#blog wrapup

[capncococharms]

Games I Enjoyed in 2024

It's that time of year again where I write about my favorite games I played in 2024!

Normally, I keep track of all this stuff on a Notepad app on my PC, but sadly, during the last bit of 2024, I had to hard reset my PC, and all of the old notes from previous years were lost.

Broke my heart a bit to lose a part of me to remember the games I played in previous years. It was like a personal journal entry of where I was in life. I do have the previous year's blog posts of SOME of the games that were highlights which is better than NOTHING, but man... (Rest in peace little file: 2018-2024)

Thankfully I could tally up all of the games I finished this year despite the loss.

I finished about 26 games in 2024 (two games were back-to-back replays so technically I finished 28 games but to keep it simple... 26). This is far LESS than last year, but far MORE than 2022.

I will keep most of these thoughts short since I did a stream on Radio PSI with Nightshade about my "favorite games in 2024." Here's a brief write-up.

Pikmin 4- (Nintendo Switch)

I'm sad I didn't get to play this at launch. I never finished 1, 2, or, 3 but once I was told that this game could be played as is without needing to play the other games, I decided to dive in, and I finally understood the appeal of the series. It's a comforting game to play and it's beginner-friendly so I don't have to feel too bad if I'm messing up.

From collecting the ship parts, exploring dungeons, collecting glow Pikmin, and upgrading myself and Oatchi... it was a treat and much more (especially with the post-game content). This is a game I'm glad I 100%'d. I hope to play the other Pikmin games in the future. It won't be the same as 4, but I love these little guys so much. The purple Pikmin are my favorite.

Incredible Crisis- (Playstation 1)

I was suggested to play this because a friend told me that my comic/ game idea had the same vibe as this game so I decided to try it out and... wow. They got me...

Take the wacky antics of Wario Ware and Bishi Bashi and slam them into a blender... you get Incredible Crisis. Some mini-games can be hard, but once you get the rhythm down it's not THAT bad. This game has SO many ideas and goofy things it tries to do that it is a personal gold mine of goofy ideas and things I want to try in my own projects so if you want something fun and unserious please check out this insane concoction of stuff that made me laugh and smile.

Also that OST by Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra. Perfection.

Chulip- (Playstation 2)

I played a LOT of Chulip-like games this year. Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, Dropsy, Starstruck, and even For Whom The Frog Bell Tolls. Out of all of them... I loved them all equally. I couldn't rank them so technically they are all here in this spot. This is my list I do whatever the heck I want. Chulip is an insane game to pitch and market for a US audience, but I love games that break the norm. Simple premise, but you are thrown into so many moments, characters, and situations JUST to be able to kiss the girl of your dreams. It's stupid and obtuse, but that's the kind of game I want to play. It's all about the journey rather than the destination and Chulip makes sure that you remember this experience (especially at the end where the game THROWS a whole quiz on you to see if you remember everything you experienced). I want more games like this (Stray Children just came out in Japan and I am STOKED for a US release in 2025).

Splatoon 2- Octo Expansion- (Nintendo Switch)

I have NEVER finished a single-player campaign in Splatoon until 2024. Everyone told me that if there was ONE single-player mode to play it was Octo Expansion. I got around to it and I feel the best way to explain this campaign without saying much is that this is Nintendo's Portal 2.

Octo Expansion was awesome! The OST, the art, and the characters were a HUGE highlight personally. It's another game that inspired me creatively and that finale really put my skills to the test and left me VERY satisfied that I got to experience something like Portal 2 again. Good job, Nintendo.

Metroid Dread- (Nintendo Switch)

Before I could REALLY dive into this game I played all of Zero Mission and Fusion just to get myself ready and MAN. This game rules. I loved Super Metroid and I am SO GLAD I got to play this. I don't have much to say other than if you want to play a GOOD Metroid game and you haven't played Dread yet? PLEASE play Dread. Samus is the coolest lady in the galaxy... (this game prompted me to read the Metroid manga and now I am all about playing Metroid Prime 2 and 3 before Prime 4 is released so I am like on a huge Metroid fixation atm).

