Friday, February 25, 2022

Five on Friday - February 25, 2022 ~ December 2021 Owlcrate Box, Owlcrate Reading Planner, The Girl Who Fell Beneath The Sea Book Review, Bullying Awareness Day and Custard Toast

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you all had a great week - we had a long weekend last weekend for Family Day here, so it was a short work week here which was nice! I had brunch with friends and lots of time with family! 

(Also, there has been some pretty terrible world events happening after I pre-wrote this, with Russia invading Ukraine and it's very devastating!)

ONE 

The audio-arc was received as a review copy - this post contains affiliate links

I just received my December Owlcrate subscription (there was some delays with products, so it's pretty late!) and this month's theme is "Beneath The Waves" - each month the book Owlcrate includes is signed by the author and comes with a note from the author as well. They often have special edition covers just for the box, and they seem to include a lot of exclusive items just for Owlcrate, which is so fun! As a bookworm, I have been loving this subscription! 

The items included in this month's box are:
  • Book - The Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen ~ This is a mermaid book about the main character who is collecting the souls of those who die at sea and blessing their journeys back home; but, when a living boy is thrown overboard, she saves his life. Punishment awaits for those who defy the gods - she must journey to the Creator to make amends. The book itself is signed, has gold sprayed edges and art on the cover as well as the dust jacket! It's gorgeous! 
  • Oversized Ceramic Mug ~ This is part of the seasonal drinkware collection that was designed by Macarena Chomik - it has a lovely Winter quote, is a huge mug size and I looove the florals on this! Very cute! The quote is from Toni Morrison! 
  • Magnetic Dry Erase Board ~ This is a Percy Jackson inspired dry erase board - it's cute, but as I unrolled my, it cracked a little. I'm not totally sure it's something I will use, but it is a practical item. 
  • Wooden Ornament ~ Sad, this is too late to go on my Christmas tree this year, but it's beautiful - it's inspired by The Mermaid, The Witch, and The Sea and it says "There is freedom in stories... We read the and we become something else" and it's got a book and a pirate ship on it! It's created by Juniper and Ivy Designs. 
  • Cleaning Cloth ~ This is a Fable inspired cleaning cloth - it's got a beautiful quote and a drawing of Fable and West on the other side. It was designed by Nicole.Deal.Art. and it's good I can use it for my devices or glasses. 
  • Spinning Pendant Necklace ~ This is my favourite item out of the box - it is inspired by A Darker Shade of Magic and has As Travers on one side and the streets of London on the other side! It was designed by Paperbackbones and it's so pretty! 
  • Reusable Shopping Bag ~ This is lovely - it fold ups super compact and I love that it can easily fit in a purse and you can take it anywhere! It is inpsired by To Kill A Kingdom and this is great! 
If you are interested in signing up, Owlcrate is $32.99 US per month, plus shipping is $14.99 to Canada. I am planning on not receiving this box as often in 2022, as much as I love it, I'd rather just buy books I love and not have as much unnecessary things! 

TWO 


Also, in this box came the Reading Planner that was supposed to be in the November 2021 Owlcrate Box - this is so gorgeous, but I have already started another reading/blog planner this year, so I will save this one until next year. But, it's so pretty! 

THREE 


I'm sooo excited to talk about The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh - it was just released this past week, but I was lucky enough to listen to an audiobook arc for the book from Netgalley and this is my best read of the year so far! 

This book is a young adult fantasy and it is so gorgeous (I mean the cover is stunning), but I really mean the writing and imagery is absolutely beautiful! The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea is described as a feminist retelling of the Korean Folktale "The Tale of Shim Cheong" and although I'm not familiar with this folktale, the basis in mythology felt threaded through the story. This book focuses on Mina, who sacrifices herself and jumps in to the sea, for her family to see if she is the Sea God's true bride - the one who can break the curse and stop the storms that have been wrecking havoc on her homeland for 100 years. Mina is swept away to the Spirit Realm and has 30 days to solve the curse as humans cannot survive in the Spirit Realm longer than that.

The setting is so well described and it is so vivid, that it's easy to picture! Mina encounters an array of companions, from demons to gods to spirits, and you end up loving them all! The characters were amazing, and this definitely had me a little teared up at one time with the characters. Mina was faced with tough choices of choosing what she wants or helping her people and the lengths were would go for our family. This resonated with me.
I thought the writing style was amazing, with chapters just the right length and ending with just enough tension to keep you wanting to find out more. The narrator for the audiobook did a fantastic job, her voice is beautiful and I couldn't put this one down! 4.5/5 stars for me! 

FOUR 


Bullying Awareness Day was February 23 - I love that Damian is always willing to wear full pink for the day and I think it's an important reminder to Be Kind to everyone! 

FIVE 


Alright, I've seen this Custard Toast everywhere, so I tried to make it this past weekend, and I will be honest - I didn't think it was that good! It's not something I would make again! I do love these viral recipes because most or good, but this one is pretty bland to me! 

I hope you all have a great weekend! 

2 comments :

  1. I have never heard of the custard toast, it looks good. Your owl crates always look so exciting.

    ReplyDelete