[NOVEL] Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett

I hope it's the last book. At least Heather Fawcett said there will be three in total, good number. And not because I didn't like it, it's a pretty cozy read, if you want one of those. But partially I felt like, well, whatever.

Emily Wilde has spent her life studying faeries. A renowned dryadologist, she has documented hundreds of species of Folk in her Encyclopaedia of Faeries. Now she is about to embark on her most dangerous academic project studying the inner workings of a faerie realm—as its queen.

Along with her former academic rival—now fiancé—the dashing and mercurial Wendell Bambleby, Emily is immediately thrust into the deadly intrigues of Faerie as the two of them seize the throne of Wendell’s long-lost kingdom, which Emily finds a beautiful nightmare filled with scholarly treasures.

Emily has been obsessed with faerie stories her entire life, but at first she feels as ill-suited to Faerie as she did to the mortal How can an unassuming scholar such as herself pass for a queen? Yet there is little time to settle in, for Wendell’s murderous stepmother has placed a deadly curse upon the land before vanishing without a trace. It will take all of Wendell’s magic—and Emily’s knowledge of stories—to unravel the mystery before they lose everything they hold dear.

Emily Wilde. Book 3

I was waiting for this book to come out, so I can finally put a final dot here. 

But Emily Wilde was unlucky since I read it to cope with 10/10 anxiety, so I could get distracted (didn't help). Instead I just rushed through this book and I'm afraid it won't be enough to give it justice, but I'll try.

We find Emily and Wendell finally travelling to his realm. Emily is uncomfortable in her new role, but she copes. Wendell is still the same but somehow different.

Not entirely upon arrival they find out that the queen poisoned the realm with a curse. The land will slowly will be engulfed and turn into a horrid place. But there is also a catch thatthe queen actually might not be dead, but hidden.

It's interesting to see how Emily draws parallels between the life of Faerie and the stories / legends picked up by scholars before, so they could actually track down the queen. This what actually inspired her to change the direction of her interest later in the book to collecting tales (especially while she has a direct source for those).

But I find this book to be very mild, not that I wanted anything too exciting, otherwise I'd have to knock out myself. In general Emily Wilde story is pretty tame, despite the events. All because of it's way of storytelling through journal entries. I don't know why, but even if something happens in the story, you know everything is okay because Emily is all fine and survived it all to write about it. Even if it feels like the stakes may rise, but to me honestly the story always felt like - don't worry, everything will turn out fine. Because of course it does and Em has everything under control. At least she has ideas and she will figure it out.

Anyway, this is how it goes. If you read the story, you know it's all fine.

Back to Emily herself, partially she can be praised for all her bravery and balls of steel for doing many dangerous things or she's plain reckless. But part of me would do without with her monologing how she can't communicate, especially when she has moments of intent in her speech or she can quite well hold herself with those close to her. But because it's a journal it's more told through Em's words instead of being shown, it's just her perspective. But honestly a lot of what she does (if we omit her mentioning her communication skills) is how many of us talk, it's all usual stuff actually. I don't know why this emphasis gets to me every time. But I do appreciate her turn in this book from trying to fit, to returning to herself, though I didn't see it as some mental journey, it just happened.

I'm still happy I finished it.

PS: I think this novel has the bestcover of all three, it has all the trinkets that were present in the book and actually held some significance of sorts, but before reading you have no idea what it is and this is fun.

RATE: 4/5. All three books had 4 stars btw. 

[NOVE] Tomb of the Sun King by Jacquelyn Benson

The worthy continuation.

Respectable lady scholars shouldn’t be dodging evildoers, escaping lost tombs, and chasing down magical artifacts. Archivist and suffragette Ellie Mallory always dreamed of putting her scholarly skills to work in the ancient sands of Egypt. She never imagined she would be doing so in order to save an object of legendary power from a batch of ruthless villains. Racing baddies to an arcanum of Biblical proportions is only one of Ellie’s problems. Her hopelessly academic and perpetually mortified step-brother, Dr. Neil Fairfax, is about to learn that she’s been gallivanting around the globe with his danger-magnet best friend, Adam Bates—the roguish surveyor for whom Ellie harbors increasingly complicated feelings. Add the petite and terrifyingly fearless Constance Tyrrell to the mix, and Ellie either has a crack team of artifact-saving experts to hand… or a recipe for disaster. Together, they’ll need to follow a trail of three-thousand-year-old clues from the necropolis of Saqqara to the temples of Luxor and beyond, where the ruined capital of a heretic pharaoh hides a secret with the potential to upend history. To keep an earth-shattering magic from falling into the wrong hands, Ellie will need to pull out all the stops—even if that means resorting to fisticuffs, ignoring proper archaeological processes… and facing a terrible choice between doing what she knows is right or breaking her own heart.

Raiders of the Arcana. Book 2

This time the book is longer (mostly due to the growing cast of characters), but it doesn't make it less entertaining.

We pick up our journey from where we left it, Ellie and Adam arrive to Egypt in hopes to outmanoeuvre the villains who set their eyes on one of the Biblical famous artifacts - staff of Moses.

So far Ellie and Adam has been doing this "save the world" or at least "save the arcana from the wrong hands" together, but the number of people involved grew rapidly. Constance, Ellie's friend mentioned in the first book is now stationed in Egypt with her father, she'd rather dive into the whirwind of this dangerous adventure she hoped for so long than be reminded each day that she needs to find herself a husband. Neil or Dr. Fairfax is stupefied by the sudden arrival of his baby sister, which basically tore him out of safe and routine life he always preferred. Sayyid, Neil's foreman, but actually a formiddable Egyptian scholar who had no chance of leading the excavation himself due to his origins. Together they track the three-thousand-year-old clue to probably find not only the magical staff that could be a considerable threat, but the key to the truth about one of the most mysterious pharaohs in the history of Egypt that bothered Neil for the past decade.

