What I Read This Month: February

Hi! I thought I was going to kill my momentum early when I got to the middle of this month and realized I'd only read 1 1/2 books, so when I was done with Black History Spotlight prep and work I made up for lost time. I took a couple of self-care Saturdays this month and spent them reading and watching old black and whites on my DVR. I was also down for the count twice in the month, so I had no choice. Sounds boring as shit, but I don't think I could have been more content. With the reading, not with the illness. lol Why aren't the men lining up outside my window, you may be asking. LOL Probably because the window is boarded up and I've rubbed a skunk's scent on the wood to keep away squatters. As you can see, the month of love makes me more cuddly than usual. 😂 About as cuddly as a thorn in the ass. Anyway, I made up for lost time this month and read a few goodies. You know I suck at plot synopses so I'm going to use excerpts of the authors' descriptions combined with my summaries. Despite the rather short list, I have a lot of thoughts about a few of them so it may end up being no shorter than normal. lol Anyway, let's get to the books!

Alec: A Scottish Outlaw

I enjoyed this book so much that it made me sad once I read the other stories and they ended up pushing this one to the bottom of the list. They didn't push it to the bottom because it was a bad book, they pushed it to the bottom because those stories were much more complex. This one was fairly simple and unoffensive, but I really did enjoy it. Alec, the title character in this book, is just what the title suggests--a Scottish outlaw--but he begins the book masquerading as stuffy, uptight Randolph Tweed. He along with his brothers are spies for the Scottish regiment, and part of Alec's assignment is to find the currency stolen by England when the king had the country raided. That brings him into contact with a group of wealthy merchants, one of whom is the cruel master to the beautiful but ill Diana and her tender-hearted servant Joanie. He buys Joanie from her owner and even though she believes her life will be the same, if not worse, than her previous owners due to Tweed's unfeeling demeanor, Alec proves her to be quite wrong and shows her the truth of her heritage in the process.

I liked the supernatural part of this story; it was a bit different from other stories in the same vein. If Alec so chooses, he can hear the thoughts and feel the emotions of anyone he pleases. It's obviously overwhelming, so he usually tries to block it out. But he hears the pain in Joanie's heart and makes a vow to rescue her, and she does the same for him. I don't have too much to say about the book; it was simple, easy to read and well-written. I enjoyed reading along as Joanie finds her strength in Alec and he finds solace and comfort from the world in her. I think, in an ideal relationship, that's what you should have. Joanie was able to find her voice and strength with renewed purpose, and Alec was able to find somewhere safe where he wasn't constantly bombarded with thoughts, feelings and instincts that weren't his own. I loved how the plot tied into the history and rich heritage of Scotland; the author's descriptive skills really came into play while she was describing the landscape and general atmosphere of the country. The entire tone of the book changed when Alec and Joanie left the dreary, downtrodden England in their wake and headed for Scotland. I also liked reading about how such an important item to the history of the country had roots in this love story and interestingly enough, was completely ignored for a lot of the book. It seemed to have one meaning for the majority of the book, then it started to change into something else and in the end, meant something much deeper. The only thing I can think of to say that I didn't like as much was that, like most intro books to a series, this one seemed to end prematurely. I wanted to see where else the characters went after the main obstacle was removed, how Joanie adjusted to everything she'd learned about herself, and more importantly how daily life was with her with the massive changes she experienced. It cut off immediately after that, and even though I guess you could say the book ended there, for me it leaves a few too many loose ends. Other than that, I enjoyed Alec: A Scottish Outlaw. It was a good way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.

My rating: 

Priest: A Love Story

If you're thinking this is a love story about a man named Priest, then you've sorely overestimated me and underestimated the subject content I'm willing to read. This is undoubtedly a smut book. lol Tyler is a Catholic priest whose days are uneventful and spent holding masses, hearing confessions, and ministering to the people of his congregation. Until Poppy comes along. She comes in seeking answers, trying to find a peace her soul seems to be craving, and Tyler finds himself, for the first time since becoming a priest, feeling conflicted. As a priest, he feels the undeniable call to help soothe her spirit but as a former Dominant who didn't spend his entire life in the church, he also feels the undeniable call to have his way with Poppy's body. As this troubled woman worms her way into Tyler's heart, Tyler recalls his own experience with guilt when he revisits what eventually drew him to the altar, the line in the sand event in his life. Just as something drew him to the altar, something happens to draw him away from it. Is the event a blessing in disguise, or has Tyler's life been destroyed by a mistake? 

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed the plot of this book. Growing up in the church myself, I'm more than a little familiar with the shame often synonymous with sexual identity and openness, and I'm more than a little familiar with the appeal of the forbidden fruit so I understood Tyler's predicament. I enjoyed learning who Tyler was, both because of and in spite of his vocation. There was something so dirty about that and because I'm disgusting, I enjoyed it more because of that. I honestly think that was part of the appeal and that understanding made the mistake all the more realistic. Even as we judge those in the church for thinking themselves above us and then judging us when they show they aren't, the truth is that we're all human. Excluding asexuals, we're all fans of the flesh in some capacity. Temptation is a real bitch, and nobody is immune depending on the temptation in question. Now as for the book itself, it was steamy. Fog my glasses up steamy, which I partially attribute to the obvious taboo factor, which is right up some peoples' alleys ✋ and I enjoyed that such a taboo topic seemed to have been tackled fearlessly. There's a reason why priest and nun costumes are always a hit come Halloween, and it's not all about satire or irony. The combination of temptation and taboo often make for a heady, conflicting, passionate mix of things and this book really delved into that from the first conversation right up until the epilogue. It was also nice to read along as the point of conflict reared its head and watching Tyler try to navigate his way through that. There was questioning and soul searching to do while he figured out the next steps he needed to take, and I really appreciate that there was no immediate nicely-wrapped package of HEA. 

My rating: 

Don't Speak: A Jade Harrington Novel

In this political thriller, the reader is confronted with an America that looks startlingly similar to elements of our own current political outlook, from the viewpoints of various people in the Washington D.C. area. Various voices in the conservative talk show community, rising and prominent, turn up dead at multiple points within the last 10 years, but nobody puts the cases together until a prominent talk show host is found with his tongue cut out and the FBI is brought in to investigate. Lead investigator Jade Harrington is a hardnosed agent who keeps the world at two arms' lengths. This case forces her to step her game up to find the killer, who named himself TSK, who may be much closer than Jade anticipates.


While I enjoyed the book, I have to admit I wasn't terribly fond of Jade and at first, it affected how I felt about the book overall. I have no right to dislike her; in truth we're not all that different. She doesn't do vulnerable, doesn't allow people close to her, still has a chip on her shoulder from childhood--which is directly what led to her now having the former two attributes--that she feels she has to run from, and in general, comes off a bit cold. Sounds a little too familiar to me if I'm in self-assessment mode (spoiler alert--I'm always in that mode lol) so objectively speaking, I basically got to experience what someone like me would probably look like if they were in a high-profile position like the FBI. Minus the anxiety, of course. LOL I liked the personalities of the other team members; there was a lot of variety and attention to developing individual characteristics of each person that made it enjoyable to read. It wasn't a carbon copy of the same person 6 times over and I was glad for that. Each person's strength and skill was properly shown in the book and even for the supporting characters, I still saw growth. As for the actual plot itself, I don't have many, if any, complaints. The killer was intelligent, arrogant, starved for attention, and five steps ahead of the investigation into the murders, which is everything he should have been. I loved learning about how intertwined everyone was, although they did not realize it at first. It brought another layer of intrigue to the story. I loved the main characters, even the ones I despised. I enjoyed reading the journey they each went on, being defined by their political leanings while having to deal with regular life issues that don't discriminate against who experiences them. It was also really refreshing to read about a politician who wasn't playing (completely) dirty, who for the most part played by the straight and narrow and honestly believed in what she was saying. Being surrounded by those who weren't afraid to play dirty made her stand out all the more and I liked the way that was done.

