Soulless Book Review

Title: Soulless

Author: Gail Carriger

Genre: Steampunk, Supernatural, Victorian England, Action/Adventure, Romance,

Plot: In a steampunk world populated by fashionable people by day and werewolves, ghosts and vampires by night, one Alexia Tarabtti is about to make several waves in her little social circle. Born without a soul and with the unpopular tan complexion of her dead Italian father, Alexia was put on the shelf at fifteen and spent her youth reading the fascinating books in her father's library. Now twenty-six, Alexia is a force to be recounted with and proves it by single-handedly killing a strange vampire who was bent on attacking her - and without an introduction no less!

This incident thrusts Alexia in the path of Lord Maccon, a Scottish werewolf who rapidly rose to power in the London area and commands the London branch of BUR - Bureau of Unnatural Registry which is a division of the queen's Civil Service. Having known each other for a few years now, Alexia and Lord Maccon are none too pleased to be mixed up in each other's company for long and fiery arguments abound. But with danger lurking in the shadows and the full moon just around the corner, things might get more than just a little steamy.

Likes/Dislikes: This was my first official steam-punk novel. I've been nosing around the genre for awhile now and picked quite the book to dive into. I was a little worried it would be weird - vampires and werewolves aren't really my thing, though I would take a werewolf story over a vampire one if given the choice. But aside from some distracting references to the vampires being gay, it wasn't nearly as dark and weird as I thought it would be. Instead, I was treated to some delicious {and very distracting} steamy scenes between our hotheaded hero and heroine. Teenage me would've burned the book but being married and having had a hospital birth did wonders for me in that regard, *wink* I still didn't much like the gay vampires though or the lengthy science experiment by the bad guys. And the carriage scene at the end was sadly anti-climatic to me.

Rating: PG-18 and up, mainly for content {a grand total of four steamy scenes that progressively got steamier toward the end, interesting little tid-bits of innuendo, gay vampires running around and a bloody torture scene/end battle}. Recommended for mature readers only.

Date Review Written: October 27th 2015

Mallee in October

"When clear October suns unfold

mallee tips of red and gold

children on their way to school

discover tadpoles in a pool,

iceplants sheathed in beaded glass

spider orchids and shivery grass,

webs with globes of dew alight

budgerigars on their first flight,

tottery lambs and a stilty foal

a papers slough that a snake shed whole,

and a bronzewing's nest of twigs so few

that both the sky and the eggs show through."

-   Flexmore Hudson

The Big Bang Theory 9.6

When the Swedish are about to steal Leonard and Sheldon's thunder on their experiment, they drop everything and start tracking down some helium, with hilarious results. With a choice between Kripke and a shady dealer in a car garage, the two have some deep thinking to do.

Meanwhile, Bernadette tells Penny that Stuart has gone on two dates with the help of a dating app on his phone. They put it on Amy's phone {much to her dismay} and gather around with Raj and Howard to mock the results. Amy gets the last word however.

While this episode was funny, it wasn't a huge hit with me. Probably because I was busy with the baby and didn't pay attention. Still, the two moving on and dating other people is fun.

Doctor Who 9.6

The Doctor {for unclear reasons} pops up in merry old England without Clara and is tracking something with a device that goes ding {not really} when he interrupts a robbery. Distracted from his search by the discovery of Ashildr and how dark the years have turned her. She has had to endure much of the same heartbreak he has had to endure - the loss of friends, family and, most painfully, the loss of babies you try so desperately to save. Pain has turned her into a hard creature and the Doctor wonders if he made the right decision.

But then her own plans backfire on her, jarring her back to life and the Doctor triumphs once more!

I didn't like this episode. Partly because the actress looked too young to be so hard and jaded, and partly because it was just boring. The Zygons next week don't look too much better but there is still some potential there. Much more than in this episode. I can't wait till Clara is gone. It was so nice not having her in this adventure.

Annabeth's War Book Review

Title: Annabeth's War

Author: Jessica Greyson

Genre: Christian, Fantasy, Action/Adventure, Drama, Romance

Plot: Annabeth was trained to use the sword by her warrior father and grew up separated from the girls and boys by this fact; the girls avoided her for her tomboy-ish ways and the boys beat her up for being better than them at such a manly activity. However, this never stopped her from becoming a sweet strong stubborn person and when circumstances force her to go on the run, living by her sword and fighting her own little war all by herself, Annabeth holds her ground steadfastly.

But she can't hold out forever and just when she needs it the most {whether she'll admit it or not}, God sends in help in the unlikely form of bounty hunter Ransom. Now aided by a strong skilled warrior, will Annabeth be able to win her war?

