[MOVIE] How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

On the outskirts of Whoville lives a green, revenge-seeking Grinch who plans to ruin Christmas for all of the citizens of the town.

It's interesting that for the New Year time it's the best to watch the old comedies or watch some old Christmas movies (though should not be even the same thing with NY conceptually).

I'm not sure I ever watched "How the Grinch stole Christmas", but I won't stress on that. It's sill a delight. Such a simple story and how ironic that maybe only a little girl Cindy Lou understands what Christmas is all about.

Jim Carrey can not be anything but brilliant. He is never afraid of those elaborate costumes and not-so-good characters. Like who can replace him?

Ngl I was having a blast with how they created this absolutely non-existent town and still left it with cartoonish style that could have easily be a thing of those years (and probably no one will risk it today?). It's fun, it's colorful. I'm sure the costume designers were having so much fun.

And I had my fun too.

This should be included in the category of movies you should watch at least once during this time (or multiple times if it's one of your favorites).

[NOVEL] A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

Everyone in Little Kilton knows the story.

Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

But she can't shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer?

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Little Kilton doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series. Book 1

This was lovely. For a YA mystery book it was indeed quite lovely. I suppose I read the UK version? And also, I may be old for these book in age, but I never mind, sometimes reading about teens doing stuff is refreshing memories of how much of dumb shit can be dug from our own past. Just not as bad. in general I enjoyed the storyline, especially the pacing and the placement of all ups and downs so you're kept in that state of confusion (if you're not part of the brainy type).

Pip decided on her EPQ project theme to be the disappearance of the Andie Bell. With undeniable proof of Sal Singh's guilt that was found by the police the case was closed and the Singh family is now branded as a family of a murderer. But something always bothered Pip as a person who knew Sal personally, she just couldn't believe that such a kind young man was capable of doing what he's been charged with. Sal can't even defend himself because his body was found and he committed suicide out of guilt.

I'm not a person who likes to guess 'who did it'. If some ideas come into my head I may follow them, but otherwise I just like the feeling of a bit of a surprise coming. The only thing I thought about while reading - they couldn't be most obvious ones for sure (and I didn't guess exactly who, but certainly the category of not the obvious ones?). Holly Jackson managed to pace the book in such a way, so your conviction will constanty follow and change along with the main character. And because it's a YA, it may not be as dangerous as you think. Maybe a little bit.

This is how we follow Pippa on her journey to find out the truth. We see a lot of intricate relationships that keep getting interconnected and no one is as simple as they seem. Starting from Andie herself.

I saw comments that said stuff like - why people simply answered the girl's questions, but honestly why would they not? Sometimes strangers start to use you as a confession room and you surprised about this.. In many cases she reported who she was and what she's doing, but also I felt like there is a bit of disregard in people's attitude towards what Pippa did, "what can a young girl do?" that type of vibe. And another one is that how she was able to uncover what police was unable to... em, here I might argue. Real life is not a TV show with some genius detective that solves the crimes at count three, a lot of perpetrators are quite dumb when they commit something, so it's easy to investigate, but at other times police will follow the obvious path instead of theorizing. After all it's a missing person case, all evidence was against Sal Singh, what did they have to do? And yeah if they had some big head, which was the main character it might have been the case, but it's a YA mystery and our main girl is a teen "detective". Not comparing, but Nancy Drew somehow became the popular.. what was the word, sleuth? yeah, that's it.

Also what Pip asked and what she found are not grounbreaking things, it's just that there was no need to investigate further. While her agenda was different from everyone involved and for whom this case should better have stayed closed.

Not going to put any spoilers here, because books like these need their own reader to dig for the truth.

RATE: 4,75/5.

[Chinese BG novel] 弄蔷薇 by 芒厘 / Rose

Summary: Shu Qingwan and Rong Yin dated for years, but  she was always aware of the gap between them, even if she is now a successful person, but he is still her boss, their relationship is still very secret.

