Monthly Archives: October 2022

The Wife Upstairs – Rachel Hawkins

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The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins is a retelling of Jane Eyre. I did not enjoy Jane Eyre at all, I don’t think those types of books are for me. This book however, was okay if you don’t know anything about Jane Eyre. It is the exact same story except a more modern version. Even the characters names are the same.

The story follows Jane, a dog walker new to Birmingham, Alabama, a rich neighborhood where its residents don’t realize if she takes a few trinkets from her employers. She meets wealthy and widowed Eddie Rochester whose wife Bea drowned in a boating accident with her best friend. Jane looks at Eddie as a new opportunity but as they fall for each other, Jane is constantly haunted by the memory of Bea since in town knew her. Will she ever be able to measure up to Eddie’s wife or will her past…or Eddie’s catch up to them?

I read this book in February 2021 in my book club and didn’t find it very exciting even though many people LOVED it on bookstagram and in my book club. I found it to be a fast read but predictable. I hope if you read it, you enjoyed it more than I did!

Do you enjoy retellings? If so, which is your favourite?

Stolen Sisters: An Inquiry In Feminicide in Canada – Emmanuelle Walter

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I’m sorry to re-start my book reviews with such a low rated (in my opinion) book. I first want to say that this book was translated from the French “Les Soeurs Volées.” I think the fact that this book was translated into English perhaps plays a factor as to why I didn’t enjoy it very much. It also read like an essay and not like a actual novel which was a bit repetitive and all over the place.

The book follows journalist Emmanuelle Walters who spent two years investigating the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and the disappearance of Maisy Odjick and Shannon Alexander. These teenagers from Quebec have been missing since September 2008. Through interviews, personal anecdotes, news clippings and official documents, she tells the story of the girls’ disappearance and the loss of two young lives within the community.

One thing that this book did do is open my eyes to the fact that the Canadian government has completely failed the Indigenous people. They have no done enough to ensure that they have a good quality of life nor do they seem to care if these women go missing or are murdered. They need to do more to help out the communities. Here in Quebec, we are not taught about these things in school, or we weren’t when I was in school, I’m not sure what it’s like now, but kids should be taught the history of this country with both its good parts AND bad. People need to be made aware of what’s going on. This was my first time reading about this subject and since then I have only read one more book about it. This was my book club’s pick for January 2021 so it’s been awhile since I have read it. I have often thought about re-reading it in French to see if I would enjoy it better. I’ll keep you guys posted if I do. If you have any reads to suggest on the subject of missing and murder indigenous women, please write them in the comments.

Rainy Days Are For Blogging

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Call me depressing, but I love rainy days and being stuck indoors and just relaxing and doing things that I don’t get a chance to do very much of thanks to work and you know, life. I made myself a calendar to follow with regards to this blog but I’ve epically failed this passed week, thankfully I have today to move things along and potentially tomorrow as well. Here in Canada it is Thanksgiving weekend so we have a three day weekend.

Yesterday I went to the pumpkin patch (which I will write about in a separate post) to pick some pumpkins and squash which was a GREAT time. I love doing fall activities and this year no one really seems excited about doing anything and then my friend suggested the patch and I was like HELL YAH! What a full day of fun! Later on we even went my friend’s place for a fire! It was like 6 degrees Celsius but we had a warm blanket and cuddled together.

After we got home, my boyfriend and I attempted to watch the F1 race that was being shown at 1am our time since it was in Japan, and it was absolute chaos. It was raining heavily but they made them drive anyway and there was like 4 accidents right at the beginning so they stopped the race and we both passed out and woke up and the race STILL hadn’t re started so we went to bed. Not sure if there are any F1 fans reading this, but I will say this and then stop talking about it so as not to bore you. The FIA should definitely not have made the drivers race in that terrible weather! Like what the actual efffff people could have died. In 2014, at that exact track, in those exact conditions, Jules Bianchi, crashed into a recovery vehicle they put on track and later died as a result of that crash. They did the same thing yesterday with a TRACTOR. Imagine you’re driving in weather at like 150 mph and over and you see a TRACTOR. If you hydroplane, you’re finished. They should have known better and they just do not seem to care about the drivers lives. It’s pretty sad honestly. Even though I’m not the biggest fan of watching, I still think that these drivers are HUMAN BEINGS and their lives matter. Okay, rant over now.

In blog news, you’ll be seeing book reviews from me first most likely and I will be reviewing the books I’ve read in my book club first and so they might not all be super recent buuuuut maybe you’ll hear something you like and pick up a book or seven.

I’m so happy I’m able to post on here more often, I wish there were more hours in a day because I find writing to be so releasing even if I just babble here about random things, I just feel lighter you know? I’m not sure if you understand but I do hope you enjoy what I post on here and I don’t waste your time.