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briangroth27 · 8 years ago

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Timeless Season 1 Review

Without a doubt, Timeless was my favorite new show of the season! The adventures of history professor Lucy (Abigail Spencer), pilot/tech genius Rufus (Malcolm Barrett), and soldier Wyatt (Matt Lanter) were a blast, zipping through American history to prevent a “madman” from changing it. Shawn Ryan, Eric Kripke, and the show’s writers added much more than a dash of historical accuracy to the Time Team’s exploits, providing real context to the events the team tried to preserve.

Full Spoilers...

Our Time Team was brought in by DHS Agent Denise Christopher (Sakina Jaffrey) and tech billionaire Connor Mason (Paterson Joseph) to catch former NSA asset Garcia Flynn (Goran Visnjic), who’d stolen Mason’s time machine to rewrite history and save his family from the shadowy Rittenhouse organization. Matters became increasingly complicated as Lucy’s sister Amy (Bailey Noble) was accidentally erased from the timeline, Rufus and his family were threatened by the scarily powerful and omnipresent Rittenhouse, and Wyatt was tormented by the death of his wife Jessica and whether or not he could prevent it. Spencer, Barrett, and Lanter were all excellent leads, bringing vulnerability, compassion, intelligence, humor, heroism, and just a touch of darker angst to roles that could’ve easily been one-dimensional. To that end, the series mined all the drama inherent in time travel and changes to the timeline; I was surprised from the get-go that things—at least minor ones—were allowed to change so much! For example, Lucy's comment about forgetting her sister's birthday, despite being the only person in her family who knew she existed, was heartbreaking. The reveal that she had a fiancee (Daniel Di Tomasso) in the newly altered timeline whom she’d never met could’ve been played with more, but I think it was best (and probably more realistic) for her to focus on the missions over that awkward situation. Wyatt trying to peacefully prevent Jessica's murderer from being born, even though time was fighting to maintain itself, was great drama too. His reaction when the killer’s father accidentally died was perfect and the crushing reveal that Jessica was still dead once he got home was brilliant. Rufus’ growing confidence in every area of his life was a great season-long arc that dovetailed perfectly with the steadily-developing bond within the Time Team, even as it was threatened by Rufus being an unlikely spy for Rittenhouse. Barrett brought great tension to Rufus as his turmoil over spying on his friends increased from episode to episode. I thought they’d play Rufus against Lucy and Wyatt for much longer than they did to build up a bigger betrayal, but I was pleasantly surprised he came clean rather quickly and the trio worked through it, enhancing their bond. I figured the team would go rogue eventually and I'm glad it happened before the season finale. More shows should take big risks like that rather than maintaining the status quo until “special event” episodes!

The growing familial bond between the core trio over the course of their adventures was a joy to watch, while Agent Christopher and programmer Jiya (Claudia Doumit) seamlessly fit into the group as the season progressed. I was happy Jiya was more than just a generic love interest (as cute as her romance with Rufus is) and was his equal in the tech arena, holding her own to save the day when time was tight and the odds were against them. I was genuinely surprised we met Agent Christopher’s family and continued to follow her after she was dismissed from the time travel project. That felt like the natural time to cut off the Time Team’s resources, but the show surprised me by having her go rogue and join the team. I also liked that she trusted Lucy to keep a flash drive of her family on the Lifeboat time machine in case they were erased; that was really clever. Even Mason, who I thought was genuinely a bad guy, shocked me when his self-interest (at least) won out, landing him on the Time Team's side at the last second.

I liked that Flynn wasn’t the purely evil villain he was initially made out to be, since he really was trying to save his family. It was smart to make him the extreme version of our heroes; not only did that make him a great foil for them, but at several points late in the season I thought each member of the Time Team was just a slight push away from being ready to join him. As much as Agent Christopher arresting Flynn before he could save his family (as Lucy had promised him) in the end will make him even more of an enemy, I wouldn’t be surprised if Flynn joined the Time Team next season. I can’t wait to find out when Lucy will return the journal to him and what the circumstances of Future Lucy reaching out to him—as a last hope?—are! Matt Frewer was solid in a supporting role as Anthony Bruhl, one of Flynn’s allies and Rufus’ former friend, lending a nice bit of conflict to the villains’ side of the show. The third prominent member of Flynn’s team, Emma Whitmore (Annie Wersching), proved to be calculating and capable, making her a good foil for Flynn’s more emotionally-driven methods.

