Hello friends and welcome back to the comforts of my haunted library.
Happy Friday! We made it through another week and survived to tell the tale. I can honestly say that not much has been happening in my world. I’m a creature of routine so a lot of my week is the same. Last week I was fighting off the remnants of a cold I caught from my daughter. It’s still lingering but also mutating into strep throat which I’m not super excited about cause who likes being sick? Certainly not I.
Anyways, read on to see what I’ve been up to this week!
READING:
I’ve been in this weird slump of picking up a book and then abandoning it a few chapters in due to lack of interest. However, I managed to finish Priest which was absolutely immaculate. I also started two new books which you can see in my most recent WWW Wednesday post!
Other than that, reading’s been pretty steady and quiet.
SIDE HUSTLES:
My Etsy is doing really well and I managed to recruit two of my amazing Bookstagram friends to be reps for me! I am super proud of this endeavor and I’m excited to get up more listings and content on my Etsy! I have plans for some Bookstagram Reading Template packs and some Preset packs as well!
I’m also hella busy with new designs for Redbubble, I have an amazingly exciting collection coming (and two more in the works) and I cannot wait to launch it! I’m hoping that with the money I make from selling presets I can open an online shop once again. Redbubble is great but it’s really expensive for buyers.
WRITING/JOURNALING:
I FINALLY FINISHED CHAPTER 13!! This chapter has been taunting me for MONTHS and I’m the type of writer that just can’t skip it and come back to it. Unfortunately my brain works in chronological order and so does my writing. Everything I write has to follow in sequence otherwise I slip into a spiral of madness and despair. I don’t make the rules here.
I also just received my journal sticker packs from FloandElly. I haven’t had a chance to use them yet but I’m excited to sit down this weekend and plan out some new some journal content for the blog and Bookstagram.
And that, my friends, was my week. It was pretty lax and enjoyable. I’ll be spending today planning out the next week in blog posts, planning Bookstagram content, reading tons and maybe taking some photos if I feel up to it!
Have a fantastic weekend everyone! Until next post,
Hello friends and welcome back to the comforts of my haunted library!
As promised, I have a second movie review for this week. I know my blog hasn’t had much bookish content on it this week. Hopefully next week will be a better balance of bookish and extra content! For now, I’m really happy to be writing movie reviews too and I hope you all enjoy it too!
So without further delays, let’s get our hot bevvys, get lit, cozy and ready for this review.
SPOILER WARNING: This review may contain mild spoilers. Please read with caution. CONTENT WARNING: home invasion, assault, murder, etc.
Hush (2016) Where can I watch?: Netflix Starring: Kate Siegel, John Gallagher Jr., Samantha Sloyan, Michael Trucco. Directed by: Mike Flanagan. My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Let me preface this review by saying that home invasion thrillers are possibly one of my most favourite story lines but also something I am deathly terrified of. What is more terrifying than a deadly game of cat-and-mouse inside your own home? Picture that, but without the advantage of your hearing and we have Hush.
This movie is definitely a power struggle display. Our main girl, Maddie (played by the incredible Kate Siegel) has the home field advantage but the killer has the advantage of hearing. Not only that, she has no power or WiFi access and cannot call for help.
So if you don’t know, Mike Flanagan is the brilliant mind behind directing/writing The Haunting of Hill House, Bly Manor and Midnight Mass. He also directed Gerald’s Game and Dr. Sleep. He also co-wrote Hush with his wife, who also plays Maddie. It’s safe to say that Mike Flanagan is one of my favourite directors, right after M. Night Shamaylan (Shamaylan has dramatic twists locked down.) and James Cameron (Hello? Titanic? Aliens? The Terminator? T2? Avatar? Fucking genius.). I was not only shitting my pants throughout this movie but also rooting for Maddie the entire time.
Maddie is a deaf writer who moves into the woods for a solitary life in an attempt to finish her novel series, Midnight Mass (Easter egg). Her only neighbours, Sarah and John, live close to her and often stop by to check in on Maddie. Sarah is also a huge fan of her writing and at the beginning of the movie we see Sarah and Maddie discussing the book. A few hours later, Sarah comes frantically banging on Maddie’s door covered in blood. Of course, Maddie cannot hear Sarah’s cries for help and doesn’t even seem to see her in her peripheral vision and ultimately Sarah becomes the first victim in this movie.
