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REVIEW: The Lies We Conjure by Sarah Henning

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I have received an Advance Reader's Copy of this book through the publisher. This has not affected my rating or review in any way. Thank you to Macmillan/Tor Teen  for sending me an Advance Reader’s Copy of The Lies We Conjure ! Sarah Henning, author of T he Princess Will Save You trilogy and the Sea Witch duology's new standalone lives up to its comps- Knives Out meets The Inheritance Games with magic and witches. It's the perfect spooky mystery for this upcoming autumn. Ruby and Wren Jourdain are ordinary sisters working the falafel stand at their local Renaissance faire. That is, until they're approached by an elderly woman with an offer impossible to give up: impersonate her two estranged granddaughters Lavinia and Kaysa Blackgate at her family reunion, for $2,000 each. Though, when the sisters arrive at the Hegemony manor, not everything is as it seems. The family- or should I say, families- possess magical powers, make up a coven of witches, and their matriarc

From The Vault: Speculation On the Upcoming Vault Tracks from Reputation (Taylor's Version) and Taylor Swift (Taylor's Version)

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With the Tortured Poets Department era seemingly coming to a close soon, considering the speculated upcoming announcement for Reputation (Taylor's Version) , my mind has been on the vault tracks lately. In particular, the countless possibilities for the Taylor Swift (Taylor's Version ) vault tracks. Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of interest in the Reputation vault tracks, but we don't have much knowledge on what those might be. Beyond possible re-recorded versions of "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" with ZAYN, Taylor-penned Rihanna hit "This Is What You Came For," as well as scrapped Lover track "Need," we only have one other known song from this time: "Family," a song registered by Taylor in May of 2018 on GEMA and mentioned in an interview with Scott Swift, is the only unreleased song from the Reputation era that the public is aware of. Other than that, we're in the dark as to what Taylor may release from her sixth album

REVIEW: Doctor Who: Series Fourteen

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This review contains spoilers. Read at your own risk. I don't care what Russell T Davies, the BBC, or Disney says, I'm not calling it Season One. The first series of Russell T Davies's second tenure as showrunner was... rough. It definitely had its ups and downs, highs and lows, but it's definitely better than anything released since 2018 during Chris Chibnall's tenure. Russell T Davies's penned episodes were mixed for me. The series starts off with Space Babies, and while I didn't dislike it as much as everyone else, it was still a rough start to the series. The Devil's Chord made up for it though, with Jinkx Monsoon's phenomenal performance of Maestro. 73 Yards was a confusing attempt at mythological folk-horror, and Dot and Bubble, while it had a brilliant message and ending, did not stick the landing for me (Lindy was so unbearably annoying that I never want to watch the episode again). The two-part finale started off brilliant with The Legend of

REVIEW: Sarah Close's Forgiveness Is My Weakness

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The queen of YouTube music covers is back! It seems that Sarah Close is finally exiting her droplet era. Having not released a cohesive project since 2019, Close has only been dropping a series of singles, changing production directions throughout. Now, she has finally bundled those singles, as well as some new songs, into two extended plays. The first of them, Forgiveness Is My Weakness, is here today with the second, See You For Now, releasing in October. Though the majority of this extended play consists of singles released during the droplet era (four out of seven tracks), and two were released as promotional singles just prior, this is still a solid project. I'm very proud of Sarah, as I've been following her career since the drop of her first extended play, Caught Up, in 2017. This is a great project, and I'm looking forward to listening to its sister extended play this Autumn. For now, I give Forgiveness Is My Weakness 4 out of 5 Stars. Favorites: Justify, Best Day

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, and the Future of Ace Attorney

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That feeling when the autopsy report is updated... In the most recent Nintendo Direct, Capcom announced that they would be releasing another Ace Attorney game onto the Nintendo Switch and other modern consoles, just months after the release of Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy. Titled the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, it contains the two Miles Edgeworth-led Ace Attorney spin-off games. This is major news for Ace Attorney fans, as the latter of the two games had not been released and localized outside of Japan since its original Nintendo DS release in 2011 until now. If you're unfamiliar with the series, Shu Takumi's Ace Attorney is a game where you play as a defense attorney in pursuit of defending those wrongly convicted of crimes... at least, at its surface. The series also contains a cast of zany and eccentric characters, elements of magical realism, spiritual and cultural exploration, and tons of drama and twists. The storyline is brilliant, and the lore is eve

Revisiting Taylor Swift's THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT + THE ANTHOLOGY One Week Later