One of the main characters seems to be heavily inspired by the living meme that is Alex Jones and I thoroughly enjoyed his character, even though I agreed with 0% of what he said and couldn't stand him. lol To me, he was probably the most fleshed out character in the book and for someone like him, it wouldn't have worked with anything less. Honestly, the parts of the book with him in it are where the author's work shines, because I feel like that's when I see her attention to detail, the work she put into creating this atmosphere and creating characters who properly fit into it. Creating a likable character, in my opinion, is easy. Creating an utterly detestable character, making it believable and still weaving enough emotion into the book to make us want to see what happens to the character is difficult to do, yet she did it. She also accurately created a worldview that isn't so different from today's America, with the various issues being discussed throughout the book and the depth she covered them in, something else I liked. She did her research and it shows. Who the killer ends up being surprised and disappointed me, but the ending of the book was awesome and a little heartbreaking all at the same time. With the last two sentences of the book, the author brought everything full circle and shone a new light on the entire book. It was fabulously done and for once, I'm actually looking forward to reading the next chapter in the series. Usually I can read the free chapter and go on about my life without reading the other installments, but I actually want to know where things go with this next one.

My rating: 

Prisoner (Criminals and Captives)

Wowie was this one twisted. LOL Abigail is a quiet, reserved student who takes an internship teaching a writing course to prison inmates. Their stories are to be published in a short journal, and Abigail relishes the opportunity to teach, right up until she comes into contact with Grayson. Grayson is an inmate with a ton of secrets and a hard-on for the new teacher. They're immediately drawn to each other but for obvious reasons, Abigail does not act on it. Grayson makes her feel exposed in a way that scares her and initially she tries to get reassigned. Her mentor encourages her to stick it out, to help them tell their stories, and she relents. Abigail has her secrets too, secrets that make her wonder if she's any better than the inmates she instructs. The journal's publication has unexpected consequences, and a prison break ensues. Grayson inches his way closer to finding out those secrets bit by bit after he kidnaps her in his attempt to escape. He's not one of the good guys, and as she finally accepts that her life as she knows it is over, Abigail begins to wonder if she's really one of the good ones herself. The story goes much deeper than a prison break, and Abby discovers that Grayson and his gang could have been the good guys, in another lifetime, but the depravity of man reached them first.


If this wasn't the most Munchausen, mentally conflicting, kinda sexy but in a really twisted way books I've ever read in muhlife (my life lol). The HEA in me kept expecting the story to clean itself up, to make itself PC and therefore acceptable for me to root for them, but it never did. And somewhere towards the middle of the book, I kinda stopped wanting it to. It's a book that makes you question yourself once you find yourself sorta rooting for them, then you wonder if you have Munchausen by proxy, then you wonder if you're not just as fucked in the head as you come to realize both Abigail and Grayson are. I think Abigail comes upon the realization around the same time as the reader, because it was around that same time that I began to wonder about my own sanity because I started to feel conflicted. What did that say about me that I kinda wanted them together? I really wanted Grayson to go straight and it threw me off the further I got into the book, waiting for a character change that never came, and eventually I realized that was the entire point. It wasn't going to come. Grayson wasn't one of the good guys, he continued to say it even though there were moments he showed otherwise, and he didn't disappoint. I mean morally, he disappointed; I actively disliked him (a little lol) by the end of the book, but strangely, I didn't hate him as much as I should have.

He did something about halfway through the book that made me want to stop reading entirely because it felt like such a non-hero thing to do--it was disgusting actually,--but again, that was the point. He wasn't a hero. To his credit he never pretended or even tried to be otherwise and we do eventually find out why he was the way he was, but somehow it seemed like there was still the smallest spark of hope for redemption at a later date. Despite that event, believe it or not there was still growth. He became an anti-hero of sorts. The authors did a really good job at keeping the question "What could Grayson have been if not for this event?" hovering over the reader's head for the entire story with the way the character was written, bringing him to the line of unredeemable--crossing it, if you ask me--then bringing him back, but just a little. Abby's main focus was trying to be free again, but at some point throughout the book strangely enough she seems to become more free, even as she remains captive and also becomes legally complicit in the crimes being committed. This is a twisted book about secrets, innocence lost and bonding through pain, even as the one inflicting some of said pain causes both of their deeply buried wounds to come to the surface. It creates this extremely questionable healing process as two wounded, broken individuals come to terms with their brokenness together and create something new that isn't any less broken, but works for them. Like I said, it's twisted. It's sexy, even when it probably shouldn't be, but it also reels you in wanting people to find their justice and maybe a little healing. I applaud the author for creating this very complex, Lord of the Flies-reminiscent world and these characters who aren't as black and white as such a layered plot would normally dictate. They seem to float in this morally gray area, where you can understand how everyone got to be that way, maintain your moral opinion and then find yourself doubting it later in the book. I really enjoy books like that, so hats off for this one.

My rating: 

Hidden in Plain Sight (Serenity's Plain Stories #4)

It's very rare that I'll read a book in the middle or at the end of a series, but the free price tag on the book drew me in. lol Well that, and I'm also partial to the name Serenity. Serenity's the new sheriff of a small town with a strong Amish community, members of whom she'd tangled with in earlier chapters of the series. The book starts some fifteen years prior, with the murder of an abusive ex-husband who can't leave his wife alone. When Serenity's expertise with the local Amish community is consulted for the case, which is being reopened with the discovery of new evidence, she ends up drawn in to an uncomfortable level as details begin to lead to someone very close to her.


I didn't read the other chapters in the series but the author was able to efficiently give us bits and details so incoming readers would still be able to follow along. With the different series and documentaries we see on the Amish community, we know that things aren't as quaint, simple or innocent as we would believe otherwise. I think the author did a great job of capturing that sense of community as well as the sense of secrecy that is present in many communities. I wasn't reading along since Serenity's relationship started with Daniel, but from the bit I did gather from this book, he seems like the safer, less problematic option but I never got the feeling that she couldn't live without him. Maybe its because I'm late to the series but the characters, Serenity and Daniel in particular, kinda fell flat for me throughout the book. Speaking of Daniel, (spoiler alert) the part of the mystery that involved him was dragged out for an unbelievably length of time considering that Toby and John are supposed to be FBI agents. Why wasn't every name that came up during the investigation properly, well, investigated?