And then they heard the news that Tan Wei with whom Rong Yin had a prior relationship returned to China, there are also rumors that she is Rong Yin's White Moonlight. Rong Yin sneered but did not explain. Shortly after the two companies proposed cooperation between Rong and Tan families, but with it it feels that to solidify cooperation a marriage is inevitable.

Although Rong Yin asked Qingwan to wait for him, but she already settled in her own heart.

Now. I didn't finish it, but I wanted to rant.

First of all this novel has quite a pretentious style as I call it, because even if it included such tropey stuff like mixed babies in the plot, it tries to be more literary and beautified and also angsty. It is quite mulling and actually repeats same things over and over at times. Like I'm only at ch 17, instead I should say I'm already at ch 17 and I feel like we did not progress much at all.

The one who is beautified every few sentences is Shu Qingwan as a FMC.

My rant starts from here. First of all, if you're pretentious and want to sound more logical and real, then start switching on your brain.

In several years of their relationship both Rong Yin and Shu Qingwan lived in a close proximity, a man who has no activity that would remotely hint that he has someone else in his heart would have been picked up long time ago.

This is why I find stupid that when Qingwan heard the rumors, she did not analyze the behavior of her partner, but believed in rumors wholeheartedly, like wtf?

Secondly, I instantly didn't like that this novel has mixed babies scenarios.

Qingwan almost always broods on the fact that there is such a huge social gap between them, but instead of making it a true Cinderella story, with resilient FMC etc. we have a mixed babies scenario, that she's not some poor and unloved girl that comes from a patriarchial family, but actually her parents should be wealthy and if one day there will be a question about her, even the Rong family can't say a thing. I mean maybe a Cinderella story is a bit old, but why not make a strong female character? Everything I hear about Qingwan is her beauty and nothing more. She is such a flat character actually. This is such an irritating part of the novel world, like all about her is her beauty. What I also didn't like is that here I have no diea what she's doing, she never mentioned any aspirations, there is no backstory, but when they break up she suddenly digs out aspirations. Reminds me a lot of that novel with almost the same premise where the ML is the boss and FMC is subordinate, but then she decided to quit to continue her aspiration - singing. That was a wild jump for me tbh.

But back to the topic, Qingwan lived like that for 25 years and the parents are not rushing to recognize her. The situation of the Lin family (biological parents) is kinda... well how to explain it.

Mrs Lin once saw Qingwan by accident and she heard a comment that both look alike, inadvertantly she finds out that this young woman was born same day, same year and same place as her daughter. She already knows that her own daughter is not her biological child. They had investigated it, but she did not touch the report... like bravo, mom of the year. She cares for the daughter she raised, but couldn't help but approach Qingwan too.

Eventually Qingwan who heard the big secret about non-biological daughter, put two and two together and had her own guess, but no one said a word, tacitly not admitting to it, eventually she hinted not to approach her too.

At first Mrs Lin thought that if Qingwan lived well she will stop, after all all children are adults now and have their own life (it's her own logic), but Qingwan actually is not that happy go lucky.

It's glaringly obvious that if she's contacted by her family it is all about her younger brother, but they never cared if she has enough for rent, food etc. She lived by herself for so long. If it wasn't for Rong Yin maybe things would be different.

She met him early and eventually they developed a relationship. He sometimes says that "he grew her like a flower"... leaving me a bit speechless. He supported her in career and escorted her to success. There is no way there are no feelings. He is mature and a bit cold-looking. But men don't say much in general, giving simple instructions - wait for me. He actually meant it, but she made up her mind on that too.

For a reader of course he feels a bit like a scumbag, author did provide a bit of the hint to support the opposite, but will it stop Qingwan from leaving? Of course not. Like any chase to crematorium it will be definitely like that. We need to paint the man like that so the girl will be chased later. But actually Ring Yin did not give her the secure feeling she wanted. I mean, not all know how to do it. But with her family background and their relationship not going anywhere, of course she had a lot of ideas.

PS: What I dislike in these novels is the obvious blank space when it comes to business. because I hate when people can't even pretend to make up something, give a certain direction. They usually call it business. Believe me, it's ch 17 where I decided to write this rant and all I heard is that she's a project manager, they worked on a "project", she got it, now they released a "product" and it is so irritating, like what product? Cosmetics, perfume, jewellery? What do they do? Annoying.

I might continue reading if I won't dnf it.

Lately I've skipped several novels in similar fashion, before I re-read a novel to clean my palette, but now I'm thinking about switching to another book...

[AMBIENCE] by Lost Sounds

 

[NOVEL] Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore who just wrote the world’s first comprehensive encyclopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Ones on her adventures . . . and also from her fellow scholar and former rival Wendell Bambleby.

Because Bambleby is more than infuriatingly charming. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous stepmother and in search of a door back to his realm. And despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of marriage: Loving one of the Fair Folk comes with secrets and dangers.

She also has a new project to focus on: a map of the realms of faerie. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again, when assassins sent by his stepmother invade Cambridge. Now Bambleby and Emily are on another adventure, this time to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambleby’s realm and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans.

But with new relationships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors and of her own heart.

Emily Wilde series. Book 2

A solid continuation to the first book.

It has a "cozy mystery" tag and indeed it is. Although there are some places to feel the thrill, but in general it's a comfortable read with no high stakes.

Maybe because of its format of journalling that allows you to treat any potential threat with calm, after all the journal entry comes after the fact and is just a retelling of the events, so before any thrill will come we know that everything was resolved here and now.

What I want to point out is that comparable to the first book I liked how author tied all the characters and items together. If there is a ribboned man in the beginning of a story, it will make sense later. If Wendell's cat is mentioned again, it will also mean something. Although these are simple details, but I liked them working together like that.

As for the characters. I still stand by the things I said about Emily under the previous book.

At least I read it like that between the lines where her inability to make a small talk prevails, I see it as her personal indifference, like she sees no point in it thus making no progress. She's all about her research after all. The edges of this trait of hers are smoothed at the mention of her personal feelings about this.

It's not the worst of her, doesn't make her bad, but sometimes she gives a feeling of being self-absorbed. Although it's undeniable that she's great at what she does.

Wendell is still Wendell, although he was a bit marginal in this one.

We have an additiona of Ariadne, who is Emily's biological niece.

And Farris Rose, who should serve as a counterweight to Emily herself. But Rose is a bit of a reason that Emily sometimes loses.

So it was good for what it is, a cozy mystery.

RATE; 4,25/5.

[NOVEL] Flawless by Elsie Silver

The rules were simple . . .

Keep my hands off his daughter and stay out of trouble.

But now I’m stuck with her . . . And there’s only one bed . . .
Oh well, rules are made -- to be broken . . . aren't they?

I’m the face of professional bull riding -- the golden boy.
Or at least I was, until it all blew up in my face.
Now my agent says I have to clean up my image, so I’m stuck with his ball-busting daughter for the rest of the season as my “full-time supervision.”

But I don’t need a goddamn babysitter --
especially one with skin-tight jeans, a sexy smirk,
and a mouth she can’t stop running.

A mouth I just can’t stop thinking about . . .

Because Summer isn’t just another conquest.
She sees the man behind the mask, and she doesn’t run --
she pulls me closer, even when she shouldn’t.

She says this means nothing -- but I say this means everything.

She says there are boundaries we shouldn’t cross.
That my reputation can’t take any more hits -- and neither can her damaged heart.

I say I’m going to steal it anyway.

Chestnut Springs series. Book 1

We're judging this on the scale of contemporary small town romances.

The introduction to this book is way more dramatic than the book itself. I'm honestly happy that I haven't read it before starting the book itself.

I'm very happy for all the people who actually got the chance to be published and became a TikTok sensation in a sense, but it always flies above my head and means nothing to me, having my own scale of judgement I tend to be that grumpy person who has something to say.

A quick note: I don't like 1st person point of view, never liked and never will, to get it out of the way.

