Weekly Summary | Tuesday

8/14/2018
By Maegan Mariee
0 Comments

The Hangman's Secret | ARC Review

8/01/2018
By Maegan Mariee
0 Comments

"Choices can have serious repercussions, but they have to be made, no matter if they set in motion a steamroller of consequences that will crush us into dust someday."

It's the late 1890's in Victorian London, and somehow the hangman has gotten himself hanged. And not just in a normal, dignified way. But who could have committed such a horrible crime? And what did this hangman know that cost him his life? Sarah Bain and her companions, Lord Hugh Staunton and Mick O'Reilly are determined to find out, even though they're just at the crime scene to take photos.

The three of them work for The Daily World, a newspaper owned by a former bank mogul who's desperate to solve this crime, despite the fact that they have no business solving murders. That's never stopped them before however, as the three had 'solved' the Jack the Ripper crimes and even found out who kidnapped their boss's young son. Before the police could even get a whiff. Which makes for quite a few enemies.

There are quite a bit of characters in this book that are incredibly hostile to the trio, it actually made my head spin. Some of them had history with them, from the first two books in this series, and the others were just plain nasty. I suppose when you're trying to solve a murder, people are just like that when you try to ask them questions. I quite liked the mystery here, and it took a lot of twists and turns that were unexpected, especially when it came to Sarah, whose personally history is quite fascinating.

Going into this installment without reading the first two in the series, I found that I wasn't lost or confused at all. The author gave enough information to where I felt like I had just met the three for the first time over tea and had heard brief mentioning's of their adventures in the paper or something similar. This could easily be a standalone. The writing style was easy to follow and I liked that the mystery and story was a little fast paced. The author was descriptive without being overly so.

Some things that did bother me, though I believe it's a little historically accurate, was how people treated Sarah and Hugh. Sarah was sometimes looked down on because she was a woman in an unconventional field of work for the times. And Hugh, well he's been turned away from his family and most of the people he knew because he's gay. The vulgarity directed at the two during some conversations was hard to get through. But if you can handle that, then this is a great mystery for you to get into!

The Hangman's Secret comes out January 8, 2019!

♥

*Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC of this novel!*

books

Booktubeathon 2018 | Blog Style

7/30/2018
By Maegan Mariee
0 Comments

I love Booktubeathon. I have been watching it for the last two years and while I know that isn't very long, I absolutely cannot express how much I enjoy it. Books are everything to me and having other people online to watch and converse with is so important and exciting for me. But I've never been able to really join in because I don't do YouTube. However, this year, I've decided that I don't even care. I'm going to do it here on my blog!

The reading challenges are always seven, and always last seven days, so this is going to be an interesting week. (Challenge starts July 30th at midnight and goes until August 5th at midnight). I didn't get to finish all my books from the Bibliothon, so I'm adding the one I didn't into this challenge, in the hopes I can get it done.

So here are the challenges and what I'll be reading!

Day 1: Let a coin toss decide your first read.
[img]
My two choices; The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (heads) and Vicious by V.E. Schwab (tails). Winner:

Day 2: Read a book about something you want to do.

My choice; Get Your Sh*t Together by Sarah Knight. (Can you guess what I want to do?)

Day 3: Read and watch a book to movie adaptation.

My choice; Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling. (I've been meaning to reread the series. Like I need another reason to watch the movie, amiright?)

Day 4: Read a book with green on the cover.

My choice; The Hangman's Secret by Laura Joh Rowland.

Day 5: Read a book while wearing the same hat the whole time.

My choice; Mirage by Somaiya Daud

Day 6: Read a book with a beautiful spine.

Image to come! Hang tight!
My choice; Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I have an illustrated version of the book, so the spine is designed in an old tome style.

Day 7: Read 7 books.

My choice; the five people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom

All of these challenges can be combined. So if I want to read something green with a hat on, I definitely can, though combining will cause me to lose out on the last day of reading seven books. Some of the books I've chosen are pretty lengthy, so I don't know how I'm going to do. But here's hoping!

♥

books

The Girls of Murder City | Review

7/21/2018
By Maegan Mariee
0 Comments

"Chicago, bless her heart, will swallow anything with enough gore and action."

As a fan of the 2002 movie Chicago, I instantly picked this book up when I saw it on the discard shelf at the library. I love a good nonfiction and to be honest, I haven't read that many that were based in America, let alone in 1920 Chicago. For someone that has never looked into the era and knew nothing about it besides jazz and prohibition had happened, this was incredibly eye opening. You only ever know the era that you're born into, you can't possibly experience another one. So reading about it, learning about everything that a woman went through when she wasn't being accused of murder, made me feel grateful to have more freedoms.