Rittenhouse was a great enemy waiting in the shadows, ever-present and ready to strike, but also just out of sight. Getting Armin Shimerman to play the original Rittenhouse back in the Revolutionary War era was excellent casting! Since the organization was so powerful and imposing, I was surprised at how low-key their seeming defeat actually was. I'd like to think bringing them down by documenting all of Rittenhouse’s affairs over half a century was inspired/foreshadowed by the team’s adventure with Elliot Ness (Micha Collins) and Al Capone (Cameron Gharaee), since that’s how he was brought down before they changed history. I was expecting big changes to the timeline with Rittenhouse finally removed from the past, but this was just as satisfying. It was truly shocking that Lucy's mom Carol (Susanna Thompson) was revealed as a member of Rittenhouse too! The status quo seems to be shattered and I can't believe any of the Time Team would work with the government ever again. Are they going to join Flynn (maybe he shares some of his plutonium to power the Lifeboat) to stop Rittenhouse from creating their “perfect” future?

Many of the show’s historical guest stars were very entertaining! Harry Houdini (Michael Drayer), Bonnie & Clyde (Jacqueline Byers & Sam Strike), Ernest Hemingway (Brandon Barash), and Josephine Baker (Tiffany Daniels) were definitely among my favorites, but all of them added an engaging aspect to the weekly adventures. My absolute favorites had to the real-life inspirations for the Lone Ranger and Tonto, Bass Reeves and Grant Johnson. Reeves’ moral code played extremely well against Wyatt’s increasing difficulty with not taking more action to save Jessica, spurring a great debate about heroes and killing. On a side note, I’d love it if Timeless’ creators made a Lone Ranger series starring Coleman Domingo and Zahn McClarnon (Reeves and Johnson here), mixing Bass Reeves’ historical past with the Lone Ranger mythos! The temporal guest stars gave the show a great, varied texture: moments like actor John Wilkes Booth (Kelly Blatz) practicing his lines before committing an assassination were hilarious and the team getting to co-star in a new James Bond book/film after teaming up with Ian Fleming (Sean Maguire) was very cool! Other historical figures became well-written parallels to our heroes, like Werner Von Braun (Christian Oliver) and Rufus, or H.H. Holmes’ (Joel Johnstone) victims and the unexplained death of Wyatt’s wife. It was also great to learn new things about history, like the fact that Al Capone had a brother in law enforcement (Mather Zickel) and Jesse James (Daniel Lissing) was a psychopath instead of some noble outlaw of the Old West. Some of the changes to history, like General Cornwallis (Brad Dryborough) and Elliot Ness getting killed, genuinely shocked me (particularly as Micha Collins’ role as Ness had been so hyped online).

The show’s aesthetic was polished and sleek while staying true to the grit of war zones and the Old West when the story brought the characters there. There was a definite formula to many of the episodes—a necessary evil, as they had to show us how history really went before showing it change—but I don’t think it hurt the series at all. When they did play with the formula, like Wyatt and Rufus’ reverse-Back to the Future attempt to stop Jessica’s killer from being born and episode 7, which opened with the team being stranded during the French and Indian War, it was a great change of pace! I loved the smart writing, which injected a lot of humanity, humor, and drama into the proceedings while deftly including history lessons that never felt like lectures. I do think the series’ ratings were damaged by the timeslot (10 pm on Mondays); there was nothing content-wise that required that time and Timeless would’ve been great as an 8 pm show, given the all-ages tone. While it would conflict with The CW’s similarly-toned superhero shows Mondays-Wednesdays, maybe Timeless season 2 could find a home on Thursdays as counter-programming to ABC’s TGIT or on Fridays.

All the time-travel physics were well-explained over the course of the season, but I do have one theoretical question: they can't go back to where they've gone before, but what if they showed up a couple of days before an earlier trip to the same time zone? What would happen if they accidentally stayed past the barrier into their previous trip to that time and crossed the time streams, as it were? I think there’s a great “ticking clock�� plot in there. The one area that I’d say the show could go further—and perhaps this is about to be addressed with Rittenhouse rewriting the timeline as they see fit—is that we should probably start seeing an increasingly altered future as more and more trips are taken to the past. As pointed out by the Bitter Script Reader on Twitter, this would eventually render Lucy ineffective as she knows less and less about the new history (unless her role shifts to documenting the history that was), but I don’t think the show should be afraid to go big on the changes.

