Letters, my love language... part I

 Dear Hudson,

How are you feeling these days? I hope you are healthy, happy and surrounded by people who love you and nature that grounds you. There are so many things I want to say to you but the most important one is THANK YOU FOR BEING YOU every single time. Thank you for always uplifting your loved ones; Thank you for speaking your truth with no shame; Thank you for taking care of yourself so beautifully; Your acting, writing and directorial skills are out of this world. I have been following and supporting your journey every step of the way and I'm never going to back down. You are a wonderful soul who deserves every bit of happiness and success as everyone you wish it for. You have inspired so many people around you and overseas it is now impossible to look away from your light. I keep wishing to meet you one day just for the sake of giving you a hug and listen to you talk about whatever you want to talk about. In your own words: never lose your spark of madness. Love and light,

Signed,Carla.

🌟🌟🌟 THE GIVER OF STARS by Jojo Moyes 🌟🌟🌟

 

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I didn't think it would enthrall me this much but it actually did!!!

I was hoping for an angsty romance and ended up delighted listening to Julia Whelan narrate so beautifully as she always does the vibrant and empowering story of these remarkable young women who decided to transform people's lives with their amazing travelling library.

Give it a go if you are looking for a wonderful mix of history, romance, love of books and female empowerment.

Once again the extraordinary power of audiobooks and the lasting effect they leave on you when the one giving voice to them is committed in making you feel for all the characters.

View all my reviews

BOOK REVIEW: OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon

 

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I remember when the TV adaptation came out I immediately delved into it without any hesitation. It was Scotland, romance, history and fantasy all entangled up beautifully together.

As the season progressed I became more interested in the plot and the character development. So much so that I decided to give it a go much much later in the seasons to start reading the books. It was a different approach than the one I generally take with book adaptations because in this specific case I had found out it was based off the book after watching the premiere so the concept of starting the series took a bit longer once I got hooked with the TV adaptation.

I got the first two books as a Christmas gift a couple of years ago and I started reading. I don't know whether it was the fact that I was not reading synced with the TV show; or the book edition or whatever but, surprisingly, it took me AGES to read ONE single chapter. I dragged it along so so much that I eventually decided to stop reading.

A couple of weekes ago I got hold of the audiobook and seeing that I had it unfinished on my nightstand I was determined to give it another go and finish it so I resumed my reading but this time along with the listening experience and THANK YOU DAVINA PORTER for imprinting such a nice change in the pace and the atmosphere of the story.

I can proudly say I finished the first book in the series. I have the second one on print as well so I'm planning to stick to the same routine of getting the audiobook, reading and listening to it simultaneously and moving forward with the other ones.

Lesson learned: long historical fantasy romance novels are not my cup of tea but I would still give them a go if there is audio to go with them.

View all my reviews

YAGA by Kat Sandler -

 

Yaga by Kat Sandler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This has been a wonderful play to read and experience. I hadn't been so amused reading a play since The Importance of Being Earnest by the one and only Oscar Wilde.

I came across this play because of Hudson Williams's casting announcement in the soon-to-be Crave's TV adaptation.

Kat Sandler is magnificent. I'm of the idea that if I truly enjoy reading work from an author/playwright I'll keep reading everything in their repertoire to have a full understanding of them. Having stated that, I'll be reading past and future works of hers.

I highly recommend it for the laughs you'll get, the horrors you may encounter, the nonsense in between and the historical background of a folk tale/myth/legend? You name it.

---------
"You say these things and now it’s time to listen.

She leans forward impossibly slowly, as if to tell us a secret, suddenly, terrifying:

ARE YOU LISTENING?

Blackout."

(YAGA - YOU SAY - page 13)




View all my reviews

💖💖 💖 THREE OF US - A scene taken from "YAGA" by Kat Sandler - 💖💖💖

💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

YAGA: Three is a good number. Three wishes, three witches, three words. Three parts of a story. Three bears, three fates, three Stooges. 

You can make decisions with three—you can get things DONE. 

So, every so often, there must be a baby. Now, we all have a say, but the youngest decides, it’s her body—we only ask that she not take too fucking long. 

First you have to find the man. That sounds easy, but it’s not, because there are so many men, and so many of them are stupid. Stupid men make stupid babies. And nobody wants a stupid baby. So it is important that he is clever.

The other important thing is that he’s handsome—being handsome doesn’t make a better baby, but it doesn’t hurt. Besides, we have to fuck him and that’s more fun if he’s good-looking, that’s just the truth.

Now, how it works: the man is drawn to us. Pheromones, smell, how our hips sway: magic. He devours us with his eyes, breathes us in, and imagines fucking us with his very soul. As for the fucking, I don’t have to tell you about it. It’s very good. We are fantastic in bed. Sometimes we throw in tricks, we have a nice time. Once is enough, for the baby. But sometimes we do it more. If we want. Me, I always want. So sue me, it’s fun. 

And of course, there are magic words. And let me tell you, magic is fucking hard. But a baby is magic, so it’s worth it: Without her, there can be no beginning, no middle, no end. So there must be three because three is forever.