The Killer, who’s credited as “The Man” is sadistic and loves to thrill kill. Often torturing his victims before offering them the sweet release of death they beg for after an encounter with him. After killing Sarah, he realizes that Maddie can’t hear him as he taps on her glass window in an attempt to get her attention. He manages to sneak into her house and steal her phone. This is when his fun begins. He starts taking photos of her from outside and sending them to herself, which she sees from the notifications on her laptop.
The next 50 minutes are a harrowing struggle between a man trying to satisfy his blood lust and a woman desperate to live. After her many attempts at escaping, she gets shot in the leg with a crossbow bolt and has her hand broken by The Man. She watches as he kills Sarah’s husband after he poses as a police officer responding to a break in call. John gets suspicious of The Man and attempts to bludgeon him in the head with a rock until Maddie distracts him and unfortunately good guy John gets stabbed in the neck. Not before taking The Man down in a choke hold so Maddie can try once more to run for help. She’s smart and realizes she will either get killed in her attempt to run or bleed out waiting for him to leave. Her only option is to fight back.
Maddie calls on The Man, writing “do it. Coward” in her own blood on her window after he tells her he’s coming in to get her. While he attempts to break in, she leaves a message on her laptop describing The Man and leaves a message for her family saying that she loves them and she died fighting. This scene was probably the most emotional for me because we are reaching the climax, there seems to be no hope for Maddie and she leaves one last message to let her family know that she tried everything.
I won’t spoil the ending if you haven’t seen it. Although this movie was released in 2016 I don’t like being a spoil sport for others. I guess you’ll have to watch the movie to find out the ending!
That concludes another movie review post for this week! I’m going to try to keep it to one movie review a week maybe. There’s a ton of exciting new movies I have yet to watch and I of course want to talk about them with you!
If you’re a fan of scary movies, tell me your favourite in the comments! If you’re not a fan of scary movies, tell me about the last movie you watched and loved!
Hello friends and welcome back to the comforts of my haunted library!
It’s Wednesday and we’re back with another WWW Wednesday post! This challenge was revived by Taking on a World of Words , thanks so much for this! Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments! If you don’t have a blog, no worries! Just leave a comment with your answers! The three W’s are:
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
I am finally picking up this book that has been calling to me ever since I bought it. This is one book that will not allow itself to be unread on my shelves.
And because I have no chill I also started Neon Gods.
This was a delicious sin. I loved every second of it and if I’m going straight to hell I’ll enjoy the ride cause it was fuckin’ worth it. Stay tuned for my review!
I promised myself that I would pick up at least one Stephen King book this year. So I’ll be reading Needful Things so that I can FINALLY watch Castle Rock. I have so many of his books sitting on my shelves and I haven’t read a single one because of their size. It’s so intimidating. I’ll definitely be keeping track of my progress in my reading journal so that I don’t forget any of the plot.
That’s it for another WWW Wednesday post! What are you reading this week, friends? Let me know in the comments or tag me in your WWW Wednesday posts!
Hello friends and welcome back to the comforts of my haunted library!
It’s Book Tag Tuesday so I, once again with the help of ZeZee with Books, I found a Book Tag that’s literally perfect for me! Today’s tag is the BuzzFeed Unsolved Book Tag, which was originally found on Wonderless Reviews. Thank you for this tag! I am O B S E S S E D with the Ghoul Boys!
BuzzFeed Unsolved, is a YouTube TV show (it’s also now on Amazon Prime Video!) that create episodes centered around famous hauntings, unsolved true crime, paranormal happenings and more. The tag was created by booktuber Sarah from the YA Room who’s a fan of the show.
I’m so excited about this tag I have been a long time fan of Buzzfeed Unsolved! If you’re a fan of the Ghoul Boys, what’s your favourite episode? Let me know in the comments!
So without further ado, let’s get into it, shall we?
We’re Here For The Cult Stuff! We Saw The Ad On Craigslist!
SHANIAC: A BOOK YOU DON’T THINK IS DESERVING OF ITS HYPE
I’m sorry, for obvious reasons I have to say ACOTAR. I was not a fan. I don’t see the hype.
BOOGARA: A BOOK THAT CHILLED YOU TO THE CORE
And the Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich is probably one of those books that absolutely chilled me to my very dark core. Dawn is the queen of psychological horror and she does it with such finesse. I am such a fan of her books, I’ve read them all and this one was probably my favourite. It gave me Slenderman vibes but also The Others vibes. (Seriously check out the 2001 Nicole Kidman movie, The Others, if you haven’t already. So good.)