I had a plethora of crazy theories about how the show could twist the plot and the timeline: Was Flynn from the future? Could he be Lucy’s son? Amy’s son, now existing only because he was outside the timeline when it changed and she was erased? Lucy’s father? Someone sent back in time by a future Lucy? Could one of the accidental changes to history bring back Wyatt’s wife Jessica? Did Rittenhouse kill her in the first place? Is Wyatt going to kill the parents of her killer to save her? If they eliminate Rittenhouse, will Lucy be born? Will Rufus get caught playing double agent? Will the Time Team find themselves aligned with Flynn by the season finale? I love theorizing and I love when shows fool me even more. Timeless did that often, and their reveals were never disappointing compared to my theories.

I can’t wait to see where this show goes if it gets a second season! Jessica’s death is still super suspicious; I’m 100% positive it was carried out by Rittenhouse (and they just used a different killer once Wyatt eliminated the original one from the timeline), and I can’t believe Wyatt is really ready to let it lie. If it was Rittenhouse, why would they have her killed? Was she involved with them too? Could Rittenhouse’s plans to create their perfect world bring Jessica back? The one thing I don’t need to see is Lucy and Wyatt together romantically. I know it's big in the fandom—at least on Twitter—but to me, it's clear he absolutely still loves Jessica and until he can't possibly bring her back, I don't see him moving on. Wyatt and Lucy do have chemistry, but it doesn't feel romantic from his side. Lucy’s maybe, but Wyatt seems unwavering in his devotion to his wife. I still think it'd be gut-wrenchingly brilliant if they discovered that Lucy's dad killed her, so the only way to save Jessica would be to kill him before Lucy's conceived.

Are Wyatt and Rufus going to break Flynn out of prison so he can help rescue Lucy from her mom and retake the Lifeboat? Will Lucy ever find a way to get Amy back? I don't see why Lucy drew a connection between her mom's illness and Amy existing, but if they are connected somehow, that’d certainly be surprising. Are we going to see Lucy fill out the journal, now that she has it? Will we see Flynn time travel to meet older Lucy, or are we going to see her grow to a point where she sends him back in time? Will Mason’s self-serving nature continue to supply the team indefinitely, or are those resources shut off for good? What’s secret Rittenhouse agent Emma Whitmore off to destroy? Is my sister right, and Jiya’s visions of the past will give the Time Team their history-saving missions by cluing them in to what Whitmore is changing?

Whatever they have in store, I’ll be very disappointed if NBC doesn’t bring Timeless back for another season! The cast, writing, and historical nature of the show are all top-notch. #RenewTimeless, indeed!

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useyourrwords · 6 years ago

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Month in Review // So Many Readathons! – April | Part 1

My brain is tired.

This Month in Review post is going to look a little different!

This first post is just going to be about what I read, watched and listened to because… well there’s a lot! I mean it’s mostly books. But like. A lot of fucking books.

Well that’s not entirely true. It’s mostly because I decided to participate in loads of readthons! Not bad for someone who participated in their first ever readathon this year!

And I just couldn’t figure out a way to format things in a more space-efficient way without sacrificing how I like my posts to look. Perfectionism is a curse, honestly.

I didn’t want to put everything in one post because then it would have been v. v. long. and no one has the attention span for that…I sure don’t!

So you can find Part Two for this post as an extra post, outside of my usual blogging schedule, on Thursday!

If you would like to buy any of the following books please consider using my Book Depository Affliate link!

If you click on any of the fan art in this post it will take you to the artist’s page!

UnsolvedAThon

*Means that I had books for both clues.

UnsolvedAThon was created by Laura @ The Book Corps!

Clue 1*

[Ryan’s Path] The Search for the Mysterious Mothman – Read a book about a mythical creature or a monster.

[Shane’s Path] The Harrowing Hunt for Bigfoot – Read a book about a mythical creature/monster.