Before I talk about my personal GOTY I am gonna highlight some other games I enjoyed playing and finishing this year, but it will just be the titles (bringing the ones I already mentioned in passing here so it's not forgotten since I know not EVERYONE reads my silly ramblings):

Starstruck (PC)

Egg Squeeze (PC)

Corn Kidz 64 (PC)

P5 Strikers (PS4)

Metroid Zero Mission (GBA)

Metroid Fusion (GBA)

For Whom The Frog Bell Tolls (GB)

Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland (DS)

Dropsy (PC)

Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Switch)

Ok it's time to talk about my favorite game I played this year that came out of nowhere and made me the happiest dude in the world...

Emio The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club- (Nintendo Switch)

This is one of Nintendo's most ambitious games to come out of the company in a LONG time. I NEVER thought I would see a new entry to this series EVER again. I had hope that MAYBE a remake of the Satellaview game would be in the works, but that was about it.

Nope!

When they first teased about "Emio" and left the internet stumped for about a week to figure out who the heck Emio is... I was like "ok this is a new approach of Nintendo that's cool". After the week passed and I woke up to see it was for Famicom Detective Club... I was probably one of the ONLY people who was VERY excited to see the news that Nintendo is giving me another entry to one of the most overlooked series in Nintendo's history.

I totally understand why a lot of people WOULD be disappointed when it wasn't a "real horror game", but I feel a lot of the promotion and pushing for this game means that Nintendo REALLY believed in this game and I was eager to see what the heck Yoshio Sakamoto wanted to share with this new entry.

To prepare myself I ended up replaying the older games and saw that they were doing chapter releases (sorta similar to Satallaview in a way hmmmm....) before the game was released. I basically sat down and marathoned it on Twitch.

I WISH I could talk about my ENTIRE thoughts of this game, but I feel that everyone should do themselves a favor and actually pick up and buy this game. There will NEVER be another Nintendo game like this again. Nintendo took a RISK to make this game and the story they wanted to tell is something I would never expect from Nintendo.

Never has a game broken my heart this much. There were many moments that caught me off guard that I will have a hard time forgetting about for the rest of my life. I can understand why Yoshio Sakamoto said that the ending will be very divisive. Even some reviews that came out afterward really showed who loved and who hated what this game was trying to do.

I feel this is the first time in a long time that Nintendo went out of its way to put so much money into telling a very human story that while not many people will see it for what it is, I'm putting Emio on my list as one of my favorite video games of all time. Unfortunately, the reception wasn't as big as it should have been and it may mean this series may be dormant once again, but there was a recent interview from Yoshio Sakamoto that FDC isn't QUITE done yet so I pray that means this IP has more moments to shine. This was a big surprise for me in 2024 and I truly believe that it's more important than ever going forward that people need to take time to enjoy something rather than trying to treat it like it's fast food or the flavor of the month. Emio proved that to me with its story, visuals, writing, and OST. I ended up playing this game TWICE and it's possible I may end up playing it a third time. The amount of new dialogue and new things you can find in Emio was surprising and it just made me love what Nintendo did for this game and I wish more people would give it a chance.

THANKFULLY you don't need to have played the other games in the series to play Emio. Yes, it DOES mention parts from the previous games in Emio, but they are more like little snippets that will lure you into wanting to play those games which I REALLY appreciate Nintendo doing. I'm happy that this new entry to the series is similar to how Pikmin 4 is a good intro game to the Pikmin series for newer players. I feel as time goes on that will be a game I gift to friends in hopes that everyone gives Famicom Detective Club another chance.

Welp... it's a new year with many more games to play and look forward to. Thanks to everyone who bothers reading these. Until 2026 when I'll post this again!

[whisperingspinesliterary]

Hello, everyone! Welcome to the library.