It's not the end of the cast, but I don't want to spoil anything that came as a surprise to me. It's really no fun to read if you know those things.

As in previous books it actually provides a great deal of historical accuracy along with author's speculation. But author is not the only one with the theories like that, Benson simply sets this theory in stone within the plot of her book. But mixing it all together created quite a believable picture, which I found pretty cool and it kept me so upbeat while reading. Despite all the mysticism.

Maybe for someone who has an extensive knowledge of Egypt's history will laugh at it (at least I haven't seeked for confirmation of this thought of mine), but for lesser knowledgable lot it comes across as pretty decent story.

Plus the style of writing and the pacing make the good combination of rest and adventure, in general I'd divide this book into three parts - arrival, travel, tomb, but don't think that any of these lack some nerve-tickling moments, they just don't share the same intensity with the last part obviously being the most intense. In Acknowledgements Jacquelyn once again mentions the Atwater couple who helped this book to become better, while they helped to beta read it, which I think is wonderful and what many books lack sometimes, a bit more time and a good advice.

The next part, which is obvious is the between-the-lines (not really) commentary about the British Empire involvement in other countries. Britain was not the only one to decide to seemingly ligellay ship off many precious antiques (France, America) or basically the history of another country they actually had no right to in a common sense. The inspiration was drawn from reality, thus we have several characters that share their own fate / story with the reader. It's not a sob story, but the helpless situation these individuals found themselves in. Before the arrival of Adam and Ellie, wich allowed them to do something, although it will forever stay a secret the the outside world.

This comes along with a peppered dynamic chain of events full of adventure and danger.

I love that Benson actually makes the whole thing quite logical with actions and consequences. The characters push the plot and the plot pushes the characters. It's nice to see that everyone conforms to their own individuality, having their own small changes (actually big changes considering their lives in general).

A note to share is that Adam and Ellie share the spotlight with characters like Neil and Contsance a lot, which actually promises something more in the future. Most certainly adventure and who knows even romance (because they do have that vibe, it's funny how Neil is terrified of Connie a bit, but also finds her so beautiful now, while Connie even considered Neil as a prospect lover, before she finds out something about him, like they all do, and changes her mind, but by the end of the book she again turns more positive about Stuffy, this is how eandearingly she calls him, which fits him so well). But I really was up to it, although Connie felt too adventurous in the first book, she still had too little time for us to know her better, but in this book she showcased her bravery and determination. Neil is a contrasting character to her, Stuffy is a perfect nickname for him, he loves his quiet and the dig he did, he is a bit cowardly because of that, which is pretty understandable and very humane. Yet he goes through changes, which do not leave him as some superhero, he's still Stuffy, but he tries to change for better.

As for relationship between Ellie and Adam it becomes the question that keeps hanging between them due to events of this book. Prior they were alone in the jungle. During the journay their affection did not diminish, but now they are among the society and the situation is dangerous to Ellie's reputation. So seemingly they have no other choice but to keep away from each other, because Adam doesn't want Ellie to change her principles about marriage just because their situation "requires" it, but he also doesn't want to hurt her, which leaves them in this dilemma. Their decision is of course at the very end.

But honestly they're so loving and caring.

Oh, the last thing. The most dangerous part of this book is still Jacobs I think. Even if our company found the details on who are at least few hirers behind the scenes and the prostects of it. But in the eyes of Ellie and others Jacobs became the most dangerous individual.

It's actually interesting because Jacobs has his own spot in this book. While we still don't know who he is and what are his origins, we at least now know his goal.

Another point is why I think he's the most formiddable so far, not only his keen intuition on people lying to him or his unyealding determination in his actions as if he was made of steel, but his own words about the people who hired him. Those people can sit in the comfort of their homes, bound by their power and status, but Jacobs feels like he can do anything, literally anything and it's unlikely anything will stop him if he puts his mind on it. I find the way he exists in the story is truly great.

This was such a joyful ride, I wish to write more and in greater detail, but I will leave it for my memory to hold. Although it's unreliable sometimes. 

And onto the next adventure, which comes at the end of this year, who knows exacly when. But I can only say that the next stop is India!

RATE: 5/5. Excellent continuation to the series.

[NOVEL] The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

What a breezy novel, indeed perfect for a summer read with all the private island, stunning beaches and crystal clear water, but here we are in February. I actually was panicky and I needed a change of pace, so I just opened thsi one. It was on my TBR for quite some time, but I did not plan to read it, but when I picked it up I simply couldn't put it down (it helped to get away from anxiety), the reading was so fast and I just finished it in a day, which is rare (then returned Tomb of the Sun King by Jaquelyn Benson, second book in the Raiders of Arcana series and forgot to post about the book).

I actually would recommend starting reading it without knowing much, for example, I did not read the summary (it explains a lot, I was happy to be oblivious to some of that), though I will include it as always.

Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West” Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she’d signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways.

Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck while West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has little interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested, however, in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. There’s just one catch.

Due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather’s will, Liam won’t see a penny until he’s been happily married for five years. Just when Liam thinks he’s in the home stretch, pressure mounts from his family to see this mysterious spouse, and he has no choice but to turn to the one person he’s afraid to introduce to his one-percenter parents — his unpolished, not-so-ex-wife.

But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie.

Anna Green is such a random name lol and she is also a painter which is a bit of a biting cliche, so I have no idea if it was intentional, but she is so unhinged. I did not read many of the romance novels obviously and so far I did not meet an FMC who is so unhinged. Although she has a story about herself, which is always a thing I suppose, but she is quite a character. More breezy. Very vocal. More open. Which was actually a nice change.

