Sunday Confessions #124

 


Hello Sunday and happy after Thanksgiving. Did you stuff yourself? I sure did. I mean, stuffing is one of my favorite dishes...

Lets get to the weekly recap.


Sunday Confessions #123
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Weekly Menu #431 And The Book Of The Week
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Book Review: The Bookseller's Secret by Michelle Gable
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Happy Thanksgiving
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Book Review: Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian


Weekly Menu #432 And The Book Of The Week
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November 2021 Wrap Up
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Book Review: Terciel and Elinor by Garth Nix ~ Giveaway
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Sunday Confessions #125


Haven't started this one yet, but its a short one and I should have it done the end of the day. Happy reading.




I've been listening a lot to 90's hits and this came up today. I'll Be by Edwin McCain.



There has been a lot of good shows and movies out the last week or two. Cowboy Bebop was the latest show we watch, but there has also been Wheel of Time, Red Notice, The Great and several returning shows. I love fall television. 


Getting all my holiday recipes together and of course I have to do my favorite instant pot mac and cheese in our new instant pot this year. Its bigger and better. This mac and cheese is the creamiest and I can use gluten free noodles to make it edible for everyone. I can't wait. 

Recipe is by Maggie at Smashed Peas and Carrots. Check in out here.



I probably won't make much headway during the holiday seasons.

120/100 2021 Reading Challenge
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Happy reading!

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Book Review: Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian

 

Title: Never Saw Me Coming

By: Vera Kurian

Genre: Thriller/Mystery

Pages: 400

Release Date: September 7th, 2021

Publisher: Park Row

Rating: ★★★☆☆

 

Summary from Goodreads:

Meet Chloe Sevre. She’s a freshman honor student, a leggings-wearing hot girl next door, who also happens to be a psychopath. Her hobbies include yogalates, frat parties, and plotting to kill Will Bachman, a childhood friend who grievously wronged her.

Chloe is one of seven students at her DC-based college who are part of an unusual clinical study for psychopaths—students like herself who lack empathy and can’t comprehend emotions like fear or guilt. The study, led by a renowned psychologist, requires them to wear smart watches that track their moods and movements.

When one of the students in the study is found murdered in the psychology building, a dangerous game of cat and mouse begins, and Chloe goes from hunter to prey. As she races to identify the killer and put her own plan into action, she’ll be forced to decide if she can trust any of her fellow psychopaths—and everybody knows you should never trust a psychopath.

Never Saw Me Coming is a compulsive, voice-driven thriller by an exciting new voice in fiction, that will keep you pinned to the page and rooting for a would-be killer. 

 

Add on Goodreads

 

Review:

I was a little disappointed by the mundane way this story was portrayed. It felt almost like the author wrote this book in passing, but it could also be due to the general lack of colorful characters.

The story moved at a normal pace and the mystery behind who was killing all the murderous psychopaths was interesting, but I found myself putting the book down and then talking myself back into picking it up.

There was so much I was hoping for out of this read, but wasn't impressed.
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Happy Thanksgiving

 


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Book Review: The Bookseller's Secret by Michelle Gable

 

Title: The Bookseller's Secret

By: Michelle Gable

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 400

Release Date: August 17th, 2021

Publisher: Graydon House

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

 

Summary from Goodreads:

In 1942, London, Nancy Mitford is worried about more than air raids and German spies. Still recovering from a devastating loss, the once sparkling Bright Young Thing is estranged from her husband, her allowance has been cut, and she’s given up her writing career. On top of this, her five beautiful but infamous sisters continue making headlines with their controversial politics.

Eager for distraction and desperate for income, Nancy jumps at the chance to manage the Heywood Hill bookshop while the owner is away at war. Between the shop’s brisk business and the literary salons she hosts for her eccentric friends, Nancy’s life seems on the upswing. But when a mysterious French officer insists that she has a story to tell, Nancy must decide if picking up the pen again and revealing all is worth the price she might be forced to pay.

Eighty years later, Heywood Hill is abuzz with the hunt for a lost wartime manuscript written by Nancy Mitford. For one woman desperately in need of a change, the search will reveal not only a new side to Nancy, but an even more surprising link between the past and present…

 

Add on Goodreads

 

Review:

Usually historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, but this book fell flat for me and I couldn't even finish it.