And timing . . . is everything: You can’t fight time. It always runs out. Tick tock.

💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

💖💖💖💖 Buy it from: Amazon.com: Yaga eBook : Sandler, Kat: Tienda Kindle 💖💖💖💖

CHILDLESS WITCHES - A scene taken from "YAGA" by Kat Sandler -

YAGA comes across the stage. We’re still in house lights. She speaks directly to us, getting us to sit down, etc. She pours and takes a few shots of Ukrainian vodka over the course of this monologue.

YAGA: Hey! Hey! Hey! Let me ask you. (light shift) Do you have child?

Or are you childless?

What a thing to say. As if you’re somehow less without child.

But, let’s talk about childless witches.

Childless witch helps two kids escape their shitty parents, lets them eat

her nice candy house, she gets burnt to a crisp.

Childless witch helps royal couple get child, doesn’t get an invite to the

christening, organizes a nice long nap for princess, witch gets sword

skewered by a prince.

Childless witch protects young girl by putting her in a nice tower, girl

gets knocked up by prince, witch loses her forever.

Things do not work out well for childless witches.

But can you think of any other kind?

When was the last time you heard of a wicked witch . . . with a baby? A

mother witch? I mean honest-to-God practises-magic-dances-with-the

devil witch . . . who is also a card-carrying member of reproductive

society?

Never.

So, we get pushed into ovens, stabbed with swords, and chased by

dwarves—little fuckers.

So, why not just have kids? Why not pop out a few buns, if only to

delay the stake, the cross, the rack.

WHY NOT?

Is it a biological issue? Are we all somehow, truly barren? When you

make that deal with the devil does she take your uterus?

She takes a shot.

No! Of course not.

Or is it that no one will fuck us? Because we are evil, or have bad

manners and don’t floss?

She takes a shot.

No! Of course not!

Is it because we are old, and ugly, as the stories KEEP REMINDING US?

Because we have teeth where our pussies should be?

No! Of course not!

We have magic, motherfuckers—we are fascinating and sing

beautifully. We talk to the trees and have MANY EXOTIC PETS.

Then is it . . . that the men who tell our stories are . . . scared of us?

And a witch with a child . . . that would really scare them . . .

Because they know that through children we will live forever.

And they’d rather we . . .

Poof.

Disappear.

Better to say we eat children than that we have children.

So it seems to me, to us, that the first thing you should concern yourself

with, as a witch—

She raises the final shot to us.

Is how to live forever.

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

You can buy the extraordinary play here.

💖💖 What do I know about LOVE? by Camila Cabello 💖💖

What do I know about love?

Nothing

Where does the love go when it runs out?

When does it leave?

Why does it die?

Do you kill it in one violent blow?

Or is it a million unattended

Unhealed little cuts and scratches?

What do I know about love?

Everything

It creeps into my chest

Uninvited and untameable

I know love has no mercy on anyone

Rich, poor

Independent, codependent

Confident, insecure

It'll bring you to your knees if you did it right

What I know for sure about love is

That you never come out of it the same

The other person is a chemical and I am a chemical

And we both will come out as different people than when we met

I know when you're in love, kissing is everything

'Cause words aren't the only way to tell someone how you feel

I know when you fall in love you feel like you're the first

And only two people in the world

Every kiss, every touch, every caress is like something you feel

Nobody has ever felt before

And you think, has everybody that's fallen in love before just walked around this nonchalantly the whole time?

You're at a restaurant with your friends and you can feel it

The secret under your tongue

Burning like fire

But sweet

And it creeps up to your cheeks and makes you smile

And suddenly you look down and you see your heart's veins reaching

Reaching

Clinging to someone else's heart

I've learned a lot about love in my 20s, but

Not enough to maintain any control in the face of its power

And for every new thing I learned

There was something else I couldn't understand

All I know is love changes you

If you're lucky, to something better

What I know for sure is falling in love with life itself

Makes an artist out of everyone

I thought I was making art before

Writing songs was me making art but

Now I want my life to be the work of art

And my songwriting to be the camera

That I take a picture of it with

It's what I'm living

That's the art

What do I know about love?

Maybe nothing

And that's why it's everything

BOOK REVIEW: THE BLUE HOUR by Paula Hawkins

The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Definitely one of my favourite thriller authors. She does an amazing job conveying the characters' journeys individually and intertwined.

I can proudly say I'm all caught up reading her work and I'm eagerly waiting for the next one.

An added bonus is reading the book as you listen along with the audiobook. Gemma Whelan is a genius narrating and conveying the different characters' voices.



View all my reviews

BOOK REVIEW: "HAPPY PLACE" by Emily Henry

 Hello my beloved bloggers!!!

Happy New Year!!! I know it's been a while but I felt it was about time I delved right back into writing and what better way to start than with a BOOK REVIEW 😄😄😄

For a while now I've been tracking my reading through Goodreads. It's been very helpful in keeping me in check about the habit of reading. I love reading but because of daily life I find excuses not to spare some time to it so Goodreads ended up being my accountability website LOL. 