It seemed to me that in order to keep the air of mystery about Daniel's role in the murder afloat, the investigative skills had to suffer as a result. I had a hard time believing that two agents couldn't put the name together and figure out that part of the mystery for as long as it was dragged out. The shifts in Daniel's personality may have been red herrings to create confusion about whether or not he was the real murderer, but all it did for me was send up red flags. Those were never explained, never mentioned again, and he came off a bit too intense and moody for me to really root for him. I understood the point of the book and I think the author captured what she was trying to capture, but personally the book wasn't for me. However, I am really interested in some of the side characters. There's another chapter in this series that follows this one, and I'm interested in reading that one. The person I am thinking is the heroine in this next chapter had a great setup in this book, and I saw more personality from her in just one conversation than I'd seen Serenity have the entire book. Again, I probably don't feel as connected to Serenity because this is the 4th installment in the series, so I would gather that by this point Serenity's character has probably already been explored, so the later chapters focus more on the story and the other characters who interact with her.

My rating: 

Alaskan Dawn (Pacific Horizons Book 1)

Mandy's Note: And here is my clean entry for the month. While there is an undercurrent of sexual tension throughout most of the book, there isn't so much as a whisper of a fondle, finger or thrust. I'm proud of myself. LOL

In this book, a woman named Haley has a lot on her plate. She's just reached her fourth month of pregnancy as a surrogate for her twin sister and her husband, she's finally reached lead associate for a huge environmental case in her firm, and she's reached the end of her rope with her needling mother and sister. Overworked, frustrated and in desperate need of some solace, Haley seeks refuge for a week on the Alaskan coast. While there, she meets and quickly falls for Ben, a handsome environmentalist-leaning boat captain who helps her make the best of her week away. But once she has to return to her life in California and Ben resumes his life, the roadblocks in their way stretch the miles between them even further, making a relationship seem more implausible. They agree to remain friends, but the emptiness Haley feels as time passes forces her into some soul searching. Is her job really what she aspires to do in life, at the expense of who she comes to realize is her soulmate, or is she ready for something new?


Like I said, this was my clean entry for the month. I really enjoyed this book. Ben isn't bulky, immaculately dressed and too handsome to look at directly. He's a tall, gorgeous ginge with beautiful eyes, adorable bedhead in the morning and no suits to speak of. lol He was a breath of fresh air. As much as I enjoy my suit-wearing, slightly condescending alpha male businessmen, I also love a quietly self-assured, nomadic leaning man who's knowledgeable, thoughtful, perceptive and considerate. The fact he also has a slight Captain Planet complex with his environmentalism doesn't hurt, either. lol I loved Haley, probably because I could relate to her quite easily and she wasn't a jackass. She was direct and honest without purposely putting on facades and changing who she was, she wasn't prone to theatrics, quite the opposite, and in the end didn't give herself up to love. And (spoiler alert) she didn't want kids! It is so rare, especially these days, to read about a heroine who doesn't want kids and to see that continuity moving forward. You also wouldn't expect to hear that viewpoint in a typical romance since Haley spent the majority of the book pregnant. That's usually the perfect plotpoint to take an initially resistant person and turn them around by the end of the book by bringing forth those deeply buried maternal feelings.

Many times, by the epilogue the hero and heroine have either had a whoops! baby and all of a sudden can't imagine not being parents, they open their minds to the possibility just in time for a positive pregnancy test, or they've actively started planning to have a baby. I don't intend to have kids either so it's nice to see that some authors recognize having a child isn't the end-all be-all for every woman and a heroine can still have her HEA without having a replica of her DNA biting her ankles. lol Its rare to see childfree couples without having a medical issue be the root of the problem and I enjoyed that. The plot was very refreshing, the author's style of writing suited the plot, and she created characters that were easy to love. There wasn't any contrived drama (okay maybe a little lol), in the end nobody had to sacrifice their dreams or goals--another typical romance plot that drives me insane--and no cliffhangers. It was well written, the pace was easy to follow along with, and the author smartly veered away from the typical romance tropes. Her ability to paint a vivid scene of the Alaskan coast entirely through words was amazing, as was her attention to the wildlife Ben loved so much. Those little details do a lot, and she didn't miss a beat. If you're into clean, modern romance and love sealife, give this one a whirl. 

My rating: 

Before I go, I was wondering if I should start including purchase links for each book I read. Not for affiliate purposes or anything like that--can you even be an affiliate for a book you didn't write? I don't think so but who knows lol--but in case you were interested in picking the book up yourself, you could get the links from here. Let me know what you think. 

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What I've Been Watching: February

Hi! I was expecting this to be a short list because I initially wasn't watching too much of anything, but after I was done prepping posts for Black History Spotlight I just wanted to relax. Most of my items this month are from regular tv; I only have one Netflix entry and I technically watched it last month, but it was too late for the deadline I set for these entries to be finished so I rolled it over to February. I'm not sure why I said last month that there'd be more Netflix on here in this list; I'm thinking maybe I'd intended to watch more stuff but never got around to it. I'm trying to clear out my DVR (I have 3% open space left LOL) so who knows if I'll get to it next month either. I'll try. But that's next month. Let's get to this month's list!



Without a Trace

Drain the Sunken Pirate City

Drain Alcatraz

Drain Titanic

Drain World War II

Drain the Bermuda Triangle

Being Evel

Uncensored

The Unguarded Hour

Angel Face

Kitty Foyle

Katt Williams: Great America

NemGotGame

Sorrow TV


First, let's start with regular tv, which takes up the vast majority of this month's list. Let me just start by praising the tv gods for bringing back Without a Trace. Listen. I've been looking for this show since the minute it went off the air and all the streaming programs started popping up everywhere. It wasn't on any of them. Ion, the channel that used to show Without a Trace reruns, suddenly stopped showing it and I never forgave them for that. For five years this show was ghost on reruns, streaming services and even YouTube didn't have it. Couldn't find DVDs or even VHS tapes of the seasons so I eventually gave up. This new channel, Pop, started reairing it so I'm recording the series to DVR just in case they try to snatch my dreams away again. lol I've done so much whining I haven't even talked about the actual show. Without a Trace was a police drama about the fictional Missing Persons department of the FBI, where an investigative team does their best to piece together a missing person's last steps before disappearing....without a trace. You get it. I did a shit job of describing it, as I often do, but it's a great show and I don't know why it wasn't on tv for so long.

A couple of Sundays ago, I got into this big Nat Geo kick because I saw this show called Drain the Sunken Pirate City and was immediately obsessed once I realized it was an anthology type of series. The Drain the Ocean series focuses on different locations or events and exploring what we'd find if we drained the ocean. Using high-tech software and infrared scanning technology, the ocean is digitally drained of its contents in the selected area and I think it is so awesome. lol Drain the Sunken Pirate City is the first one I saw, which told the story of Port Royal, Jamaica, and its infamous past as the 'wickedest city on Earth.' After a series of natural disasters hit the pirate city, it sunk to the bottom of the ocean, where it lies today. The episode removed the water from the ocean around the area in order to find out what sent the city to the ocean floor, explore what the culture was like during this time and exactly how the natural disasters impacted those living in the city. They combined historical maps with today's maps, gathered through underwater dives and technology scans of the area, in order to digitally recreate the city in full and study the impact of each disaster. I thought it was awesome, so when I saw that Drain the Ocean was on for the entire afternoon I was in.

