The Goodreads Challenge | What I’m Doing For 2023

Hello my friends!

It is time for a brand-new Goodreads Reading Challenge post. Want to learn what I wanted to accomplish with my reading plans for each year? Here are my 2020, 2021, and 2022 posts.

This is my fourth year giving you an insight of what I would like to accomplish for 2023. I actually enjoy doing these types of posts, as it gives all of us (you and me) a chance to write out my intentions for the next 356 days, but let’s get real. there’s no way I will be reading everyday this year. It’s cool for when it happens in a whole month, but after a while it kind of loses its luster.

What is my annual goal?

Just before Christmas, I had a family friend ask me about what my goal would be, and I’m sure everyone wants to know as well. I’ve kept a fairly hush-hush about it; last year I wasn’t totally 100% certain I would actually make it to 40 books, mainly because I tend to forget to factor in the holiday festivities in November and December. They tend to take a lot of my energy and the last thing I usually want to do is read a whole book.

However, I made it well passed 40, I ended up with 54 books. I find it a good thing to not only show myself that I can get it done, but I can surpass the initial goal too. You always hope it can happen, but life can throw you a curveball here and there and everything can take a backseat.

So, for 2023, I am hoping to get through 50 books, but also not discriminating towards its size. I think that’s another thing to keep in mind, the term “book” doesn’t mean you have to read something that’s over 300+ pages. I count any format, whether it’s a novel, short story or audiobook.

What about other certain challenges?

In a way to see if I could handle some pressure in 2022, I decided I wanted to do two challenges. My overall goal was to hit 40 books, mainly having two equal sides of twenty books; I had 20 books of normal titles and 20 more that were focused on classics or had become a film or TV adaption. For the most part, being able to do this was easy, my only real issue was time. I flew passed the first 20 books, but I only managed to reach 19 books on the other list.

For my first time doing something like this, I am very pleased with myself. I figured I would only get to five books, so this was really cool to see at the end of the year. It was fun and interesting to see how much I would enjoy out of these classics, because I tried to stay in and around classics like Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I wasn’t a bookworm as a child, reading wasn’t fun for me in school so to be able to rediscover some of these books really opened my eyes on certain parts of literature.

And with that being said, I will continue with this challenge, and I will definitely put each book into my blue journal where I have the others listed with their mini reviews. This time though, I’m not giving myself a limit on a number, I just want to focus on children’s books, middle grade and other classics for that specific goal.

What do I hope to discover this year?

I want to read more or less the same of the books I’ve been into lately, but I would like to include more of children’s books, mainly fairy tales. I’ve already crossed off three of them; two were written by Hans Christian Anderson, The Snow Queen and Thumbelina and my first story by one of the Grimm brothers: Cinderella by Wilhelm Grimm.

I would love to get out of the historical fiction books sometime, although I’m in no rush to make this happen. I’ve just completed my first of the year, which the review will hopefully come out on Friday, and I’d finish my second if I knew it wouldn’t possibly ruin what could be featured in Melanie Karsak’s final book in The Shadows of Valhalla series. I recently just found a sleuth of Viking Sagas on Kindle Unlimited, and it’s been interesting to see the “origins” of both Hervor of The Road to Valhalla series and Ervie’s section. So, at the moment, I am holding off on it until I can get my toes on the Gambit of Swords this spring.

Speaking of Melanie’s books, I think this might be the year I decide to dive into William Speakeare’s Macbeth as it was part of the original story behind her Celtic Blood series. I know it may not exactly discuss Lady Macbeth as much as Highland Vengeance and Highland Queen, but I might understand the character Macbeth a bit more, at least that is my hope for it. I am prepared for the poetry part of the story, the Viking Sagas are mostly written in verse anyways, so I should be fine on that end, but I am thinking of listening to the audiobook instead of actually reading it.

For Christmas, I did get a large clutch of books – ones bought by family and others I got myself, so I am really going to try to dive into those books, especially the physical as I tend to ignore those unless I am at my mom’s work apparently…

Other than that, I am pretty much open to everything else. If you want to keep up with my overall goal or the books I read this year, you can find me on Goodreads, click here.

