The Short Stack: Mini Book Reviews. Dive Bar at the End of the World, Mislaid in Parts Half-Known, Tunnel of Bones, I Call Upon Thee, Murder on the Red River, The Box in the Woods

 

4 Stars

I really enjoyed this one! Not quite as much as some of Kelley Armstrong’s other books, but it was still such a fun, unique read. The plot had me trying to piece things together and occasionally going, “Okay… what the hell is happening?”

There were quite a few characters, so I struggled keeping everyone straight at first, but once I got that figured out, I was good. I liked the mystery of where everything was going, and it definitely kept me wanting to read. It may not be my favorite of hers, but I’m always going to pick up a Kelley Armstrong book because she knows how to make a story weird enough that I need to see it through.

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4 Stars

It’s another Wayward Children book, so honestly… at this point I’ve accepted that I will NEVER remember all these characters. There are SO many of them, and I’m constantly trying to figure out who is who.

But I really do love this series for the doors and all the completely different worlds behind them. Every time we get to explore a new one, I’m in. This one was another solid 4 stars for me, and I’ll absolutely keep reading the series because I need to see what weird world we’re getting next.

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4 Stars

This was such a fun little creepy read! It’s middle grade, so obviously it’s not going to be super deep or anything, but I really don’t care. I LOVE the characters, I love the mystery, and the whole thing has this creepy feeling that I really enjoyed.

It’s a quick read, but it still managed to keep me interested the whole time. I’m definitely excited for book 3 because I need to know what happens next!

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1 Star

I DNF’d this one because I just could not get into it. It was slow, hard to follow, and I didn’t like the characters or the story enough to push through it.

And honestly, this is the third Ania Ahlborn book I’ve DNF’d, so I think I’ve finally accepted that I just don’t vibe with her writing style.

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4 Stars

I didn’t like this one quite as much as Where They Last Saw Her, which was one of my top reads last year, but I still really enjoyed it. It was a little harder for me to follow, though, and apparently that’s becoming a theme lately.

I really liked the mystery and thriller aspect, and I especially appreciate how the author highlights the ways these things specifically affect Indigenous people. I wasn’t completely sold on Cash, though. Sometimes it felt like she was trying a little too hard to be the “I don’t give a shit” cool girl. Hopefully I like her more in the second book.

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4 Stars

I wasn’t sure what to think at first since this one takes the series away from the school and into a summer camp, but I ended up really liking the change. The creepy, isolated camp atmosphere worked so well with the mystery.

I love Stevie, I love her best friends, and I loved the mystery. I ALWAYS think I know who did it, and I am ALWAYS wrong. At this point, I kind of love that I can’t figure these books out. It keeps me guessing right until the end.

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Awe Monday! Colorful Kisses

   

Awe (Awww) Mondays is hosted by Comedy Plus! Just post a photo that makes you say AWE! and link up.

Tag, You're It! What's On My Phone Tag

The Last Thing on Your Phone tag found from MommaBlogsAlot and I added a few questions as well!

1. What was the last photo you took?

I did a paint photoshoot and when I took my pants off I had somehow gotten paint on me.

2. What was the last text message you received?

From my best friend, Andrew, "Hi, sorry for not responding sooner, work was f*cking aggravating. I sincerely hope your day got significantly better"

3. What was the last note you took?

My blog schedule lol

4. What was the last thing you googled?

What momo twins are, I saw a post on fb about it, so I was very curious.

In case you're wondering  momo twins, or a monochorionic/monoamniotic twins are twins that share a single placenta and a single amniotic sac. Apparently it's not a good thing? I didn't delve that far into it.

5. What’s your most used emoji?

My top five most used are: 🙂🙁😭🤣🤤

6. What’s your home screen photo?

It's usually pictures of my kids rotating, but I tried to change just my home screen and NOT my lock screen and I accidentally did both???? And I've been too lazy to fix it. So this is it currently. It is super cute though.

7. What was your last food delivery?

We had Shake Shack! It wasn't good!

8. How many unread notifications do you have on your phone currently?

You don't want to know lol. 

3 from weather channel, 1 from fandango, 1 from nourish, 1 from hablitic, 1 from toki, 6 from rosebud, 7 from goodreads, 7 from fable, 1 from storygraph, 15 from etsy, 62 from pinterest, 10 from messenger, 1 from groupme, 2 from Chatgpt, 332 from discord, 10 from thingsbook, 348 texts, 65 phone call notifications, 12 roblox, 2 flourish, 1 google photos, 2 capcut, 3 fellowship church, 6 bible...