I believe the next one was Drain Alcatraz, which focused partially on the infamous prison break and exploring whether or not it was feasible for the inmates to have reached the mainland with the ocean and land conditions they had to face. The episode went all the way back to when the mountain that later became the site for Alcatraz was just forming, which was intriguing because I don't think I've ever seen a show explore that before. The episode showed how the landscape has changed over the years due to the movement of fault lines and earthquakes in the surrounding area, which in turn caused Alcatraz to take on the form its known for today. The water conditions were also explored during the episode, creating a fuller picture of what the inmates were possibly facing when they made their escape. I'm a geek for all that stuff. With that said, whenever they start speaking ominously and then cut to the digital recession and removal of the water, I think it's the best part of the show. LOL

The next episode was Drain the Titanic and even though at this point I have seen countless documentaries on my favorite sunken ship, I still wanted to watch. I wasn't entirely confident they'd net any new information, but I was wrong. The series challenges the long-held belief we've had about how the ship sank and the effect that being underwater for so long has had on the vessel. I don't think the other shows I've seen on it have ever challenged those theories; those were always footnotes to the rest of the story. The episode raised a new theory as to how the ship really ended up on the ocean floor after striking the iceberg, digitally tested their theory and to my surprise it actually held water. No pun intended. lol

Drain the Bermuda Triangle was an episode I really wanted to see because I've always been interested in the tales centered on the Bermuda Triangle. I wanted to know if the hype was real, if the conspiracies were rooted in truth, if anything I'd grown up reading about the Bermuda Triangle was factual or if it was all a bunch of baloney. Of the different Drain the Ocean episodes I watched, I have to admit that this one was a bit underwhelming. It wasn't as captivating, as full of little-known information as I'd assumed it would be. It explored a couple of mysteries, but I guess it was a bit of a letdown that the reasons why the ships sunk were more natural and less supernatural--or hard to believe--than I thought they'd be.

The episode after that was Drain WWII, which explored different ocean sites during World War II and the various sunken ships on the ocean floor. I didn't expect to find that one as interesting as I did; all kinds of vessels were under there, from ground tanks to ships that were actually sunken by their own sailors. It was really interesting to learn what happened to each vessel being featured, and go more in-depth about what took place on the waters during the war. To remove the water in certain areas and see just how many ships were under there, just how many lives were lost and how intense the fighting was in certain areas, was both fascinating and kinda sad. That was the end of the Drain the Ocean series and After Hitler came on next, which was a great follow-up show and showed me daily life after Hitler's fall and how it affected everyone whose lands were used in the war.

Moving on, somewhere within that weekend I watched Being Evel, which was a biography of sorts on famed stuntman Evel Knievel. Evel was a little ahead of my time, so by the time I was old enough for tv Evel's career was already largely over. I knew the gist of his stunts but little else. This documentary explained how an orphan named Bob became Evel Knievel, and how the dramatics, theatrics and Ric Flair-worthy flaunting ultimately destroyed both Evel and Bob. Through firsthand accounts from Evel's family, friends, colleagues and even a couple of enemies, we got to see the reality of being Evel Knievel, both in front of and behind the cameras. The general consensus seemed to be that while Evel Knievel was a daredevil, a hero, a revolutionary and a source of inspiration for a multitude of racing and bike related sports, he wasn't a good person for a very long time. It was both eye-opening and kind of a cautionary tale for people to never believe their own hype and I enjoyed it.

Uncensored is a new TVOne documentary series based on the lives of different Black celebrities. The first episode was about Hollywood's newest It Girl Tiffany Haddish and the road that eventually led to her star-making role in Girls' Trip last year. I've always loved shows like this and TVOne had a major hit on their hands with Unsung, which was the untold story behind Black musicians and groups. This is kinda Unsung but in a more general sense as it isn't exclusive to musicians. Ironically, of the four promos I've seen for the show, three of them are musicians. LOL The format of the show is more personal and relies more on firsthand stories, whereas Unsung was a combination of third-party narration and firsthand accounts. I missed Tamar Braxton's episode last Sunday but I'll be DVR'ing the series.

Holy shit this is long already so let me roll the next three entries together. I was doing some digital spring cleaning and trying to free up some much-needed space on my DVR, which brings me to some Summer Under the Stars rollovers and our next three entries. The Unguarded Hour is a crime suspense film in which a lawyer's potentially career-making case is a man accused of murdering his wife but is actually innocent. The lawyer's wife knows the man is innocent because she was at the scene of the crime but cannot say anything for fear of tanking her husband's career and incriminating herself in the process. It was a solid movie. Kitty Foyle is about a working girl torn between two men--the man she's always loved, and a stable, secure man she cares about but has never been able to commit to fully. Angel Face is about a murderous young woman who starts an affair with an older man, drives a wedge between him and his girlfriend, then gets him a job at her family home and promises to revive his previous career as a race car driver before attempting to persuade him to murder her stepmother. Her desire to see her stepmother dead eventually does happen, but with unexpected consequences.

There's only one Netflix entry on here, the new Katt Williams standup show Great America. I have to admit I was wondering the same thing I wondered about Dave Chappelle back in December and January, whether or not he still had it. While I didn't laugh as much as I used to at his standup specials, he does in fact still have it. What I found the most interesting was the tone of the commentary, which has changed significantly considering the state of events during the last standup special I watched and this one. During the first show, Bush was on his way out of office and Obama was making his first run for president. This time, Obama has been out of office for over a year and we know who the current president is. lol So much has changed in eight years, which is both a lifetime and not even a decade ago at the same time. It was a good show and it was good to see him back to doing what he does best, which is making people laugh, but both personal troubles between those two shows and today's climate definitely played a part in shifting Katt's humor a little bit. I'd still recommend it.

On to the 'Tube, I featured NemRaps in a WIBW awhile ago, but he started a new gaming channel called NemGotGame. It's funny, I've been a gamer most of my life but when I was younger I didn't understand the appeal of gaming channels. Didn't see the point of watching someone play a game, especially if I wanted to play the same game myself. As I've gotten older and--ironically--more into gaming than I was when I was in my 20s, I enjoy gaming videos a lot more. Figures, I finally come around to the genre when it's starting to die out. LOL That's me, forever late on the uptake. Anyway, what I think I like the most about Nem's gaming videos are his edits. He brings something new to gaming videos, which can sometimes be a bit stale if everyone's playing the same game and editing it the same way. His channel seems fresher, not a carbon copy of other gaming channels, and it's fun watching him play.

And finally, (geez) Sorrow TV is a channel I found a couple of weeks ago that's basically just a rereading of different musings by the Internet community with certain topics. The r/niceguys series is one of my favorites, because Sorrow TV's accent game--while sometimes stereotypically offensive--is a bit more varied than some of the other channels in the Reddit genre. Sometimes Sorrow collabs with another Reddit commentary channel, Soothouse TV, and their most recent collab, where they read the police blotters from wealthy neighborhoods in California, is hilarious.