I don't know what it is, from all the romance books I've picked so far, including few popular authors, I can summarize one thing about all FMCs - they have issues. But these issues feel pressing. It doesn't mean that Anna does not have those, she also has her deal of things, she also can cry and be hurt, but she is a fighter too.

Maybe this is what I liked about her quite a lot. No speech filter, more open and straightforward.

William's character is a bit stereotypical too, all that height, handsomeness and muscles. he is actually a nice guy. Although it makes him sound a bit much the way he is eager to get the rest of the trust fund money, but he has a "nice guy" reason behind it. Tbh it is interesting to watch the balance between them, because you can see his vulnerability despite his looks, while Anna comes off quite supportive and not at all in a lesser position between the two.

This trip has the tropes of forced proximity, like sharing the only bed (heard it's a used cliche a lot), which leaves the two of them living in this bungalow with a lot of open space where they can't hide from each other and because they basically see each other as if they saw each other for the first time, they are also attracted visually. After all they are now more mature and have time to look after each other unlike the time they lived together and were preoccupied with their own thing.

Although they have to play a married couple and it all starts from faking it, but it soon grows into yearning. This trip is short, so in retrospective they went to the last base pretty fast. But what is notable is that they're pretty opened about it and were not burdened to start it. Which some will mark as a typical mistake of characters in such novels, the reader will scream at you - but you will soon realize that you fell in love you dummy! 

Yet that physical closeness also allowed them to find more about each other, which made them care more.

Some may argue that such proximity and atmosphere created the atmosphere for a fast vacational romance, which does not eaqual strong emotional bond good for a future life together and physical attraction / lust don't mean some strong love, you may be right, they may not have enough time to be that deeply attached, this is why I think it is great that a bit of extra was added to explain the aftermath of that vacation.

What makes this book easy to read is that even if it picks up some life problems, it does not dwell too much on it to make a bigger statement. After all the book was obviously intended not to be about those things. The writing style is also quite easy.

RATE: 5/5. Feels I've been giving away 5 star ratings pretty often lately, but actually most of my ratings are viby. I don't take out some common rating systems to rate books. I just give them stars for what they are. This is a quick read with some nice humor, easy on the eyes and does not pretend to be anything bigger and it delivered what it promised.

Heard one of their books is planned to be filmed. I wonder if I should read that book too. may just add it to the TBR list, I have an extensive document with all TBR I collected (not entirely all, but a lot of it), so I can sit on it for some time and later decide if I really want to pick up stuff from it or just leave it.

But with Paradise Problem it became apparent that it's better nto to plan to what read and when. Like I started Cruel is the Light, I didn't like the writing style, I will continue eventually, but it looks like pretty cover and premise but who knows (the rating of this book also continuously dropped during this period). I also picked up Emily Wilde book 3, but honestly I'm not completely excited about it, since it ends up as a cozy read mostly. Then Rebel Witch came out and I loved Heartess Hunter, but I dread to start that book if I'm being honest. You know the feeling when you liked something, but kinda afraid if continuation will be good or not.

[TV Series] The Golden Girls (1985-1992)

I found Golden Girls by accident. It's a pity when I watch YT videos about movies and shows I basically never saw anyone mentioning them, though it's such a funny and witty show. I finished Season 1 yesterday.

The basic premise of the show is we're in Miami and two women, Dorothy and Rose, find Blanche via advertismenet that she has an available room for rent. This is how they come together and become roommates and three women develop inseparable friendship. The three of them are soon joined by Dorothy's mother Sophia, because her retirement home burned down.

They go through different life situations together.

What I really like is that it's all-female cast with age ranging in 50-60'ss. First of all it's hard to see an older cast as main characters nowadays, don't correct me if I'm wrong. And we're talking about women who do not visibly try to look younger, they aged gracefully, unlike what Hollywood likes to push nowadays. And I'm glad not because there is some "girl boss" moment here, since they're single and thriving, on the contrary these three women are now independent, but it does not mean they do not welcome romance in their life, the thing is romance is not everything in their lives.

I don't know who says it jokingly and who means it, but a lot of time you hear from younger people how women reaching their 30's are considered ancient, which is such a toxic thing to say and it's actually sad, because this is how women treat women.

What I like about this show is that these women are no longer young, they share a strong friendship bond, they live and thrive despite their age. It's very uplifting. 

And I love the humor. The era of humor which is not some dumb nonsense or vulgarity. A lot of humor is actually played around and based on the characters themselves.

Dorothy is snarky, Blanche is flirty and Rose is a bit of an airhead. Sophia just says what's on her mind. So a lot of jokes are based on their characters, like Dorothy with her witty comebacks, Dorothy not getting what is meant and Blanche, well, she has a lot to say about men and her own beauty. The background about Sophia is that she had a stroke and now doesn't control herself at all.

(this compilation comes from different season)

Another point I love a lot is FASHION. This show makes me miss the fashion of 80-90's, when things were so colorful and fun. I heard not once the insult of someone not dressing well as "did you steal it from your grandma?" believe me when I say, your grandmas were more stylish than you who look like beggars, while wearing branded clothes.

Anyway, it's a fun show. Highly recommended.

RATE: 10/10 (Season 1).

[NOVEL] First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison

Aiden Valentine has a secret: he's fallen out of love with love. And as the host of Baltimore's romance hotline, that's a bit of a problem. But when a young girl calls in to the station asking for dating advice for her mom, the interview goes viral, thrusting Aiden and Heartstrings into the limelight.

