New KDrama just started

so your girl finally got out of her funk and started a new KDrama called Are You Human Too? It was released in 2018 in South Korea and I have to say I am whole heartedly invested in this shit. I mean my goodness I just wanna hug the AI Shin so much. He is such a good boy and a sweet AI and now I just want to own one and I swear I wanted to punch the main female Kang So-bong I like hit her because there is nothing I hate worse then a female who is SOOOOO Tough and can fight and kick ass and use to be this tough fighter and yet isn't tough at all and she yells and screams and then immediately flinches and is so weak. LIKE SERIOUSLY WHAT THE HELL pick one or the other if you are going to tell me and make me think she is weak and one moment have her picking on those weaker than her and hitting everyone then don't make her cower in front of the main male lead. That doesn't match what you are telling me.

She is finally growing on me though so that's an improvement. Though she is falling in love with the AI and I am curious to see how this will play out when the human wakes up cause you know he will I mean let's be honest this can't last.

Alright have any of you seen this one? What are your thoughts on it? 

CDrama

Summary:
Guan Xiao-tong has been cursed with Murphy's Law all her life. Every time her attainable desires are within reach, they somehow escape her grasp at the last moment. After her boyfriend dumps her and breaks her heart, Xiao-tong decides to use her psychiatry expertise to help others with love at an online matchmaking service. Soon a divorce firm opens across the street from her office, threatening the matchmaking service. The divorce firm's owner, Ji Jia-wei, thinks Xiao-tong's theory and love advice is idiotic while she thinks he is a cold hearted person who doesn't believe in love and only started his business so others can be like him. But since Xiao-tong is cursed with Murphy's Law, Jia-wei whom she has no interest in starts falling for her when she unknowingly starts to melt his ice-cold heart.

Released in 2015

I found this on Netflix and I was a little skeptical at first. What actually drew me in was the fact that Guan Xiao-tong was not looking to get involved in any relationship. Nor was the main lead. Did I know they would eventually. Yes, I was aware that eventually they would end up in a relationship and I was okay with that in fact I wanted them to and I was hoping that they would. I just was glad to see that she wasn't out there seeking him down. I was also pleased that he was the one that was constantly chasing after her. Another pleasing aspect of this show was that she ended up breaking off the relationship when she realized that she was changing to please him. I liked that and I liked that they both started to change and mature to be who they needed to be in order to be happy with themselves away from the others and realized that the other person did help them be better people. I liked that aspect. There were times I thought that he was overbearing and almost stalker qualities and I liked that he recognized this and changed it. It was also good to watch him mature and recognized his faults and that others tried to protect him and why. He was very good at seeing where he needed to change. I did also like that he and she as well became good friends with their exes (and by good mature would be a better word) at the end they were able to discuss things and move past the old hurts. All and all this was a very enjoyable CDrama and one I would recommend to others. Not all encompassing and Goblin worthy but still very good and one that should you need a good romance it was definitely worth it. 

Life Update

So I had these wonderful thoughts of posting a blog post everyday and it would be fantastic and because I posted daily I would have actual visitors and people would comment and I would be the life of the party and poof magically I could one day quit my job and retire and be a blogger for life.

Needless to say I managed to post a blog post everyday for 2 months SUCCESS then the real world kicked my ass and my job became more demanding and there were books I wanted to read but I didn't like and the library had these things called deadlines and BTS announced a comeback and then I opened a fan based blog so I could nerd out about them without boring you about them and then fanfic world exploded with new BTS fan fic and then I was given 2 new MAJOR projects at work and then consumers passed and then mercury went into FUCKING retrograde and I quit I just absolutely quit.


So that's it that's the whole I disappeared from life summary in a nutshell and what happened with this blog. I seriously just ran out of topics and interest and I just gave up. Not the blog per say but I just stopped everything I came home from work and just sat on my sofa and just quit. So I sincerely hope everyone who is reading this (hi mom) is doing okay and hopefully I can get back in the swing of things now that it is March and lord willing and creak don't rise spring!