You do the math lol. 

9. How many alarms do you have set?

I don't have any set, but I have 5 that I've used.

10. What apps do you use the most?

My most used are: Facebook, messages, TikTok, ChatGPT, Instagram, Google Photos, and Amazon.

11. What percentage is your battery at right now?

Currently 52%

12. What is your average daily screen time?

Bro, I am ashamed. 8 hours 20 minutes.

13. What app takes up the most of your screen time?

Facebook at a whomping 11 hours and 3 minutes (That math ain't mathin...)

14. What is the most recently received notification on your phone?

Something shipped on Amazon, one of the girls Christmas presents.

15. What was the last app you downloaded?

Reel, I haven't used it yet.

16. What was the last screenshot you took?

Besides my lock screen... This is awful, please don't judge me. Dark humor is how I survive.

17. What was the last song you listened to?

The Great Unknown by Ice Nine Kills

18. How many photos are currently in your camera roll?

Yikes. 13,692

19. How many browser tabs do you currently have open?

95! Lol, I'll clear it out soon.

Finn's Noms: Molly's Meatballs with Onion sauce, Glazed Carrots, and Fluffy Potatoes

Finn's Noms is a weekly feature where Finn picks recipes out of the (many) cookbooks we have, and then cooks them for us!

What book: The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook 

What recipe: Molly's Meatballs with onion sauce, glazed carrots, and fluffy potatoes

Did we change anything: Nope! 

Why we chose that recipe: It looked fun to make

Thoughts:

I liked it, I think it would go really well in a pasta. 

Would we change anything

More onion sauce I think- Ash

Adding it to a pasta- Finn

Would we cook it again.

Yeah!

4/5 Yums

I don't like meatballs, ever. So I was really nervous about this recipe, when Finn cooks I always worry I won't like it, even though Finn says that he knows not everyone will like everything, I don't want to hurt his feelings.

Anyway! I loved these. Finally found meatballs I will eat, the onion sauce was so good, the boys thought it wasn't thick enough, and I think we definitely should've added more.

The glazed carrots were.. Oh my god, so good. John didn't like them, but I loved how sweet they were. Only thing I didn't like is that it was a little too candied on parts and it made it a bit hard to eat.

But damn it was good!

Next week we will be making broccoli and cheese stromboli with roasted garlic green beans.

Weekly Wrap Up: September 20th-26th

                            

Weekly Wrap Up: September 20th-26th

Life Stuff:

The only downside to writing these is trying to remember the beginning of the week.

Like, what did I do Sunday/Monday/Tuesday?

Oh! I remember, okay, so Sunday we just hung out, enjoyed my parents still being gone.

Monday I picked them up from the airport, Tuesday we played minecraft a bit, Wednesday we went to a friends house, Thursday I decided to blog again and Finn cooked an amazing dinner. It was homemade meatballs, onion gravy, mashed potatoes, and glazed carrots. 

Friday I didn't do much of anything until the evening. We had a parents night out at church and we were going to see the new Resident Evil but I had a panic attack, which sucks. We haven't been out without the kids in 6 months and I messed it up. High five. 

Anyway, what I saw of it I loved it though and then I went home and me, my best friend Andrew, and Finn played Shift at Midnight for a bit.

I finally slept, 8 whole hours and woke up feeling so groggy and with a headache. Yay.

Saturday we had D&D, then I had a photoshoot, and we had a gnome family night. We didn't get to watch the movie or play the game, but we had mushroom shaped caprese bites and gnome brownies (Mini brownies topped with whipped cream and strawberries). We ended the night watching Passenger. 

    

Coming up this week:

Church, and Sunday evening (tonight) me and my mom are going to see the new Practical Magic, I don't think I have anything really planned Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. Thursday Finn cooks and I'm going to go see Verity, Friday we take him to his dad's and Saturday we have family night (Vampire themed!)

That's it for this week. Prepping for Indie's birthday party on the 10th, hopefully reading, hopefully watching lots of horror movies, playing some games. The fun stuff.

Photos from this week:

Books Read: 

Played:

Watched:

This week's TBR:

This week's TBW: