Cheat Work Thursday

Finding Audrey — Yeah. About not reading another Sophie Kinsella book ... I read another Sophie Kinsella book. Hear me out. It's not that bad. After a bullying incident at school, 14-year-old Audrey has not left her house. She wears sunglasses indoors all the time and hasn't talked to anyone since, except in therapy and to her family members ie her comfort people: her father and often-stressed-out mother, 15-year-old brother Frank, and 4-year-old brother Felix. Her diagnosis is anxiety disorders and depressive episodes. One day, she starts talking using notes with Frank's friend Linus, who often comes over to play video games. They become friends, and Linus starts helping Audrey to go out of the house again. And after five minutes, they end up dating, I guess? Read this book because even if you've never had anxiety before, maybe it's a good thing to be in Audrey's shoes a little. And read this book, because despite its serious premise, it's writte...

"IT SMELLS LIKE SUCCESS" I think I'm not going to long-recap this season. Just going to blog the highlights and my moaning and bitching thoughts. _____ It's a new season of Survivor, everyone! *somersaults* But I want to pause this happiness for a bit because I want to whine and start this off on the wrong foot. I enjoyed Fans vs Favourites and Blood vs Water. I don't mind the returnees-mixed-with-newbies seasons and the redemption island twist on Blood vs Water. I understand the drama and gameplay these twists could bring to those seasons. But Redemption Island, South Pacific and Philippines (we've long snuffed Guatemala) and the redemption island twist on the first two are just eye-rolling to me. You won't admit it, Survivor, but most of these seasons were totally made around your hugely hyped returnees, your favourite children from past seasons that you want to see finally winning. So I don't get the appeal of having the four retur...

My god. YAs are not supposed to be depressing! The short verdict is, this book was thisclose to making me sob. What I forgot to tell you in the previous post, however, although Adam Silvera's books are all depressing, they are also breathlessly sweet and... funny. Darkly funny, mostly. Ordinary days are made of ton of fun, and conversations are cute and lively, with plenty of witty banter. That's probably how the tragedies and losses are tugging at your heartstrings at double rate. Because why can't these people just continue to be happy and in love and have a smooth life forever? Reading Silvera's books is a journey of an emotional roller coaster. History Is All You Left Me is written in history and present day, jumping between chapters. In present day, 17-year-old Griffin has just lost his best friend who was also his ex-boyfriend, Theo, in a drowning accident. While he's struggling to come to terms with Theo's death, he's unexpectedly bonding w...

They Both Die at the End — In They Both Die at the End 's world, people get notified when they are dying. Once they've got the call, they are going to die any time within the next 24 hours. There is an entire depressing enterprise surrounding this. There are apps to share stories online or to meet fellow Deckers (dying people) and others who want to keep them company on their End Days. And there are also amusement parks specifically catered to Deckers and their loved ones if they want to go on one last adventure. Mateo and Rufus are two teenage Deckers who meet through the Last Friend app when they find themselves alone on their End Day. And the book is the story of that day, which they agree to spend together: going through a to-do list, walking around town, seeing friends, saying goodbyes, going to those parks, doing things for the first and last time, and sharing life stories. As usual, Adam Silvera is very good at creating personality and background for his characte...

The last time I blogged about books, which was last November, my book count for the year was at a whopping SIX! I was almost over the moon. Then I saw someone on Twitter saying he reads 8 - 10 books a month. Thanks , @yashar, for ruining my high. But I've read seven more books since. *firework emoji, firework emoji* Blogging the Sophie Kinsella ones here. _____ My Not So Perfect Life — 🤦🏻‍♀️ I'm back at the place that I'd promised to stop going: reading Sophie Kinsella books. I need a therapy. I need to learn how to cut ties. I need the imagination, the courage and the zest for life to pick up other authors' books. Ok, I'm learning, universe, I'm learning. Which may or may not mean I'll just be stuck in another genre, but baby steps? So, the book is about Katie, who's struggling to find footing in her supposed-to-be-London-dream life. She paints a different picture on Instagram, but in reality, her new job at a branding agency isn...

"WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY" Final Six The finale 💃 starts with everyone going on an idol hunt. And we are positive we'll never forget Angelina's. First, she finds the clue that says the idol is hidden in the tall rock behind the well and she'd need a ladder buried in the sand to reach it. While digging the ladder out, however, she accidentally drops the clue. She hides the ladder for later, but upon realizing that she has lost the clue and it can now fall into someone else's hands, she decides to go back and look for the idol immediately — so she starts climbing the hill. And omg shame on us for enjoying this too much. Failing to find the idol and returning to the well, she now has to concoct a story, complete with tears, about falling off a tree to cover her idol hunt. The idol hunt is then paused for the first immunity challenge, which is the Survivor giant obstacle course with 63 puzzle pieces to solve at the end, and it comes w...

"ARE YOU FEELING LUCKY" Yeah, they are all back at camp after the Gabby vote, awkwardly fist-bumping Christian, who says, at 15 votes now, he's close to the Survivor record for having the most votes, which is 19. But the bigger story is Nick making a fake idol and hiding it under the raft, then pretending to find it in front of Christian, Angelina and Mike, which according to him will stop everyone from looking for a new idol. What? Why are you giving off the impression that you have two idols when you only have one ?? Davie is not buying this, by the way, so he keeps looking for the idol. For reward the next day, each player has to race through an obstacle course while attached to a rope that has to be untangled long enough, allowing them to knock on a set of blocks using a bunch of sandbags. The winner will be taken to a beach club by helicopter and enjoy a ton of food. Davie wins and chooses to bring Nick. Jeff allows a second person to be picked and asks ...

"SO SMART THEY'RE DUMB" The episode starts on the night of the Carl vote. Nick isn't too happy with Christian and Gabby for the blindside  —  no prize for predicting this. While he reserves his actual reaction for confessionals, he reminds Christian how they've used three advantages to control the numbers, and now it's gone. But we are on a schedule here, so we pause any plan for retaliation for now for the loved ones visit. Not much to report, except that 1) we all like Christian's girlfriend, Emily. 2) Angelina has to tell her mom about her rice sacrifice, which I suspect may have involved some probing on Survivor gods' part. And we cut to Alison's reaction to it: 3) Mike and his boyfriend Josh really, really don't like PDA, which is fine. Or, it's none of our business, really. So, for reward, they are paired up to race, crawl and dig for a set of keys buried in the sand to release a pair of balls and land them on an overhe...

"TRIBAL LINES ARE BLURRED" Another great episode, Survivor gods! The two-hour episode starts on the night of the Dan vote with Angelina deliciously collecting names, specifically the two — Kara and Alec — who wrote her name down, then going to the Davids and throwing the names under the bus. Very early the next morning, on a hunt with Davie, Nick finds a clue to an idol that can only be retrieved later that night at the other end of the island. I’ve lost count of the idols now. Nick already has one from before, and Christian also has one, right? In the first reward challenge, two teams of five will walk on a rope bridge to reach a platform and land three rungs on target. Team of Alec, Alison, Mike, Christian and Gabby wins a picnic lunch of wraps and salads, and surprise letters from home in a come-from-behind victory. And this GIF of Angelina is the best. During reward, realizing that he no longer has the numbers, Alec talks about charming Gabby and Christian of...

"BREADTH-FIRST SEARCH" The episode starts on the night of the John vote with Davie diplomatically telling everyone that he feels like the game has evolved enough to where they can all respect each other's gameplay without getting personal. Then cut to him in a wrestling arena mode, celebrating the Mayor of Slamtown's defeat by putting on John's jacket. Alison, Kara and Alec talk about how they have been promising the Davids to flip the script — and vote Dan and Angelina out — but never gone through with it. Then cut to Dan sitting by the beach, alone, grieving his lost idol. To be fair, it was an overall bad night for him. Kara goes to him eventually and tries to talk him out of his moping. God, Kara is too good, too level-headed for this consoling business. In confessional, she tells us that the game is getting to Dan, and she needs to move forward without him to save her game. Reward challenge is an obstacle course to retrieve numbered tiles and use the n...