Month: September 2021

Book Review: Gold Spun

September 27, 2021

Title: Gold Spun
Author: Brandie June
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Published: June 8th, 2021

Date finished: September 17, 2021

Gold Spun by Brandie June is a Rumpelstiltskin retell about a 17-year-old girl named Nora who finds herself in a mess after rescuing a fae. The fae gifts her with a golden thread and promises to return to her every time she calls upon him. Excited about this golden thread, in her haste, Nora comes up with a plan to make money using it. This captures the attention of the prince who tells her if she could spin a room full of straw into gold, he’ll marry her. If not, she’ll pay a heavy price.

It’s been a long time since I read Rumpelstiltskin, so I had to search it up and brief through it. Gold Spun follows the storyline somewhat but with slightly different characters. I like the idea of the fae and the way he was portrayed. He felt likeable, yet you couldn’t really tell if he was trustworthy, so there was a mysterious edge to him. The prince at first seemed cocky and full of himself, but he turned out likeable. His affection for Nora made him protective and supportive and a real gentleman. As for Nora, I liked that she was always quick on her toes. She doesn’t give up and she has so much love in her for her family and the villagers. However, I also found her a bit childlike. I think she was meant to be intelligent and brave and was supposed to play it down, but I didn’t get that. I wanted her to be a little more mature for someone who was responsible for a lot of things.

The overall story was enjoyable. I love retells and Gold Spun did an excellent job with it. I found the love triangle just so cute. Also, Ms. June’s writing style is flowy and smooth and makes you want to keep reading.

Who should read this book: All lovers of retells, love triangles, and fairytales. This was a truly fun read with magic, faeries, royalty, and everything you could ever ask for in a fast-paced young adult fantasy romance story.

Note: I was given this book to read and review but the opinion is purely my own.

Le Stallion Notebooks

September 22, 2021
Left to right: Henson (Desert Brown), Garanno (Cocoa Brown), and Ariegois (Ashgray Black)

These notebooks are honestly beautiful. I love that they have a table of contents and numbered pages. As a writer, these two features are what’s most important to me in a notebook, but the soft and pliable faux leather, metallic charm, and burgundy brown edging of these Le Stallion Notebooks add a little excitement each time I grab for them. I haven’t written in them yet, but they are on the table next to me and I’m always finding myself running my hands over them and flipping through the empty lined pages.

It’s crazy how important looks is…but I would know that as an avid reader and writer. I’m often drawn to pretty looking book covers, and admit, I’d choose a good looking book cover over one that is mediocre. However, this isn’t to say I would never read a book that didn’t have a nice cover. Blurbs are important too and I mostly go by blurbs after gushing over the covers. I think I treat notebooks the same. Looks matter, but what’s most important is what’s inside, and as mentioned earlier, the table and contents and numbered pages sold me.

I rarely use the back pocket but I’m always in favor of it because there may be times when I’ll need a place to tuck scratches of short scenes or maybe even a list of name of characters I know I’ll forget if I don’t jot them down. I often use sticky tabs in my notebooks and have kept them in the back pocket.

It’s hard to capture the true color of the edging but it gives the notebooks a clean look.

There are four colors available: Ariegeois (Ashgray Black), Garanno (Cocoa Brown), Henson (Desert Brown), and Galloway (Khaki Cream) [not shown]. These notebooks are available for $19.95 each on Le Stallion’s website.

To watch my unboxing video of three of these notebooks, click here >> Unboxing Le Stallion A5 Notebooks.

What’s Coming…

September 14, 2021

Okay, I’m super excited because I’ve finished recording the unboxing of these packages and currently editing, but I wanted to share my excitement. Unfortunately, my camera’s audio isn’t great so I have do the voice overs during editing but if you were able to hear me you’d know I was super giddy with excitement when I first opened the packages. Two of the packages were books and the other two were notebooks from Le Stallion. I normally only review books but I couldn’t pass up these notebooks and I’m so glad I didn’t. They took my breath away.

I’m hyped about the books too. I know one is a fantasy but I wasn’t sure about the other one. It sounds like fantasy, but we’ll see. Either way, I’m very happy and excited to share my reviews with you all.

So, keep your eyes out. I’m working quickly at getting the videos and photos up.

Unboxing Video: Chic Sparrow Callahan Jaffe A5 Cascade

September 3, 2021

I uploaded the video a week ago wanting to share the video and photos at the same time, but the photos were delayed because something else came up, and then couldn’t decide if I should go ahead with the video and share the photos later. Finally decided to wait and do both video and photos together.

This leather, Jaffe A5 Cascade, was actually not available when I wanted to buy it. I submitted a notification request for it, just in case. A lot of leathers I like are limited edition and the Callahan line is one of them. The Jaffe leather is so rugged and beautiful that I had to have my hands on it. I’m so glad I was able to get one.