Let's start from all the good stuff. The overall impression I have is quite neutral. It was quite lovely, with its' own perks.

Admitting that the first fraction of the book fell a bit flat on me, not because the situation felt ridiculous that Rhett was basically sacked just for his comment, but from another point of view it can happen, and the way it was blown out of proportion is a sad truth too. Thus I had a bit of time with no ups and downs waiting for two people to come to terms together and start finding things about themselves. The relationships were nice, the obvious banter and love.

And then things started to get uncovered bit by bit. We start to get a bit of the inside soup of Summer's background and her relationship with her family. We also get a glimpse of her first relationship ever and how it influenced her all together. Then we have her relationship with Rhett and how she finally opened up.

But I must say, although it came as several surprises when we get to know more about her, but I always felt like it was not enough? Or maybe the book didn't want to be too dramatic, thus her relationship with half-sister, her first relationship etc. did not get much of development. Like here's the info, you decide how to deal with it. I noticed that I basically sat and analyzed some stuff myself without much confirmation. Again it's the first person point of view fault in many of such cases. because a person may misinterpret what other people feel, basically it happened here too.

Anyways, to me it was nothing dramatic and I don't think it's a bad thing in the first place.

I could feel for her for loving her dad and wanting to be of help, she has a lovely friend and I love how she admits she doesn't need many, while Willa is good to be one and only great friend, I could feel her striving to do best and finding out that the man in front of her bears much more than just a bull rider icon and her teenage crush. Maybe not realizing she came to care so much about him that there was no turning back.

From a female point of view it's nice to see a man so smitten by a woman. Maybe some will find it vulgar that not so far into the introduction, but Rhett Eaton already pictures Summer Hamilton in a more provocative surroundings. Yet what woman wouldn't want to be desirable and see an affirmation of those things. This is why despite the saucy scenes that follow it's apparent that Rhett basically adores Summer. Physically and emotionally. He can think of a lot of vulgar stuff in his head and can also say some too. But does it mean he doesn't respect his girl? It's their relationship that helped both to get better.

But loved the ending, it felt quite organic to end like that, simple and nice.

Again, it's not a bad thing to be nice and easy and not scratch a bloody wound. It's really fitting for people who want something easy and saucy (I don't know why I don't use 'spicy', I don't feel for the word)

RATE: 3,75/5. I wish it would have scratched a bit deeper than the surface level. Liked the second part of the book.

[Chinese BG novel] 穿成反派的豪门前妻 by 暗香漂浮 / Transmigrating as an ex-wife of a wealthy villain

After reading I realized that I'm reading it for the second time. This is why bookmarks of read novels or reviews or mentions are important. Funnily, when I finished and I forgot to post about it a lot of the content slipped through my mind, but I'll try to recall what it was all about.

Summary: Xia Qi who struggled in the apocalypse travelled into a book, she became the wife of the ultimate villain boss of this novel. Her ending wasn't great, as described she was thrown out with nothing, villain was indifferent to her, her mother-in-law hated her, her own family values boys over girls and she's basically no one and has nothing.

But looking at the grand mansion and driving a posh car, she also still posesses her dual-powers of water and wood to nourish her beauty, what else one could wish for?

She patted er husband on the shoulder and promised: We'll be good brothers from now on.

The funny part is that it is indeed a divorce and chasing your wife under the guise of being good buddies.

ML of this book - Wei Xiuran - is our ex-husband, but unlike the common situation they had a really good relationship after the divorce and connected together a lot. Also Wei Xiuran started to feel not only connected but attracted to his ex-wife. They appeared together on multiple occasions and visibly had a great relationship. Before they finally came together as Xia Qi actually saw Wei Xiuran as a great man who is always there for her, at the beginning of the story she just regretted he was too aloof for the marriage, before he was not.

The story has some humorous side to it and indeed is light-hearted.