Pick of the Month: Drain the Ocean series, Being Evel


Extras: Autopsy: Mindy McCready, After Hitler

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What I Read This Month: January

Hi! I have a new series I'd like to introduce to the blog; in the same vein as my WIBW posts I wanted to start sharing what I read every month. Since I'm doing a number-based reading challenge rather than specific types of entries this year, I've found it much easier to get back to reading. Well, that and I've put myself back on a schedule (kinda) so I've had a bit more time to read. Anyway, I wanted to start sharing what I read every month, which will also help me stay on track with completing this year's challenge (I've put the number at a pretty modest 50 books). It'll also help me combine a bunch of mini-reviews rather than a bunch of full reviews when some books don't warrant them. I figured each month I'd open a new post and update it as I finish a book, then put it out with WIBW at the end of the month. But I've babbled long enough. What did I read during the month of January?

Rescue (Second Chance #1)--Kemmie Michaels

This was my first book of the year and it was aight. It won't be on my list of favorite books anytime soon, but it was a good book to spend the afternoon with. In this book, Camille leaves a sheltering and controlling relationship with her wealthy, connected boyfriend and starts over with her best friend Marcy. On one of her first outings as a single woman, Marcy takes her to a neighborhood bar where she meets the bar's handsome bartender Ledger. He understands Camille in a way that nobody else seems to, inexplicably recognizing her immediately as a kindred spirit and committing himself to helping her heal. Marcy and Ledger help Camille's sense of self enough to get her back on her feet, but her jilted ex-boyfriend gradually becomes more unhinged as his attempts to lure Camille back remain unsuccessful. The ex, through his friends in high places, causes legal, professional and eventually personal trouble in order to manipulate Camille into coming back, resorting to drastic measures to get her back for good.

Like I said, this wasn't one of my favorite books of the year but it did introduce me to one of my favorite romance heroes in Ledger. Even though I understood the gist of why he recognized Camille as having a kindred spirit to his own, I felt like there was still so much more that could have been explored with him. I loved him though. He was gentle, patient and easygoing the entire book, not arrogant, hot-tempered or quick to run like many of the other romance heroes I get stuck on. lol Camille was okay but per usual with romance heroines, she got on my nerves a little. My major complaint with the book was the manufactured drama towards the end of the book between Camille and Ledger; it seemed a bit random and unnecessary on Camille's part. I know for many books like this it makes sense to have a little conflict between the couple so that the one in the wrong can grow and fully accept their feelings/partner, but ehh. I guess it was the execution of that conflict that I didn't really care for. I also wish we could see their story continue in another book but as is quickly becoming the norm these days, these novels are standalones in a series because a different couple is featured in every book. It would have been nice to see how Camille and Ledger get back to regular life, how they built their relationship following the climax in the first book. As you'll learn is often the case with books I read, there's a bit of diddlin' in the book and its hot but not overdone and actually has a larger purpose in helping Camille overcome her past. That was a new one for me to see and I liked that. This was a good way to spend a chilly afternoon and I enjoyed it.

My rating: 

Sins of the Heart (The Sins Series #1)--Eve Silver

Roxy Tam is saved from certain death one night by a mysterious man who makes her promise not to join a certain organization, then leaves her life, seemingly for good. Fast forward a decade and Roxy has joined that very organization as a foot soldier, which is where she comes into contact with her mystery man from the past again. She assumes Dagan turned her into a monster and feels conflicted over her lingering feelings for him because of what she becomes after meeting him. Dagan has moved on in his life, continuing his job as a soul reaper, but can't get Roxy out of his head. A case that both of them are investigating separately brings them back together, but if it were impossible for them to be together before, it is definitely a no-go now. Or is it? They reluctantly join forces to get to the bottom of questionable events to prevent a war breaking out between Dagan's father and Roxy's organization and realize that the impossible may be possible after all.

I found this book to be infinitely more interesting than I assumed it would be. There is a lot of sexual tension throughout a lot of the book....then some diddlin'. lol I enjoyed the world this book was set in; the mixture of regular and supernatural was done in a way I hadn't read before and I enjoyed it.  I also liked seeing how the other half live; by that I mean the gods of the underworld. The author was somehow able to combine mixture of mythology, the supernatural, modern-day elements and unless I am mistaken, was Roxy a WOC? I loved Roxy; she didn't irritate me quite as much as other romance heroines and I liked that the author didn't use the bad-ass facade with her. A lot of times, the bad-ass facade on the surface immediately melts away once someone asks her what's wrong, and she becomes a ball of tears after that. That bad-ass exterior was the truth with Roxy and I appreciated that. She was sassy, dry, resilient and quick on her feet; wasn't always looking for someone to save her. Also, that bit about the dreams Roxy had been having? Loved the explanation behind them. As for Dagan, he was perfect. He had that whole brooding oldest child thing down pat. I enjoyed reading as he started to realize he'd become more humanized than he'd thought; it was definitely a new twist for me. I loved the author's notes at the end of the book where she mentioned she originally intended to write him as the villain but he revealed himself to be the hero instead, without completely tarnishing the fact that he was still indeed the villain. You can see the exact moment that he becomes both and I think she wrote that out extremely well. He too had personality and it meshed so well with Roxy's. No complaints there at all. If I had a complaint, it would be that I felt the book ended rather abruptly. This is obviously another book in what will be a series, but there were too many cliffhangers in this one for me. I wish the angle with Dagan's brother had been explored just a little more; I felt like it didn't all start to come together until shortly before the book ended. I didn't feel Roxy and Dagan's story was over yet either; in fact I felt like it had just started. I felt like individually and together, there was still so much to explore and the rather abrupt ending to the book didn't really tie everything together just yet. Since the next book in the series doesn't primarily involve them I don't know how much of their story we'll get to read, so I would have liked to see a little more of a resolution on that front. Overall though, I enjoyed the book a lot.

My rating: 

Gia in the City of the Dead--Kristi Belcamino

I think what first drew me to this book was the name Gia. I've always thought it was a beautiful name. Anyway, this book is about a young woman named Gia who lost both of her parents in a house fire a few years prior. Her parental relationships were rather complicated while they were alive; while her father loved her and her brother equally, her mother always seemed to love her sociopathic brother Christopher more so. This adds to the conflicted grief she feels--or tries not to feel--as she blows through her life, intentionally not getting connected or attached to anyone. This all changes after her brother dies and she stumbles upon the possibility that he was murdered, opening a Pandora's box of deceit, murder and drama for her. The possibility that her brother was murdered opens the door for Gia to discover her parents may have also been murdered, potentially by someone with very close ties to the family. After a couple of failed attempts on her own life, Gia goes rogue and tries to lay low, but people connected to her continue to turn up injured or dead. Gia has to fight to stay alive, get to the bottom of what happened to her family, and ends up finding a sense of purpose in the process.