Update on Reading Challenge ~ Week 8

Okay weekly update for my challenges...

I have read 5 books so far in 2020 and am working on book 6 
I have read from Library Love Challenge 5/24, Cloak and Dagger Challenge 5/25, and Personal Reading Challenge 5/62

I am still really focusing my time on fanfics (big surprise there) They are quick and easy plus I can read a chapter here or there on my phone in minutes.  I managed to read a few short stories AKA one shots. But I did manage to get 5 new full stories in. I will post reviews of these on Friday. 
for my challenge 33/52

I am still doing reviews here but I am also doing a bunch of them over at a blog I made for BTS fandom stuff.

That's all for me what about you? How are your challenges going? 

Photo A Day ~ Week 2

Week 1 was so much fun that I had to continue. So for this week we have Days 10-16
10. Loud, 11. Entertainment, 12. warmth, 13. In the Sky, 14. I love..., 15. A Challenge, 16. Broken

Day 10 ~ Loud

I don't necessairly believe in a favorite album... that being said however, I do play this one a lot. And when I play it I do it loudly very, very loudly so that everyone can hear the goodness of BTS

Day 11 ~ Entertainment

The most entertainment I have is listening to BTS, reading BTS, watching their videos, and most importantly communicating with ARMY. So when it comes to entertainment the natural selection is BTS

Day 12 ~ Warmth

Living in Missouri there are just not enough warm days so to stay warm one must bundle up in the puffiest coats and head out to enjoy the Tesla's one can never afford.

Day 13 ~ In the Sky

I took this beauty outside in my backyard. This is my favorite tree to attempt to draw or capture on film. I just love it

Day 14 ~ I love

I know my furbaby has a lot of photos on here but in reality she is the one I love. I mean come on look at those eyes.

Day 15 ~ A Challenge

 
I have no idea why taking a picture of my food with a camera no less is so freaking hard for me. I just can't seem to get the scale, or ISP right. Phone no issues what's so ever but damn it I try with a camera and it is like the worst ever so much editing done to make it look remotely good 

Day 16 ~ Broken

I took this as more of a broken view. I just couldn't seem to get a good picture of this church from any angle it was all broken up by wires and streets or houses and clouds. So I went with this shot. 

WWW ~ #14

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

Title: The Roses of May

Author: Dot Hutchinson

Goodreads Summary: 

Four months after the explosion at the Garden, a place where young women known as the Butterflies were kept captive, FBI agents Brandon Eddison, Victor Hanoverian, and Mercedes Ramirez are still entrenched in the aftermath, helping survivors in the process of adjusting to life on the outside. With winter coming to an end, the Butterflies have longer, warmer days of healing ahead. But for the agents, the impending thaw means one gruesome thing: a chilling guarantee that somewhere in the country, another young woman will turn up dead in a church with her throat slit and her body surrounded by flowers.

Priya Sravasti’s sister fell victim to the killer years ago. Now she and her mother move every few months, hoping for a new beginning. But when she ends up in the madman’s crosshairs, the hunt takes on new urgency. Only with Priya’s help can the killer be found—but will her desperate hope for closure compel her to put her very life on the line?

Reason: I loved the first one and wanted to see how this one would be

What did you recently finish reading?

Title: the Dry

Author: Jane Harper

Goodreads Summary: 

In the grip of the worst drought in a century, the farming community of Kiewarra is facing life and death choices daily when three members of a local family are found brutally slain.

Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk reluctantly returns to his hometown for the funeral of his childhood friend, loath to face the townsfolk who turned their backs on him twenty years earlier.
But as questions mount, Falk is forced to probe deeper into the deaths of the Hadler family. Because Falk and Luke Hadler shared a secret. A secret Falk thought was long buried. A secret Luke's death now threatens to bring to the surface in this small Australian town, as old wounds bleed into new ones.

