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  • Book Review: “Unbirthday” by Liz Braswell (Disney Twisted Tale)

    April 19, 2022
    book reviews, reading
    Book Review: “Unbirthday” by Liz Braswell (Disney Twisted Tale)

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐

    Rating: 4 out of 5.

    Let me start off by saying I do not believe this book fits in with the premise of Disney’s Twisted Tales series. The whole point of the series is to take the original story and twist it into something else. This story is more of a sequel. It does not twist the original story but takes place when Alice is an adult, eighteen or nineteen, and goes back to Wonderland to save it from the murderous Queen of Hearts.

    With that being said, I really liked this story. It was definitely not kiddish like the original one could be. Of course, it was still filled with plenty of nonsense, but also some young adult/adult themes like murder, death, tyranny, gore, and violence. The author did a great job of capturing the voices and writing style from the original! That was my favorite part of it. It really did feel like a sequel from the same author, except for the fact that it was not for kids.

    A quick summary of the story is Alice is an adult and has forgotten Wonderland. Her sister keeps trying to set her up with “respectable” young men but Alice walks to a beat of her own drum, like her aunt Vivian, who was not in the originals but is a real trailblazer. Alice gets into art from her aunt, particularly photography. It’s through the photos she takes that things get warped and the creatures of Wonderland try reaching out to her for help. She travels back and forth several times between her land and Wonderland as she tries to figure out how to save it from the Queen of Hearts, who is murdering her own people to gather as many toys as she can so she can bring about the End of Time as the winner. There is a twist to this but I won’t tell you what that is.

    Though I feel it doesn’t fit in with the series, I did like the book on its own for what it was. The author did a great job and all her research into the originals paid off. I recommend reading!

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  • Book Review: “For the Love of Horses” by Kelly Wilson

    April 6, 2022
    book reviews, reading
    Book Review: “For the Love of Horses” by Kelly Wilson

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

    Rating: 5 out of 5.

    A great autobiography for anyone who follows the Wilson sisters or for anyone who loves horses and the allure of wild horses in general. These three girls have so much experience and knowledge to be shared. I’m not big into show jumping like they are but it was still fun to read about their winnings and achievements. The parts about creating bonds with the wild horses were the best parts, though. The amount of patience and compassion these girls have for these wild horses is beyond anything I’ve ever heard of. They truly are naturals.

    Recently, I got back in touch with my artistic side. I drew, out of nowhere having not drawn in over 15 years since my senior year of high school, a sketch of Captain from a photograph. It turned out great! And I had so much fun doing it. I was blessed with the idea to start a horse art business where I would do custom sketches and paintings, and even get back in touch with my photography side and offer mini photo sessions for portraits. It combined two things I loved dearly and enjoyed to no end, but lost touch of after high school until now, my mid-thirties; horses and art. The author of this book, Kelly Wilson, was an inspiration to me to do this throughout the entire book. I, like her, want to live outside the confines of a 9-5 job. I would love to work from home, be my own boss, and set my own schedule. Who wouldn’t? Kelly made me realize that it’s actually possible with horses and art. There were many inspirational nuggets in there that you could walk away from the book with, feeling confident that you can make your dreams come true, whatever they are.

    My favorite quote was “Our talents are God’s gift to us but what we do with them is our gift back to God.” This really hit home with me and made me feel like I was on the right track with my horse art business venture. It was a way for me to take the talents God blessed me with and put them out there into the world to bless others with them and give God the glory for it (Something I feel is lacking in my 7-3pm job).

    I highly recommend if you are a horse lover like me! And if you’d like to check out my art you can do so with the links below. My custom sketches and paintings are available throughout the US. My photography sessions are available in Northwest Indiana.

    Alex Apostol Equine Art Sketches
    Alex Apostol Equine Art Photography

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  • Book Review: “Hawaii” by James Michener

    March 18, 2022
    book reviews, reading
    Book Review: “Hawaii” by James Michener

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐

    Rating: 4 out of 5.

    This is a massive book and I’m sorry the review won’t be quite as impressive in length. I love all the ground this book covered. It started when the islands were formed from the volcanoes and ended all the way in 1954, close to when James Michener wrote the book and had it published.

    The beginning has to be my favorite part. I love the beautiful language used to describe the formation of the islands and I love hearing of how people came to inhabit these islands. It’s so interesting to me to hear about tribal cultures and all they believe and do that’s so different from our own. It felt like the main characters of the story were the missionaries. Their stories seemed to go on the longest and hold the most impact for the islands.

    I loved how whenever a new family was introduced I knew they were going to play an important part in Hawaii’s history somehow, they would intermingle with the other characters somehow, and they always seemed to be from some other nationality than Hawaiian. We have the white missionaries, the Chinese, and the Japanese. Very briefly does the author talk about true Hawaiians other than Kelly Kanakoa who is descended from the last rulers of Hawaiian culture. Hawaii is such a cultural melting pot by the time the book is over and you can’t help but love each of these families and their contributions.

    I lived in Hawaii for a few years back in my early 20s, which is why I chose to read this book. It’s the first book I’ve ever read by James Michener. I can tell he put a lot of research hours into forming this book, even though all the characters are fiction, most are based off of real people or are composites of real people. The situations he tells us about are definitely representative of things that really have happened in Hawaii’s past. I loved learning about how pineapples came to the islands because it is such an important part of the island and its culture now.