Clue 2

[Shane’s Path] The Strange Disappearance of D.B. Cooper – Read a mystery or thriller book.

│The Rook││

Clue 3

[Shane’s Path] The Haunting of the Salem Witch Trials – Read a book involving witches.

Clue 4

[Shane’s Path] The Horrifying Murders of the Zodiac Killer – Read a retelling.

│Toil & Trouble││

Clue 5

[Shane’s Path] The Secret Society of the Illuminati – Read a book about or involving a secret society.

│The Rook││

Clue 6

[Ryan’s Path] The Enigmatic Death of the Isdal Woman – Read a book involving spies or espionage.

│The Morning Star││

Clue 7

[Ryan’s Path] The Haunting of Hannah Williams – Read a book involving ghosts or spirits.

│City of Ghosts││

Clue 8*

[Ryan’s Path] The Historic Disappearance of Louis Le Prince – Read an unknown book or a book that has less than 500 ratings on Goodreads.

│Rad Girls Can││

[Shane’s Path] The Thrilling Gardner Museum Heist – Read a book involving a heist or thieves.

Clue 9*

[Ryan’s Path] The Haunted Town of Tombstone – Read a book about an outlaw/a group of outlaws.

│The Morning Star││

[Shane’s Path] Horrifying Cases of Ghosts and Demons – Read a collection of short stories/anthology.*

│Toil & Trouble││

Clue 10

[Ryan’s Path] The Odd Vanishing of Amelia Earhart – Read a book with a female main character.

│The Rook││

│Toil & Trouble││

│City of Ghosts││

I did it!

O.W.L.s TBR

Half way through the month I watched a few O.W.L.s TBR video’s on Youtube and decided I would participate as long as the books I was already reading for the UnsolvedAThon would fit the prompts.

If you don’t know what the O.W.L.s readathon is you can check it out in the link above. It’s basically a readathon created by Gintare @ Book Roast on Youtube so us mere muggles could experience the exams that students at Hogwarts have to experience!

I had initially wanted to join O.W.L.s when I first heard of it in March but brushed it off as impossible since I was already doing a pretty major readathon.

Well it turns out that I could participate without having to read any extra books I hadn’t already decided to read!

I decided to sit my exams for the Professor career. There were quite a few career’s I would have preferred but unfortunately it was required to read the History of Magic prompt, which is a book at least 10 years old and I just didn’t have time to add another book to my TBR. Plus the only books I know I own that meet that requirement are IT and Game of Thrones and fuck that. I definitely don’t have time for those!

For the Professor career you get to choose which subject you want to teach! I would have chosen to be a History of Magic professor but, like I said, none of the books on my TBR fit the prompt. Instead I have chosen Ancient Runes!.. Or maybe astronomy???

I don’t know! I just covered both topics and then I’ll decide when its time for the N.E.W.T.s, a readathon connected to the O.W.L.s, in August! Not being able to choose which subject is very on brand for me.

Ancient Runes

Read a retelling

│Toil & Trouble││

Arithmancy

Read a work written by more than one author

│Toil & Trouble││

Astronomy

Read a book with Star in the title

│The Morning Star││

Care of Magical Creatures

Read a book with a land animal on the cover

│City of Ghosts││

Charms

Age-line: Read an adult book

│The Rook││

Defence Against the Dark Arts

Reducto: Read a title that starts with R

│Rad Girls Can││

Herbology

Read a book with a plant on the cover

│Toil & Trouble││

Muggle Studies

Read a contemporary

│The Morning Star││

Transfiguration

Read a book with sprayed edges or red Cover

│City of Ghosts││

I did it!

YA Bookaholics April Readathon

April 11-15

I decided last minute, again, to participate in another readathon! This one was hosted by the YA Bookaholics group on Goodreads and for that one we kept track of how many pages we read!

I was hoping to read more, but it did kick my butt into gear to finish two books!

Thursday

│Sawkill Girls│61│Toil & Trouble│36│Total 97 Pages│

Friday

│Sawkill Girls│80│Total 80 Pages│

Saturday

│Sawkill Girls│138│Toil & Trouble│53│Total 191 Pages│

Sunday

│Sawkill Girls│181│Total 181 Pages│

Monday

│The Rook│16│Total 16 Pages│

Grand Total

│565 Pages│

I think I might continue to participate in this reading-sprint style readathon each month, from now on, as it really makes me want to read more! Hopefully next time I’m not working every day of the readathon!