What do you think you’ll read next?

Title: Talking to Strangers
Author: Malcolm Gladwell

Goodreads Summary: 

How did Fidel Castro fool the CIA for a generation? Why did Neville Chamberlain think he could trust Adolf Hitler? Why are campus sexual assaults on the rise? Do television sitcoms teach us something about the way we relate to each other that isn't true?

While tackling these questions, Malcolm Gladwell was not solely writing a book for the page. He was also producing for the ear. In the audiobook version of Talking to Strangers, you'll hear the voices of people he interviewed--scientists, criminologists, military psychologists. Court transcripts are brought to life with re-enactments. You actually hear the contentious arrest of Sandra Bland by the side of the road in Texas. As Gladwell revisits the deceptions of Bernie Madoff, the trial of Amanda Knox, and the suicide of Sylvia Plath, you hear directly from many of the players in these real-life tragedies. There's even a theme song - Janelle Monae's "Hell You Talmbout."

Something is very wrong, Gladwell argues, with the tools and strategies we use to make sense of people we don't know. And because we don't know how to talk to strangers, we are inviting conflict and misunderstanding in ways that have a profound effect on our lives and our world

Reasoning: this book just sounds interesting and who couldn't use strategies and tools to help make sense of people? 

Book Review ~ The Dry by Jane Harper

Title: The Dry
Author: Jane Harper
Published: 2016
Challenges: new author, cloak and dagger, personal reading challenge, library love

Goodreads Summary: 
A small town hides big secrets in this atmospheric, page-turning debut mystery by award-winning author Jane Harper.

In the grip of the worst drought in a century, the farming community of Kiewarra is facing life and death choices daily when three members of a local family are found brutally slain.
Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk reluctantly returns to his hometown for the funeral of his childhood friend, loath to face the townsfolk who turned their backs on him twenty years earlier.
But as questions mount, Falk is forced to probe deeper into the deaths of the Hadler family. Because Falk and Luke Hadler shared a secret. A secret Falk thought was long buried. A secret Luke's death now threatens to bring to the surface in this small Australian town, as old wounds bleed into new ones

My Thoughts: 
this book felt like it took forever to read. That' not to say it was bad it just felt like I really needed to sit down and focus on it. I am not sure if my interest was there 100% to be honest. It has the typical backstory of the main character interweave into a new mystery. This time though we solved both of them so that was refreshing.  The main character was a little standoffish for me but by the middle of the book I came around. I am curious how this is a series since the main character deals with money crimes normally this was a one off for him solving his best friend's murder. I did enjoy the characters and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the who did the actual crime. I think that this has potential as a series to go someplace. I think at this time I will leave it with this book and if I am looking and can't find anything I will look for the second in the series. I really did enjoy the way the outback was described and how the farmers were dealing with the drought. I would recommend it mainly for the way the author describes scenes and yet doesn't make you feel like you are drowning in description. 

FanFic Review ~ Crayons and Tattoos by PupleCatLady84

Title: Crayons and Tattoos by PurpleCatLady84

Main Pairing: Jeon Jungkook and Kim SeokjinChapters: 10/10Word Count: 29506Read in: January 2020
Challenge: doesn't meet the criteria

Author’s Summary: "Is there something I need to be concerned about now?"

"Our Kookie's husband appreciation time hyung", Jimin piped up, eyes turning into crescents at how wide he was smiling in Jungkook's direction. "Well technically his future husband. Kookie's love of his life still doesn't know it yet", and gave another high pitched giggle, with Hoseok pinching Jimin's arm with barely contained laughter.

Yoongi looked at the two like they have both grown insane but decided to play along and asked warily, "Well then, who is this unlucky person that Kook decided is the one?"

Hoseok pointed at someone outside the cafe across the street from their tattoo shop.

Yoongi just barely saw the mop of lilac hair as he passed by the corner, following Jungkook's line of sight, eyes going big and immediately blurted out loud enough for everybody to hear,

"You've got to be kidding me, you mean Seokjin hyung?"