What about you, what kind of books do you hope to get into for 2023? And of course, what is your ultimate goal for the new year?

Book Review: “A Touch of Darkness” by Scarlett St. Clair

Hello!

Man! It’s great to be back at writing these posts again.

Early December, I finally made the decision to stop reading for the rest of 2020, but two days before Christmas, I was on YouTube and this book and the rest of its series and they talked about what the story was about, and I just kind of thought “this is interesting” but I didn’t just get it right then and there mainly because I wanted to wait until the holidays were over to start on anything new and once I got the books I generally wanted to purchase, I was fine with waiting to get the first book, but then my gut was telling me to check to see if it’s available on Kindle Unlimited and there they were: the Hades x Persephone series and prequels too! So, I ended up getting just the first book in case I didn’t enjoy it off the bat, and I ended up finishing it in like two weeks!

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Persephone is the Goddess of Spring by title only. The truth is, since she was a little girl, flowers have shriveled at her touch. After moving to New Athens, she hopes to lead an unassuming life disguised as a mortal journalist.

Hades, God of the Dead, has built a gambling empire in the mortal world and his favorite bets are rumored to be impossible.

After a chance encounter with Hades, Persephone finds herself in a contract with the God of the Dead and the terms are impossible: Persephone must create life in the Underworld or lose her freedom forever.

The bet does more than expose Persephone’s failure as a Goddess, however. As she struggles to sow the seeds of her freedom, love for the God of the Dead grows—and it’s forbidden.

taken from Goodreads.

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I didn’t really know what the series was about before putting it on my Kindle. I just kind of saw the cover on YouTube and was like, “oh, you are gorgeous! Gimme!” and really felt the need to get it. You also have to remember that I already had a small stack of books to keep me afloat for a while but I chose to get this one instead. A part of me feels bad but yet I was thrilled seeing on KU that I just gave in and didn’t bother to look back. I mean, I don’t regret it one bit because it was everything that I wanted it to be and more, so obviously after I get done writing this review, I’m diving deep into the second book!

When I was younger, I already had a growing obsession on Ancient Egypt and its mythology, but my only source to learn more about Greek mythology was the Disney version. It wasn’t until I was a sophomore in high school that I realized that a lot of information that they gave us kids was pretty wrong, such as Hera, the “mother” of Hercules is definitely untrue. In the research we did, it was actually said that Hera had a strong hatred for Hercules! Unfortunately we were only allowed to select few of Greek gods and goddesses, and after that, I kind of lost the interest to learn about their mythology altogether. I had already decided on this before I found these books but it really shocked me on how much Disney influenced me–this book is about Hades and all throughout the damn book my mind kept showing me Cheyenne Jackson from “Hades” on Descendants 3 film and everytime we were in the Underworld, I would have James Woods, who voiced the animated version of Hades in 1995 in my head during some of the very erotic scenes! Totally not recommended by the way.

Respect could build an empire. Trust could make it unbreakable. Love could make it last forever.

I do want to point out that while I was wrestling with my version of Hades, I have never particularity loved the name Persephone until now and even though she is described as a platinum blonde in the story, I kept seeing her with strawberry-blonde hair instead. The same goes with her mother Demeter too! So, my whole system was a bit out of wack but I made it happen anyways. I definitely saw myself quickly becoming a bit of a fan of Persephone. I think everything that is said to her towards the end is completely true om how I viewed her in the start of the book. I think she is the one, who made me want to continue reading, especially when I should be in bed asleep, but I really wanted to know how everything ended for her, not much about Hades though.

The story itself was, very intense from start to finish and I feel that’s the main reason why I was able to read it so quickly, because you didn’t have that much time in between chapters to basically refresh yourself from a certain scene and even though I loved reading at that speed, it was sometimes too much for me and I had to take many breaks throughout important moments. Thankfully, everything was described in almost perfect detail so I was able to map out everything from both the Upperworld and the Underworld. The only place I had some difficulty building in my mind was the glasshouse, everything else was pretty easy structurally and it was a good thing too because it evened out my outlook on the characters and the events taking place.