SHITFISH: A BOOK YOU’RE NOT SURE WHERE YOU STAND ON
You’ll Be the Death of Me was weird for me. I didn’t hate it but I also didn’t love it completely. It wasn’t as good as One of Us is Lying but I still really enjoyed reading this! I love Karen M McManus and I think her writing is very immersive. The mystery aspect is what pulls you in.
Check out my review for You’ll Be the Death of Me here!
HEY THERE DEMONS, IT’S ME, YA BOI: A BOOK THAT KEPT YOU UP AT NIGHT
House of Hollow definitely kept me up at night mainly because I wanted to just devour it all in one sitting. It was delightfully macabre and spooky. I wanted all of the answers all at once.
(WHEEZE): A BOOK THAT MADE YOU LAUGH OUT LOUD
Eat Your Heart Out was cute, funny, scary and smashed fat phobia in the face with a giant plastic rowing oar. I loved this book. Equal parts horror and comedy with a ton of heart stopping moments. Seriously, if you’re a fan of Shaun of the Dead and Dumplin’ definitely add this to your tbr!
MOTHMAN: A HYPED FAVE
Yes, insert Christmas lit-porn here. Dipped in Holly was truly a favourite read of mine. Dana Isaly can truly paint a vivid picture and I loved every second of this instalovey, bed breaking romance. There’s a Valentine’s sequel coming out that I cannot wait to read.
Read my review for Dipped in Holly here! It was my last post for my Jingle Balls Smutathon!
HOLY WATER: A BOOK YOU’D PROTECT WITH YOUR LIFE
Forever and always The Thief Lord. This book has been my favourite book since the fourth grade. It’s the book that introduced me to Cornelia’s other writings like Inkheart and the Dragonrider series. Her books are always so whimsical and The Thief Lord takes the number one spot in my heart.
DEMONS:A BOOK YOU’RE TOO SCARED TO READ
This was the answer ZeZee posted too and I’m sticking with this one. A girl gets possessed by Pazuzu, no thanks. Bye. Goodnight. I own this book with this exact cover and nope. It’ll stay at my moms house in an unmarked box in her storage room.
I love horror, but I cannot handle exorcism/possession horror.
BUT FOR NOW, THIS MYSTERY WILL REMAIN…UNSOLVED:A BOOK YOU NEEDED MORE FROM / DIDN’T WANT TO END
I loved The Mary Shelley Club so much. I feel like even at 468 pages it could have been longer. I hope there’s a sequel! I also just checked her author page and she has three more books slated for release and just by their titles I will definitely be picking them up!
BUZZFEED UNSOLVED POSTMORTEM: A BOOK YOU STILL HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT
I just wanna know if they ever find their friends. I have never wanted a sequel for a Grady Hendrix novel as bad as I do for Horrorstor. Please, give me all of the Ikea horror stories.
HOT DAGA: A TRASHY FAVE
Okay so I’m a huge fan of TrashTV and Love is Blind is one of my absolute favourites. Hosted by Nick Lachey of 98 Degrees and his wife, this social experiment examines if single people can be attracted to one another, fall in love and get married without ever seeing their partner. It’s super interesting to watch and gets even more heated up when the couples finally get to meet face-to-face and spend time with each other. My favourite couple was Cameron and Lauren.
AND THAT’S IT. CONSIDER YOURSELF TAGGED IF YOU WANT TO DO THIS TAG TOO.
That’s it for this Book Tag Tuesday, friends! I had so much fun with this Buzzfeed Unsolved tag, I’m actually going to lay on the couch and put on a few episodes of it!
Hello friends and welcome back to the comforts of my haunted library!
Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend. It was my husbands birthday weekend so we celebrated that with a few of his friends. It was definitely out of my comfort zone and I am literally out of spoons now but I’m pushing through to produce some content for the blog today. I thought I’d keep it light with another movie review! I actually have two movie reviews scheduled for this week which honestly never happens but I watched two really awesome movies and I want to talk about them!
So without further delay, grab a hot bevvy, get lit and let’s get into this review.
SPOILER WARNING. THIS MAY CONTAIN MILD SPOILERS, READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION. CONTENT WARNINGS: it’s a horror movie, please be mindful when reading this review if you are triggered by violence and gore.
