I decided to read a little blast from the past! So the first memory I have of reading Holes is actually when I was in primary school. Except I didn’t read it, my teacher actually read it to the class.
I don’t remember much about it other than sitting on the grass outside on a nice day while the teacher read to us. Then after she had finished reading the book we watched the movie.
Ever since then I have enjoyed this story. I’m not sure why this story has stuck with me but it just has. And I still enjoy watching the movie from time to time.
I decided to reread after all this time because my boyfriend ended up buying the book last year and I thought why not – he hasn’t even read it yet but oh well.
I think I’ve said this before but reading a book that has a movie adaptation can be tricky. And by that I mean there isn’t always a huge amount of difference between the book and the movie, and that was the case here.
I’m not saying that as a bad thing but at the same time I think it would have been nice to have some kind of variation, just because it would add something extra to reading the book. But the story is basically the exact same, except for Stanley being overweight lol.
But because the movie and the book are the same and I remember the movie so clearly, it made this a bit of a boring read.
The story is still great though, and if you haven’t seen the movie or read the book I do invite you to do one or the other. But you do not have to do both.
I know in school they always told you not to watch the movie and to read the book instead but sometimes that just isn’t true lol. I enjoyed the movie and reading the book was nice, but there is not much difference so I think you would be just fine with the movie.
Anyway, it was still nice to read something from my childhood, it was kind of wild to me that the book is only like 240 pages because when I was younger I swear it was a lot more than that. But then I guess it’s different when someone is reading to you, and when you’re eight years old 240 pages is a lot.
But there we go, another book read. I haven’t been reading as much because of lock down and the fact Animal Crossing came out. I used to read a lot before because I read when I was travelling to and from work but since that is not part of my routine right now, I have to work harder to fit in some reading.
I’m still hoping to reach my reading goal of 30 books this year. Which I think I will but probably not as fast I as I would have liked.
Anyway, I’m not sure what my next book to read will be, I actually think Holes has a sequel book which I might try to get if my library has the ebook version. Otherwise I think I would be okay leaving this as a stand-alone book.
Either way I will do my best to keep reading and will maybe be back with another review soon! (Or at least a blog post not Animal Crossing related…)
Feels like it’s been forever since I talked about One Tree Hill.
This was a shorter season than others but that doesn’t mean there was any less drama. Last we saw everyone they had just graduated from high school and the future was looking bright.
Now we jump into season five where there was a huge time jump and I wasn’t expecting it:
A time jump?! Seriously? I mean I was wondering how they were going to focus on everyone as they went their separate ways. They could have pulled a Gossip Girl where they all started at college and then just stopped going lol
That being said they were all looking way too old to play high school students so at least now they can play proper adults because they are
So Haley is a teacher and Nathan doesn’t want his son to play basketball – drama, also Nathan does not look good with long hair and a beard
Oh my God Brooke really went full boss bitch with Clothes Over Bros, I never saw it coming because the fashion thing came on so rapidly but yay!
Peyton is a lowly assistant in LA who is being told to “drop buttons” to be allowed in meetings – she so does not belong there
Nathan was in an accident and his dream is crushed…poor guy he worked so hard
Lucas as kind of a washed up writer and basketball coach? Never saw that he was destined for greatness and that is not it
I figured Lucas was sleeping with his editor…I don’t like it but that’s because we don’t know the story but it seems so cliche
We love a Tree Hill reunion – I knew Brooke and Peyton couldn’t stay away
Yasss Nathan fighting back
Omg I actually do hate Lucas dating his editor like Peyton doesnt show up at his book signing and he just decides to date her. That’s so not cute
Also this new jock guy is the worst like the actor I only know from being the nice cheerleader guy from Hellcats. I don’t like this version of him haha
I’m sad Mouth isn’t living his sports announcer best life
Also what happened to Karen’s cafe?! Where even is Karen and her baby?