Unexpected Readathon Time – April

April 18-22

Destiny @ Howling Libraries hosts unexpected readathons over in her group on Goodreads!

I decided to participate this month since I was already doing so many readathons, what’s another one???

Like the Bookaholics readathon, I chose to keep track of my progress by pages read.

Thursday

│The Rook│69│Total 69 Pages│

Friday

│The Rook│17│City of Ghosts│100│Total 117 Pages│

Saturday

│The Rook│35│City of Ghosts│64│Total 99 Pages│

Sunday

│The Rook│46│City of Ghosts│121│Total 167 Pages│

Monday

│The Rook│9│Total 9 Pages│

Grand Total

│461 Pages│

Not as good as the Bookaholics one but I still feel like a read a lot! More than I would have otherwise.

April’s TBR

│I’ve Got This Round││

Read

│I’ve Got This Round│Mamrie Hart│││││★★★★★│Read Apr 6│

│Rad Girls Can│Kate Schatz││││││★★★★│Read Apr 7│

│Toil & Trouble│Tess Sharpe││││││3.5★│Read Apr 16│

│City of Ghosts│Cassidy Blake #1│Victoria Schwab││││││★★★★│Read Apr 21│

│The Rook│The Checquy Files #1│Daniel O’Malley││││││★★★★│Read Apr 27│

│The Morning Star│Shadow of the Templar #1│M. Chandler││││││★★★★│Read Apr 30│

I literally read finished this book 3 minutes before midnight.

│Smoke Gets in Your Eyes│Caitlin Doughty││││││

│Murasaki Shikibu│Khutlun│Sayyida Al-Hurra│Mochizuki Chiyome│Doña Ana Lezama De Urinza & Doña Eustaquia De Sonza│Bygone Badass Broads│Mackenzi Lee│││││

│”Stagecoach” Mary Fields│Yennenga│Annie Jump Cannon│Wilma Rudolph│Alfhild│Calafia│Keumalahayati│Marie Marvingt│Iara│Jane Dieulafoy│Rejected Princesses│Jason Porath│││││

Book of the Month

│Sawkill Girls│Claire Legrand│││││││★★★★★│Read Apr 14│

│Average Rating: 4.5★’s│ 5│

Structured TBR Pass or Fail?

│Must Read: 7/5│ 1/1│ 0/0│ 4/2│ 6/3│ 10/10│ 5/5│

│Allowances: 1/1│ 1/1│ 0/0│ 0/0│ 1/2│

Past Grey Reads

Book Review // Girl Made of Stars – I Am Broken

Grey Reads // Everything’s On Fire and I Couldn’t Be Happier – Girls of Paper and Fire

Grey Reads // Bloody Moors & Candy Castles – The Wayward Children 2 & 3

Film & TV

Month’s TBW

│Game of Thrones│Season 2-3││

│The Bold Type│Season 3││

│Brooklyn Nine-Nine│Season 6││

│RuPaul’s Drag Race│Season 11││

│On My Block│Season 2││

│Captain Marvel││

│Avengers Endgame││

I plan on seeing this with my mum on Mother’s Day!

│Us││

I was going to see this while my car was being serviced but there wasn’t a screening on at the right time for me.

Watched

│Younger│Season 1-4││2015│ Darren Star│ Sutton Foster, Miriam Shor, Hilary Duff│

There is so much about this show that I don’t like, that annoys me a ridiculous amount and yet…I can’t stop watching it. It’s a problem. And there’s only 12 episodes each season and they’re only 20 minutes each. It’s so easy to put this show on and not think about anything but how stupid the characters are.

Except Maggie. I love Maggie.

│The Bold Type│Season 3││2017│ Sarah Watson│ Katie Stevens, Aisha Dee, Meghann Fahy│

I love this show so fucking much. I was hoping Younger would be just an older version of The Bold Type… And yet The Bold Type shows far more maturity, actually has character growth, and I don’t want to punch any of the main characters which is far more than I can say for Younger.