Lucie Stone thought she was doing just fine. She has a good job; an incredible family; and a smart, slightly devious kid. But when all of Baltimore is suddenly scrutinizing her love life-or lack thereof—she begins to question if she's as happy as she thought. Maybe a little more romance wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Everyone wants Lucie to find her happy ending... even the handsome, temperamental man calling the shots. But when sparks start to fly behind the scenes, Lucie must make the final call between the radio-sponsored happily ever after or the man in the headphones next to her.

Heartstrings. Book 1

It's a pretty okay romance. It was me who read it not in the best condition.

Lucie is a single mom with a pretty interesting family situation, the father of her child lives just next door with his husband. She got pregnant early, but she decided to give birth which estranged her and him from their parents. But as who she actually is she didn't want to bind Grayson to herself in a marriage. Girl has her own logic.

Now she's 29 and she seems to have a perfect life in a way. She has her family, she doesn't need much from life and works as a mechanic, until that fateful call to the radio station where she shares her own view on romance.

Maybe as hopeless romantic as she is she wants a bit more from a relationship, some kind of magic and spark. But since she didn't get it from few tries in life she decided she has enough, never realizing that even her own kid wants to see her happy.

The dying radio show called "Heartstrings" (hence the series) received a boost in ratings after that fateful call and the head of it Maggie decided to invite Lucie to co-host on few nights a week.

This is where she and Aiden spent the time together and Aiden was visibly against the whole idea, while Lucie decided to step out of her comfort zone and try.

Some say it's a slow burn but I'd say it's yearning, does not have any vulgar feeling to it too. I find that they felt an instant attraction for each other. Hence their following reaction.

Lucie actually does not know if she's okay for this world as she is, but she has more courage than she shows.

Aiden on the other hand is very defensive towards feelings because of his family situation and how it shaped it emotionally.

In the end Aiden is the one who is there for her most of the time, because he promised he would not let her be hurt and be made fun of.

They pretty openly admit they are attracted to each other and simply flirted all this time, but will this flirting lead them anywhere?

Although Lucie started at wanting some magic and spark, but she found out that being with Aiden in this moment right now is what is fun. She eventually takes a brave step to close the proximity and claim that if he is ready, she will be there waiting for him.

The problem that stumbled Aiden from being opened and honest originates in his fear of loving that became a habit. His mother was diagnosed several times and as a defense mechanism of sorts he distanced himself from his parents, so maybe if he loved them less it would hurt less (which of course never helped). But is it good to continue like that? Although he always repeated that he was not enough for Lucie, but to her he was what she wanted.

And this leads us to the final scene were Lucie is asked to be a temporary host on the radio while Aiden is supposed to come soon, but he calls the radio instead and he bares what he wants to say. "Long-time listener, first-time caller" this is where the title of this book comes from.

So the book has a nice closure with almost twin events, it starts from a call and ends with a call.

Interesting to note that her daughter Maya actually never said she wants a 'daddy', after all she has two dads, but she basically wanted her mother to be happy. This is why this story concentrates mostly on their relationship, instead of Aiden trying to fit in their family. And I think such development is logical, from now on when they're together it is the logical moment for him to start and blend in.

Overall it was a good time. The only point I want to make is that this book feels longer than it should be. Personally I would shorten the contents a bit, because it felt like we're mulling over he same things and repeat ourselves.

Also another note.. I wonder why the one who drew the cover did not bother to actually represent the characters? I mean Aiden is blue-eyed and he almost always wears a sweatshirt (never wore a shirt), Lucie should have brownish hair, despite her freckles, they're faint. Just those details. Also I wonder why they decided to include a telephone when they contacted via a mobile phone. Does it add to the aesthetic?

RATE: 4/5.

[MOVIE] The Fifth Element (1997)

It's like a re-watch week or something, I've been re-watching a lot of movies. Who am I kidding I usually do that a lot.

The Fifth Element in some ways was ahead of its' time by many years. It offers its' own look at the future of the Earth and the danger of total annihilation by pure evil, because the plot centers around a taxi driver Korben Dallas who has to save the world by connecting the stones representing the four elements and a fifth element, which is supposed to be a supreme being, a beautiful woman named Leeloo.

Actually, the movie has this funky feel to it, considering the way it looks. Maybe it's because of the production designs, which sometimes comes off as goofy. But if I think more about it, it actually makes sense at that time something similar could be traced across several movies of different genre. Yet actually it introduced a lot of new ideas too (not mentioning clothing by Gaultier, but some of the small everyday life details in the movie).

And it definitely gave its' own commentary on such things as overpopulation, class difference, ecology, damn even media. Who knew that the character of Ruby Rhod will become reality in modern society. But Tucker played it so well.

The world in the background speaks for itself.

Starting from the one tiny room apartment of Korben that looks claustrophobic, when he is actually an ex-special forces (though probably gave everything to his ex-wife, slipped my mind if it was mentioned). The way he has a full load of guns from attempted robberies. Flying cars that are everywhere with dense traffic whn Korben tries to fly through. Jungle of skyscrapers. No privacy in the face of police (the scene of scanning through the door). The pile of garbage at the airport/spaceport. In stark contrast comes the luxurious spaceship full of fun and leisure where you could see all types of dignitaries and celebs with Korben being one of few "low class" people I suppose.

The only thing about the movie that showcases how old the movie is the best is CGI. That one does look old, but at the time of the release of course it was fantastic.

RATE: 8/10.

[MOVIE] Aladdin (1992)

The song "A whole new world" stuck in my head in the evening, so I re-watched Aladdin.

A classic. Unlike the live adaptations I can re-watch the old animation from time to time. Especially when now everything is almost UHD and you can enjoy such a good quality. I admit I haven't even watched the live adaptation of Aladdin, just visually that looks as abomination and after the Oscars and what Will Smith did I'm just "nah dude". Even if previously I was okay with him (after roles like in Men in Black or Independence Day)..