Like I guess it’s cool Brooke is taking the cafe but like what happened to Karen tho
Lol I knew the nanny was going to be trouble it was only a matter of time
Also yasss Nathan getting his life together but if he gets with the nanny he is even more of a cliche then I thought
Okay so we found out Lucas is only with his editor because he thought Peyton didnt come to his book signing. That is lame and I don’t accept it
I think Haley and Nathan’s kid is probably one of the best characters not gonna lie
I never thought Mouth would end up sleeping with his boss to keep his job and yet here we are. Poor guy…he better sort it out soon
Lucas is a freaking idiot for choosing to ask Lindsey to marry him lol are we all gonna pretend that’s a good idea
Oh my God Rachel is a drug addict? I thought we had seen the last of her
Awww Tim! Cute memories
Wow of course the nanny was in the shower and Haley walked in…she better change her mind about this divorce
At the same time Nathan should have said something sooner
Mouth and Millicent are super cute. Also can’t believe Mouth’s boss was literally sleeping with everyone. What a power move lol
Glad Peyton and Lindsey got to air their drama
Hahaha Chase showing up to date Peyton. What are the odds? Love seeing everyone again
Tim and Bevan got married?! Wild. What a small world lol
So Lucas and Lindsey’s wedding arrives and she comes to her senses and says no, we were all expecting their marriage to fall apart right? So at least it happened before they were officially married
Brooke wants to have a baby? Interesting
Oh Karen got back with Andy? Seems kind of lame, it would have been okay if she stayed a single mom with a child. She did it for Lucas ya know – strong independent woman and all that
I knew the babysitter was going to kidnap Jamie, it was only going to be a matter of time
And Dan showing up, isn’t this turning out to be quite the wild episode
I kind of figured Dan would have been following the nanny, I half expected the police to get him though – still wild
Brooke actually got a baby! I was half expecting her to hate being a mother but she got it going for her. So yay! Sad her boy toy couldn’t hang around though
Yas Nathan and Haley working things out I mean I don’t think divorce would have been right for them
Lucas still choosing Lindsey over Peyton…this is something I didn’t expect. I thought maybe he would have come to his senses but okay
Dan saying he has 6 months to live sounds pretty fake… I mean after everything that has been going on but we see what the tea is
So Dan really is going to die…but part of me wonders if he gets that heart transplant because he somehow keeps surviving no matter what
I feel so bad for Jamie when he saw his card in the trash, it was just so sad – HE IS SO LITTLE. I know why they are keeping Dan from him but it hurts to see him always being sad about it
Lucas going mad after her found out Lindsey was seeing someone else…yikes. I feel like I’ve always underestimated how he felt about her but I guess he really does care
Is Brooke gonna get with that surgeon because something seems to be brewing there or maybe I’m just wanting good things for her
Also Millicent and Mouth are the cutest ones out there, can’t even deny
Deb sleeping with Skills is actually hilarious and it still stands that Deb can be one of the best characters when she wants to be
Mouth quitting his job like a boss – showing them what he is going to be missing
Where is Lucas going? I need him to sort his life out also as if Brooke is in the running to be his Vegas bride? I don’t see it.
Talk about your karma, Dan getting hit by a car right outside the hospital…
So this is where we end things for another season.
I gotta say I will not be surprised if Dan somehow survives because like I’ve said that’s just how things are for him, though I feel like it is definitely time to close his storyline.
Lucas has been annoying me this season because he needs to choose a woman. I wish he would just get back with Peyton because Lindsey was nice and all but she doesn’t seem like the kind to be sticking around. I like that he was still there to be a friend to Brooke but that seemed to be the only thing he was good at this season.
I am loving seeing Nathan taking his life back and also being a good father, we love a character who has growth. It will be interesting to see what things will be like when he returns to basketball.
And with Mouth going to take a new job, is this him out for good? Like I said before I enjoy Mouth’s character and I will be sad if this is the last we see of him.
But we see what is next for everyone. I honestly couldn’t tell you where we go from here, this show has surprised me a lot so I’m just in to enjoy the ride. And as always I will be back with another season recap/thoughts post just like this one real soon.
