TV Review--Are You Afraid of the Dark? Part 2

Holy freaking wow! This show just got freakier because holy freaking crap! This second part wasn't at all middle syndrome! While things were still a little muddied, it really felt like we were getting to the bigger mystery and that mystery just got a whole lot weirder because omg, what just happened?!

Needless to say that this one had me really hooked and can we say kudos to more added nostalgia? There was a part where one of the Midnight Society crew mentioned an "older" boy who was in the Midnight Society and was the one to welcome him in and all...pretty sure it had to be the original founder, Gary! Which oh the feels!!!

So Rachel and her tentative friends decide to go to the Carnival of Doom--which by the way, even if you didn't hear Rachel's super eerie story about said carnival, why on earth would you want to attend a carnival of doom?! I mean it hits on the creepy factor and the overly cheesy factor if you're not superstitious or a believer of such things. Anyway, they go there in hopes of finding their missing classmate, Adam. And of course this carnival is SUPER creepy, I mean the clowns alone will give me nightmares because they were not the silly looking clowns, they were the terrifying sort!

This carnival was seriously one of nightmares...I mean who rides a "Tunnel of Love" and laughs at the fact that skeletons pop up out of the water? I mean really? Really?! It seriously gave me all the feels and chills of the one episode that forever haunts me "Dead Man's Float" because creepy skeletons popping up out the water in the hopes to drown you, just down right terrifies me! Lol.

I feel like we only just brushed the surface of the Carnival of Doom and what it all is. I mean, besides a terrifying carnival. We're given a glimpse of things that make you see things that only lead to more questions. Definitely can't wait for next week when the finale airs!

The ending was even more chilling as there were some pretty shocking twists that I honestly didn't foresee. I mean, I thought I was doing pretty well with guessing what was happening with this mini series, but I've been totally off the rocker with this part! This grand finale is going to be epic!

There are still some things I don't quite get though. Little things that happened in the first episode that haven't been examined yet. Though there was one weird moment at the carnival that has me wondering WTF...because it gets pretty heavy in a sense. I will say that this part of the series did feel shorter than the first. More commercial breaks and all, guess because they know they've got you hooked.

I have to give Nickelodeon props on this one! For a revival/reboot of one of my favorite shows as a kid, they are doing an exceedingly amazing job with this one! There's nostalgia and nods to the original show and yet the story is still fresh and creepy and feels reminiscent of its founder's stories. I'm really wanting to watch the original series again now!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars

A CREEPTASTIC GIVEAWAY!!

Sooooo apparently I missed the sign ups for the annual Spooktacular Giveaway Hop. There were tears! For years I've joined this hop and had always received some kind of reminder about it when it was coming up. And with stress and other things lately it slipped my mind...yet I was planning for it, but at the same time I couldn't remember the blog host to go looking for info on it. And thus I saw this week the hop had started and there was no more joining.

Thus the different name because as I mentioned before I LOOOOOVE this Halloween giveaway! 

This year's prize is...

A spooky canvas totebag filled with:

Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall

Halloween Socks

3 Bracelets--one of which is a candy corn one that I bought at Kohls earlier this month! It was sooo cute, I had to buy one for me too!

Halloween buttons & pins!

a list pad

a necklace

a lanyard

Bath & Body Works Halloween hand-sanitizers & hand cream

CANDY--Bat-shaped Pez Dispenser!

and of course a handful of miniature Halloween shaped erasers!

Here's a close up of the pins:

 The one on the right is from Laser Brain Patch Co. I bought myself one of these and again thought it was cute and perfect for this giveaway!

A few rules for this giveaway:

• You must be 18 years or older to enter--or have a guardian's permission
• You must have a US address to enter. You can be international as along as you have someone in the US who can receive the prize for you and then get it to you by whatever means you work out with them.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Blogger Hop

This meme is hosted by Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addict!

This week's question is: You're spending a night in a haunted house. What book would you bring with you? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

MY ANSWER: Realistic me would say whatever book I happen to be reading before this impromptu trip to the haunted house of course! Lol. If I was planning ahead? Hmm...perhaps something outside the horror genre? I'd likely be too wired to read believing every noise is a ghost, every shadow is a ghost and jumping at every creak of the [old] house. 

If I was daring enough, I'd say a thriller! Not sure which one. One from the the TBR pile likely! Lol. So yeah...no clear cut answer.

For fun's sake, let's say The Haunting of Hill House! 

Review--The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh

In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans provides her a refuge after she's forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent along with six other girls, Celine quickly becomes enamored with the vibrant city from the music to the food to the soirées and—especially—to the danger. She soon becomes embroiled in the city's glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group's leader, the enigmatic Sébastien Saint Germain. When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of La Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sébastien's guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.