There is a chance that by the time this post is published that I have probably finished with “A Game Of Fate” which is in the point of view of Hades, by the time this post goes up.. I was on Scarlett’s Instagram page the other day and someone had made the comment that it is better to read it like this and just continue to switch from their POVs. However, if you just want to stick to Persephone’s version of events, that’s totally up to you.

So, have you read “A Touch of Darkness” yet? If you have, when did you start to explore the second series? For those who have read retellings like this, how do you turn off those childhood memories basically and create newer versions of these mythological gods and goddess?

6 Halloween Movies For Adults

Howdy!

We are on our last Halloween-y movie post! If you have missed the others, here are the Kid and Teen lists if you have time afterwards. This is directed to all of the adults out there as these films can have a lot of blood and gore, plus naked people throughout different scenes!

This was fairly easy compared to the others. I actually came up with this miniseries while I was trying to watch a movie featured below. That’s when I figured this would be a ghoulish (cool) idea to do! I tried to give you a variety, so you’re not going to get bored with each one, and honestly I was prepared to add more, but I decided I should keep the rest back in case I want to do this again for next year, and honestly I wanted to keep the amount the same for all three posts. 😉

Queen Of The Damned (2002)

I feel like this is the second most recent watched movie on this list. I finally had the guts to watch this on HBO last summer. I had tried to watch it prior but certain scenes were cut out of the original and of course, the commercials are really annoying so when this appeared on our guide, I was really excited! I didn’t really know what to expect because it was such an older movie and I’m not familiar with Anne Rice either, so watching this was interesting and better then Interview With A Vampire.

One thing I didn’t like about it, was the fact that Stuart Townsend isn’t the one singing at all throughout the movie. It is actually Jonathan Davis of Korn! I was shocked but I knew I recognized that voice when it first started. I definitely want to learn more about Maharet, because I thought this character was so interesting, but let’s be honest so was Akasha too! They’re the only reasons why I’d totally read the books!

Underworld: Evolution (2006)

Out of the five movies, this was the one that I hated, but mostly for good reasons when it comes to horror films in the first place. When I saw this for the first time, I remember being on edge the whole time because I knew about the blood and violence, but there were other things featured in this movie that the others didn’t have at all, like an actual flying vampire with wings! It was totally unexpected and scared the living shit out of me before it was all over, thus landing on this list!

The entire franchise is one of my favorites, they are exciting and very intense! If I need that fantasy driven action packed kind of movie, this is a go-to selection. I literally devoted myself for a whole year to watching all of the movies to get ready for the fourth film. I wasn’t able to do the same when Blood Wars was first on Starz, and I’m still not allowed to binge the whole thing because we’re missing Awakening on our DVR.

Jennifer’s Body (2009)

This is my recent watched movie on this list. A part of me sort of feels embarrassed by it, because it was really a stupid film, but I do think it was pretty gruesome too! I knew I had the right to be afraid on Megan Fox years ago. She plays a clever succubus, which isn’t a vampire, more like a demon that likes human flesh compared to blood. The worst scene for me was when Jennifer basically throws up that black mess onto Needy’s kitchen floor. I had an upset stomach afterwards.

Although it was a comedy-thriller, I can’t watch it again for the world. I am glad I can cross it off my list, but nope, you can’t pay me to watch it for a second time. If you haven’t seen it and like this sort of thing, you might have a different opinion about it. Good luck!

Hansel & Gretal: Witch Hunters (2013)

So, okay I need to admit this right now. I only wanted to watch this because Famke Janssen was in it. I wish I could go back and tell myself that I would sort of regret that decision to actually watch it. Don’t get me wrong, the movie itself was amazing but I was not ready for what it had in store for its viewers. However, I feel like that it was a good starter to the one below it.

I felt that played well with the original tale of Hansel and Gretal because both Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton have innocent looking faces, they’re just witch hunters! The witches in this film were freaky as hell, I remember I had to take a lot of breaks while watching it because sometimes it got to be too much for me to handle at once. It was also one of those films where it was good enough to never need a sequel after it, you know?

