“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” ― Toni Morrison
I think it's no secret to anyone that has followed this blog for any length of time that I am not always the best at updating.....ever. While, on occasion, I'm seized by the writing bug and punch out a couple of blog posts a month, other times I do well to publish one in six… Continue reading Blog Update, Or The Author Details Her Intentions
It has been two years since I wrote about The Winds of Winter and its slow progression towards release. I heard some time ago that 2020 was a productive year for Martin, inspiring words considering how long this novel has been in the works. The last installment, A Dance with Dragons, was published in 2011… Continue reading Words are Wind: A Depressing Update for “The Winds of Winter” by George R. R. Martin
I am.....tired. Fatigued. Weary. I'm tired of stories I care about—stories about friendship, perseverance, love, miracles—being plundered like a bloated corpse on the battlefield. It's no secret among my social circles that I have a vehement hatred against remakes. Most people don't like them, they think they are lazy and pointless, but I have transcended… Continue reading To All the Stories I Loved Before: a Lament About Remakes, Cash-ins, And Reboots
Summary: A journalist investigates the case of Anna Delvey, the Instagram-legendary heiress who stole the hearts and money of New York elites. You can watch the trailer here. Warning: The following contains spoilers for the first episode of Inventing Anna. Reader discretion is advised. In the first episode of Inventing Anna, ADA Catherine McCaw says… Continue reading Inventing Anna: Episode 1: Life of a VIP Review (2022)
Some friends of mine just put out an awesome new anthology. For those of you that are into romance, check it out! Thirsty takes on a new meaning with nine romantic tales of love and happily ever afters. The spark might begin with a drink, but these relationships develop over many more to come. From… Continue reading Love at First Sip: New Release
I will be completely honest. After the dumpster fire that was season 2 of You, I had not planned on engaging with anything in the You universe ever again. However, after about 3-months into a reading slump, I decided to give this series a chance in the hopes that it would be at least moderately… Continue reading Thoughts on The “You” series by Caroline Kepnes (Spoiler-Free Review)
Summary: Rachel lives in constant fear that she will burst into flames. She can feel the heat building in her gut. She keeps buckets of water under the bed. She keeps them to fend off the flames that her body may create. Autocombustophobia. That's what they say she has. No one will believe Rachel when… Continue reading Thoughts on “Combustion” by Jyvur Entropy
Amazon Summary: Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her… Continue reading Thoughts on “The Woman in Cabin 10” by Ruth Ware
I want the record to stand that I don't consider myself the moral arbiter of fiction. While I will critique until I am blue in the face, I'm not one of those people that gate-keeps topics or disallows people to use certain tropes, provided there can be an honest and intellectual conversation about them. That… Continue reading Infidelity Isn’t Sexy: A Rant About a Tired Romance Trope
I think most of us are guilty of uttering the phrase "that person has too much time on their hands." It could be prompted by any number of things: a Youtube video that splices clips of a politician's speech so they are speaking the lyrics to a pop song, an exact replica of Denmark made… Continue reading Too Much Time on Your Hands: A Mini-Essay
The Crooked Pen 