I must say I miss Robin Williams' voice overs. He could create many characters as a single person. Genie gives this one so much humor.

But one I also appreciate a lot here is Gilbert Gottfried aka the voice of Iago. Hysterical.

I don't remember what my impression was as a kid - maybe wow~. But as an adult I appreciate how beautiful the animation is, how action-packed the sequences are, how everything is concise. There is also a good message about embracing who you are, doing the right thing. Aladdin a good-hearted fellow.

This is what irritates me in live adaptations in general, they try to twist things to be different, but instead twist the logic or characters' motivation, so the overall feeling and meaning are lost. While these stories should be as simple as possible. Simple and educational almost.

Anyway, what funny is after I watched that song stopped haunting me ahaha

[GAMES] Hero of the Kingdom III (2018)

Initially, I didn't plan to start the next one so soon, but here we are.

(the view isn't so HD actually, but I love that logo changes according to the story)

This one I played longer, basically because the mechanics of how you earn and where you sleep etc. changed. I think this part of the game which reflect your occupation is pretty cool.

For example in previous game you are just a person, so you sleep at camps or in the inn, but you barter for that sleep.

But in this game you're a hunter, so you can take a rest anywhere. You cook for yourself, this is how you can eat and get energy. Next thing you learn how to brew potions which are essential in the game and also parttime as a blacksmith, which is essential too. You learn a lot of skills in this one.

You grew up with your uncle, because your parents unfortunately passed away, he was the one who taught you hunting. But during the earthquake your house is buried under rocks (honestly, this is brutal), so you're a homeless guy (this is why you camp and it's a separate icon even) which now need to earn his way. Later you hear that the path between villages was blocked but there are many monsters dwelling in the caves which can serve as another way around. You saw orcs before the earthquake. When you travel to another village you slowly find out that orcs occupied the caves leading to mines and people are stuck there. You fight your way there. Later you clear cave by cave occupied by orcs and demons and finally see the castle.

During your journey you have visions of a maiden who got a ruby from the Forbidden Valley, she was enchanted and came to the heart of all evil that is happening - Earthquaker. So the ground shakes a lot. You have to defeat all demons to defeat Earthquaker and release he kingdom from the horrors.

Because of this there is a lot of fighting and this is why it is essential to eventually learn how to make your own weapons and brew potions, since the orcs, zombies, spiders, snakes, demons etc. all require weapons and potions used on them. Because your weapons can break at any time and of course potions disappear after use. You also learn mining to get your own ore and herbalist teaches you how to collect herbs whether alchemist taught you to brew potions.

What is very different from the previous ones too is that looting is infinite.

While resources in the second game were limited so you had to use them sparingly, here everything respawns within time (including enemies). Also if you need something specific you just need to remember the location, flowers or animals will respawn at the same place. The same goes for everything else, like eggs or mushrooms or fish etc. This way you have endless resources. It helps a lot because doing it yourself of course is cheaper than buying it and you need a ton of weapons and potions for all those orcs and demons.

Must say it is fun, but surely is easier. Also because you're mainly fighting in caves, there is only a tiny portion of quests like saving people from caves or doing other stuff. I felt like in general I spent time on looting, hunting etc.

The only thing that bothered me the most is the upgrade of fighting skills, because the more you fight, the more pro you become, but not all creatures give you that option (and respawned ones do not grant you upgrade either), so before I reached 100 I had to look around to find which will help me upgrade. Since everything is in several different locations.

Oh yeah, this one saved the princess who woke the Earthquaker, but did not end up with her, he is a free hero. Which I find a nice nuance. In 2nd game the two princess and you travel together and face adversities, but here the princess is partially responsible and we remember that the hero lost his uncle in the beginning. So we don't ask for anything or a princess (we saw her only in visions too), we're an honorable pal.

[GAMES] Hero of the Kingdom II (2015)

Lol, I had no idea that just by opening the game I will spend the entire night playing it and finishing it.

HotK is a relatively short quest game with simple mechanics and story that is quite perfect for people who like to not stress out over a game. And you go from zero to hero as well. The way it looks like can be seen from the logo shot, it's very simple and does not require much from your computer, so much so that my poor and outdated laptop did not go berserk on me from overheating, huffing and puffing (I mean the hidden object games I play should be the easy ones, but they're not) and this was essential to me for finishing it in one sitting. So yay for games like that.

As for the quests and the adventure it is simple as well (it's shallow but what to do with it, it is how it is). You come along with your sister to a shore, but your sister is kidnapped by pirates. Thus you build up your reputation and money to find a way to save her which is to build the ship of your own and by the order of the king you also travel the sea in search of the pirates only to find out there is more to the story.

The world of the HotK is a fantasy world (which we always love), so among the historical type of setting you'll see some creatures.

The quests are simple find and help and sell and get reputation and money type.

I must say, the moment I found out how I can make money without looting and support the expenses without stressing it out I was the happiest (after all with all the looting things stop from appearing on the screen, so you can't just loot the woods and sell things indefinitely). Because that combo of buying wood, making it into a charcoal and then selling it to the blacksmith and earning on the difference was a game changer.

It's great that this is a series. I suppose each time you start as a new character and build your way up. Even in this game there is a reference to the first game.

All in all nice.

[ANIME] Given -ギヴン- Hiiragi mix (2024)

I believe this is the first movie of the two, the second being titled Umie? But it's the second movie in order of release.