As far as wrap-ups go - I'm a little late. And as far as intro posts go, well - I'm not quite sure this is the best way to start. But here we are. You may call me Whisper; I'm 28, a life-long reader, self-taught writer, an avid gamer, and a movie enthusiast. I've been in a years-long reading slump, and finally managed to crawl my way out of it in early 2024. Trust me when I say, my love of reading is something I never want to forget about myself again. So here I am!

I had a blog years ago, but I couldn't even tell you what I used to write about. I decided, in order to keep in my rediscovered booksphere, why not start a blog to log my adventures in reading and maybe even talk about my own books that I'm crafting and movies that I love? A catch all place for story lovers. I'm also starting a YouTube channel, which you can watch HERE. It has some new videos, as well as some old writing videos from last year when I originally started posting on it.

I'm so excited to be diving into this endeavor!

As a whole, 2024 was a hell of a ride. Both in life and in books. I spent most of 2024 unemployed, which hasn't happened since I was a teenager. (I still am unemployed; it is a rough market out there...) But I also found some new favorites and read books that I will gladly never touch again. I started tracking my progress on StoryGraph (you can follow HERE). It's an app and website that was created and is owned by a black woman. I find it much more intuitive and user friendly than GoodReads. It also gives more in-depth breakdowns of your reads up to the current! Honestly, I can hardly navigate the GoodReads app.

Last year, I tracked 12 novels, 29 manga, 1 audiobook, 2 novellas, roughly 17 short stories, and only DNF'd 2 books. Pretty solid for just rewetting my feet. My goals this year are to read 25 novels (about 2 a month), 3 complete manga series, and double the amount of short stories I read. I think they're pretty reasonable goals, and I'm looking forward to challenging myself!

I have a bad habit of judging books based off their covers. My very first read of last year caught my attention because of its stunning cover. It was the whole reason I bought it. A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poison is a detective novel set in 1920s London. It follows 23-year-old Saffron Everleigh as she struggles with being a woman botanist working at University College London in a time when women in the sciences weren't respected. She finds herself wrapped up in a mystery when a department head's wife is poisoned at a party she's attending, and the professor she works under is the main suspect.

A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons is Kate Khavari's debut mystery novel. Honestly, you can tell a bit in the writing, and especially in the way that Saffron handles certain aspects of her mystery. But overall, I really enjoyed the book. I found Saffron delightful to follow and her seedling romance with Alexander Ashton to be adorable. I liked it so much that I bought and read the subsequent sequels - A Botanist's Guide to Flowers and Fatality and A Botanist's Guide to Society and Secrets. I'm looking forward to A Botanist's Guide to Rituals and Revenge, which is releasing later this year.

I'm a huge fan of Carolyn Keene’s Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie’s Poirot, and Franklin W. Dixon’s Hardy Boys. So these books absolutely tickled my fancy. Each mystery gets more intriguing, and the world around Saffron keeps growing and getting richer. My only issue is that in Flowers and Fatality and Society and Secrets Saffron just seems to get angry for no reason. Everything irritates her, and her character is slightly changed from her original personality in Parties and Poisons. As a whole, I give the series a 3/5 and definitely would recommend giving it a read!

I followed Up A Botanist's Guide with a complete genre leap. I dove head long into My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. It was her debut book, which may be why it falls a bit flat. Just as the title suggests, we follow Korede as she cleans up after her sister, Ayoola, who has a tendency to kill her boyfriends. As a massive horror fan, I was so disappointed in this book. I really, really wanted to like it. It was such a good premise, and the beginning was so strong. But that's all it has going for it in my eyes.

Ayoola decides to go after the man that Korede has a crush on at work. We're supposed to follow Korede's moral push and pull in the wake of another of her sister's murders while keeping the man she loves from being killed. However, it's never really felt. It's just a bit of wishy-washy back and forth inner dialogue. The climax didn't really hit a screaming pitch. It just kind of...comes and goes and then the book is over. Leaving us with an unsatisfying ending. You end up right back at square one, where the novel began. This is one book I would say not to waste your time on.