Likes/Dislikes: I've had the Kindle version of this book for a couple years now, just waiting to have time to read it, and I finally got the chance with my new birthday present. While there were some formatting issues with oddly placed paragraph breaks and commas that annoyed me, this was overall a really good story. I loved all the action, the adventure, the excitement and the sweet love story that gently unfolded throughout the story without distracting from it. Here and there it was a little obvious it was a debut novel, and I really wanted more backstory to everyone, more information about all these great characters. To me they were swaths of brilliant color that needed just a little more defining to be perfect, but I still really loved this book. I'll have to save up for the print version now.

Rating: PG-14 and up, mainly for content {violent sword-fights and a painful torture scene but nothing graphic}.

Date Review Written: October 20th, 2015.

Julep Maven Box Review

Alrighty, here's a fun little review that the girls will love. I was scrolling through my Facebook feed when a cute little ad about make-up caught my eye {probably mainly because it mentioned birthday girl in the wording}, so I checked into it and discovered Julep - an online make-up company that will send you a little box of goodies once a month {or more often if you're super into make-up}. You get $40 worth of make-up for a $25 monthly subscription, bu if you're like me and you want to try before you buy it, the first box is free. Just pay shipping, which for me was an easy $3.

Anyway, when the little purple box arrived, I got all excited and opened it up. Inside I found some paper explaining what the company is all about and a coupon {always love coupons} and of course, the actual make-up. There were four lovely items: three things of nail polish and a bottle of lip gloss. The nail polish is in slender square bottles that look very sleek and expensive. The first bottle of nail polish is Colton - a unique dark purple/black shade of nail polish made with green coffee extract {among other interesting and surprisingly healthy sounding ingredients}. The website says it dries very fast, has one coat coverage and allows more air to reach your nail beds while strengthening your nails. I haven't yet tried it myself {only just got it today} but I love the dark color. On the site it looks black but in the bottle it is clearly a lovely rich dark purple shade. I can't wait to try it out! It's a solid color too which is something I look for in nail polish.

The second slim bottle of polish is Mari Bombshell. This polish is magenta shade of pinky purple with a dash of sparkle. It doesn't overly shimmer and there aren't large flakes of glittery things floating around it in, making it an edgy sparkly polish while still remaining smooth and elegant. Definitely something I could see myself wearing and the color itself is beautiful. I'd love a slightly redder shade for Christmastime. Luckily, the website has a wide variety of nail polish to choose from so getting more will be easy.

The third bottle of nail polish is a very handy nail therapy solution that can double as a base-coat or just a clear stand alone polish that strengthens and hardens your nails. Essential vitamins and natural pistacia resin work together with five key extracts {aloe vera, lemon, ginseng, pomegranate and grape} to deeply nourish your nails and help reduce slitting, encouraging and helping your own natural nail growth. I have thin nails that are generally good nails but sometimes they d split in horizontal layers and that can be very annoying. I can't wait to apply some of this healing polish and track the improvements in my nails! It's also something I wouldn't have thought of to get myself and I'm so glad that whoever packed my box included it for me.

Now for the lip gloss! As a teenager I loved lip gloss; all the different sugary-sweet flavors it came in were a delight and once I got one that tinted my lips a faint pink {not that you could really tell with me but that was okay}. This is lip gloss for grown-ups. It's very classic and elegant with just a faint shimmer to remind you of starry nights and carefree youthful moments that sparkle in your mind and keep you going on the long coffee-fueled days. The color I was sent is Charming - an earthy dark rose shade with a thread of red woven delicately through it. This is the kind of lip gloss you can wear all day, to work, to school, to the supermarket and to those big special events while feeling comfortable and pretty the entire time you're wearing it. Opening the classy-looking bottle, the first thing I did was smell the lip gloss and surprisingly, it smells like chocolate. I made my sister confirm this. It goes on smoothly with a faint stickiness that comes with all lip gloss, but it doesn't taste like chocolate. I'm not sure if I'm relieved or disappointed about that. I will definitely be
using this a lot though.

I've explored the website while waiting for my order to arrive {coffee-deprived mommy brain thought it was two day shipping but instead it was standard; still it arrived very promptly and intact}. The website is laid out in a fairly easy to navigate way and had hundreds of items from skin care products to brushes, nail care tools, lip stick and eye shadow. I'm very keen to try some of the lipstick when I get the chance and several shades of nail polish have caught my eye. Every month you get a little window of time to look through that month's selection and customize your box. I like being able to do that, though I couldn't with my first box. Not that that bothered me too much. I'm not sure I'll be able to keep getting boxes of make-up every month but for those months when I want to treat myself or a friend, they're wonderful! New moms with babies who can't leave the house just yet would love something like this. I know I would've. If this sounds like something you'd like to do, please feel free to use my little code here and get $15!