Watched & Read, April

Hello friends! It's a new month (how the heck is it May?!?) so that means it's time to share all the shows, movies, and books I consumed last month.

*Where to listen: I use the Libby App all the time which is free to everyone who has a library card. I also pay for Spotify and if you do you get 15 hours of an audiobook per month, so basically two shorter books or a book and a half.

*Where to read: I thrift a lot of my books, use the library a ton, download checked out Libby books to my kindle, and occasionally treat myself to a crisp new book from a book store as well.

*Where to watch: most everything I watch can be found on Hulu, Disney+, Prime, MAX, or Netflix.

*Side note: I got my kindle second hand from my dad who had an extra (thanks dad!) and have never actually bought a kindle book from Amazon and instead hook up my @libby.app account and only read borrowed books on it. Give it a try if you’re looking to limit or no longer purchase from Amazon. It takes a little finagling, but just give it a quick google/YouTube search and step by step instructions will pop up on how to do this!

*If you purchase your books online the owner of Book Alley sadly lost his home in the Eaton fire, but his bookshop remains standing. A small way to support him while the community rebuilds is to purchase your books from his book store which is still standing in Pasadena. You can find the inventory at https://www.bookalley.com/.

April Faves

Watched:

• Rewatching Gilmore Girls: Kind of weird to watch in the Spring, it's such a Fall rewatch, but I've needed a feel good to have on in the background lately. I also have been picking up on new things this rewatch and Emily and Paris have some amazing one-liners that I am constantly LOL-ing to.

• Life or Something Like It: This was a fun early 2000s watch! A great cast starring Angelina Jolie (also features Tony Shalhoub for any fellow Monk lovers). It wasn't too serious, but still pulled at your heart strings and made you think about life. Great score and some fun scenes that'll have you smiling to yourself.

• The Illusionist: This was a fun watch too! It's about two childhood friends who were pulled apart at a young age only to rekindle as adults later on in life. One became a magician of sorts and another is set to marry royalty. They want to be together, but the question is how?? It's cute and a light watch, but was intriguing enough to have me watch the whole time and not look at my phone (except at commercials lol).

  
  

Read:

• The Lost Letters of Evelyn Wright by Clare Swatman: This was a cute and clever read that also touched on super real issues. A newly divorced mom moves into a little cottage that is in need of some repair and she finds some old advice column letters hidden away under a dresser. She spends her nights reading them and soon after forms the idea to start her own advice column. This leads to meeting new people, unfolding old mysteries, and navigating her way through her recent divorce. It's kind of a comfort read (especially if you listen to it on audiobook since the narrator is british lol), but at the same time it has a bit of MC winey behavior haha. I did enjoy it though and would recommend it for a breezy read.

• Before The Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi: I listened to about 75% of this on Libby before I had to send it back. It was good, but a little slower paced than what I was looking for at the time. It's a cute concept, but not a book I'd necessarily say is a must read.

  • In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time. In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer's, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know. But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold.

• The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson: Truthfully, I'm only 80% done with this one hehe, but I'm including it in this round up anyway. It's really good, but deals with some heavy topics so I had to put it away for a little while and revisit when I was ready. I almost wanted to not finish it, but I am curious as to how it ends, so I'm going to finish it over the next few days.

  • 1950s Philadelphia: fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college. But a taboo love affair threatens to pull her back down into the poverty and desperation that has been passed on to her like a birthright. Eleanor Quarles arrives in Washington, DC, with ambition and secrets. When she meets the handsome William Pride at Howard University, they fall madly in love. But William hails from one of DC's elite wealthy Black families, and his parents don't let just anyone into their fold. Eleanor hopes that a baby will make her finally feel at home in William's family and grant her the life she's been searching for. But having a baby--and fitting in--is easier said than done. With their stories colliding in the most unexpected of ways, Ruby and Eleanor will both make decisions that shape the trajectory of their lives.

• Sandwich by Catherine Newman: I read this book in my bookclub and have mixed feelings about it. Overall thoughts: slow and kind of diary-like, with a super heavy emotionally packed ending. I didn't really like it up until the last chunk, but the last chunk was super emotionally heavy and I felt so sad afterwards, so, I'm not sure where I stand haha. I will say I listened to this on Libby and other people read the physical copy and people who listened liked it less than people who read it on paper, so if you do read it I'd rec reading a hard copy!

  • For the past two decades, Rocky has looked forward to her family’s yearly escape to Cape Cod. Their humble beach-town rental has been the site of sweet memories, sunny days, great meals, and messes of all kinds: emotional, marital, and—thanks to the cottage’s ancient plumbing—septic too. This year’s vacation, with Rocky sandwiched between her half-grown kids and fully aging parents, promises to be just as delightful as summers past—except, perhaps, for Rocky’s hormonal bouts of rage and melancholy. (Hello, menopause!) Her body is changing—her life is, too. And then a chain of events sends Rocky into the past, reliving both the tenderness and sorrow of a handful of long-ago summers. It's one precious week: everything is in balance; everything is in flux. And when Rocky comes face to face with her family’s history and future, she is forced to accept that she can no longer hide her secrets from the people she loves.

That’s it for now! Stay tuned for next months shares and drop me a message/comment if you have any reccies for my TBR!

Until next time xx, Rose