Resolutions Recap 2022

 Hello and welcome to my yearly resolutions recap where I remind myself what a failure I am! LOL!

1. Get at least one piercing
2. Get at least one tattoo
3. Add 20,000 words to my WIP novel
4. Write 30,000 words for National Novel Writing Month 2022
5. Break in all my Dr Marten shoes properly
6. Get a new job
7. Learn to drive
8. Get a new car
9. Sew a garment
10. Learn how to crochet
11. Learn how to cross stitch
12. Read 100 books
13. Watch 100 films
14. Go to the cinema 5 times
15. Go to Longleat Safari Park
16. See a show on stage

Yet another successful year as you can see! So we ended up with a new car at the end of July. The old one, a Nissan Micra, broke down fatally while we were en-route to go shopping in June (I totally looked back at Facebook and Twitter for the dates LOL!). It started to slow down, the gears went funny and then we pulled over and it wouldn't restart. A policeman wanting to do speed checks pushed us into the car park of a shut down pub. We waited 4 hours for the RAC in the heat, I got sunburn just sitting in the car. It turned out to be the timing wheel. We looked for a new one but in the meantime I was walking to work in the height of summer, ugh. It could have been worse though, the day after the actual breakdown we'd planned to go to the cinema to see the latest Jurassic World film, a breakdown on the motorway would have been hell!

We eventually found a new car within our meagre budget, a Citroen C1. Where it had been sat around a while we needed to get a new battery straight away but it's OK, it prefers going fast to slow. The gears are a bit clunky and the left indicator has just started playing up but it's got it's MOT in a couple of weeks, a tad overdue, oops!

I ended up with a new job at the end of September. I left the old one on Tuesday 27th, started the new Thursday 29th! Things had deteriorated badly at my old job. I was accused of mishandling a donation, suspended, investigated, thought I was going to lose my job but kept it by the skin of my teeth. A lot of the issue was verbal information and an incorrect date given, I remembered the correct date, they found the details and all was good-ish. This was the beginning of September. My manager then sent through the latest rotas and we weren't scheduled to work together at all up until at least November (that's how far it went at that point). She'd also hired a Sunday Supervisor behind my back when our original plan was share the weekends as we'd been doing and get me an extra day a week. Then she started leaving loads of catty notes about the way I work so it was good timing that I left then.

My new job is slightly better but it's not one I want to stay at. Some days there's loads to do, others there's nothing and you end up tidying. Ugh. When I started they wanted me to stay away from the tills but now I have entire shifts covering the customer service desk. The training was abysmal, I'm only just figuring some parts out. Sometimes they moan when I'm not doing something quick enough but I'm helping customers and covering breaks in between doing whatever I'm doing. The foot pain that started in my last job is also getting worse so I end up limping around which isn't great.

Only one cinema trip this year :( Sing 2. We planned on seeing others but finances etc just never work out. I made it to 152 books read though so I'm proud of that. I can't remember the film number and officially there's still a few days of the year left but it is over 100. NaNo was a fail this year, I didn't even reach 5,000 words. I did absolutely no planning and a depressive funk made me wonder if I was even going to attempt at all.

Everything else was obviously finance and time related. And motivation, I've struggled mentally this year, I'm constantly in a low level of I don't care. Hopefully that might improve soon? Please?

Back Sunday with this year's resolutions! (Though I'll write it up now and then schedule it XD)

Stef Out x

Golem by P.D. Alleva

 

Ebook provided by author for review. Thank you.

3/5 stars

I really enjoyed the concept for this novel, a demon or the devil (wasn't totally clear which) coming to life through a statue who likes to possess children. Also the way the story initially came together with a detective being given a case about a missing child and then being told the story by Alena, the key figure and initial suspect in the original case, his initial disbelief and gradual realisation that it is all true were all great.

The writing itself however could use a bit of tightening up I feel. We got told Alena's backstory twice with very little difference between the versions, just a touch more detail when she was telling the story herself but it's not details that particularly mattered to the story as a whole. There were some instances that felt unnecessarily descriptive, a paragraph about a storm for example. There were also some odd wording choices, a section where Alena, a cisgender woman, was basically described as having an erection. Also this same scene which generally reads quite sexually seems to involve, or at least have present, children which I find concerning, devil possession or not.

The pacing was also a little off for me as well. Some sections felt very slow whilst others felt rushed. The ending felt very abrupt as well. Also I didn't really understand Annette's chapters and how she connected to the larger story.

On the whole a great concept but the execution was slightly lacking for me personally.

Stef Out x

Kermes Vermilio by Brendon Luke

 

Ebook provided by the author for review. Thank you.