│RuPaul’s Drag Race│Season 11││2009│ RuPaul│RuPaul, Michelle Visage│Watching weekly episodes│

I’m still living for this season. I’m glad to see more of Plastique’s personality and Vanjie is still giving me life.

│Game of Thrones│Season 2-5││2011│ David Benioff, D.B. Weiss│ Emilia Clarke, Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington│

I—I forgot what an actual shit storm I had to endure. Like I knew. But I forgot how bad it was all the time. It just doesn’t stop.

But I’m loving making snide smart-ass comments throughout now that I know what happens.

Like bitch, you about to dieeeeeeee.

Fuck your honour, I’d rather survive, to be honest.

Also this re-watch is just a reminder of how fucking much I love Tyrion. And Briene. And Arya. And Sansa, god I love her so much more now. And Podrick, bless him.

Mum and I are getting through the seasons so quickly (thank you Easter weekend!) that now I’m worried we’re gonna finish it before the last season is completely out.

│Captain Marvel││2019│ Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck│ Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn│

I went and saw this with my mum and omg it was sooooooo good.

This was better than Wonder Woman. I would die for Carol Danvers and Fury and his fucking cat.

Also I would fucking love to see grown up Scientist Monica in End Game, kicking ass STEM style.

│Bonding│Season 1││2019│ Rightor Doyle│ Zoe Levin, Brendan Scannell, Kevin Kane │

Youtube

│Ladylike│Devin Shares Her Sexual Assault Story│

I sobbed, like ugly crying, can’t breath, quiet sobbing.

Obviously it’s a very triggering video so please don’t watch it if it’ll harm your mental health!!!! You’re health comes first!

If you’re someone who wants to try and understand what its like for women who experience sexual assault then this is a good video to watch.

│Jessica Kellgren-Fozard│Royal Inbreeding Gone Wrong! (Was It Ever Right?) // Charles II [CC]│Am I Disabled Enough? // ft. Hannah Witton [CC]│LGBTQ+ Relationships Should Be Taught In Schools [CC]│Royal Drama! // How Historically Accurate is Mary Queen of Scots? [CC]│A Lesbian Queen of England!? How Historically Accurate is The Favourite? [CC]│The Bisexual Artist Who Changed The World From Bed // Frida Kahlo [CC]│Deaf, Blind and Awkward // Helen Keller // #DisabilityHistoryMonth [CC]│The deaf princess who became a style icon // Queen Alexandra // #DisabilityHistoryMonth [CC]│

OMG. So i stumbled upon this youtuber ages ago because I saw that she did a video on how historically accurate The Favourite was and I was panning to watch that movie. So I watched it and then forgot about Jessica’s video but she popped up in my feed again and so I spent almost the entire last day of the month binge watching her videos when i should have been doing food shopping.

Anyway I love her, she’s disabled, and super gay and vintage and really outspoken about being disabled and super gay and I love her.

She is also someone who makes learning history really fucking fun. Her Royal Inbreeding Gone Wrong! video is especially funny and she also has a video on disabled & queer historical figures and a video on how historically accurate the Mary Queen of Scots movie is!

A lot of her videos are closed captioned (not just the predicted captions, like actually people sat down and took the time to create accurate captions for her videos) and I super appreciate it as someone with audio processing issues and a mum who can’t sleep with any volume above like a 5. You can tell which ones by the [CC] in the title!

She’s amazing and if you’re going to check out any new youtubers in the immediate future, it should be Jessica.

Music

│YUNGBLUD│11 Minutes + Halsey│Loner│Falling Skies + Charlotte Lawrence│

│Dodie│Burned Out│

│Troye Sivan + Lauv│i’m so tired…│

│Steve Aoki│Waste It on Me + BTS│

│Billie Eilish│idontwannabeyouanymore│bury a friend│bad guy│you should see me in a crown│all the good girls go to hell│

│Ariana Grande│NASA│fake smile│

Past Grey Watches

Grey Watches // I Hate It So Much I Love It – A Christmas Prince

Grey Watches // It Has To Be A Shit Show – A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding

Grey Watches // I Wanna Bone Jude Law and Kate Winslet – The Holiday

I’m honestly in Game of Thrones Overload

What did you do this month? What did you read? What did you watch? What posts did you write that you’re super proud of?

│Blog│Goodreads│Instagram│Twitter│Tumblr│