Luckily, I wasn't disappointed for long. I discovered a new favorite completed series. It was advertised comparing it to Howl's Moving Castle - which is my all-time favorite book and movie. I didn't think twice before I bought the first book. The Lord of Stariel is a gaslamp fantasy series. It has a historical type of fantasy setting, where magicians, enchanters, and illusionists practice true magic. Fae are still creatures of myth, but it doesn't stay that way for long.

The series follows Hetta Valstar, the estranged daughter of the Lord of Stariel. When he dies, she has to go back home to the estate of Stariel - a sentient Fae land that bonds with a person. The first book suffered similar to A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons - when the climax came, they talked it out instead of it actually being climactic. But each subsequent book in the series gets better.

It has dangerous magic, a swoon worthy suitor, and an utterly whimsical world to get lost in. It even has a spin off book, A Rake of His Own, which follows Hetta's brother, Marius. I devoured all five books in about two months. I simply could not get enough. As a series, it's a 5 out of 5 and I can't recommend it enough if you like fantasy.

Sometimes, in the middle of reading a long series, you need a bit of a pallet cleanser. I broke up my reading with a book set in our own world. My Roommate Is a Vampire by Jenna Levine is a monster romcom, a genre I didn't even think existed outside of comics and manga. The book follows Cassie Greenberg, who's an artist struggling to make a living. She finds an advertisement for an apartment and quickly learns that her roommate is a bit of a weirdo. It definitely gave me a chuckle and had a bit of unexpected spicy. There are parts where the story gets serious, and the tone shift can make it a little muddy. But it's one of those books I'd recommend for anyone looking for a light read. The companion novel, My Vampire Plus-One, recently came out and I can't wait to sink my teeth into that one!

In real life, I don't have ton of friends who read books and most of those who do don't read the same books. So, I was surprised when my friend's wife let me borrow her copy of The House on the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. And even more surprised by how much I loved it. It's a cozy, enchanting story about a man named Linus Baker, who works at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He goes and evaluates orphanages that home magical youth. Every day he trudges through a never ending, grey storm. But one day he's summoned by Extremely Upper Management and sent to a house on an island, where he must decide if the children there are too dangerous.

I cannot put into words how charming this story is. I love all the characters, how warm the world feels, and the soft, subtle way that Linus and the head of the orphanage, Arthur Parnassus, fall in love. This was another book that I absolutely devoured. I can't sing its praises high enough. It's just a fun, feel good read. I loved it so much that I bought the recently released sequel - Somewhere Beyond the Sea. I haven't read it yet, but it's on my TBR. I can only hope that it lives up to the same standards as the first one.

Right at the end of December, I managed to squeeze one last book. I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones was my final read of 2024. It's a memoir written by adult 30-something-year-old Tolly Driver as he reminisces about 1989 - the year he became a slasher. I liked the idea; seeing everything from the killer's point of view, finding out what was going through their mind. However, I was sorely let down.

Tolly's narration is a stream of consciousness. Apparently, the whole thing is supposed to be type out on receipt paper. He bounces around from 1989, to previous years, to his present adult self and back. There were spots I had to read three or four times before I released which time period everything was taking place in. There were spots where the sequence of events or the actions of the character were unclear.

As a whole, I found the whole thing a bit ridiculous. It's supposed to be a horror thriller, a serious story about a serious character. But reads like a parody/comedy horror that's taking itself way too seriously. There were supernatural elements that could've been interesting. Tolly's transformation into a slasher was like an infection and the "powers" it gave him just pulled me out of it. I just found that the whole story fell flat. I read the whole book because I was too curious what ludicrous thing was going to happen next.

I'm normally a huge fan of horror comedies, but not when I go in expecting it to be a real, solid horror story. Anybody looking to read a decent horror book, I'd say pass this one over. But if you're looking for a horror parody, then you came to the right place. I'm disappointed since I've heard such good things about Stephan Graham Jones as a horror novelist. However, this was just not the book for me and ended up with a 2/5 on my StoryGraph.

