this should have been her story. Get rid of Lily and just make it about April figuring out what happened to Margot. But I’m sure younger people who are still learning about people will like most of these characters.
The writing isn’t bad, but it’s not great either. The book starts out too slow then rushes through the ending. I enjoyed the descriptions. That’s about it.
Ultimately, The Debutantes wasn’t my cup of tea. A lot of my issues with the book are just me problems. I won’t go looking for other books by Worley, but if I stumble across one that sounds interesting, I’d probably pick it up.
Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. Two and a half, really. If you like convoluted YA thrillers, check it out. Otherwise, it’s just kind of meh.
Sweet Treats
Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? Things here are okay. Usual. Went with Dad to a follow up doctor appointment yesterday (today as I’m writing this), so this will be a short post. I know I’ve done posts on favorite chocolates and all that, but I can’t find anything about hard candies. Granted, I didn’t look very hard. So, since Halloween is next week, I thought I’d do a top 3 list.
Here we go!
1. Werther’s Original. I don’t care if it’s an old people candy. I’ve loved them since I was a kid. I will love them until I die. But I don’t get them often because Dad loves them too and I won’t tempt him like that. But yes, random grandma on the street. I will gladly take one. I’ll even take one of those mysterious strawberry candies that just randomly spawn in your purse once you hit a certain age.
2. Jolly Ranchers. I like fruity hard candy. I’m not a fan of chewy candies like StarBurst or whatever, but stick a Jolly Rancher in my cheek and I’m happy. I like grape. Watermelon is good too. I haven’t found a flavor I actively dislike, actually. But I don’t eat them much because I’m satisfied for months after just one, so there’s no point in buying a bag.
3. Dum Dums. I completely forget these exist until I see them somewhere. Usually the doctor’s office. I’ll steal one and be good for the year, so I never even think about buying them.
What are your favorite non-chocolate candies? As always, feel free to leave your thoughts, questions, or comments here or on my social media pages!
Sophia VS. the Water Hose
Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? I can’t think of anything to blog about, so I decided to show you Sophia and her favorite game. Just look at the cuteness. She literally begs for this whenever Dad’s near a hose. And the water has to be on the jet setting or else it’s not worth her time. Meanwhile, if Bonnie and Mardi are outside when this is going on, they run for cover. They’re not cool like Sophia. Anyway, there’s your dose of random cuteness for the week. Maybe I’ll have something to ramble about next week.
Fall in Texas
Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Things here are okay. Still stressing over stupid stuff. I have no book review today, so I’ve been trying to think of something fall or Halloween related to ramble about, but we’re boring people. We don’t decorate the house. At best we put up a winter wreath in December. Nothing for autumn or Halloween. I don’t watch scary movies. I’ve already done scary story recommendations. I’ve done favorite candy and gross candy. I thought about doing fall outfits, but it’s Texas. It’s still 90 degrees outside. My fall outfits are the same as they’ve been for the last 6 months… shorts and t-shirts. I could pretend to be one of those girls who coordinates outfits with every season, but I’m not. So, I guess I’ll just ramble about fall in Texas.
How can you tell it’s fall in Texas? People get excited over “cold fronts” that take us from 95 degrees down to 91. Or 89 if we’re really lucky. If it hits 85 degrees, people start pulling out the jeans and hoodies. People walk down the street holding their steaming pumpkin spice lattes, despite the fact that the asphalt is hotter than that coffee. Fall in Texas is weird.
It’s also State Fair season. I haven’t been in about 10 years. It’s crowded and overpriced, but it’s one of those things Texans get super excited about. Like, what non-fried food item are they going to batter and shove in oil this year? Last time I went, it was butter. Not great. But the deep fried Nutter Butter was divine. So, when people start talking about Big Tex, you know it’s fall.
Football. The Cowboys, sure. But when people start talking about high school football like it’s life or death, that’s when you know fall has truly begun in Texas. The rivalries. Pitting children against each other for adult amusement. There’s nothing better. Even college football pales in comparison. It gets creepy and it gets super intense. And don’t you dare ever remind people it’s just a game or you’ll get run out of the state (and probably most states that abut us). Seriously. It’s weird down here.
Oh, and don’t be fooled by the 3 days of nice weather at the end of September or beginning of October. That’s just Mother Nature screwing with us. We won’t get real fall until around Halloween, but that’s only for a week at best, then it’s winter. So, happy fall from Texas!