----------
Tattoo artist Jungkook falls head over heels over teacher Seokjin and vice versa. Too much softness and fluff, and probably a little smut. That's it, that's the fic :)

·     My thoughts: 

     Oh my how freaking cute was this story. I struggle when it come to Jeon Jungkook fics and trying to find the right combination from him being too “alpha” or too tough to the opposite where he is almost too soft. However, when you combine him with Seokjin he becomes more dominate yet sweet and when you combine him with Kim Namjoon, he becomes submissive yet sweet. So this story focuses more on him with Jin and a relationship between them from the love at first sight to the official declaration of boyfriend to living together. This was one of those stories that I enjoyed watching the couple get together and not really change each other or grow mainly because they didn’t need to. They remained themselves yet wanting to be soft for the other person and I have to say it’s refreshing. Kook was just soft all the time and “looked tough due to tats” While Jin was a fluffy ball of softness. They were adorable and I love the whole Jimin, Hobi and Suga at the tattoo parlor and Tae, Joon and Jin as elementary teachers. It was a sweet switch up and I enjoyed it. I can’t wait to see what part 2 of the Crayons and Tattoos

will have.

Photo A Day Challenge ~ Week 1

So it began... Please see last week's post (here) in order to understand what and why I am doing all these in a week. 

Day 1 ~ Winter

Winter in the Midwest has always been it or miss. The longer I live though it seems to be a mild winters with lots of ice. This is a few days after a snow/ice storm and while it is currently 45 degrees outside winter has still left it's mark on the town. 

Day 2 ~ Frozen

This day I mainly focused on my editing program to see what effects I could do and what I could play with. I have to say that it was fun taking pictures of the ice on my deck. The editing tool I used was Lightroom and I am truly enjoying it.

Day 3 ~ Where I sit

 

So this was a fun one to take. I tried different angles and positions trying to replicate what it is like when I sit. However, the dog was having none of the attention the cat was getting so she made sure I snapped a good photo of her. So I sit on a love seat to watch TV and to read sometimes the floor hence the dog and her attention.

Day 4 ~ Straight

I took this prompt as a way to play in Lightroom and this is what I got. Straight lines :) I am actually kind of proud of this picture play around. 

Day 5 ~ Up High

This was taken at a museum in Philly when I was on vacation but never had the time or idea of how to edit it. I quite like it. 


Day 6 ~ Down the Road

This is down the road in my alley so technically down the road :) 

Day 7 ~ Furry Friend

This is my baby Nix AKA puppy. She loves to watch me do everything!

Day 8 ~ Circles

When in doubt always go with beer ;) 

Day 9 ~ Starts with a T

T was hard I couldn't think of anything and then I remembered tea like literal tea. However, before I could remember that I went to a flashback of meeting the Thor cast at a Wizard World and poof my T was Thor AKA Chris Hemsworth 
Sooooo worth it. 

WWW ~ #13

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

Title: The Dry

Author: Jane Harper

Goodreads Summary: 

A small town hides big secrets in this atmospheric, page-turning debut mystery by award-winning author Jane Harper.

In the grip of the worst drought in a century, the farming community of Kiewarra is facing life and death choices daily when three members of a local family are found brutally slain.
Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk reluctantly returns to his hometown for the funeral of his childhood friend, loath to face the townsfolk who turned their backs on him twenty years earlier.
But as questions mount, Falk is forced to probe deeper into the deaths of the Hadler family. Because Falk and Luke Hadler shared a secret. A secret Falk thought was long buried. A secret Luke's death now threatens to bring to the surface in this small Australian town, as old wounds bleed into new ones.

Reasoning: The Libraian suggested this due to how much I love Tana French

What did you recently finish reading?