Not to be treated badly Xia Qi gets a good chunk of property when she gets a divorce and becomes a wealthy young woman. In the eyes of others she might be ridiculous, but she drives around in expensive car, has a huge mansion and is a beauty, what's there to be sad about? So she converts an image of a divorced woman in the eyes of others. Having a bit of a slap face moment, making other people envious of her.

The only thing to be picked out is that sometimes people get a change of heart too fast, like her younger brother isn't a bad young man, but he used to the atmosphere of his family which preffered boys over girls, but his love interest as well as how his sister (new Xia Qi) started to treat him, gave him a wake up call. But his change was so fast, as if he was switched. Yet he is actually a good young man that comes to like his sister, who is the first person to really educate him and not indulge him in the wrongdoings.

It's a short, light-hearted story from 2019. 

RATE: 3,5/5. This could have easily been in short reviews, but what can I say, not much to say about it except what was mentioned above. A fitting sotry for evenin, if you're into these type of themes.

[Chinese BL novel] 真少爷摆烂后成万人迷了[重生] by 日光融融 / The true young master becomes a popular figure after rebirth*

*mtl'd title, which I basically corrected to fit the content.

Summary: Wei Tinglan is reborn to seven years prior. He is still a young high schooler, who returned to the home of his biological parents and family for a year, but this road was not smooth. His tough life under the cruel fist of his uncle, living a poor life and depending on good will of neighbors, Wei Tinglan clawed his way up when he finally grew up strong enough to resist. For others he has a poor background, but he fought for his way to study and also not being exploited by his uncle's family. All before he found out that he was not the biological child of the Wei family. But his biological parents did not show any great joy in welcoming the new son that grew up outside. Poor boy in their eyes was not presentable, they did not even bother to find out what kind of life their son led.

Years of struggle to be admitted, to be loved were met with indifference. Because he had no real value he was left behind. But when he started filming and his life became better and he was on the verge of being free, he was pulled down again by the scheming family and the fake young master Tao Chen.

Now when he is back to high school We Tinglan does not bother to integrate with the Tao family. They don't care about him and he doesn't care about them.

But this life still brought him the greatest surprise in the face of Wei Chuan. A silent handsome man, sitting in the wheelchair and ruling the low-key, but extremely wealthy Wei family.

He became the closest person.

Note: Both are Wei, but different character in the original.

I want to start from the best thing to me, one thing that I found most impressive? That is in rebirth MC can change their attitutde towards people who might have hurt him in the past, because they distinguish between past and present and know that the past harm has not happened yet. Mostly when we talk rebirth novels people bring a lot of hate and resentment from the previous life and eventually they start their revenge off the bat. Some characters do deserve some sort of "revenge", like a prime example is the Tao family. Tinglan knows that his father is a selfish person, for entire year Tao Chen was supported more because of value, while Tinglan brought unrest to the family. Even if things changed and the attitude may change, but not much, it is deeply interwoven with interests for Tao father. Unlike Tao family or Tao Chen there are two characters who might have brought hurt to Tinglan, but they are not inherently bad. He Qinglin and Jing Sheng.

He Qinglin was Tinglan's obsession, since they were promised to each other and Tinglan wanted to be recognized so much. Jing Sheng was Qinglin's friend, but he also was acting like a little boy, tugging on Tinglan to make him pay attention, but all he got was misunderstanding of his character.

In this life Tinglan saw them still being teenagers and even if he tried to stay away, but eventually they became friends and Tinglan decided not to judge a person who has no clue for things they didn't do or for the past life.

The story is simple, not bad at all, even if it has quite old tropes and things we've seen before. Some of the episodic moments remind me other stories about fake/true young masters. Because usually it's always high school time, there is some sort of friction or attempts to discredit one another, competing with grades, fake hooking up with people in attempt to gain benefits or any other stuff.

After rebirth Wei Tinglan is helped by ML to the hospital, Wei Chuan has a soft spot for this young boy who barely holds on and he stretches a helping hand. This basically helps Tinglan to have a breather before he leaves the Tao family and moves to the dormitories and starts a peaceful life that is full of more confidence and knowledge.