I really enjoyed this book. Surprisingly--for me--there wasn't a bunch of diddlin'. This wasn't in any way a salacious or erotic book; it was simply about a young woman finding herself in the face of having the entire truth of her life thrown back at her as a lie. Having complicated familial relationships myself, I understood the conflict Gia had at reconciling her dislike of her brother with the knowledge that she couldn't help but love him anyway. She discovers that she does still have a heart, it's actually quite large, and that despite her best attempts to disconnect, she found someone she connected with anyway. I loved the mysteries in the book, mixing the American mob in with the Italian mafia, then adding in tangled family ties, property deeds, inheritances and red herrings everywhere. The end of the book was a little 'eh' to me because of how everything unfolded; I found it a little confusing and had to reread it, but I loved what the root of the story was. I also liked how the author wrapped up that root in the different red herrings and made it harder to untangle; I just wish it had unfolded just a little differently so I wouldn't have gotten confused. That's probably my own fault though so no points taken away for that. I was correct in figuring out a couple of plot points that ended up being key to the rest of the story, but it didn't take away from my desire to finish it. I thought this was well-written, had a mountain of growth for Gia to climb, which she did, and it left the door open just enough to give you a peek at what comes next for her. If you wanted to stop reading there, it's a sufficient ending that leaves the reader to make up their own assumptions on how Gia finally gets her HEA.

My rating: 

The Gentleman's Club (Noire #1)--Emmanuelle de Maupassant

I'd originally started reading this book at the end of last year but I think I got bored and stopped reading about a quarter of the way through. I finally went back and finished it at the beginning of this month and overall it was okay. This book was about the downspiral of sorts a man's life takes after visiting a brothel and falling into obsession, then love, with the mistress (literally) of the manor. After his first trip to the brothel, the mistress worms her way into his brain, first by way of his anger at her for exposing inner desires he didn't know he had, then his frustration for not being able to get her to crack despite her repeated success in getting him to do so, and finally his obsession with and love for her. The perspective changes in the book from his to hers, both in and out of the brothel. By day she is a quietly liberated niece to a respected older society woman and by night she is a (by 1800s London standards) promiscuous and wanton harlot, dominated entirely by her limitless sexual desires, giving her a very smug, tongue-in-cheek approach to her interactions with her aunt and others during the day. By day he is a lord and a businessman, very straitlaced and serious, and by night he is a willing prisoner to the mistress' web of seduction and sexual dominance. Pretty soon he becomes the latter during the day as well, but a wall remains between them because of her mysterious nature. The book is gratuitous in sexual content, both traditional and fetish-related (but by the name of the book I don't know how anyone would expect any different) so if you're not trying to read a book that mainly focuses on the sex, don't bother with this one.

For me, it was as much about the sex as it was the power play going on between the characters, the male's path to sexual exploration and discovery, and the female's life of opposites, all of which were set against the background of a society that would openly shun all of the above. Because of her nighttime activities, her activities during the day become all the more ironic, exposing the ridiculousness and hypocrisy of the public's attitude toward sex at the time. I love historical novels, especially those set in 1800s London, so I know quite well that describing the time period as stuffy would be a severe understatement. Because of that, books that show what goes on behind the velvet curtains--the clandestine meetings and forbidden pleasures many people took despite their outward appearances--are all the more delicious and enticing for me to read. I told you I was disgusting. lol Anyway, I liked the female lead of the book even though I felt like I couldn't get a good read on her. Maybe that was the point, to keep that bit of mystery with even the reader since the male lead couldn't get a good read on her either. While she consumed his thoughts day and night, the only time he was even a footnote in her mind was when they were having sex. I did enjoy reading the male's train of thought as he gradually descended into this cloud of confusion, obsession and unrequited infatuation. For a man of those times, such a shift in thinking was extremely jarring and I enjoyed reading as he tried to reconcile everything he'd learned about himself with his existing desires and morals. I was reading the book expecting some kind of climax (😏 no pun intended) but there wasn't really one so I was kind of 'meh' when I reached the end. I guess there's kind of a HEA at the end but it's partially a lead-in to the next book in the series. I don't know that I'm interested enough to purchase it, but this first installment was an okay read.

My rating:

 (My Amazon rating says 3 but that's because I couldn't do a half-star on my tablet. lol)

Wedding Wipeout (Rabbi Keppelmacher Accepts a Challenge)--Jacob Appel

*Mandy's Note: I received this book a couple of months ago from LibraryThing's Members Giveaway program in exchange for an unbiased review. This isn't a sponsored post or anything like that--I wasn't sure if I was going to review this book in full or include it here at the end of the month--I just wanted to be clear about where I received this book since it wasn't a random download from Amazon.*

In this whodunnit, the death of a spinster sister puts an entire family's business out into the open as a massive inheritance becomes up for grabs. Lorraine and Florence Eisenstein are bound to permanent singlehood in order to hold onto an inheritance from their father. If one marries, the inheritance immediately goes to the other sister. Florence decides to break free and marry despite her father's wishes but mysteriously dies on her wedding night, leaving Lorraine without her sister but in control of the entire inheritance. This brings a splintered family back together, where stories get tangled and it comes out that almost everyone has some motive for knocking off their aunt. One of the family's attorneys used to be an assistant rabbi, and his suspicions about his client's family lead him back to his former rabbi and his new assistant for some advice. The rabbi sees a challenge that can only be explained rationally and accepts said challenge, turning into an amateur detective and dragging his exasperated assistant along for the ride.

I'm a little conflicted on my opinion of this book. On one hand, I can see bits of Agatha Christie setups in the book and I appreciate the throwback to an era of mystery past. I liked that the suspect could have been any of the Eisenstein relatives and it was hard to determine exactly who had the right amount of motive to pull off a murder. However, I did think the plot was a bit clumsy in its execution and the way things progressed kind of took the punch out of any big reveals. Everything felt anti-climactic in a way and it started to get confusing with all of the nonessential information that was included. The end of the story had a Poirot-worthy monologue and reveal, which I also appreciated, but the clues that were given that led to said reveal were so obscure in some cases that I missed them entirely. Maybe it's not the book at all and I'm just a bad reader, lol. I spent most of the book feeling as confused as Steinmetz was, which may or may not have been the point. I'm not sure. I did see a bit of growth from Steinmetz throughout the book, but it was slow in coming. I think the rabbi's point was to get him to actually use his powers of deduction and reasoning with a healthy dose of skepticism so that his viewpoint didn't remain as narrow as it was. Sound advice, I think. I didn't start to notice any change in him until somewhere around the middle of the book, when he finally accepted that they were in over their heads and he'd have to ride out the entire case with the rabbi whether he liked it or not. This didn't change how many times he continued to get things wrong lol, but I did appreciate that he finally started to expand his mind a bit. I also didn't think we got a fleshed-out view of either rabbi; other than their immediate thoughts and instincts I didn't walk away knowing a lot about either of them. The bits about them that I did learn seemed to be sprinkled in with the bits we were learning about each suspect. If this is part of a series with the rabbis, I'd like to see more of who they are. Overall the book was okay, but I didn't love it.

My rating: 

So that's what I read this month. I would have read more, but the second half of the month was pretty busy with Black History Spotlight prep and finishing today's two posts ahead of time so I could work on BHS stuff. That's starting tomorrow, by the way, so keep an eye on my Instagram if you want to follow along; I do a preview of each day's entrant on there and a full post on ATV. I was able to do most of this year's series ahead of time, so I may have time to put out a couple of things over here. Not sure yet but keep your other eye on the blog anyway. lol Anyway, I'm hoping to get back to reading next month; I have a few books I was requested to read and review back in December and I need to get those out. What'd you read this month?