When more bodies are discovered, each crime more gruesome than the last, Celine and New Orleans become gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose—one Celine is sure has set her in his sights . . . and who may even be the young man who has stolen her heart. As the murders continue to go unsolved, Celine takes matters into her own hands and soon uncovers something even more shocking: an age-old feud from the darkest creatures of the underworld reveals a truth about Celine she always suspected simmered just beneath the surface.

At once a sultry romance and a thrilling murder mystery, master storyteller Renée Ahdieh embarks on her most potent fantasy series yet: The Beautiful.

The Beautiful was one of my most anticipated fall reads for this year and I have to say that Renee Ahdieh out did herself with this one! While it wasn’t the full-fledged vampire tale my dark little heart was pining for, it was still a darkly, beautiful tale indeed.

Celine escapes her past in Paris by venturing with other girls to New Orleans where they are meant to better themselves and find suitable husbands and all that jazz of the 1800s life for young women. We quickly learn that Celine actually killed a man, though the circumstances of why filter through later on, but after knowing Celine for a handful of pages, you know it’s not something she would’ve done lightly.

Celine is a seamstress and when another young woman named Odette asks her to create a gorgeous gown for the upcoming costume masquerade, she agrees despite the Mother Superior of the convent advising against it. It’s when she and her friend, Pippa, another of the girls from the convent are off to meet Odette for measurement that they meet the mysterious Sebastien Saint Germain. While other girls normally swoon, Celine isn’t as impressed and already we have moments strife with tension brewing between these two. During this time the body of a young girl is found brutally murdered and a second body appears the day after Celine meets Sebastien.

I will admit that the pacing to this one was a little slower than I expected. It wasn’t bad as there’s marvelous story development happening along the way, but all the while I kept wondering where are my vampires? Sadly, they are not necessarily front and center in this story as I had hoped but they are there in the shadows hiding somewhere. It’s really not until the very end that they make an appearance while before they were only alluded to. I was making suspicions over the who’s and what’s and was rather surprised by the outcome.

Renee is definitely a master at writing those slow-burning, hate-to-love romances! I feel like her previous duologies had this sort of amnesty between the characters before they submitted to their building feelings. Though I have to say there’s a slight difference to this one. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly but as you’re reading you’ll notice it in the most subtle of ways. For while Celine and Bastien weren’t head over heels for one another at first glance, there was still an attraction that was immediate between them, yet, of course, because of circumstances, they could not pursue anything.

What I found interesting about this one within the murder mystery was getting excerpts from the killer’s point of view. It was slightly trippy in some sense as Celine and Sebastien’s points of view were told in third person, then the killer pop ups and it’s first person. It did make that point of view stand out from the others but as I said, it was sort of trippy if you know what I mean! Lol.

I feel like there’s still a LOT we don’t know about this story and the wait for The Damned will likely drive me insane! A great deal happened in the final moments of the book and soooo many other things were revealed that had me gasping in shock! It was seriously one surprise after another! And while I found it exciting when reading, it all came to a crashing halt when reality kicked in that I have another 8 months of waiting for the sequel! The ending was a jaw-dropping experience and that’s putting it mildly!

I went into The Beautiful expecting a sweeping tale of vampires, romance, and murder and while two out of the three isn’t bad, I was pining for those vampires! Yes, they are in the story to some extent, but I was hoping for a more focal point of view of them. Alas, it seems I will be getting just that in the sequel possibly, it’s that pesky matter of waiting that I hate contending with. I suppose if I’ve waited nearly 10 years for a fresh tale of vampires I can wait another 8 months…*grumbling*

The Beautiful was not the vampire tale I was hoping for, instead I was swept away with a dark mystery filled with murder and suspense! The characters were absolutely pleasing and relatable and this book was pretty much everything else I had hoped it to be and I would absolutely recommend this one to anyone really. Just be aware that the vampires, while there, are a little hard to find…this time around!


Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars 

 

Random Thursday

This is it my friends! We have reached the end of Doug Lennox's The Little Book of Answers. It's been a great year or two...pretty sure it's been more than a year! Lol. I've got another little book of nonsense that I will share with you next week! But for now let's read up on the last chapter in Trivia!

(image borrowed from Amazon)

Do you know what the words algebra, sofa, sash, and sequin have in common? These English words are among the hundreds that originated with the Arabic languages. Some others include: magazine, alcohol, jar, cotton, and mattress. Racquet comes from the Arabic word for hand, which is how tennis was played originally. A few other Arabic words that enhanced our vocabulary are: alcove, chemist, coffee, and chess.