1/5 stars

DNF at 31%

A very disjointed book. Here's a character, they're dead. Here's another, oh they're dead as well. Now this character is alive again. I don't care about anyone because there's no reason to.

We keep jumping through time and to different people and nothing seems to connect.

I couldn't work out if it was actually earth or some kind of alternate universe, there was some kind of talk about different opposing tribes which I expected to be more relevant than has been.

The writing style itself didn't flow for me, I found it tiring to try and read. The final straw for me was a guy who is empowered by the raping of his sister. No thank you.

Stef Out x 

Someone Else's Skin by Sarah Hilary

 

2/5 stars

I liked the characters and the plot was interesting but I felt like there were too many things being juggled and some got dropped. They were originally going to talk to Ayana but then her storyline got all but abandoned. They made a massive thing about Marnie having tattoos and they may have been seen by the wrong person but I didn't understand the relevance of the tattoos and them being seen by this person was forgotten.

Also the writing style itself could use a bit of pruning. Near the beginning a character's only description was "obese girl in a black tracksuit". Are you telling me there was no better way to describe her than that? It feels very dehumanising. Also Marnie was referred to as a child as living in "near-autistic" silences. That just made me cringe. A lot of autistic people are not silent. And then there was the chapter opening where two or three sentences were used to describe thunder. The "then" and "now" chapters could have been clearer. The ending felt very rushed as well.

Stef Out x 

The Anti-Consumerist Druid by Katrina Townsend

 

Ebook provided by the author for review. Thank you!

5/5 stars

An engaging and beautifully written book. A little bit memoir, a little bit self-help, and a sprinkling of spiritual guidance in the vein of follow your instincts and emphasis on everyone's journey is different.

Katrina writes with unflinching honesty, she openly admits when she makes mistakes but dispenses with a woe is me attitude, she just gets on with it. Her advice is real and solid and you can apply the principles of shopping consciously and appreciating the small things in life even without having issues with a shopping addiction.

There are also some great points about the climate and social media. It's too easy to feel powerless and overwhelmed about climate change but even small changes can make a difference. Katrina doesn't say it specifically but a lot of the book in general makes me think of the old make do and mend philosophy. As for social media, moderation is key and kill the comparison. It always feels like everyone is in a better place than you but so much is behind the scenes and not all of it is necessarily good.

As for Druidry... It's not something I knew a lot about beforehand although I have had fleeting interests in Wicca and Paganism over the years (and a lot of witchy themed books on my shelves to show it). However, reading Katrina's story of discovery and her spiritual experiences and finding that Earthly connection was truly inspiring.

On the whole I loved and appreciated this book and I look forward to reading future works by Katrina.

Stef Out x 

Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune

 

Ebook from the library.

5/5 stars

This was a beautiful book! Wallace is a lawyer and one of the partners at his firm. He likes things to run smoothly and he loves his suits. He is very organised and in reality not a very nice person. And then he finds himself at his own funeral following an out of the blue heart attack.

The funeral has very few attendees, his ex-wife and his three firm partners. And one other strange woman. Mei is a reaper, he's her first solo job and she's a little late, she's here to break the news to Wallace that he's dead and to take him to Hugo, the ferryman.

Wallace understandably struggles with the idea of being dead, and the idea of being stuck in his off-duty flip-flops. That the ferryman's base is a quirky tea shop does little to help, at least initially, but gradually with the help of fellow ghosts Nelson, and Apollo the dog, Wallace accepts his fate and allows Hugo to help him.

I loved this! It was so heartwarming and I loved the characters, everyone was really well-rounded and well-developed. There are difficult moments but they were handled sensitively. The representation was brilliant and again really well handled. The ending was beautiful and perfect and I loved it!

Stef Out x

The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar

Ebook provided by NetGalley for review. Thank you.

Read May 2021.

5/5 stars

Nishat has just come out to her parents but they are traditional Muslim Bangladeshis who absolutely do not approve. Be who you want, except a lesbian. Then at a family wedding Nishat re-meets Flavia who she went to primary school with. Flavia is biracial Brazilian and she and her mum moved to get to know her white Irish side better, especially her cousin Chyna.

At the wedding there was an instant connection but things soon sour when both girls choose doing henna for their school's business competition. Nishat is angry at Flavia's cultural appropriation and her friends lack of support. Things deteriorate further when someone outs her at their all-girls Catholic Irish school.

I loved Nishat's relationship with her sister Priti but I wish the side characters had been developed a little more. There were family things I loved but then a couple of plot points were abandoned. I loved the writing style, it just could have done with more length and a touch more finessing.

Stef Out x