Even though we are all on lock down and are not able to see people in real life, there are lots of ways we can still talk and interact with people.
This past week I have been spending basically all my free time playing Animal Crossing and I’ve been able to spend lots of time with old friends and new.
I really love this aspect of Animal Crossing because it really helps fight the loneliness of being on lock down. I am thankful I am living with my boyfriend so I am not totally alone in this whole craziness but sometimes you need to talk to other people lol.
Please enjoy some cute screenshots of me and my friends living our best island lives in Animal Crossing. 🙂
I finally got my Animal Crossing: New Horizons game!
I had to wait an extra day and it killed me inside but now I finally have the game and I’m ready to spend all day every day playing it now.
If you want to follow my adventures you can check out my Animal Crossing Tumblr! But that doesn’t mean I won’t be posting pics here from time to time 🙂
So I just finished watching Love Is Blind. I began watching it with my friend Jasmine while I was in London last weekend and I needed to know how things ended up so I continued to watch.
As expected, it is kind of a trashy reality show. I don’t usually watch these and try to avoid them, like I don’t watch other dating shows like Love Island because everyone talks about them so much. But this one sounded kind of bizarre and so I had to watch.
I’m going to share my general thoughts on the show and then talk about the couples who we followed up until the wedding days.
First of all, I like the idea behind the show. I mean falling in love without actually seeing someone, it’s interesting. But to go the full way and decide you want to marry a person without even knowing what they look like is kind of crazy. Especially when you are making the decision within 10 days. Now I know that they spent way more time with each other than what we saw but it’s still wild. Proposing to someone through a wall lol the height of romance.
Second, I guess it’s not a bad set up. I mean Netflix pays for your wedding, a flat to live in up until the wedding and a whole ass trip to Mexico. Sign me up lol. I mean we knew Netflix had money because of all the shows they produce in general, but this one really got me.
That being said, everyone’s wedding was in that one venue, minus Mark and Jessica’s, and I would feel a bit cheated if we all got married in the same place…plus I think it’s also weird to have your bachelor and bachelorette parties together. Normally these are things you just do with close friends and family, but then I suppose it makes sense budget wise if everyone does it all together and is easier to film.
And finally, what happens to everyone else in the pods? I read that some other couples got engaged but they didn’t have the budget to accommodate them too, but it’s still weird how we never hear from them again. I mean we saw some of them featured and it’s just weird we don’t know what happened to them. I presumed a lot of them didn’t match with someone, but I think we at least deserve to know what happened to LC because she was a big part of that Barnett love triangle situation.
So now those general things are out of the way let’s talk about our couples!
Cameron and Lauren
These guys were basically perfect. I didn’t believe it at first when I saw all the memes about them but as the show went on I could see it. I think they should be the ‘poster couple’ for this show. You know, the success story they brag about to get people to sign up because things went so well for them.
Sure they had their ups and downs as they integrated into the real world, and hesitated about getting married but things seem to be going super well for them now. They are super cute and even have a dog together. The perfect couple.
If you didn’t walk away from the show shipping them then I don’t know what you are doing, they are great.
Diamond and Carlton
Their situation could have been handled a lot better. I think Carlton should have been up front about his past in the beginning.
I can understand why Diamond was hesitant about their relationship after that because it seemed like Carlton purposely kept something from her. And I think things would have ended better if they could have talked about the situation.
Sadly, things did not work out they way and they left things on pretty hostile terms. It was good to see they had made amends by the reunion though. I also wasn’t expecting them both to get so much hate from the whole situation. I mean neither of them handled it the best but I guess they just keep learning from it.
I just don’t think that they deserved any hate from it in general, but I suppose people love to hate on other people because they can.
Kenny and Kelly
It was kind of obvious they weren’t going to get married. And not only because I spoiled it for myself by seeing something saying they mutually agreed not to get married.