Thoughts on THE DEMON
Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? Dad and I got our Covid and flu shots on Tuesday (today as I’m writing this), so I’m either fine or feeling blah and vegging. Only time will tell. But it doesn’t matter. Today is another book review! Don’t worry. It’s back to our regularly scheduled reviews for a while after this. Anyway, Simone Jung from Books Forward (a marketing firm I’ve reviewed for before) contacted me to see if I was interested in reviewing a dark fantasy YA with demons and Philippine mythology. Sounded right up my alley, so I agreed. The Demon by Victory Witherkeigh is actually the second book in a duology, but I was told it could be read as a standalone. It was self-published and released yesterday (October 1st). My reviews are honest and unbiased. Let’s get to it.
The Demon follows Hukloban, a demon who has possessed a girl. The problem is, she doesn’t remember why. When Death (her boss and lover) appears, she discovers that her actions went against his wishes. Why would she do such a thing? Why would she disobey Death? As punishment, she’s forced to live out the college years of the girl she’s possessed. How is she supposed to navigate the human world? Can she balance her demon urges and human needs? But most of all, can she figure out why she did what she did and regain her place by Death’s side? Does she want to?
It definitely sounds like something I would love, but I couldn’t get into it. Instead of being a cohesive novel, it turned out to be a bunch of disjointed vignettes. That could work. It’s been done successfully before. But here it’s just messy and confusing. random people come and go with no warning and it’s like we’re expected to know who they are. I would say they might’ve been in the first book, but there are way too many and it’s obvious at least half of them are new characters. The style also makes the plot feel broken and completely random.
Speaking of the plot… it’s disappointing. You could strip away all of the mythology and still have this book. It’s just an angsty college student slice of life story. It’s half porn, but not even good porn. It’s a horrible representation of the BDSM community. There’s a random gang rape scene that’s somehow okay. Like… what the actual fuck? Then all of that is randomly left behind in favor of chasing after random bros. There’s absolutely no growth throughout the story. Oh, and there’s a separate plot about how horrible the girl’s family is. Everything was super cliché and annoying.
None of the characters were remotely likeable. Sure, demons. But even the main character was just whiny and annoying. Any sense of growth feels forced and unearned. I’m not entirely sure if that’s because of the style or because the characters are asshats. By the end, I didn’t care what Hukloban chose to do. I was just happy to be done with her drama.
The writing was not great. That’s all I can say without feeling too harsh. This book is another example of a great idea, but a poor execution.
Ultimately, I wasn’t a fan of The Demon. I really wanted to like it, but it didn’t hold up.
Overall, I gave it 2 out of 5 stars. One and a half, really. One because it was written and a half of one because someone will probably like it. But I don’t recommend it.
Thoughts on THE MOST WONDERFUL CRIME OF THE YEAR
Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Anyone want to go scream into the void with me? No? Fine. It’s the last Wednesday of September, so it’s time for our regularly scheduled book review! I don’t know why, but September seems to be when a crap ton of Christmas themed books come out, so I gave in and decided to go festive. It’s still a cozy mystery, though. The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter came out yesterday (the 24th) from Avon Books. As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s do it!
The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year follows Maggie and Ethan, mystery writers at the same publishing house who can’t seem to get along. Maggie despises Ethan and Ethan is seemingly too cool to care. When they both end up invited on a mystery Christmas trip to an estate in England, they’re thrust together to solve a locked door mystery. Is it a murder? A test? A little of both? No one seems to know. But the situation forces both of them to face feelings and inner truths they’d rather avoid.
The plot. The mystery part of the plot was pretty straightforward. Locked room mystery turns into someone actively trying to murder people. The red herrings are other popular murder mystery tropes (someone embezzling from a little old lady, fake relative trying to get in the will, the butler who turns out to be much more, etc.). This book is basically every expected mystery storyline jammed into one story, but somehow it still works. It’s weird, but I liked it. I do see how some people could miss the clues to the actual baddie, though. A lot is happening, so if you’re a skimmer or a speed reader, you’re going to miss things. This is a book you really need to read word-for-word. The same can be said for the romance subplot. A lot is happening there too. It’s adorable, but also super creepy (I’ll get into that after I talk about the characters). Just plan to pay attention if you read this book.
The characters. I liked Maggie. Her growth and how she reconnects to herself is actually the best part of this book. She comes from a screwed up past and emotionally abusive relationship that has recently ended. She’s meek and unsure of herself, but by the end she is learning what kind of person she really is and she’s taking control of her life. Or trying to. The book doesn’t portray the process as easy and done within a few days. But it shows her working on it. Ethan has his own revelations, but he doesn’t really grow much from them. The other characters are fairly stereotypical with a few quirks thrown in. Some of them change, but they don’t get enough time on the page to become proper characters. They’re entertaining enough though, so that’s fine.