Ready or Not (2019) Where can I watch?: Disney+ (STARZ) Starring: Samara Weaving, Adam Brody, Andie MacDowell, Mark O’Brien, Henry Czerny and more. Directed by: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Okay, so when I first saw the trailer for this movie a few years ago I was immediately hooked. The plot was so thrilling and fun, a woman gets married into an affluent family and has to play a game of survival for acceptance? Boom. Immediate interest.
Time went on and I forgot about this little gem until last night when it came up in my suggested movies to watch on Disney+ (seriously, streaming services know me better than my own family.) So while my husband was in party mode I hunkered down in bed to recharge my life & also watch this horror .. comedy?
Let’s start off by saying that a lot of this cast is Canadian and I’m here for that. Henry Czerny and Nicky Guadagni and Mark O’Brien are all from Canada and I swear a lot of Canadian actors and actresses get overlooked but Canada has pushed out so much talent over the years. I mean, Sandra Oh, Rachel McAdams, Elliot Page, Keanu Reeves, Ryan Reynolds, Jay Baruchel? THE LIMIT IS ENDLESS. You’re welcome world. You’re damn welcome.
Okay now that I’ve shown off my Canuck pride we can continue. This movie follows Grace and Alex, only together for 18 months and about to get married. Alex and Grace must go home to Alex’s astute families home to get married as it has been Le Domas tradition for many years. Grace is nervous about this whole thing as she led a total opposite life from her affluent fiance. She states that his father hates her, and to be honest he’s kind of a dick to her, but mostly all of the other family members seem to really like Grace. Except Tony LeDomas and creepy Aunt Helene. Seriously this woman looks like she came straight out of a horror movie.
Thanks! I hate it.
So who are the Le Domas’? Their claim to fame came from games (wow that all fucking rhymed); starting with card games, and working their way up to board games, hunting equipment, sports stuff, etc. However, we all know that fame comes with a price; Tony explains that his ancestor, Victor Le Domas made a deal with a man named Mr. Le Bail: fortune in exchange for tradition. It literally all gets explained 15 minutes into the movie.
So the tradition is that at midnight after a couple in the Le Domas family gets married they must play a game that mysterious Mr. Le Bail (you never actually see Mr. Le Bail, he is only referred to, so this is kind of a paranormal aspect) chooses from a weird puzzle box that honestly reminds me of the puzzle box from Hell Raiser and if I’ve learned anything from horror movies it’s stay out of the fucking basement that has the weird shit in it AND don’t try to solve any heirlooms you randomly inherit. ANYWAY, it has a stack of cards in it, you press the buttons on the box and Mr. Le Bail will spookily choose a game for you. Fun, right? Yeah it’s fun unless you draw the Hide and Seek card, which Grace does draw. *dun dun dunnnnn*
So as Grace hides, the Le Domas family arms themselves with weapons. Yes.. weapons. A crossbow, shot gun, pistol, and a fucking axe from the 16th century, wielded by Aunt Helene (I feel like this is purely out of hate. An axe is an angry fucking weapon. You use that to literally hate kill. Nobody nice ever used an axe – except maybe Gimli son of Gloin).
This is where it gets wild and oddly hilarious. Hilarious because Grace literally thinks this is a joke the whole time until Alex frantically grabs her and tells her to pack her things. As he’s trying to explain to her what’s happening, he hears family members and they hide behind the bed. A maid accidentally gets killed and then reality for Grace hits her like a bag of bricks. She kind of loses herself in panic for a bit but then starts to kick ass during the 3/4 mark of the movie. But that doesn’t mean the movie is slow or boring, seriously this was fun from the minute I started it til the moment it ended. A kid may or may not get punched and I do not condone child abuse (obviously, hi, I’m a mom) but I did laugh cause the little twerp deserved it. Watch the movie to find out why.
Grace literally becomes this total bad ass who takes down a family of rich snobs with literally no self-defense skills or background. She’s just in survival mode and will do anything to keep herself alive until dawn. I won’t spoil much more for you all, but believe me when I say that I laughed, I jumped, and I definitely enjoyed watching Ready or Not. If you love these types of movies, I HIGHLY suggest giving this movie a watch.
Also, if on the off chance that Adam Brody ever reads my blog, please keep acting in thriller/horror movies. You’re a great bad guy. Okay thanks.
Anyway, that’s pretty much it for this review. I left the ending out on purpose because I want to entice you all to watch this amazing movie. It’s been a while since I watched a 5 star horror movie that wasn’t a rewatch and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it!
thehauntinghours.wordpress.com 