I mean Kelly kept saying herself she wasn’t sure about the physical part of the relationship and they hadn’t had sex. I mean it’s totally fine not to rush into sex with your partner but it seemed like she was just avoiding it because she wasn’t attracted to Kenny in that way.
I’m also surprised that they were able to go through with filming the wedding and everything even though they both knew they weren’t going to go through with it. It’s wild, and I know it was probably for the drama but it just doesn’t seem right at the same time.
I think if the physical connection had been there for them they would have made a really cute couple. Although it seems like Kenny is thriving in a new relationship according to the reunion so we love that.
Amber and Barnett
I wasn’t sure about this one, I guess just because Barnett seemed super unsure about any of his relationships in the beginning.
That being said I actually think they do make a good couple, they compliment each other well. Though Barnett is super laid back and Amber is super not haha.
It’s interesting because I definitely thought that Amber’s debt was going to be a big issue between them, especially since she didn’t even have a stable job. I think it was kind of sneaky she kept that from him in the pods but I guess they worked it out.
Also at the alter I wasn’t sure if Barnett was going to say yes, he seems super easygoing and like just goes with the flow but marriage is a big thing just to ‘go with the flow’ with haha. But they seem like they happy so that’s cool.
Jessica and Mark
This was a hot mess. Mainly because from the start Jessica was doubting the whole relationship. I mean she should not have said yes from the beginning. It looked like she just didn’t want to be alone after being rejected by Barnett and so settled on Mark.
Then, when they were out of the pods and Jessica saw Barnett in person, you could tell she wasn’t happy. Like I get that Mark is not her type physically and Barnett is but she just did not handle her feelings well. Getting drunk and falling all over Barnett while being engaged to someone else is not a good look sweetie.
I think when Jessica watched herself back she also knew this. I just think it is wild it happened to begin with.
All the while, I felt bad for Mark who really wanted the whole thing to work. I mean I know he said there’s no hard feelings and they were open and honest with each other the whole time but it was still very messy.
I knew when it came to their wedding that Jessica was going to say no. I’m glad she made that decision because she was never going to be fully happy with Mark. Especially when she made every excuse not to be with him and even admitted she wasn’t there with the physical connection. I just think they should have called it quits earlier.
Giannina and Damian
I almost forgot but I knew I was missing a couple!
I was for sure thinking these two would have called it off sooner than they did. I mean it kind of seemed like they were constantly fighting about nothing. It felt like Giannina was constantly testing Damian in a kind of ‘if you can’t handle me at my worst, you don’t deserve me at my best’ kind of way. And it could have also been a lot of self-sabotage.
I give him props for being so sensible and level headed the whole time because it easily could have turned into them just yelling at each other all the time.
It’s also interesting that Giannina said yes at the wedding because I thought if anyone was going to say no it would have been her. But I think Damian thought rationally about it and he did the right thing.
Though now the two are back together and dating and I think it’s going well. I didn’t know if they would get back together after everything but I suppose something must be working for them. I guess now that they aren’t feeling the pressure to be married, it’s a lot easier for them to take things at their own pace. Plus they don’t have to live together anymore and maybe they need some space sometimes haha.
And so those were all my thoughts about Love is Blind. No one asked for them but I’m sharing them anyway because that’s what the internet is all about.
Will I continue to watch the show? I don’t know. I mean this season was kind of wild but at the same time not wild enough to keep me wanting to watch all the time. It’s kind of exhausting to watch five weddings in a row to be honest.
But I guess we see, I mean with the rate filming for things is being suspended right now who even knows when we will be getting a new season.
In the meantime I think it’s time for me to return to One Tree Hill. Might as well take advantage of being home before Animal Crossing comes out, not that I leave my house much in day to day life anyway haha.
Surprise, you thought I was done with the Gossip Girl reviews, well here is one more. This really will be the last one though I promise haha.
As soon as I found out this was a thing I wanted to read it. Like Gossip Girl but everyone is a serial killer? Sign me up.
This book is basically the first Gossip Girl rewritten as everyone is fighting to stay alive, as it seems everyone on the Upper East Side is dropping like a fly at the hands of our two favourite It Girls.
