What We Were Promised looked so promising sitting on the NetGalley shelf. It’s a very well-written book.
All of the characters were seriously lacking in their interactions with each other. There wasn’t much tension between husband and wife, mother and daughter or boss and employee.
I think there was supposed to be tension between the brothers, and Lina and Qiang. Lina and Qiang were going to run off together 20 years ago but they didn’t. No one else knows their secret – not even Lina’s husband, Wei, who is also Qiang’s brother.
Qiang disappeared 20 years ago and has had no contact with his family since then. Lina wants to know what happened between them. I think she was hoping that he would come back for her.
Everything was set up for fireworks or a fight. There was hardly even a cross word. It’s great to have a civil discussion in real life but in a book, politeness doesn’t work out quite as well.
I wanted to like this book but it was a little bit boring. I guess I’d give it 3 out of 5 stars. It was not as entertaining as I had hoped it would be.
If you were going to be a cross-dressing spy, do you think that you could be successful in hiding your true identity?
In The Best Bad Things by Katrina Carrasco, it’s 1887 and Alma Rosales has been dismissed as a Pinkerton Detective. Her former boss, Delphine, is the leader of a drug smuggling ring. Delphine hires Alma to find out who is stealing the drugs from her business.
Alma decides to use the alias of Jack Camp and dress like a man to infiltrate the local drug organization. The only other person that knows that she is a woman is Mr. Wheeler, the boss of the local dock workers.
Apparently, she is just as convincing dressing as a man or as a woman. If it were me, I would be worried that I would get drunk and tell everyone all of my secrets. I’d spill all of the tea.
It must have been hard for Alma to trust anyone, even Delphine. She’s in love with Delphine but doesn’t always like her plans. I think Alma also has a crush on Wheeler and vice versa. She likes to dress as a man but I’m not sure if she wants to be a man.
I can’t tell you how it ends but you won’t guess. I love it when I don’t guess the ending. It’s probably not going to end the way you think it would.
I received an ebook from NetGalley in exchange for doing a review. All opinions are my own. Obviously.
Once in a blue moon, I stumble upon music that doesn’t have words but is still enjoyable. If you need music to relax or help you focus on something besides finding a time machine to fix all of your mistakes, then I would suggest Lunar Femmes.
Lunar Femmes will be releasing a second EP, Stargazers, in October. It’s definitely ambient pop but not boring. I think that I could do a million blog posts, meditate or take a nap. Versatile music is new to me.
When I was little, one of my favorite fairytales was Snow White and Briar Rose (Rose-Red). It’s not a common story so I haven’t heard it in a long time.
While looking for more Celebrity Ghost Stories or New Years Day, I came across a video of Blackbriar, an alternative/gothic metal band from the Netherlands. Their name reminded me of the Briar Rose fairy tale. It’s like Blackbriar combines music with fairy tales and ghost stories.
I wanted to know more about Blackbriar. Sometimes it doesn’t hurt to ask if you can ask questions. Blackbriar is a band that you definitely should get to know.
Do you like real fairy tales or the sugar-coated stories?
Real fairy tales definitely! Also, Zora gets a lot of her inspiration from the ‘original’ fairy tale stories.
What have you been doing during your downtime?
In general, we usually don’t take a lot of downtime haha. Sometimes you won’t hear from us on social media for weeks but that doesn’t mean we are taking time off, or not doing anything at all. We are continuously working on new stuff and many of these things don’t get shared with our fans on our social-media because we are trying to stay as focused as possible during that period of time. We (Blackbriar) did take a short vacation in August. Even then we still worked on the production of our new CD and our crowdfunding campaign, which is still live!
Do you prefer to be an independent band?
Yes, at the moment we do. We have received many offers from interesting labels but at the moment we prefer to stay in control and head in a direction we feel is best for Blackbriar.
Will you be doing a tour in the United States?
We definitely will someday! At the moment, there’s nothing planned yet. It is actually one of our biggest dreams as a band and on top of our to-do list!
If you could put together a dream tour, who would you invite?
I think as a band we would probably invite all the artists that have inspired us to write our own music and help us become the band that we are today! Just to name a few: Kate Bush, In This Moment, Periphery, Halestorm, Epica, Lana del Rey, Nightwish, It’s gonna be a weird but legendary tour for sure!
Do you guys celebrate Halloween?
We love Halloween!!! Usually, we make sure we have a show during Halloween so we can wear costumes and make-up haha. However, we are most likely to skip this year but probably still going to a Halloween party somewhere 🙂
Why do you think people are fascinated with witches?
Because they are empowered female figures, close to nature and well… magic is awesome! 🙂
Would you ever cast a love spell?
NEVER!!
What do you want people to know about Blackbriar?
We would like everyone to know that you should check out our new EP called ‘We’d Rather Burn.” Please leave us a message on Social Media with your thoughts! Also, we would like to thank you for this lovely interview. Love, Blackbriar!
The second that I started playing this album by Houses, I knew that I would love it. It’s not a feeling that I get with every album.
The songs are all appealing in their own way. “Fast Talk” will have you hooked from the start.
“That song is meant to be a memorial for a group of friends I had back in my late teens,” explains Dexter Tortoriello, adding, “Thematically it’s almost like a ballet where you keep driving around the same blocks, and people start disappearing from the car because they’re going to jail or dying.”
Personally, I like “Pink Heaven.” It’s catchy and haunting at the same time – sort of like ghost stories. They scare us but we want to hear more.
Drugstore Heaven will be out for everyone to hear on September 28.
How to Love a Jamaican by Alexia Arthurs is a collection of short stories with characters from Jamaica. None of the stories intersect at all. On the surface, no one has much of anything in common, except that they are from Jamaica.
The characters are gay, straight, educated, uneducated, poor, rich and so on. Some of the stories are hilarious, while others are tragic.
I think that the commonalities of many of the stories are food and family. Most of the characters talk about their love of Jamaican food. They also discuss their relationships with family members, especially their mothers and siblings.
It’s difficult to pick a favorite story. There was so much variety that I don’t think anyone would get bored with this book.
I did like the story about Shirley, the pop star. There are some similarities to Rihanna, except that Rihanna is not from Jamaica. She’s from Barbados. FYI: Jamaica is about 1228 miles from Barbados. Did you know that Jamaica is only 238 miles from Cuba? Now we all know.
If you would like to know more about this book or the author, Alexia Arthurs, visit the following links.
Summer is technically over but it’s never too late to listen to Bayli’s album, Summer Mixtape.
Bayli makes what she does seem so easy and effortless. So what does she do? She’s a talented singer and songwriter. Her lyrics and videos are inclusive of everybody. I think if she met you on the street, she would be super cool unless you’re a jerk.
I really like the song “Out for Love.” Most people can relate to finding love being their priority. Bayli’s music is easy to relate to, plus she’s funny. She’s like the BFF you’ve always wanted to have. She is summertime personified.
I highly recommend listening to this album. It’s one of my favorite albums of the year.
This quote was on her website. It’s pretty accurate.
“I’m all about liberating the fans, and being with my community, I wrote a song called “With my people”, it’s about becoming empowered through togetherness; which is pretty much the anthem of my soul.”