    I feel like I’ve been reading this book forever! This was my work book so if I ever finished work early and had time to spare before I could leave, I read some of this and then I got to the point where I just wanted to be done with it so I could read something else so I also read it in the mornings before work. It’s huge! It’s definitely a commitment and won’t be for everyone, especially if history and genealogy aren’t really your thing, but if they are and you have an interest in the islands then this is a good book for you!

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  • ReReading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as an Adult

    March 16, 2022
    book reviews, reading
    ReReading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as an Adult

    Observations:

    1. They believed Black to be so dangerous that when he escaped Azkaban they even announced it to the muggles through their news. They just didn’t say where he escaped from.

    2. It was really terrible and traumatizing for a 13 year old in a class he’s struggling in to have his teacher force him to use his potion on his beloved pet toad, knowing it could poison and kill the toad. Snape really wasn’t only terrible to Harry. Poor Neville.

    3. Peeves is in the HP books throughout the series so far so much it makes me wonder why they didn’t include him at all in the movies. He would have been a character the kids would have probably loved.

    4. Crookshanks was one good, smart cat, always going after Scabbers. He knew something was evil and not right about that rat!

    5. If Fred and George snatched the Maurader’s map without any guidance how’d they ever guess the way to make it work was to say “I solemnly swear that I am up to nog good”. Even for them, it’s not a phrase they’d utter a lot. Quite a good guess on their part.

    Things I didn’t catch as a kid or forgot about:

    1. The wizard pets were supposed to have magical powers. The lady at the pet shop asked Ron what Scabbers’ powers were and Ron couldn’t think of any. But what were Hedwig, Errol, or Crookshanks powers??

    2. Harry’s sneakoscope was always going off around Ron because Scabbers was there and Scabbers is an untrustworthy “rat”.

    3. Hagrid had a dozen hippogriffs, not just Buckbeak, and Harry volunteered to be the first in the class to approach them.

    4. I completely forgot about flobberworms and how gross they are.

    5. Sir Cadogan and his fat pony! He is such a great little side character, even though he’s just a moving portrait. Funny and heartfelt. I really wish he had been in the movie. Oh well. They can’t put everything in.

    6. Hagrid’s motorbike was given to him by Sirius Black the night he took Potter to the Dursley’s.

    7. There are “Hit Wizards” in the ministry. Like a hit-man?

    8. The boys were a lot meaner to Hermione in this one than I remember. They don’t talk to her for months out of the school year and blow her off because of what they think he cat did to Scabbers. Poor girl must’ve been so lonely.

    9. It wasn’t just Harry who disarmed and knocked Snape out in the Shrieking Shack. Ron and Hermione and Harry all hit him at the same time.

    Best Quotes:

    “Don’t let the muggles get you down!” -Ron Weasley

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  • Non Fiction Book Review: “Unoffendable” by Brant Hansen

    February 10, 2022
    book reviews, Christian
    Non Fiction Book Review: “Unoffendable” by Brant Hansen

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

    Rating: 5 out of 5.

    This book was really an eye-opener for me. It’s funny because I’ve seen reviews of this book where the reviewer is offended that Brant says being unoffendable is a choice. It’s ironic. It really is a choice, and making the choice is the easy part. It’s following through that is hard work, daily, as is breaking any bad habit and building a better new one in its place. I’ve only been done reading this for a few days and already I’m working my butt off to remember the wisdom in here to put into practice. I’ve found that doing affirmations not only in the beginning of the day but throughout the day helps. In my affirmations of I feel good, I look good, God says I am very good, I am good enough just as I am today, I also like to add I am unoffendable. Yay, Brant! You made it into my affirmations! Not only does this book go into being unoffendable but it also digs deep to analyze why it is we’re offendable in the first place. There’s no one reason. There are so many reasons and Brant touches on a bunch so I’m sure you’ll be able to figure out your reason to contemplate and work through too. I went from someone who never spoke up for myself or stood up for myself, meek, to learning how to stand up for what I felt I deserved and what culture says I deserve. I love the part in the book where it talks about injustice and how we don’t have to be mad about it do something about it, and that being mad about it actually sometimes prevents us from taking action or when we do people just remember how mad we were. That’s how I feel I’ve become. This person who wants to stand up to every injustice, against me and everyone else, and be mad while I do it. Now, I see there is such a better way! The hard part is keeping myself in check and putting into action. Another reason we are offended is because things aren’t going how we think they should. We have expectations of people and situations that aren’t being met and that offends us. That’s me to a T. Even after reading this book and having it on my mind we were going through my seven year old daughter’s bedtime reading routine. She needs to work on her reading, slow down and focus more. My husband and I are in agreement of this. But then last night he’s making jokes and goofing around and distracting her while she’s trying to read, to make it fun or I don’t know, and I found myself getting irritated and making comments to make him stop and take it seriously. It wasn’t going how I thought it should. Already I was back to my old ways. That’s how hard it is to change, even when the desire to change and how to do it is fresh in your mind! But I’m going to keep trying and hopefully with a little practice I can get better and better at being unoffendable. I think, and this is just my opinion, the people who are offended by this book are offended Brant didn’t offer this cure-all, quick and easy answer to being unoffendable. He clearly says it’s hardest and takes a lot of time, patience, and work, and a lot of times people don’t like that or want to hear that. I enjoyed the book, Brant’s humor and how he writes exactly like he talks, and I found all the information and stories in there extremely valuable!

    Get Unoffendable on Amazon

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