Last year I completed my Reading Challenge of 12 books. This year I wanted to keep the same amount of books just to train myself in reading often. January being almost over I was panicking that I was not going to make it having 4 BOOKS on my CURRENTLY READING shelf until I found a GREAT solution: AUDIOBOOKS!!!

Yes, my beloved readers, AUDIOBOOKS count as reading because you are listening to someone read to you and in my case I read as I simultaneously listen. My first completed audiobook is written by the one and only EMILY HENRY - queen on modern romance - and narrated by the absolute best JULIA WHEELAN. 

Below you'll find my Goodreads Review and if you are interested in being friends on the platform let me know or add me up!!

Have a wonderful week and see you soon!!!

💕💖💗💘💙💚💛💜💝💞💓

Happy Place by Emily Henry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Once again, Emily Henry proving she is a master in her craft. I absolutely loved this story from beginning to end: the characters are SO relatable especially the female protagonist. Each and every time I feel SO identified with what she's going through, her own thoughts, fears, joys.

Genuine satisfaction and that for me is the best feeling after reading any book.

Considering that I've been listening to Julia Wheelan narrate all her novels so far no wonder I'm going to keep listening. She not only delivers each line majestically but the way she changes from a male character to a female character to a younger character and even an older character is superb. It gives me the proper enthusiasm to train myself in doing the same thing.

On to the next Emily Henry's book on my TBR shelf.

View all my reviews

THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY - Annotated Episodes - coming soon! 💕

 Hey guys!

I hope you are having a great weekend. For a while now I've been considering the project of annotating episodes of my favourite TV show - THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY.

When I first discovered the show, I gave it a shot because Amazon was going to be releasing the entire Season 1 and season 2 episodes for free on YouTube for a limited time and I just could not miss that opportunity. 

I jumped in without knowing anything about the show, the actors, the fact that it was based on a trilogy and that the author of the trilogy was in charge of creating, producing, writing and directing the show. In other words, I jumped in completely BLIND and I absolutely LOVED IT. 

In fact, I loved it so much that I rewatched the 2 seasons back to back over and over 'til season 3 came out and therefore started watching weekly. Not long after mid-season 3 was out, I rewatched seasons 1 and 2 with the sole purpose of recreating Belly and Conrad's relationship timeline through the flashbacks. 

Once that was sorted out and feeling completely flustered that they were not together by that time, I decided to follow the trajectory of the Infinity Necklace so I NEEDED to watch the series again... LOL!

Due to the fact that I was scribbling all these notes on my notebook, I decided I needed to digitalise them and release them to the Universe so HERE WE ARE... AT LAST ;)

I'll be uploading the annotated episodes periodically.

Thanks for reading! 

Love you, bye!

💕💕💕

Lessons from Aristotle on the Art of Connection

 Good evening my beloved readers,

Today is another wonderful day sharing amazing content from my currently favourite writer Maria Popova.

This time I bring you the understanding behind the complex yet beautiful concept of FRIENDSHIP as seen through Aristotle's eyes and perception.

Taken from the article cited below:

The Science and Philosophy of Friendship: Lessons from Aristotle on the Art of Connection – The Marginalian

He recognized three types of love — agape, eros, and philia — which endure as an insightful model for illuminating the nature of our relationships. 

Agape is a broad kind of love, the kind that religious people feel that God has for us, or that a secular person may have for humanity at large. Eros, naturally, is more concerned with the type of love we have for sexual partners, though the Greeks meant it more broadly than we do. Philia is the type of love that concerns us here because it includes the sort of feelings we have for friends, family, and even business partners.

Aristotle further classified friendships into three distinct categories: of pleasure, of utility, and of virtue:

In friendships of pleasure, you and another person are friends because of the direct pleasure your friendship brings — for instance, you like and befriend people who are good conversationalists, or with whom you can go to concerts, and so on. Friendships of utility are those in which you gain a tangible benefit, either economic or political, from the relationship. Exploitation of other people is not necessarily implied by the idea of utility friendships — first, because the advantage can be reciprocal, and second, because a business or political relation doesn’t preclude having genuine feelings of affection for each other. For Aristotle, however, the highest kind of friendship was one of virtue: you are friends with someone because of the kind of person he is, that is, because of his virtues (understood in the ancient Greek sense of virtue ethics [and] not in the much more narrow modern sense, which is largely derived from the influence of Christianity.)

Aristotle’s opinion was that friends hold a mirror up to each other; through that mirror they can see each other in ways that would not otherwise be accessible to them, and it is this (reciprocal) mirroring that helps them improve themselves as persons. Friends, then, share a similar concept of eudaimonia [Greek for “having a good demon,” often translated as “happiness”] and help each other achieve it. So it is not just that friends are instrumentally good because they enrich our lives, but that they are an integral part of what it means to live the good life, according to Aristotle and other ancient Greek philosophers (like Epicurus). Of course, another reason to value the idea of friendship is its social dimension. In the words of philosopher Elizabeth Telfer, friendship provides “a degree and kind of consideration for others’ welfare which cannot exist outside