Wow. That's a lot of words I always thought to just to be English in nature.

 (image borrowed from Youtube)

The "lb" abbreviation for pound comes from ancient Rome and derives from the Latin "libra pondo" or "pound of weight." The "oz" for ounce came from medieval Italy and is from "onza", meaning a 12th of a part because at the time the English ounce was one-twelfth of the Roman pound of 330 grams. Though an ounce is 1/16th of a pound, it's still abbreviated as "oz."

Never gave much thought to that! 

(image borrowed from Norwegian Cruise Line)

In the 1600s, sailors would measure the speed of their ships bu tying knots in the rope at sixty-foot intervals then further divided and marked the space between the knots into ten equal parts that would each be one fathom in length. A heavy floating log was tied to the rope's end and thrown into the ocean. The rope was let out through a reel, and the speed was measured by the knots that passed through the reel in thirty seconds of an hourglass.

That's an interesting way of measuring speed. Quite detailed and busy too! 

(image borrowed from Wikipedia)

Ticker tape was a thin paper ribbon of information fed mechanically to brokers on Wall Street. At the end of the day, the floors were ankle deep with ticker tape. On October 28, 1886, the dedication of the Statue of Liberty was visible from the brokers' windows, which caused such excitement that the brokers began tossing ticker tape out the windows. This is how the ticker tape parade became a New York tradition!

That's rather interesting! I never gave much thought to it as I just though the ticker tape was streamers! 

(image borrowed from Wikipedia)

Early news sheets were headed with the letters N-E-W-S, leaving some to wonder if it was meant to be a head nod to the compass points. This was simply a gimmick. The word "news" predates these publications and came about with its current meaning within a letter from King James of Scotland in 1423. In 1616, his descendant James I of England wrote another letter, that included the first recorded use of "no news is good news."

You know, I don't think I ever paid attention to see that NEWS was the compass points! I was always seeing it as Never Eat Soggy Waffles! LOL!

(image borrowed from We Heart It)

In the 13th century, the Chinese invented dark glasses to be worn by judges so that no one in the courtroom could read their eyes. The narrowly slit Eskimo goggles are per-historic and are a protection against snow blindness, not the direct sunlight. Sunglasses today were a consequence of 20th century flight designed by the American Army Air Corps in 1932 to keep the glare out of the pilot's eyes.

And to make Danny look cool! ;)

 

 

Waiting on Wednesday

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine. 

New York Times bestselling author Maria V. Snyder returns with the next page-turning instalment of the new sci-fi series: Sentinels of the Galaxy Year 2522. Lyra Daniels is dead.

Okay, so I only died for sixty-six seconds. But when I came back to life, I got a brand new name and a snazzy new uniform. Go me! Seriously, though, it's very important that Lyra Daniels stays dead, at least as far as my ex-friend Jarren, the murdering looter, knows.

While dying is the scariest thing that's happened to me, it morphed my worming skills. I can manipulate the Q-net like never before. But Jarren has blocked us from communicating with the rest of the galaxy and now they believe we've gone silent, like Planet Xinji (where silent really means dead).

A Protector Class spaceship is coming to our rescue, but we still have to survive almost two years before they arrive - if they arrive at all. Until then, we have to figure out how to stop an unstoppable alien threat. And it's only a matter of time before Jarren learns I'm not dead and returns to finish what he started.

There's no way I'm going to let Jarren win. Instead I'll do whatever it takes to save the people I love. But even I'm running out of ideas...

SUPER excited for this one! I love Maria's books and her new series started off with a bang! I cannot wait to see what will happen next! Hopefully tracking a copy down won't take as long as it did for the first book!

TITLE: Chasing the Shadows

AUTHOR: Maria V. Snyder

PUBLISHER: HarperCollins
GENRE: YA Sci-Fi

RELEASE DATE: November 18, 2019 

 

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Purple Princess of The Purple Booker. 

 

Here are the rules:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a page
3. Pick out 2 lines that are SPOILER FREE
4. Name the title, author, etc.

SOOO happy to finally be reading this gem! I'm absolutely savoring it too!

"The two young women made their way toward the first-floor restaurant, on a quest to find Kassamir.

Leaving Celine in a den of lions...standing besides Lucifer." p 109

TITLE: The Beautiful
AUTHOR: Renee Ahdieh
PUBLISHER: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
GENRE: YA Paranormal
RELEASE DATE: October 8, 2019 

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This week's topic is: Extraordinary Book Titles (submitted by Elise @ A Book and a Cup)

*in no particular order

10. VAMPIRES NOT INVITED by Cheyenne McCray--this was such a fun series I read sooo many years ago! I loved the titles of the books too! They were always fun and involved a paranormal being of some sort!

