It’s time for a biweekly check-in!

Hi, friends! I’m really excited while writing this post because I’m looking forward to a very exciting weekend. Saturday is Isaac’s birthday and he’s having his first ever birthday party! (Not counting little celebrations at home with family, of course.) We rented a local place to throw the party and invited all his friends from the library and karate class. Then on Sunday, I get to finally meet my best friend IRL! 🥹 Malli (who you all have heard me mention a million times if you don’t know her yourself) is coming near me and we’re going to meet up and I’m probably going to be an emotional wreck the whole time! 😭 I’m so excited! 💖

I’ve actually been reading a lot the past few days! I really, REALLY hope it means my reading slump will end soon. This is the longest slump I’ve had in a while and it’s really sucked! On a happier note, Misty and I buddy read Leather & Lark and it was so good! I did prefer Butcher & Blackbird a little, but I was definitely still very pleased with this new book of Brynne’s and I can’t wait for the third book! (I think we’re getting a cover reveal today!)

• Woe: A Housecat’s Story of Despair by Lucy Knisley ⭐⭐⭐
• Leather & Lark by Brynne Weaver ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• D is for Degenerate by Iain Rob Wright ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• I’m a Therapist, and My Patient is Going to be the Next School Shooter by Dr. Harper ⭐⭐⭐⭐

📚 current reads 📚

I still haven’t finished almost any of my current reads I’ve been working on for this past while, as you can see. I’m re-reading Phoenix Unbound with Misty and really loving it this second time around! It was my first Grace Draven book that I ever read back in 2018 and I would say it was the book that kind of kickstarted my interest in the romance genre, so it’s been really fun to revisit it. I also started Beloved yesterday with Sadie/Mother Horror’s Patreon book club in honor of Juneteenth. I’ve been meaning to read this forever, and it’s been really beautiful and sad so far. I can already see why it has resonated so strongly with people for so many years and still gets recommended so frequently.

• The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington → 54%
• Slaying the Vampire Conqueror by Carissa Broadbent → 36%
• That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming → 15%
• The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland → 61%
• Gather Round: The Internet’s Scariest Campfire Stories edited by Dan DeLuise → 47%
• Heartless Heathens by Santana Knox → 32%
• Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton → 3%
• Why Didn’t You Just Leave edited by Julia Rios & Nadia Bulkin → 9%
• My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen → 19%
• Phoenix Unbound by Grace Draven (RE-READ) → 50%
• Beloved by Toni Morrison → 7%

I finally watched I Spit On Your Grave (1978) for the first time and I fully understand why so many people advised me NOT to watch it. I guess my curiosity was finally sated, but I’m not sure it was worth the experience. If you haven’t seen it, I won’t say it has no redeeming qualities, because the lead actress was pretty enjoyable, but it has FOUR separate, very graphic assault scenes and there was nothing the movie could do that would redeem itself for me after that.

Complaints about the movie aside, I’ve seen several people discussing the belief that this is a rare case where the remake is better than the original, and supposedly it has MUCH less graphic content, so I’ll probably watch it soon and post my thoughts on comparing the two.

What are you reading right now, or what did you recently finish? Is anything exciting happening in your life? Let me know in the comments!

— destiny ♥

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