His connection with Wei Chuan starts from the hospital, from simple visits of thanks to deep friendship and care. Eventually Wei Chuan admits Tinglan as his own little brother and takes good care of him and his health, which let's admit was pretty bad considering his growing environment.

Parallel to that Tinglan deals with the school life which gets better and two people who were his deep scars in the past life. Although it sounds dramatic, but He Qinglin was hi target of pursuit, yet it also brought him a lot of trouble, like Qinglin's mother or Tao Chen who aimed to become a couple with Qinglin. Another person is Jing Sheng, who became a prominent figure, but had no idea about his deep feelings for Tinglan and instead spoiled all the possibility of them getting closer. Overcoming the hurdle i his heart Tinglan saw good in the young men and became friends with them. Distinguishing past and present was essential.

The first part of the novel, up to ch 50+ is more dynamic. But I must say that from ch60+ and till the end it felt like the brotherly love got dragged quite a bit and this is the reason for me shaving stars.

There was so much emphasis on brotherly love, being relatives etc. And I'm not a fan when people consider themselves family end up together. But eventually Wei Chuan notices first that he has improper thoughts about Tinglan, but he does not make a move and although he has a small struggle how to act around Tinglan, he simply gives up and returns to square one. Tinglan was slower in this regard, maybe there were signs of his love being love actually, because they were quite close and he did not want to claim it as love, simply because he was scared of love. But eventually he took the step closer when both inadvertantly realized they have more feelings for each other. But again because they had so much of brotherly love for so long and Tinglan was young, so I had a premonition that there will be time skips at the end and I was right, there are.

The almost disappointing part became the ending. More like last 20 chapters or so that dragged the emotional line between Wei Tinglan and Wei Chuan, it just felt like it takes too long.

There is another one. It's all spoilers, but the novel took a cliche direction when all participants started to get the past life experience one after another. I wanted it not to ruin the novel and previous relatiosnhip, but the ending was thankfully satisfactory. He Qinglin was the first one. He had deep regrets towards Wei Tinglan, he wanted to atone and love him, but knew that his family situation did not allow him that, he worked to get the position in the He family, since his situation is more complicated. His mother plotted a lot against Tinglan under influence of Tao Chen, he regretted that he had given his loved ones so much freedom to destroy a life.

Jing Sheng was much later case, because of an accident. But he had the most intense reaction because he decided to kidnap Tinglan at the very end. I thought this part we could do without and thankfully Tinglan was sain enough to enlighted Jing Sheng for him to think thoroughly about their situation, that there is no love, he is already with Wei Chuan, it will lead to tragic ending, while he had family etc. Thus they could have such a peaceful conclusion to it and there is no astonoshing revenge plot.

Last one was Tao Chen, insignificant part, served only to let Wei Chuan know and investigate it. Now he knew that both men chasing Tinglan hurt him and were not worth it.

Of course this also estranged Qinglin, Sheng and Tinglan, because before they were innocent teens, but now they are older versions of themselves, their past selves who hurt him. He could only wish them the best and make them look at life that even if they feel regret, he hopes they heal and become better. So this was a good part.

Relationship was good. The best part of the novel. It's almost like a found family but also a relationship. It all starts with good will. Wei Chuan sees Tinglan as someone worthy of raising and caring for, the boy is actually good and kind, but is not loved by his family. Wei Chuan starts to care for Tinglan and provides him, accomodating him to the point of becoming brothers, so no one will dare to move him. Eventually the line is crossed when he realizes that he simply fell in love with the boy and he doesn't want others to hurt him. Tinglan admitted that he might have issues, because he doesn't mind a bit of possessive tendencies in Wei Chuan, he was so insecure and lacking in love in previous life, that such intense feelings give him the security he needs.

They found love and care and light in each other that led them to a better place.

RATE: 4/5. COuld be better if the emotional line did nto drag out so much. Otherwise entertaining and quite delicate.