9. KINGDOM OF THE BLAZING PHOENIX by Julie C. Dao--still need to read this one but the title is absolutely epic!

8. WHAT A GHOUL WANTS by Victoria Laurie--I mean how FUN is this title? Like you aren't singing Christina's song now with "ghoul" instead of "girl!"

7. SEVENTH GRAVE AND NO BODY by Darynda Jones--all of the titles in this series have been fun! I pretty much chose one at random! I loved all the uses of "grave."

6. YOU SUCK by Christopher Moore--a classic vampire tale! I read it years ago and still have another installment I'd like to read at some point, but seriously, coolest vampire title ever!

5. SLASHER GIRLS & MONSTER BOYS by Multiple Authors--another deviously fun title of spooky tales!!!

4. DOROTHY MUST DIE by Danielle Paige--another title that is just SOOO cool! I mean when I read the name Dorothy my mind always goes back to THE Dorothy of Oz!

3. KILL THE FARM BOY by Delilah S. Dawson & Kevin Hearne--another punny title! When I hear "farm boy" I tend to think of Westley from The Princess Bride, which I feel like is part of the pun here!

2. STALKING JACK THE RIPPER by Kerri Maniscalco--another series filled with amazing titles! The first one was so edgy though and a great play on words!

1. LEGENDARY by Stephanie Garber--a simple title, yet epic! I mean LEGENDARY!! And by now we all know of Legend despite him still being a mystery! It was perfect!!!

It's Monday! What are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date. It's a fun meme where we gather to share what we've read last week and our reading plans for this week.

Last Week I Read:

Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall (5 stars)

The Little Mermaid and Other Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen & Ill. by Minalima--still technically reading this one! I started reading it while I waited for my copy of The Beautiful to arrive and when it did, I set it aside. 

Other Reviews this Week:

Are You Afraid of the Dark? Part 1 (4.5 stars)

Currently Reading:

The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh

 

 

 What I Plan to Read Next:

 

The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring

 

 

Other Posts of Interest:

 

Teaser & Top Ten Tuesdays 

Waiting on Wednesday 

Random Thursday 

Book Blogger Hop 

Stacking the Shelves 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stacking the Shelves

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks! The meme is now hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality.

Well this was another meh week. I started to feel a cold towards the beginning of it and immediately started taking cold medicine which left me feeling very drained and without a shred of energy. I wasn't conquering anything. My interview this week didn't feel very promising. It feels like a more sales oriented position which I am not capable of and add to that, they are likely not looking to fill it for a month yet, so I'm just kind of meh over it. Hopefully something better comes along soon!

Book week wise, this was a pretty nice week! Here's what I got:

The Princess Beard by Delilah S. Dawson & Kevin Hearne

Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu, Adapted by Stuart Moore, Ill. by Chris Wildgoose--Keeper Copy

The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh

The Burning Shadow by Jennifer L. Armentrout--SIGNED!! Sadly, my Book Beau wasn't sent with it. I'm trying to talk to the store now to figure out what happened, yet I fear it isn't good news. :(

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo--Target Exclusive! It only took 2 days to get them to find the book when it should've been on the shelf too! Lol. It's also SIGNED! I write this post before I attend the signing Saturday night, but it'll be signed by the time this post goes up! I'm just too lazy to update this post! Lol.

Legendary by Stephanie Garber--the Italian edition! I loved that it ended up being titled Legend because LEGEND!!!

Then I received my Goodreads win, which I am still shocked about! Lol!

Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky

THANK YOU Grand Central Publishing!

Bookish goodies in the mail this week were:

 The Rebel art print preorder gift! I somehow got sent two, but one was a little bent, so thankfully, I have the spare!

THANK YOU Macmillan!!

 

Then I got this absolutely perfect hat from Book Gizmo! Was super happy she had it in black because I needed a hat that was more "everyday!" Lol.

Other awesome goodies:

An oh-so-cool black and rainbow colored pumpkin pin from Laserbrain Patch Co! This is my first pin from her, but I don't think it will be my last!!

The Midnight Masquerade Belle doll from the Disney Store! I woke up super early yesterday to wait in line for this beauty! There were only 6 in the store and I got one! I wasn't able to get her to come up on the website--I tried while sitting in line, but I got her anyway! No bookworm's shelf is complete without a Belle doll anyway! Lol.

And that was it for me this week! What did you all get?