However, if you were a 'lady-killer' of the times, you were one of two things. Either you were beautiful and fascinating or you were ugly and one hundred percent guilty. As men dominated the court rooms, they also made up the entire jury. So your looks decided upon whether or not you were going to swing or walk free. Honestly, it's not that much different today, though I'd like to think that whether or not someone is guilty would be looked into for the facts instead of just how someone looked. (Sadly, this might not be the case. I don't know, I'm not a lawyer and have never sat on a jury).

We follow a few different perspectives in this book with the voice of the narrator; one from the woman who eventually would write the play of Chicago, Maurine Dallas Watkins, who at the time is a journalist in the windy city. Or rather, the city of lady killers. We have two other women that we follow exclusively, Belva Gaertner, who inspired the character of Velma Kelly, and Beulah Sheriff Annan, who inspired the character of Roxie Hart.

We also get to see some of the lawyers that inspired Billy Flynn, who was a combination of two men, and a look into the lives of other women in the jail. It was an incredible read altogether. Sometimes when I'm reading things like this, it's easy to forget that this actually happened and it's wild when you remember it. History is a funny thing, isn't it?

♥

beauty

Tarte x Aspyn Ovard Face & Cheek Palette | Review

7/14/2018
By Maegan Mariee
0 Comments

books

July 2018 Bibliothon | Blog Style

7/13/2018
By Maegan Mariee
0 Comments

beauty

Zoella Beauty | Splash Botanics

7/09/2018
By Maegan Mariee
0 Comments

You all know I love a good product design...

Zoella Beauty always delivers. This time around we have palm tree leaves, hawaiian looking flowers, and hexagons. The color scheme is cute and bright, and honestly, there is no way that I could have been disappointed with this collection. I've seen that some of the formulas have changed for some items, so I was most interested in seeing how different they were compared to the last summer collection she released, Jelly and Gelato.

The bath items have always been creative with this brand. I will admit I haven't tried the bath milk from the Gelato range yet, but I definitely tried this one right away. A single sachet is good for one bath, though from the size of it, you can probably split it in half and get two uses out of it. This makes the water slightly milky and super hydrating. It didn't change the color of the water as dramatically as I thought, but my skin was so soft afterwards, so I've no complaints about that.

If there is one thing that Zoella Beauty does well, it's bubbles. The Splash Botanics version came in a milk carton like container, which I thought was so super cute and reminded me of the boxed water you can get. You only need a little bit poured into the tub and then you're covered in wonderful bubbles. I literally love this stuff!

I always love getting the mists because even though they are just a typical body mist, they last for at least twelve hours, in my experience. This year's scent is coconut water and lychee, which is a beautiful fresh and gentle scent. I've seen some reviews that claimed it smelled like a men's cologne, not in a bad way. I can't make that comparison, I don't think it smells like a men's cologne, though it could probably be a unisex scent. My husband liked the smell, so maybe that's a good indication!

I really liked the Shower Shake from the Jelly and Gelato collection, so I was glad that they brought it back with this release. It's good as a body wash, but it's even better as a shaving cream. It's incredibly moisturizing and hydrating so it leaves the legs super soft and lovely.

A new addition, the lip oil. I was very intrigued by this, as the last time they released a lip product, I wasn't quite a fan. It was a tinted balm from the Tutti Fruity collection and I haven't touched it since testing it out a little bit after it's release. I should probably toss it at this point. The lip oil, however, is not tinted and smells like cherries, rather than the fresh scent the rest of the collection has. It's supposed to smell like some baby doll from the 90's, which I think I remember, but I can't be sure. Regardless, it's a nice smell and while the oil doesn't last as long as I would like, it's been a nice addition to my makeup bag.
I completely forgot to take a close up of the body lotion, "Body Sorbet", but this is one of the products that has a new formulation. The last lotion we got had bursting beads that really helped to soften the skin and I can't even express how much I love it. The Quench Me sorbet is a weird looking lotion. It jiggles! However, it's incredibly light and sinks right into the skin once you put it on. It's not sticky and you don't have to wait to get dressed or do anything else because it's not lingering on the skin. It's perfect for the heatwave we've been having this summer!

♥

Pages

Weekly Summary | Tuesday

The Hangman's Secret | ARC Review

"Choices can have serious repercussions, but they have to be made, no matter if they set in motion a steamroller of consequences that will crush us into dust someday."

Booktubeathon 2018 | Blog Style

The Girls of Murder City | Review

"Chicago, bless her heart, will swallow anything with enough gore and action."

Tarte x Aspyn Ovard Face & Cheek Palette | Review

Who doesn't love a YouTuber/beauty collaboration?

July 2018 Bibliothon | Blog Style

The book posts are going to be a little heavy this month, I think.

Zoella Beauty | Splash Botanics

You all know I love a good product design...

About me

Featured Post

Life Checkup | 2018

Twitter

Currently Reading

Blog Archive

Popular Posts

Search This Blog

Instagram