Note: I've been out of touch with anime and manga for years now, even though I loved it so much since childhood, yes, I was watching anime since I was 4 and my first one was Windaria, you can imagine how that fucked me up. But what greatest impact it had on me is that was my first tragic story I guess. Even if I did not understand it at all, but some of the imagery was burned into my memory. And as a grown-up I came in touch with BL as genre. I was reading a lot before I settled down on few autors that I may check from time to time. One of those authors is Kizu Natsuki, author of Given manga. I'm honestly happy for her success, she has distinct style of art and storytelling. This is why despite my detachment from anime overall I still kept coming back to finish the manga and also watched its' anime adaptation.

This is why we're here.

I don't see myself picking up anime again, but I see myself still supporting authors and their works that were with me for years and years.

Well, Hiiragi mix is obviously concentrated on Hiiragi and Shizusumi, who were part of Yuki's band when he was alive. I think it follows the part of the manga that also had "mix" in the title. I honestly forgot, my memory isn't that extensive.

Now that they're facing the fact that their own guitarist quit the band the borrow Uenoyama as temporary member. And now Uenoyama came closer to what Yuki's music sounded like.

Part of the movie is the part with Uenoyama finding out that there is a possibility for them to debut as Given band, but Mafuyu avoids this topic.

Another extensive part of it is of course about Hiiragi and Shizu, having a glimpse at their childhood, how they came together and became friends. How each of them copes with the loss of Yuki and how they treated their music from then on. And of course how one loves another secretly, but definitely have misunderstandings about each other. Shizu thinks that Hiiragi once loved Yuki too, but because Yuki was with Mafuyu he did not want to be a third wheel, but Hiiragi actually just idolized Yuki as a person and never wanted to be with him in that sense, he loved Shizu a lot, but it never came across.

Actually some of it is humorous and cute how they animated the interactions.

But I'll be honest, sometimes I find the inner monologues that mostly deliver all the inner thoughts of characters be very Japanese, it gives off the feeling of "I'm 14 and this is deep". 

In general the production of this anime is great. I like that for years now the industry finally found the key to get BL to a bigger audience, they concentrate on the plot and skip anything explicit. And suddenly we have so many BL animes coming out.

The style is great, it follows the manga closely giving this story life in motion.

Still one thing that makes me lol a bit since the time when the anime series came out is the music. Music is the big part of this manga and the lives of these boys, but honestly it works so well in manga, but it does not have the same feeling in anime for me.

Simply because the manga and anime, which follows the plot, make you feel like Mafuyu has the most insane voice you can think about (judging by reactions of Uenoyama and others), but when it comes to singing it's just a generic voice actually. The same goes for this movie, they mulled so much about the demos that Yuki left unfinished and they have such intense reaction to it that I thought I'm going to hear something out of this world, but nope, it's the same generic sound that many bands have. The song may make it sound different, but the sound is so forgettable that it's painful. Maybe for boys it's meaningful, but otherwise they make me feel like I'm tone-deaf and don't understand music at all.

RATE: 8/10. In general it's a great story with laughter and sadness. And it's great they're doing projects like these.

[ANIME] Little Witch Academia (2017)

Little Witch Academia is one of those animes I put on indefinite hold (literally been years) to return to them whenever the mood strikes, after all when I still have interest in them I choose to keep it for later, but it feels like I never get around them haha. There are animes I can put on hold, but eventually I lose interest in them and let go.

It doesn't mean that Little Witch Academia was some phenomenal watch, but just the theme of witches and a magic school was enticing and it looked fun. And I also watched the movie and that short episode that I believe appeared first.

But yesterday I simply made myself watch it instead of waiting  for that ethereal mood to arrive.

Actually, it's a quite naive watch. Idealistic and naive. It's very simple when it comes to the theme, but it does execute the idea. From zero to hero kind of story. It's also interesting to find the revelations of the last episodes, maybe my favorite part outside of some characters' antics. That Akko's magic was taken away without her knowledge, but the person who took it actually gave her the best motivation and life and her life goals.

It's also nice to see that the final part and union was done between two girls that were opposing each other for the entire series, Akko and Diana, but whose goals could not be closer. I could imagine their couple would have gathered a following.

In general it was fun to watch, colorful and dynamic. Very much what Trigger studio would do. I had my own fun with a lot of ridiculous parts, almost like slapstick comedy. Must admit Sucy was my favorite, with her sharp delivery of facts and unmatching personality. Other parts of delivering cliche monologues for this type of story simply me laugh (what can I do, it's so idealistic and naive). I had to remind myself - I watch young kids. But honestly Akko and her firends did so much damage to the school during their time ahaha. It was as if I watch the kids not having sense of self-preservance at all.

Some parts were truly ridiculous if you think about them for a sec. Not like this show tries to be serious anyway. 

I laughed a lot at the final scene where Croix was being escorted and the Headmaster says - You can return anytime. While Croix is solely responsible for the mess. And they act as if it doesn't matter. Tsk.

Ngl characters outside of the few main are quite shallow and one-sided.

The only thing to complain about is almost a direct depiction of the conflict between Ireland and GB, which is a real thing and shouldn't be a part of the whimsical witchy story in my opinion.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that students of the all-boys school Appleton (?) appeared in clothes that appeared similar to you-know-who. Which was weird.

RATE: 7/10.

[Historical Romance] When the Marquess met his Match by Laura Lee Guhrke

What happens when a carefree, disreputable, stone-broke bachelor is forced to find a wife in a hurry? He hires a matchmaker, of course. What happens when the matchmaker doesn’t want to help him? Well, that’s when the fun begins…

Nicholas Stirling, Marquess of Trubridge, loves his life just as it is: dissolute, scandalous, and deuced good fun. His father, the Duke of Landsdowne is not amused, and when he cuts off Nicholas’ trust fund, the fun-loving marquess is forced to find an alternate source of income—in other words, he has to marry an heiress.