The Last Witch Hunter (2015)

This was another great movie! Although I made the mistake of starting it right before I ate supper, so when the beginning took place with that witch came out of the fire, it really surprised me and I had to wait until the next morning to actually finish the rest of it. I was really into it, but I really liked how clean and realistic it looked during certain scenes.

I would never think that Vin Diesel and Rose Leslie would bring great chemistry but they did! I was 100% behind it. What puzzles me is that not very many people liked it when it came out. I think it might’ve been the fact that Vin Diesel was the witch hunter that threw everyone for a loop, because he already looks like he could be one, so maybe they were hoping for somebody else that could shine out of other roles. I thought this was just different as far as picture and story, and I really hope HBO goes back to playing it again.

Victor Frankenstein (2015)

When I was a Junior in high school, I took a class called Novels for one semester and I loved it! The first book we read was Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and I was really excited about it because I knew it was a classic and I thought it set the tone for what we could expect for the semester, because the rest were not wimpy novels at all and that was only one of the many reasons why I grew to love that class a lot! While I knew the whole story of the monster and its creator Victor Frankenstein, I think this was the closest to the origin story as you can get with a movie!

I remember while I watched it, I was seeing different chapters of the story I read probably six years before. They were suddenly flooding in my head at a fast pace and I was literally turning into a critic as it continued on, but instead of hating it I actually loved it because I saw a visual of a decent Victor on the screen, James McAvoy was a firm believer that he could basically defy God and everybody else to create a human being, while having an reluctant assistant in Igor (played by Daniel Radcliffe) who did what he was told or else he’d face whatever consequence Victor would do to him. I have to say that Igor wasn’t mentioned in the book at all, but I actually liked him in this story though!

I feel like I should mention that all but one of these movies were highly recommended by my dad at some point or another, because he is like me in a way, he’d rather watch a fantasy/horror inspired movie because let’s be honest, the special effects are pretty great! He does have a far larger collection of scary movies than me, but we do share quite a bit and we tend to ask what the other person thinks of it after we’ve finished it. The only one he hasn’t seen is of course, Jennifer’s Body because he knows better than me apparently!

I hope you all have enjoyed this series, if you liked it enough for me to do something like it again for next Halloween, let me know in the comments, okay?

Creative Writing Days.

Yesterday I found this on Pinterest and I thought it would make a great idea come to life. I had this idea to make up a fairytale. Several months ago, one of my friends on Facebook had the same idea just not a fairytale kind of way, and she had like 10 or so comments of everybody replying back about it and it was just random and neat at the same time. So I thought that would be cool just to see who would make this random and funny too. I didn’t get 10 or more people to reply back, but I did get a few. I even put the picture and told a little bit about what I wanted on my Twitter and I only got one entry from there.

I have a great beginning though. It was starting the way I actually wanted it to, I wanted it to be different from other fairy tales. I didn’t care if it made sense and I would rearrange it all where I saw it should be when I got enough material to put it together. I just noticed I could write two stories since I have four entries and two had two different, but good starters. They’re very outside the box and I love that, I just need a few more entries and I can finally get started on it. I’m starting to think to write out the four entries I have and try to finish the rest, but I don’t know. I think I might email the idea on Facebook one last time to see what else I get, but I don’t want to bother people.

Maybe I should put the starters at the beginning of the email and let them figure out what to include in their entry. I don’t know what to do. It sucks when you have a cool idea and when you think people will join, they don’t. It’s kind of like school all over again. When I got this idea I felt like I was back in Creative Writing again, except I’m in my room and alone. Yup, that’s sad. Definitely an out of the box fairytale coming to life. Oh Jeez! I find it hilarious that I wanted to write about a fairytale and yet I don’t believe in love or fairytale stuff anymore, but I am a kid at heart so maybe that’s why.

If anybody would like to help me out, just send me a comment. This was the first entry I got yesterday, from my friend Jess on Facebook.

“Once upon a time a beautiful princess woke up one day, crying her eyes out because the prince wanted to leave her but she was pregnant.”

I would like to keep it around that since it’s not your average fairytale, but I’m not your average girl in the first place so it works. You don’t have it. I just thought it would be an interesting idea and could get your creative juices flowing again. Sorry for me rambling on and on about this. It’s one of those days for me.