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What I've Been Watching: January

Hi! It feels like I was just writing last month's WIBW and here we are, already at the end of January. I've started watching some new stuff, mainly on traditional tv, but I've been getting back into Netflix so we'll see more of that next month. This month's list isn't very long but I did have a lot to say about a couple of the things on the list. Everything else should be fairly easy to get through. So what'd I watch this month?

The Four

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Cocaine Godmother: The Griselda Blanco Story

The Assassination of Gianni Versace

Dave Chappelle: e-qua-nim-i-ty and the bird revelation

The Queens' Court

Let's start with traditional tv. I'm not really one for music-based reality competitions but my uncle and his wife are back at it again with the recommendation bullying, so here I am, watching The Four. lol The Four is the new kid on the block of music competitions, but I like the format of this show so I might stick around. This is a rotating competition, in which four artists are seated and the night's competitors sing in an effort to challenge one of the four for their seat. If the judges (Charlie Walk, Meghan Trainor, Diddy and DJ Khaled) think the person has what it takes to potentially be part of the four, they have to unanimously vote to pass the person through. Each judge's vote comes in individually as a blue ring on the stage and if even one judge votes no, their ring will light up red and the person doesn't get through. If the judges vote to pass the person through, the competitor gets to choose who they'll challenge. Both people perform again, then the audience chooses who wins the challenge. Whoever wins gets the seat and locks it in for the rest of the night (which means any other competitors that night are not allowed to challenge them), and whoever loses obviously goes home. Fergie hosts the show (go to Twitter and look for a gif of her spinning on the show, it's hilarious and so extra lol) and I really like the setup; it's fresh and makes things more exciting. I like the judges' chemistry and the energy of the show. People were up in arms last Thursday because the audience sent Zhavia, the fan (and judge--looking at you, Meghan Trainor) favorite, home and were threatening to go on strike against the show. I wasn't a fan so my panties weren't twisted about it but Twitter was heated. lol If people are really about to boycott an entire show and threaten people's paychecks trying to drop the ratings over one person, then ✌. FOH. Anyway, against my wishes, I ended up really liking the show and now I'm all in. And just like I said back in October--the last time my uncle bullied me into watching a show--I start watching the damn thing and guess who stops calling me when it comes on?? SMH 

Another thing I don't often watch is the late night crowd. I'm more of a Jimmy Kimmel person myself as late night hosts go, but Stephen Colbert is winning me over. I don't care much for the actual shows, I prefer the monologues at the top of the show, but if I were to sit through an entire show it'd likely be Jimmy Kimmel's. I was watching my local news one night and forgot to change the channel after the show was over, and ended up catching one of Colbert's monologues. I used to appreciate the late night monologues on Kimmel's show as a lighthearted dig at current events, but I've found myself much more intrigued by Colbert's more sarcastic, extremely obvious harassment of your president. lol #NotMyPresident LOL Kidding. 👀

A couple of weeks ago, Lifetime premiered their newest true crime film Cocaine Godmother: The Griselda Blanco Story and I have to admit I was really excited to see it. Part of the reason was because I was kind of expecting it to be a shitshow, and the other reason was because she's a footnote in Narcos and I've read so much about her that I wanted to see Lifetime's take on her story. If you've never read about Griselda Blanco, you should. That was one scary broad. Lifetime's version of events is obviously more glamorized than the real one, and it made me even more excited to see the Jennifer Lopez version of La Madrina, but it wasn't all-out terrible. I will say that the accent was terrible. To be fair, Catherine Zeta-Jones is Welsh and a Colombian accent is not an easy one to imitate with an American tongue so I know a British one is probably harder to work around, but I wasn't a fan. There were some bits in her story I didn't know or remember and I liked how Lifetime integrated them into the film. It wasn't terrible, but CZJ got a lot of shit for playing a Latina character. Honestly, that's part of the reason I expected it to be a shitshow--people were describing the trailers like they were the worst thing of life and I know Lifetime's penchant for watering down or whitewashing a story so that's what I went in expecting. It delivered a little on both fronts. lol The former is fine with me because the real story is absolutely horrifying. I would have preferred a Latina actress in the role, but I'm not going to spit on CZJ for taking it on either. It just seemed like a bit of a mismatch. I wouldn't go as far as to say I loved the film, but I didn't hate it either. If you're new to La Madrina's story, you'll come out of it learning a lot about her but it won't be winning any awards.


I just started watching The Assassination of Gianni Versace, so I don't have too much to say about it yet. One thing I will say however is that the styling and filmography on these shows is always amazing. Ryan Murphy be killin' it. LOL The casting is dead-on; I raised an eyebrow when I saw set photos of Penelope Cruz as Donatella Versace but I decided to give it a chance like I did with CJZ and Griselda Blanco. I was about 10 when Gianni Versace was murdered so I remember the gist of the story and not much else, so I wanted to see what this season would reveal. I've learned my lesson from season 1 of Feud and I know now how much FX loves their 'creative liberties' so I'm already getting my fact checkers in order. lol


Moving on to Netflix, I watched Dave Chappelle's other two-part special earlier in the month and to nobody's surprise if they know me well, I loved them. e-qua-nim-i-ty was filmed at the old Chappelle's Show theater and felt a bit more like his previous Netflix special, while the bird revelation was filmed at a comedy club in LA with a much more intimate and serious setting. I think this series of shows was a more relaxed, more honest Chappelle, a much more socially conscious Chappelle. That social consciousness also helped him to say even more raunchy shit in response, which I appreciated. These are dark, divisive days in Hollywood--and the country--right now, and for those who aren't wrapped up in their own scandal, it can be tricky water to navigate. Chappelle seems aware of that in the bird revelation, but can't help but poke a few funnies at its expense anyway. I was angry at myself for giggling....but it was a little funny. Not the harassment, obviously, the shit he said. lol The e-qua-nim-i-ty show was more about Dave's fame, and his rejection/acceptance of it such as it is. It wasn't quite as angry as the first Netflix specials, when I felt that maybe he felt he had something to prove. Dave Chappelle is one of my favorite comedians of all time, which is hilarious to say now because I actually couldn't stand him until maybe the end of Chappelle's Show. I have to admit I wondered if he still had it or not when I heard Netflix was giving him a special; I'd heard about one-off shows in the years after the Block Party, but I also heard about the trouble and the stumbles he had at those shows. I also wondered what in the hell Hollywood had done to him. LOL But I did have my questions, which he dispelled quite easily in the first set of Netflix shows. This second set of shows, however, felt a bit closer to CS-era Dave, and it was nice. It reminded me how PC, how outraged we've gotten as a society (in general, I'm not referencing the assault cases) that now his comedy is considered to be in the Carlin style of comedy where everything is offensive and its an acquired taste. I never had that thought back in 2004, which tells me that either I'm woke now (which would be true) or that the landscape of comedy and society have changed and I'm used to hearing certain kinds of jokes now (which is also true). It sounds stupid, but I think society needs a Chappelle. Sure, Key and Peele had a lock on the comedic part of the style that made CS so good, but they didn't nail the racial part of it like he did. That was what set him apart, I think.