Every new-money American heiress knows Lady Belinda Featherstone is the key to social acceptance. Once a new-money nobody herself, Belinda discovered first-hand how heartbreaking the game of love and matrimony could be after a reprobate British earl married her for her money. Now a respectable widow, Belinda has become England’s most successful matchmaker, guiding young American heiresses through the hazards of the London season and helping them to find husbands worthy of them. To her mind, the Marquess of Trubridge is nothing but a fortune-hunting scoundrel and she has no intention of allowing him to charm his way into any American girl’s heart, including her own.

An American Heiress in London. Book 1

After reading I realized that I actually haven't read this series, simply mixed it with another one. But actually I'm happy, more of her books left to read. Even if I have enough books to read, but I try not to reach out for them often, simply because Guhrke is only one of few authors I even read in this genre of historical romance. So I read books sparingly not to run out of material.

Finding a new beloved author in this genre is a task I say. When I was younger I read a lot of HR, but only a name or two stuck with me till this day.

And I'm being sentimental for a reason, I truly adore how Guhrke writes and sets her characters. She is one of those authors that prove to me that HR can be a good book.

Lady Featherstone is a prominent matchmaker in the London society, she is now widowed and it's her craft to help American heiresses to find an appropriate match.

What other may not know is that her own marriage was a disaster that left her scarred for years and this became her motivation in leading young and impressionable girls. She was once swept away by passion and was seduced, but when the marriage was set in stone her husband showed his true side, that he was only after her money and was not going to spend his time on her and after paying off all his debts he started to live lavishly with Belinda's money, until he died of heart attack on one of his mistresses.

Her current task is to pair her close family Rosalie, but one person threatened the matching.

Nicholas appeared in front of her with a simple goal, he is after money after his trust fund was cut off. He wanted to ask for help, thinking that Belinda will comply wih his request, but instead found the biggest opposition from her side.

They did not start well, although like in many HR books they feel that thread of attraction and admit the handsomeness of another person, but it does not change what they think of one another.

Belinda simply spread the news of what he is going to do and why he came back from Paris and joined the season. But instead Nicholas used Rosalie as means of blackmail, he won't touch the girl (though he'd never would anyway) and Belinda helps him find a wife.

At first it's just a joke from her side, like she lets him meet one that is a chatterbox emptyhead, another is too serious about being intelligent.

In the meantime Belinda realizes the devilish charm of her client, while Nicholas was always honest how attractive her finds Belinda, this unwanted passion became quite an obstacle between the two and their goal.

What I truly adore is that setting, seemingly impossible situation where they have to stick together.

What I adore more that in the process they find more about each other and bare what's inside.

Belinda's prejudice is based solely from her failed marriage, this is why she is so opposed to Nicholas and his main goal, although she admits she is passionate about him, but she does not respect him as a man.

Nicholas shared his life being manipulated by his own father, like his first love was bought off, his famous scandal is nothing more but a fram-up from his father etc. he never even entered university he wanted and living in constant need to oppose and dig at him. Thus his reputation was notorious and not ideal among the bride market. But Belinda's words actually woke him up, even if they were truly hurtful. He indeed lived a life under influence of his father. When he realized he'd like to do something he knew a gentleman actually knows nothing outside of managing the estates, which was not helpful in any type of work.

It was fateful that at the end of the story he found his goal, since his estate that belonged to him always produced beer, but for his own family and not commercial purpose, he decided to change that. yet again his father came in to create troubles for him, but this time Belinda rushed in to save the day, like a knight in shining armor to save the beauty. After all she was also a wealthy lady all along. And she could invest into business and she will, because she loved the man, she saw his changes because of her.

In general it's such a nice story, with great character development and great romance.

RATE: 5/5

[Chinese BG novel] 笨蛋大小姐，但万人迷 by 竹外疏狂 / Silly, but charming lady

The next installment by the author of my personal favorite "Villain show" and "Three rebellious brothers" (of course the titles are shortned).

Original name of this novel was "One day I became a fake daughter" which can be seen from the cover, but later was quickly renamed to what it is today, I of course freewheeled in translating it, but it conveys the meaning. Once again I will be putting up my own summary too.

Summary: Shen Yi had a dream before she celebrated her 17th birthday, she saw the future in it in which she became a fake daughter and did not want to move out, did many things and soon met her bad ending. Shen Yi was puzzled because she was definitely not that type of person at all. But she was still stressed and afraid, what if she will become uncontrolled.

When the truth came out she moved out and refused to return to the Shen family.

But unlike the awaited scorn and disgust that she saw in her dreams the things were different in reality, her friends did not turn away from her, her fiance was there for her too. And even her brother and the true daughter moved in to live with her.

Although this novel is short by the number of chapters, but each chapter is like 10k characters in original, compared to usual 3k. And even if it feels like not much, there is still something to unpack between the lines.

I have no idea what this author does with her novels that gets to me, because from one side we have these tropey stuff and unimaginably cliche things like fake daughters and also if you read their works they read as if you watch a drama series, it's very engaging, but from another side they do not take the cliche path when it comes to the core situation and emotional exploration. How many stories are all the same where one of the fake/true daughters is good and other is evil. And how many of them actually explore any other type of situation with fake and true daughter actually being friends? Here is a completely different situation, it's more real? Because Shen Yi is full of guilt when she realizes that her dreams are actually true, she is a bit envious of the excellence of Jiang Yue (true daughter), but she also accept that Jiang Yue is truly great and kind. She also admits that even if she feels guilty, a very small part of her still wanted to stay or not allow things to be revealed, as she would continue to live with her family she cherished for so many years, but she also knew that her conscience will eat her alive if she attempted that. Which is totally human, unlike many of the melodrama stories that exist purely for entertainment with one person being so painfully one-sided in their pursuit of hate, vengeance or whatever.