I found the story to be super boring and slow. There was lots of dialogue, so much so that it really bogged down the forward motion of the characters and their story. To tell you the truth, it was unmemorable to me.
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Weekly Menu #431 And The Book Of The Week

 


Hello Monday. Welcome back to the weekly menu. Last weeks was one of the worst weeks I've had in a while. If it could have gone wrong, it did. I'm so exhausted. Hoping this coming week will lift my spirits and bring some much needed rest.

This weeks book is a short one since I don't know how much time I will have to read with the holiday. My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson sounded interesting and got some good reviews out in the blogosphere. Lets give it a go.

How about this weeks menu. Enjoy!

 WEEKLY MENU 

Monday

Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken Thighs

 

Tuesday

Roasted Bratwurst

 

Wednesday

French Toast

 

Thursday

Thanksgiving

Pumpkin Muffins

Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

 

Friday

Roast Beef Sandwiches

 

Saturday

Spaghetti Night

 

Sunday

Leftovers Night

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Sunday Confessions #123

 


Hello and welcome back to the weekly confessions. Its been another long week. I injured my back. It was one of those ones where my spine felt twisted and I couldn't stand up straight. Pretty sure its because my youngest has been sleeping with us and when he does that I can't roll over, so I end up not moving all night on the hump of the mattress Its soo... Comfortable... 

Any who?... Lets get to the recap.


Sunday Confessions #122
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Weekly Menu #430 And The Book Of The Week
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Reading through the Star Wars Universe Part 6
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Book Review: Guild Boss by Jayne Castle
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Bookshelf Confessions November 2021
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Book Review: Cultish by Amanda Montell


Weekly Menu #431 And The Book Of The Week
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Book Review: The Bookseller's Secret by Michelle Gable
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Book Review: Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian
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Sunday Confessions #124


I'm finally into this read. It only took me a few weeks to get around to it. Half way through and I already love it. The story is different than other world war 2 stories that I've read, so a nice change of pace. I can't wait to share it with all of you. 





Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler


My Husband is trying to get me into See on Apple TV. I want to watch it, but I've been super tired lately and just not in the mood. At the end of the day, I just want some easy watching and not all the intense drama. 

I really need to dig in and just watch it. It is my favorite Jason Momoa.



Making some headway on my challenges, although its going slowly.

119/100 2021 Reading Challenge
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Here comes another week. Happy reading.

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Book Review: Cultish by Amanda Montell

 

Title: Cultish

By: Amanda Montell

Genre: Non-Fiction

Pages: 302

Release Date: June 15th, 2021

Publisher: Harper Wave

Rating: ★★★★☆

 

Summary from Goodreads:

The author of the widely praised Wordslut analyzes the social science of cult influence: how cultish groups from Jonestown and Scientology to SoulCycle and social media gurus use language as the ultimate form of power.

What makes “cults” so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because we’re looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to join—and more importantly, stay in—extreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? Amanda Montell’s argument is that, on some level, it already has . . .

Our culture tends to provide pretty flimsy answers to questions of cult influence, mostly having to do with vague talk of “brainwashing.” But the true answer has nothing to do with freaky mind-control wizardry or Kool-Aid. In Cultish, Montell argues that the key to manufacturing intense ideology, community, and us/them attitudes all comes down to language. In both positive ways and shadowy ones, cultish language is something we hear—and are influenced by—every single day.

Through juicy storytelling and cutting original research, Montell exposes the verbal elements that make a wide spectrum of communities “cultish,” revealing how they affect followers of groups as notorious as Heaven’s Gate, but also how they pervade our modern start-ups, Peloton leaderboards, and Instagram feeds. Incisive and darkly funny, this enrapturing take on the curious social science of power and belief will make you hear the fanatical language of “cultish” everywhere.

 

Add on Goodreads

 

Review:

This was an interesting ride through words and the language of cults, but not just the typical cult that we normally go to in our minds, but the cultish language that is used in everyday life.

Amanda Montell has a wonderful way of portraying words as a way to manipulate thought in a way that we would normally not think it would. When you really get down to it, how many times a day are we sucked into thinking a certain way without even thinking about it? This book really made me stop and wonder about the use of words and how big corporations, not just religious facilities have used words to manipulate people for their own gain.

I love how this book starts great conversations and I could see it as a wonderful book club read.
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