• Book Reviews,  Fiction

    Requiem for Immortals by Lee Winter

    22nd April 2021
    Cover of Requiem for Immortals (Lee Winter)

    Requiem for Immortals (The Law Game #1) by Lee Winter

    Click on the cover for my review on Goodreads.

    Content warnings: dub con, graphic sex, death, poison, human trafficking, animal cruelty, choking, erotic asphyxiation, torture, threaten, abuse, manipulation, gaslighting, blood, fatphobia

    Side effect: developing an obsession with cellists.

    Professional cellist Natalya Tsvetnenko (41) is also a professional assassin. As Requiem, Natalya is known for her skills of getting her jobs done. When her newest target Alison Ryan (34) seems to be nothing like her usual ones who reek evilness, Natalya is intrigued and unexpectedly strikes up a friendship with Alison. However, she never anticipates just how unexpected this assignment is going to lead her.

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  • ARCs,  Book Reviews,  Fiction

    We Go Together by Abigail de Niverville | ARC Review

    7th August 2020
    Cover of We Go Together (Abigail de Niverville)

    We Go Together by Abigail de Niverville

    CW: off-page rape, abusive relationship, (possible) PTSD, off-page transphobia, off-page pregnancy, off-page incarceration

    This was heavy. The narrative tone is somber and reminiscent. With its main theme being Kat dealing with an abusive past relationship, the story is less about what is happening in the physical world but more about what goes on in Kat’s mind. That being said, the many events during Kat’s time at Grand-Barachois are so sweet they made me slightly emotional again and again. In We Go Together, we follow her journey of healing as she begins to acknowledge what she has gone through, relearns to trust others, and finds her own voice again.

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  • Travel

    2018-19 Winter Break: Day 18 Nashville

    8th January 2019

    Day 18. Atlanta – Nashville: Martin’s Bar-B-Que. Acme Feed & Seed. [Nashville Downtown Hostel]

    Leaving my Airbnb place at 9 am by Uber with a well-dressed and helpful driver to Greyhound bus station ($6.07 excluding tips), I got to Nashville ($23.50) at around half past 2 pm, terribly delayed.

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  • Music Review

    Music Review: Los Angeles Master Chorale: Lagrime di San Pietro (Tears of St. Peter)

    8th October 2018

    Aurally & Visually Astounding (5/5) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

    Performance Type: Music, Choir
        This was my first show at Krannert Center of the Performing Arts.
        I fell in love with the place the first time I stepped into the lobby for orientation. It was everything I can hope for for a performance arts venue in a school. Maybe even in a city. I doubt I have ever seen any other place that is better than this. Subsequently, I couldn’t stop myself from looking through the schedule and bought tickets to many performances ranging from symphony orchestra to theatre productions. I want to spend all my time there. Krannert Center of the Performing Arts is probably my favourite place on campus, or second to Main Library; I haven’t quite decided yet, but it is definitely a grand building with 4 wonderful theatres.
        To be honest, when I arrived at Foellinger Great Hall for Los Angeles Master Chorale: Lagrime di San Pietro (Tears of St. Peter), I did not even know I was about to watch a choir performance of spiritual music; there were priests in the audience. Earlier that afternoon, I was at Champaign Pride, and so now, with everyone else around me all dressed up, I immediately became very self-conscious of my casual wear and rainbow flag sticking out of my backpack.
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