Shen Yi despite often being described as silly and cute actually has a resilient personality, she might be silly a bit, but when you dig deeper you realize why she is like that, what made her like that, she might be showing her dissatisfaction, but she is not a petty personality, she knows what is right to do. For example, when she is asked to be replaced by Jiang Yue at the sports meeting so Jiang Yue will get points for her scholarship. She might have acted a bit, but she still gave up her place. To me it's true and more complicated personality shown than plain envy, that she is okay with allowing herself to be replaced, but she's not some saint that won't grumble about it a bit. Or how one of the characters, Xu Qingzhe saw her trying to clean the fish, because she's a lady from wealthy family she never touched these things, but despite her facial expressions and initial fear she still finished what she's supposed to do.

So even if some might find parts of her character unlikable, she's a nice main character overall. It's a nice journey to see what actually matters for her.

Also the novel has a type of open ending considering romantic relationships. Not because they're young, but because of what happens in the novel and how several lines of relationships were developed. They were not developed in a romantic way in any shape or form, but they have that potential.

/SPOILERS/

A bit of spoilers per usual.

I hope I won't rant for too long.

As explained Shen Yi has this type of personality, a bit of spoiled lady with a temper, but not much. She is actually pretty cheerful and cute.

When she realizes that her dreams are true, she can't help but feel guilty towards Jiang Yue, by this time they have a great relationship and they became friends. Shen Yi found out that she is Jiang Yue's savior and hero in a way.

But now things are different. Living with the knowledge of her replacing someone Shen Yi was completely devastated and when she came to the pivotal point that changed her life - car accident - she felt relieved that it happened, that now she can be more honest about things she knows but can't explain (prohibition).

Instead of staying with the Shen family, she moves out and lives with the Jiang family, she actually doesn't care much about wealth and stuff, for her family happiness is more importnat.

The one who acts the weirdest is father Shen. Has no official name actually, just Father Shen.

Later we find out that there is a reason for him acting like that, because he knew much earlier that his daughter was not his. But because she was raised at his home with his own beliefs of what a lady should look like he made the choice not to reveal the truth. Some of it can be traced to the middle when Shen Yi remembers that when she was younger she actually ate more and gained weight, so she was prone to gaining weight like her biological brother, but Father Shen made few harsh comments about her looks, which made her self-conscious and she lost weight eventually. Between the lines you can read that the influence of Father Shen is what built a character like Shen Yi, more like her unruly side, but the one who truly put a hand on her education was actually her friend Meng Zhihan, she was the one who took part explaining the right and wrong of life to Shen Yi. But to Father Shen it was no difference which daughter comes or goes, because he did not look at them as people, but more like tools, which is revealed much later. This became the reason for Jiang Yue and Shen Yu to leave the Shen family and move close to Shen Yi, so they could stay together, unlike Father Shen all children did not inherit his type of thinking. But also under pressure Father Shen shared the truth with the Wen family and consequently Wen Que, Shen Yi's fiance, knew the truth too, which consequently led to Shen Yi and Wen Que breaking up (although at first it felt like they'll stay together, since Wen Que did not care if she's Shen's daughter or not), because Shen Yi couldnt accept this act of lie. She disliked being lied to the most and also she hated that the choice of what to do with her life was made for her, by her father and Wen Que. Although this happened closer to the end of the novel of course, these revelations and break-ups. Before that I tought that Wen Que would be official ML, but he actually didn't feel like it at the same time, since other two male character had a development with Shen Yi that could lead to some sort of romance if author would give them a chance, basically what author did is to build a base for all three emotional lines and left it at that, without giving any of the male characters further development.

/-/

It was actually quite a heart-warming story with a bit of expanding family. It was nice to see how the younger generation acted about the situation and stuck together no matter what.

RATE: 5/5.

[MOVIE] Labyrinth (1986)

Sarah is on the journey to pass the Labyrinth and save her little brother from the Goblin King

So many years have passed and I'm still crushing on David Bowie in this movie. He was indeed my childhood crush okay.

I think I re-watched it more than a dozen times, each time at different period of time and each time I find different things and think of different things. Of course with all the modern tech knowledge it is impossible to look at it with childish eyes that had no idea about green screen or other means. Being older I can marvel at how the decorations and background work was done. I mean till this days I haven't seen anything that would sparkle as how this movie sparkled.

And the music. How great is the music in this one. 'As the world falls down' is still one of my favorite compositions ever.

It's such a wonderful story in its simplicity. The beginning is so on-point in showcasing Sarah's character and how she just wants to do her own thing instead of obligations of an older sister. Honestly the kid cried so heartbreakingly. And Sarah couldn't take it anymore and wished for her brother to disappear, only to find out that he was indeed stolen.

It's such a good lesson of the consequences of "those were just angry words".

Now she is on the quest to save her brother and must go through the Labyrinth, meating friends and foes. Basically, having the adventure she always dreamt about. Labyrinth isn't only an adventure, but a path to her growing up.

And of course this movie wouldn't be it without David Bowie. It's not even a point of discussion❤

RATE: 10/10.

* * *

There's such a sad love

Deep in your eyes a kind of pale jewel

Open and closed

Within your eyes

I'll place the sky

Within your eyes

There's such a fooled heart

Beatin' so fast

In search of new dreams

A love that will last

Within your heart

I'll place the moon

Within your heart

As the pain sweeps through

Makes no sense for you

Every thrill is gone

Wasn't too much fun at all

But I'll be there for you-ou-ou

As the world falls down

Falling

As the world falls down

Falling

Falling in love~...