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Since it’s been over a week after the release of Taylor Swift’s newest album(s), The Tortured Poets Department and The Anthology, I decided to sit down and compile my thoughts on where I’m at with it. Favorites from The Tortured Poets Department:  The Tortured Poets Department, I Can Do It With A Broken Heart, Florida!!! (feat. Florence + The Machine) Least Favorites from The Tortured Poets Department:  Fortnight, loml Favorites from The Anthology: Cassandra, imgonnagetyouback, How Did It End? Least Favorites from The Anthology:  thanK you aIMee, Peter, The Manuscript Album Rankings: 1) Lover 2) Red 3) folklore 4) evermore 5) Midnights 6) 1989 7) The Tortured Poets Department 8) Speak Now 9) Fearless 10) Taylor Swift 11) The Anthology 12) reputation This album, particularly The Anthology, has finally made me realize that I am not a fan of Aaron Dessner’s production. I should’ve figured this out when I didn’t like evermore as much as folklore, and majority of the Dessner-produced track

REVIEW: Taylor Swift’s THE ANTHOLOGY + Initial Reactions

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At this point, I should just expect Miss Taylor Swift to always go the extra mile to overwork herself and surprise us with the results. The night of the release of The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor announced the double album (b-side album? TS12? TS11.5?), titled The Anthology. I have listened to each song in full, multiple times, and I am now ready to divulge my thoughts on each track one by one. [ You can read my review and reactions to The Tortured Poets Department here. ] The Black Dog - Not sure how to describe this other than: a mix of Hits Different and Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve if it was a raw, downtempo ballad and sounded a little bit like Sweet Nothing. One of her best efforts at storytelling yet. [Rating: 4.5] imgonnagetyouback - It’s very catchy, and the lyrical content reminds me of Olivia Rodrigo’s get him back! but if it was folk. This is definitely a contender with The Black Dog for my #1 spot on the album. [Rating: 4.5] The Albatross - It’s cute! The strings re

REVIEW: Taylor Swift's THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT + Initial Reactions

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The Tortured Poets Department leaked in full, along with The Black Dog bonus track, on Wednesday afternoon. My fellow Swiftie co-workers and I freaked out with excitement, and I counted down the hours to listen to it- in fact, I actually began listening to it on my walk home. So, without further ado, here are my thoughts on Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department, logged as and after I listened to each track. Fortnight (feat. Post Malone) - I was hoping for a little more Post Malone, plus I think the viral TikTok AI sound set my expectations up for something more upbeat in my honest opinion. There were some very interesting lyrics though (such as her admitting to being a functioning alcoholic in the opening surprisingly), and it's kinda catchy somehow? I think this one could grow on me. [Rating: 3] The Tortured Poets Department - I loved this so much I had to listen to it two more times before I could move on. The chorus made me very emotional, it's very relatable fo

REVIEW: A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal

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I have received an Advance Reader's Copy of this book through the publisher. This has not affected my rating or review in any way. This review contains spoilers. Read at your own risk. Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for sending me an Advance Reader's Copy of A Tempest of Tea! I seem to be reading a lot of vampire books this year; with catching up on the Twilight Saga, the Bloodlines series, and the Crave series. Well, I'd like to introduce you to my latest bloodsucker read, Hafsah Faizal's A Tempest of Tea. Faizal has crafted a dark and paranormal story in a 1920s mixed with Victorian Era British-inspired fictional world. For a story that pitches itself as a gender-bent King Arthur meets Peaky Blinders with vampires, we all thought I would absolutely adore it, right? ...Right? Unfortunately, this one was a bit of a doozy for me. While I had been intrigued by the plot and characters, there was something about Faizal's writing style that had me

We Need to Talk About House of Flame and Shadow

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This post contains spoilers. Read at your own risk. This is a follow-up to one of my previous posts, We Need to Talk About House of Sky and Breath . I highly suggest reading it prior to reading this one. It's that time once again. We need to talk about House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas. (If you haven't read it yet, read it here and come back when you do!) I've been waiting to read this book for over two years, and not only that, but I got to read it two weeks early! I was just grabbing a few things from Harris Teeter on my way home from work when I remembered a TikTok that said how people were finding copies early in Kroger, Safeway, Harris Teeter, etc. I figured I’d check while I was there and THERE IT WAS!! Just two copies tucked in the back of the bookstand. When I tell y’all I clutched that thing to my chest and SPRINTED to the self-checkout I was shaking so bad lmao. It’s the best $32 I ever spent!! Now, for my actual thoughts on the book... I wrote out my sp