I really loved everything about this to be honest, I mean I think sometimes they tried too hard to fit in references to killers or blood or something gory whereas before it would reference fashion or glamour. But it was still an interesting take on the story.
I also love that this isn’t even fanfiction, this is just written by the author herself. What a queen.
My favourite thing is probably that Serena randomly took a notion to start killing people because they reminded her of Nate, and Blair, finding out Serena was a murderer decided that she too should murder people. Like it is a trend of some kind, crazy but also amazing.
So the story goes that Serena comes back into town, set on killing Nate because she realises that he is the one who has always gotten in the way of her friendship with Blair. And for them to be the bestest of friends it makes sense to kill the only thing standing between them.
Quickly though she realises that is a dumb idea, and then becomes jealous of Blair and her life once she finds out B is no longer interested in being her friend. So naturally it is time for Blair to die.
Meanwhile on the other side of things, B has decided that Serena must die because she thinks S is the one that ruined their friendship, and she was sick of seeing S be the center of attention with those adverts all over town with her.
So it is war.
Along the way, there are a lot of casualities. Although S may actually be the only one who isn’t killing just because. I mean most people in the Upper East Side were only killed by S because they knew more than they should have, for example Katy and Isobel who saw her sleeping with Nate, or that girl who saw Serena kill her brother (the girl’s not Serena’s). I mean she was only trying to protect herself…
Then there is Blair who is chaotic and will off anyone who even looks at her funny. I mean I can’t imagine seeing her just slicing a girl’s head off because she reminded her of Serena, but why not?
All the while none of them are getting caught, even by security cameras or witnesses as some of the murders happen in broad daylight, but I guess when you are rich and your family hates a scandal, it all gets swiped under the carpet.
Meanwhile there is Nate, who doesn’t kill anyone, but is pretty sure he has seen Blair do it, but he could have just been super high and tripping. So you never really know with him. Honestly he is not a big part of the book anymore when I think about it considering instead of trying to kill him, his two best girls are focused on killing each other lol.
Then there is Little J who is still in love with Serena, even if she is a serial killer, J thinks that’s a cool thing to be. Jenny also enjoys eating raw meat and there is less focus on her enormous chest this time around so yay for that?
Dan is still the same tortured poet, although this time he only writes haikus and also fantasizes about killing himself on a regular basis. What a mood. Also his poems are not as terrible as they were in original book? So that’s good haha.
Then Vanessa is making a film and is loving coming across all these dead bodies because it makes great footage for her. So that’s fun, I love that she isn’t questioning anything and just going with it.
Things come to a head at a brunch where Serena and Blair are fighting to the death basically, which I enjoy because we love a good girl smack down, especially when one of them ends up with a knife in their back. Literally.
I knew that neither B or S were going to really die because it would seem weird if it happened. Like where would we even go from there?
I also do feel that the story kind of lost its way towards the end, I know it was following the storyline of the first book for the most part but at some point you gotta know that when killing off all these people, the story was going to change. So while things ended at the Kiss Me or Die party I would have been okay if it ended differently.
Like I felt the book was destined to take a different direction towards the middle but it worked too hard to fit back into the confines of the original story at the end.
So things ended at the Kiss Me or Die party. Nate confessed he wanted to be with Blair, and only Blair. She seemed to accept this, B and S saw each other from across the room and drew their weapons but only for a second and decided against a killing spree in the middle of a party. So I guess it was a truce.
Dan and Serena find Jenny trapped in the bathroom with Chuck as they did before. Only this time, Chuck does not get away so easily, as Jenny, Dan and Serena take their turns inflicting pain on Chuck until he dies. And then they ride off into the night.
And that is where we leave our Upper East Siders, for good this time. I mean I’ll probably continue to binge the TV show from time to time but as for book reviews and blog posts this is it.
It has been a wild ride but I have enjoyed it a lot, and I’m glad I kept this one until last because it was something fun to end it.
Courtney's Blog 