The Queens' Court has the Internet abuzz right now as the latest celebrity gossip show of sorts on YouTube. If you haven't seen it, a weekly docket of celebrity defendants submitted by the people (viewers) are brought in front of the dishonorable judges Ts Madison and Queen Khia and they decide the celebrity's fate. They also roast the shit out of them. lol If I'm being honest, I do find the show a bit petty but it's also pretty entertaining. I wish Maddie got more time to talk; if I had a complaint with the show it'd be that Khia overtalks her. A lot. In most of the episodes I've seen, you can see frustration gradually building up on Maddie's face, either because Khia's overtalking her or revisiting a prior issue and talking about it for too long. I simultaneously live for her frustration and feel for her because I understand. lol Both my mom and I have BFFs who spend most of our conversations talking so I get it.

This was a more random list but I was trying to change things up a bit. Anyway, this might be the last of me you see for a couple of weeks. My annual Black History Spotlight series starts over on ATV tomorrow, so it may be quiet around here until around Spring Break. There are a couple of posts scheduled to post here throughout the month but you won't see them for another week or so. If I can find a relevant way to tie in Black History Month here with some reviews, sites or apps, I'll do that. I have a new series for this blog that'll be posting in a few hours, so keep an eye out for that. It's kinda like WIBW, but for a different category I cover here on the blog. What did you watch this month?

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2018 Goals

'Ello! This was originally supposed to go up yesterday, but I thought it'd be better to start the year with the preview post so I rolled this one over to today. Now in case it hasn't become apparent, I'm a list girl. Lists give me some much needed structure and direction and hold me accountable for the things I want to do because it eats at me to have an uncompleted list. I make a few lists at the top of every year but two of those lists belong to my blogs. I keep them separate from my primary list and each other more as a reminder to myself to give each one my full attention when I'm there. It also helps keep me from being overwhelmed because the master list isn't 60 items long. Anyway, here's my list of goals for RRNT this year. There are a few rollovers from last year's list, but there are a couple of new ones. 

Build up other blog categories and create a more well-rounded site

If you were to take a look at my blog--which, duh, I hope you do lol--you would see that the Beauty, TV and Things categories are probably the fullest. The TV category is mainly being filled up with WIBW, which is fine for me since I'm not good at reviewing individual tv shows, but if I can think of another way to integrate the things I watch I'll do it. The Books category is aight; I primarily review books on other sites but I don't mind reviewing them here if I really like (or dislike) them. The Boxes category is also aight in terms of total entries, but it hasn't been updated in awhile so it's more stagnant than anything else. I'll get into that in a little while. The Games, Tech, and DIY categories, however, are by far the driest and those are the categories I'd like to work the most on this year. The tagline of this blog is "a one-stop review shop." Right now that's not true. It hasn't been true in awhile if I'm keeping it 100, but I'd like to change that this year.

Clean out Drafts folder

I legit have over 50 posts in my Drafts folder right now. Some of them are posts I'm revisiting later but need to make them current, some are posts that just need graphics, many are posts I never got around to finishing for various reasons but don't want to delete, and some are older posts that probably won't work so I need to face reality and delete. lol

Continue to improve at social media

I made a bit of progress last year with my social media but I'd like to get even better at it this year. Right now, my social media schedule and setup is fairly simple. I tend to forget to promote a post on social media after I publish it because I don't use them for personal reasons, so I use a handful of sites for both blogs. Social media overall for me isn't quite the issue it can be for larger influencers but admittedly, I like putting out content and images that are engaging and pleasing to the eye. With me being a smaller blogger, I need to be able to show why my posts should be read. I can't do that if I'm either battling insecurities or forgetting to put it up at all. I improved a lot with remembering to post throughout 2017 but I need to keep that going this year. 

Start reaching out to brands and companies

This goal is mainly for my own growth rather than the benefit of anything I can receive from a company. I already understand the business part of the blogger-company/brand relationship so I know that many times my reach isn't large enough for them to get anything out of working with me. That's a hard reality of working with many companies and brands, especially with this being the age of the digital influencer. If an influencer with 1M+ followers on one platform alone contacts a company with interest in promoting their products, it's quite obvious that a company would pick them over an influencer with a tiny amount like myself. The relationship would be disproportionately favored to one side, and since it's not the company in the long-term advantageous position, they're not gonna give you no play. lol I'm well aware of that so my interest isn't in contacting them for products; it's to teach me how to contact them at all. My issue is that I'm not used to reaching out because I don't have the benefits the companies need so I'd like to learn how to pitch my blog and be able to do so confidently. I need to learn how to network for blogging jobs so my main goal here is to learn how to do it without getting overcome by nerves and chickening out. If I'm applying for a reviewing job, I want to be confident in the reasons I give the company for why I should have the job and the blog should reflect each reason I give, which is another reason it's important for me to build up each category on the site.

Try new mobile and console games

This one is for both work and personal reasons; the Games tag on the site is rather dry and I'd like to change that. I'd also just like to play more new games. lol I want to review games that are on Droid, I want to review games for the PS4, and I want to build that part of the site up a bit more. I was playing both mobile and console games last year but I didn't think any of them excluding Injustice 2 and WWE Champions warranted a review so I didn't put them up. I think I need a device for just games because when I try to download games on my work tablet, they take up too much space and this obviously influences the games I can download. I think I need a device just for trying out new apps and games.

Start posting more DIY projects and start series

I haven't been posting my DIY projects but I have been doing them. The issue is that I figure out a lot of my DIYs off the cuff so I don't have a tried and true method, which is why I don't end up posting them. Some of the other tutorials I'll write out what I think the steps should be before I start and go from there. I want to figure out the trial and error part before I post the tutorial so the first time I do it is mainly a practice round. If it comes out well, I have to buy the supplies all over again and figure out a good spot to photograph each step, and if it doesn't go well I still have to buy everything all over again so I can figure out what I did wrong. When I try to go in and photograph each step as a just in case, it usually ends up coming out wrong so that's why I go through it alone first. The way it's set up now is that I'll see a picture of something I'd like to DIY, so I break it down into a supply list and how much it'll cost to buy everything. I write down what the tutorial should be and go from there. I save any mistakes I've made so I can warn against them or figure out a counter for them that I can include in the finished post. With limited supplies, this can take awhile but as long as I can afford to do the project I don't mind. I love a good DIY project--which is why there are two DIY series on ice--and I'd love to start sharing them.

Start (or restart) at least 2 series

This is sort of tied into the previous goal but I think I have four series I've been waiting to start but for various reasons, haven't been able to do just yet. The three I'd most like to tackle are the DIY For Cheaper, The Pinterest Project, and the Android tech series. 

Correct last year's report card failures

Going into last year, trying to correct the failures of 2016 were very important to me. January is usually the month when I feel the most confident about the goals I set (by March I'm back to having an internal existential crisis) so I try to go into it with as much gusto as possible and stretch it out for as long as I can. Last year I tried to be less of a pessimist, think more positively about my goals and attempt to be more proactive with how I approached them. It was difficult to finally accept that a few of the failures rolled over into this year so while I'm discouraged and not as optimistic about getting to those entries this year, I'm determined to continue trying.


And those are my blog goals for 2018. What are some of your career goals for this year? See you tomorrow!

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