Title: The Butterfly Garden
Author: Dot Hutchinson

Goodreads Summary: Near an isolated mansion lies a beautiful garden.
In this garden grow luscious flowers, shady trees…and a collection of precious “butterflies”—young women who have been kidnapped and intricately tattooed to resemble their namesakes. Overseeing it all is the Gardener, a brutal, twisted man obsessed with capturing and preserving his lovely specimens.
When the garden is discovered, a survivor is brought in for questioning. FBI agents Victor Hanoverian and Brandon Eddison are tasked with piecing together one of the most stomach-churning cases of their careers. But the girl, known only as Maya, proves to be a puzzle herself.
As her story twists and turns, slowly shedding light on life in the Butterfly Garden, Maya reveals old grudges, new saviors, and horrific tales of a man who’d go to any length to hold beauty captive. But the more she shares, the more the agents have to wonder what she’s still hiding... 

I really enjoyed this one... review is coming

What do you think you’ll read next?

Title: The Sun and her flowers

Author: Rupi Kaur

Goodreads Summary: 

From Rupi Kaur, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of milk and honey, comes her long-awaited second collection of poetry. A vibrant and transcendent journey about growth and healing. Ancestry and honoring one’s roots. Expatriation and rising up to find a home within yourself.

Divided into five chapters and illustrated by Kaur, the sun and her flowers is a journey of wilting, falling, rooting, rising, and blooming. A celebration of love in all its forms.

this is the recipe of life
said my mother
as she held me in her arms as i wept
think of those flowers you plant
in the garden each year
they will teach you
that people too
must wilt
fall
root
rise
in order to bloom

This rec'd such excellent reviews I had to read it for myself. 

Book Review ~ The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchinson

Title The Butterfly Garden

Author Dot Hutchinson
Published 2016

Summary
Near an isolated mansion lies a beautiful garden.

In this garden grow luscious flowers, shady trees…and a collection of precious “butterflies”—young women who have been kidnapped and intricately tattooed to resemble their namesakes. Overseeing it all is the Gardener, a brutal, twisted man obsessed with capturing and preserving his lovely specimens.

When the garden is discovered, a survivor is brought in for questioning. FBI agents Victor Hanoverian and Brandon Eddison are tasked with piecing together one of the most stomach-churning cases of their careers. But the girl, known only as Maya, proves to be a puzzle herself.

As her story twists and turns, slowly shedding light on life in the Butterfly Garden, Maya reveals old grudges, new saviors, and horrific tales of a man who’d go to any length to hold beauty captive. But the more she shares, the more the agents have to wonder what she’s still hiding... 


Thoughts: 
I am not really sure where to start on this review. While I enjoyed the book and clearly read it within the weeks’ time that I had. Now sitting back and reflecting, I feel conflicted. The premise was great, and I loved the shifting of past and present in this story. It felt like we were going down memory lane with the main character Maya. What I didn’t quite wrap my head around was the “big twist” of what she was hiding. It wasn’t that big of a twist, if that makes sense? I won’t ruin it because the book focuses on what she is hiding to reveal it in the last chapter and made me scratch my head.

Now that being said, this book has really stuck with me as I keep picturing the girls with their tattoos and survival of the butterflies. It was interesting enough I was tempted to get the second in the series until I realized that the next book only focuses on the agents who have moved onto another weird case and not really on the aftermath of the butterflies. I may still check it out for the main reason that the story itself was interesting and literally sucked me in. I ended up finishing it up during the Superbowl, LOL, which is saying something. I mainly wanted to know how it ended, which is pretty good as we start off knowing how it ended.

The characters are well-drawn out for the reader, and the gardener himself was just described well enough that the reader was both creeped out and yet weirdly fascinated with him. I enjoyed that while it was POV of Maya we did get to see the other girls through her eyes and what she did to adjust and adapt to her horrible environment. The author did not downplay the horrors in the garden, and yet it was almost like a hazy glass that we were looking through, and I enjoyed that. All in all, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is wanting to read a good psychological thriller.