As you can see, 2024 was definitely a wild year for my reading list. I found new series that I absolutely love and some books I will happily never read again. I'm looking forward to many more adventures this year, and I can't wait to see where those books take me. I especially can't wait to bring you all along for the ride!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you again soon!

- Whisper

Let Me Know: Have you read any of the books in my wrap-up? If you did, what did you think? What books did you read in 2024?

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[godzilla-reads]

Happy Last 🐸 Day of February 🥳

This month I read 17 books, bringing my yearly total to 31 books so far! My Top 3 Books were hard to choose because I had so many 5-star reads this month, but I did indeed choose three which are starred below in the official list:

⭐️ Earth Keeper: Reflections on the American Land by N. Scott Momaday

🎨 The Art of Faery by David Riché

🧧 Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham

🧡 Blood Orange by Yaffa As

🔭 Saga Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

🍄 The Mushroom Garden by Adam Oehlers

⭐️ Dealing With Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

🍃 Leaf Litter by Jarod K. Anderson

🏔️ Think Like a Mountain by Aldo Leopold

⭐️ What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher

🌏 All Art is Ecological by Timothy Morton

🎲 The Last Session Vol. 1: Roll for Initiative by Jasmine Walls, Dozerdraws, and Micha Myers

🧚 The Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley

🐸 Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

💤 The Gargoyle by Garry Kilworth and Dan Williams

☀️ Little Witch Hazel: A Year in the Forest by Phoebe Wahl

💟 The Death of Sitting Bear: New and Selected Poems by N. Scott Momaday

[norbezjones]

February Wrapup & March's Goals

I’m a little late because I was away at some conventions, but I’m here to wrap up February and move onto March!

In February I . . .

Released Stardust for the Music Idol Game Jam!

Worked hard on the game for the Shitty Gal Jam, called My Little Pop Star.

Finished the script for the aroace game about a woman and her hitman ex

Started writing on the duck detective game.  We decided to make it for IF Comp instead, so stay tuned on that!

Started (but didn’t finish) recording for the Make Visual Novel Assets Jam.  I hopefully will get back to this when I have time.

Participated in the first Eternal TTRPG Jam.

Shortcomings & Obstacles:

The artist for the aroace game has disappeared off of the face of the earth, so I have no idea where they are.  This has obviously delayed the game, and I’m worried about them.

March’s Goals:

Release My Little Pop Star (already done!)

Release the To Train A Killer game for NaNoRenO

Continue remastering the Evelyn Grey & Miss Dexter games

Prep for the Yancy Kickstarter

Release some behind-the-scenes stuff for patrons on the games I’ve released & will release!

I’m so hyped for this month!  Let’s do this! >:3 And if you want to support my work, here’s a link to my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NorbezJones

[bookblrihardlyknowher]

🌞July Reading WrapUp🌞

Stats

Total Read: 4

Average Rating: 4.5⭐️

Most Read Genre: Horror

Most Read Format: Physical Book

DNF Count: N/A

Books

Title: Cemetery Boys

Author: Aiden Thomas

Genre: Y/A Paranormal Queer Romance

Format: Physical Book (Library)

Rating: 5⭐️

Start Date: June 17

End Date: July 3

Title: Mr. Harrigan’s Phone

Author: Stephen King

Genre: Short Horror

Format: Physical Book

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Start Date: July 23

End Date: July 23

Title: The Life Of Chuck

Author: Stephen King

Genre: Short Horror

Format: Physical Book

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Start date: July 26

End date: July 26

Title: Maeve Fly

Author: CJ Leede

Genre: Horror/Slasher

Format: Physical Book

Rating: 4⭐️

Start date: July 29

End date: July 31

PS. I’m counting each short story in an anthology as its own separate book!

[ilikekidsshows]

It really is utterly ironic. One of the biggest reasons I broke up with Miraculous was that no character respected Adrien’s right to protect himself by giving him the information he needs to do so, instead constantly keeping secrets from him and going behind his back to do things that are supposedly “for him”. Now this show, that I started watching around the time the breakup happened, actually literally spells out how hey, that’s not productive to a lasting relationship. Your loved ones will not appreciate you going behind their back to protect them, instead they are very likely to be hurt by such behavior.

When Eda tried to send Luz and King away to protect them, neither of them appreciated it. And now, Camila spelling out what she has been so concerned about and why is a vital turning point in their relationship. This misunderstanding in their relationship, caused by Camila’s desire to protect Luz while not seeing how she’s getting grown enough to be involved in decisions involving her, is the biggest personal conflict in this entire series.

Camila being afraid of what others would think about Luz, how they might hurt her, has caused Luz to think that she’s causing problems and not other people’s scorn. Camila being so used to being alone in trying to help Luz caused her to not involve Luz in decisions involving her life, which in turn caused Luz to keep quiet about what she wanted for herself. Parents don’t want to burden their children because they are the caretakers. This makes distinguishing the lines between your child’s needs and agency difficult. It’s especially difficult for a parent like Camila, who has been shown to have put her personal interests aside in order to be the best mother she could be. She made being Luz’s mom so central to her sense of self that it serves as the filter she views the world through. That’s why it’s so important that we see her starting to embrace her old interests again. It’s good for her for her life to have facets.

It’s not just the fact that Camila and Luz fix the fractures in their relationship by opening up about the things they have been keeping quiet about that makes Camila more sympathetic than the usual examples of: “I only wanted to protect you.” Keeping things from Luz and making decisions for her was never the goal for Camila. The glimpses to her motivations we got were always focused on trying to give Luz support, protection and guidance. The secrets and going over her head were a side effect

[winding-maze]

The December 2023 journal is up for my Ko-Fi supporters!

Another short 'n' sweet entry with some end-of-the-year art memes and a wintery photo gallery.

Thank you all for your support - please consider joining my monthly support crew if you can! I do these wrap-ups every month & the support really helps.

Read it here.

[lazyread]

January wrap up!

So, this month was awful in everything else, but at least I got to read some great books. As you can see in the picture, I read five books this month and liked every single one, which doesn't happen very often. I started strong with a great story about a boy who was a slave at a sugar cane plantation. Part adventure, part coming-of-age story of a boy and the impact of slavery on his life. Delivery by Esi Edguyan was crafted well, it kept me interested all along, I didn't want to put down the book.

Next up was The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. Good book but after hearing so much good stuff I was hoping for more.

Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule was great, I have to admit I cried at the beginning. I love Star Wars and when I found out about The high republic I immadietlly bought every book available in my country. Highly recommend this one if you also love star wars, it was a great start for the series.

The Hole was a quick and weird read, that also gets you to thinking. The atmosphere in this is created great - even when it is winter now I seriously could feel the heat that makes your breathing harder.

The last book I was able to get to is Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk - my compatriot. I LOVED IT! Amazing characters? Check. Amazing atmosphere? Check. The narrator's fixation on animal rights and astrology? Check.

[reinventedreader]

A look back at my 2024 reading stats

[a-star-in-the-darkness]

December Wrap-Up

I can’t believe it’s that time again! And the end of the year…wow. Let’s be clear: I did NOT meet my reading challenge for the year, but I don’t see it as a failure because I had fun reading, found some new favorites and still read a lot. Here’s what I read in December: All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and C.L. Herman I really enjoyed this book! My favorite fiction I read this month. It’s…

[atlaswebdesigns]

Monthly wrap-up | August 2024

I had been contemplating whether I should write this monthly wrap-up or not because August did not really give me a lot of moments that would leave me with anticipation for any more months like this. Though my exams going well and a good festive day of Rakshabandhan did bring some good hours of feeling confident and happy, August still managed to become my worst month of 2024 yet. But then…

[ishadash92]

March grooves:- monthly song collection(wrap)-2024

Photo by Polina Kovaleva on Pexels.com March was painful and awkward for me. It involved delving into pain, healing, and emerging while holding every piece together. All my playlists helped me get through it! Just like now, while writing, I’m listening to my favourite tracks and peaceful music (for me, it’s the mantras of Mahadev). So this month, I have a few interesting…

[godzilla-reads]

🍄July Reading Wrapup🍄

In the month of July I wound up reading 11 books, bringing my yearly total to 87 books so far! My Top 3 Reads were “Across a Field of Starlight” by Blue Delliquanti, “Thirst” by Mary Oliver, and “Crows” by Candace Savage. Anyway, here’s the list:

🦖 An Alphabet of Dinosaurs by Peter Dodson and Wayne D. Barlowe

⭐️ Across a Field of Starlight by Blue Delliquanti

🐱 A Man and His Cat Vol. 3 by Umi Sakurai

🧌 Irish Fairy and Folk Tales

🦕 Dinosaur Sanctuary Vol. 1 by Itaru Kinoshita and Shin-Ichi Fujiwara

🏴‍☠️ One Piece Vol. 7 by Eiichiro Oda

🐲 The Book of Dragons by Michael Hague

🐉 Year of the Dragon: Legends & Lore by Nigel Suckling and Wayne Anderson

🐰 Bunny Rabbit’s Story by Amy Prentice

♥️ Thirst: Poems by Mary Oliver

🐦‍⬛ Crows: Encounters with the Wise Guys of the Avian World by Candace Savage

What was your favorite read?

[lionstamer]

Weekend Herb Blogging WrapUp

[bookblrihardlyknowher]

📚☕️❄️January Reading Wrap Up❄️☕️📚

Stats:

Total Read - 5 books

Avg Rating - 4.6⭐️

Format Most Read - Physical books

Most Read Genre - Horror

DNF Count - 0

Books:

Title: Study For Obedience

Author: Sarah Bernstein

Format: Physical book

Genre: Literary Fiction

Rating: 5⭐️

Started: 12/27/23

Finished: 01/06/24

Title: Heartstopper Volume 5

Author: Alice Oseman

Format: Physical Book

Genre: Young Adult Queer Romance

Rating: 5⭐️

Started: 01/07/24

Finished: 01/08/24

Title: Open Heart, Open Mind

Author: Clara Hughes

Format: Physical book

Genre: Memoir

Rating: 3.5⭐️

Started: 01/10/24

Finished: 01/20/24

Title: And Then I Woke Up

Author: Malcolm Devlin

Format: Audiobook

Genre: SciFi Dystopian Horror

Rating: 5⭐️

Started: 01/23/24

Finished: 01/23/24

Title: What Moves The Dead

Author: T. Kingfisher

Format: Physical book

Genre: Gothic horror

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Started: 01/28/24

Finished: 01/29/24

Books Started:

Dead Romantics - Ashley Poston

It's OK That You're Not Okay - Megan Devine

Surviving To Drive - Guenther Steiner

[ilikekidsshows]

So, a big theme in this episode is just how much the main cast cares about each other. Luz’s first course of action was to retrieve King’s beloved friend and toy (mirroring the heist that brought the gang together in the very first episode), Eda is trying to come up with a way to keep Luz and King safe through the episode and King discovers that having his dreams of greatness be proven to be true are nothing in comparison to what he already has: a loving family.

The life-changing road trip with Steve was a treat. It both served the two characters and their development as well as reminded the audience exactly what is at stake if the heroes can’t stop Belos. The Boiling Islands, while depicted as a bit of a cesspool in the first season, are full of people and creatures who live their lives, love each other and can receive and grant kindness. I found it extra fitting that the good deed King and Steve stopped to do was to change a cart wheel, the same event Luz saw in the past. The people of the Boiling Isles have always been kind of communal, and they still can be that, despite Philip’s attempts to poison them against each other.