The creepiness. This was my only issue with the book. Ethan is fecking creepy. I know his intense love is supposed to be sweet and charming and endearing, but it’s really possessive and stalker-ish and covered in red flags. Especially when we start seeing things from his point of view. He’d die for her. He’d kill for her. Like, calm yourself, bro. You haven’t even kissed her yet. This poor woman has finally escaped a gaslighting, cheating, thieving narcissist and now she’s ending up with a possessive stalker? It doesn’t help that he gives off those vibes of “if I can’t have her, no one can,” so when she leaves him, there’s a 99% chance of a murder-suicide happening. So, yeah. I would say I’m just jaded, but I read enough creepy stuff to know the signs. I really enjoy the creepy stuff. But I prefer my creepy stuff to acknowledge that it’s gross, not to wrap it up in a thin veneer of “hey, this is what healthy relationships look like!” It’s really not. Remember kids… we want a Morticia and Gomez romance, not a Harley and Joker one.
The writing was good. It made for a quick and easy read despite the jam-packed plot. I didn’t have trouble putting the book down, but I also wanted to pick it back up again when I was supposed to be reading.
Ultimately, I enjoyed The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year. It’s one of the better books I’ve read this year. Maybe even in the last couple of years. I’ll keep an eye out for more books by Ally Carter.
Overall, I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. If it weren’t for the creepy relationship stuff, I probably would’ve gone for 5 stars because I had fun with it. I still definitely recommend checking it out if you’re looking for a cute, Christmas-y cozy.
Thoughts on THE OTHERS
Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? I’m not here to complain about life, so I won’t even get into it. Today, it’s time for a book review! No, it’s not the last Wednesday of the month, but Rachel Lachney from Books Forward (a marketing firm I’ve reviewed for before) contacted me to see if I was interested in reviewing a fantasy dystopian type book and I said sure. The Others by Evette Davis was released yesterday (the 17th) by SparkPress. My reviews are honest and unbiased. Let’s get to it!
The Others follows Olivia Shepherd who has strong empathic powers, but has spent most of her life ignoring and suppressing them. When a time walker appears in her room, Olivia is forced to acknowledge her abilities and the fact that the Others, magical beings like witches and demons and vampires and fairies, exist alongside humans. She’s drawn into a mysterious organization called The Council that manipulates the human world by dabbling in human politics. What will her role be in all of this? Is she capable of changing the world?
Sounds fun, right? It’s not. The blurb on the book is super misleading. It sounds like it’s going to be a fantasy driven book with an in depth look at the Council and how the Others live and work. But instead, it’s basically about a woman who ends up running a small political campaign in California and all the fantasy is secondary to that. The blurb also mentions a dystopian San Francisco. You can’t really call it dystopian if it’s just real life San Francisco. It’s just San Francisco in 2022 (yes, the book literally dates itself which is weird).
Aside from the misleading blurb, the plot and pacing were poorly done. The plot was super awkward. I think it wanted to be a political thriller, but it’s basically just a rant against MAGA America (which I totally get) and someone’s fantasy about fighting against it. Most of the book is a mundane political campaign. Everything cool and important happens off the page or is glanced over. Olivia has no idea how to use her powers, but two pages later she has everything mastered. It’s ridiculous. There are basic expectations when you pick up a fantasy book (like seeing the MC struggle with their power before they figure it out), but this book skips them all. Then, after a slog of two thirds of a book, a car explosion is thrown in and at the very end, a surprise parent reveal is made (if you were paying attention even just a little bit, it’s not a surprise). And there was a completely random almost-threesome thrown in for a laugh. I don’t know if I was supposed to read this book high for it to make sense or what, but it definitely doesn’t work when you’re sober.
The characters don’t do much to improve things. Olivia is an annoying and entitled person. She doesn’t seem to care about anyone else as long as she gets her way. William is supposed to be a southern gentleman, which is really just code for a douchenozzle. Everyone else are cookie cutter stereotypes and its sad. Elsa and Lily could have been great, but they just fade into the background. Everything good about this book gets pushed into the background.
The writing is another thing I have nothing nice to say about, since most of the problems stem from bad writing. I feel like I’m being harsh, but a quick scan of other reviews tells me I’m not alone in my thinking.
Ultimately, I almost gave up on finishing The Others and I probably should have. There’s nothing remotely satisfying about this book. I won’t be checking out the other two in the trilogy if they come out.
Overall, I gave it 2 out of 5 stars. One and a half, actually. One because it’s been written. A half because some people seem to like it. I don’t recommend it, though, unless it has undergone massive revisions since I received my ARC.
Shawna's Blog of Doom 