Happy Friday everyone! I'm happy this was a short work week - our Monday was the family day holiday! And, it's finally starting to "warm up" in Calgary, we've been sitting at -30 for well over a week and I'm ready to get outside this weekend!
ONE
E-arc of The Lost Apothecary was provided as a review copy - this post contains affiliate links
I said earlier this year that I was going to probably share some book reviews and content on the blog - I mean honestly, we aren't going anywhere or doing anything, so I'm reading books a lot more than I'm wearing new makeup at this point (I've always said, this remains a beauty blog, but I'm happy to share my other hobbies!), and so I thought I'd focus reviews on the books that I looooove, so let me introduce you to The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner - this book releases on March 2, 2021 and it's my first 5 star book of the year!
The Lost Apothecary is a historical fiction, but with a duel timeline - one set in 1791 set in the apothecary itself, and the other in present day with a woman who discovers an old artifact and starts to unearth the story of the apothecary! Let's start with 1791 and the apothecary, because to me this was the absolute best part of the book - Nella runs the apothecary and she secretly dispenses poison to woman, specifically to kill the men in their lives. It was such a great plot line - honestly, Sarah Penner can just write me stories of all the men Nella made poisons for and their stories and it would be fantastic. I love a solid revenge type story - a scorned woman dedicated her life to murdering men; Nella must be a Scorpio, because let me tell you, if I was in her shoes back in the day, I would have done the same thing! Then Nella meets young Eliza, who is interested in the shop and befriends Nella, but unfortunately, their coming together becomes the beginning of the end - I loved the coming together of their stories and their resilience together!
I will be honest, it took me a little bit longer to get in to the present day story of Caroline - she ends up travelling to London alone following discovering her husband's infidelity and finds herself mudlarking in the river searching for little treasures, where she discovers a vile and starts to research what she's found. I loved that the author took inspiration from her own mudlarking adventure - I honestly love antiquing and looking at old little treasures, and I've always found myself wondering the back story or about who used to own the items! So, when I looked at Caroline's story through that lens, I connected with it a little bit more and by the end I found myself invested in her story and outcome and loved how she grew. The author certainly added a little suspense as well too - there was great pacing and it jumped back and forth between characters so well. Also, I listened to the audiobook and I loved that their were three distinct voices for each character and they were all great to listen too! I very much enjoyed this one!
TWO
How was your Valentine's Day? It was really quiet around here - my husband was working and my older son was at his Dad's house so it was just Elliott and I for the night! We ordered our typical heart-shaped pizza, and had some yummy local treats - a Cider and Creampuffs! Nice and simple!
THREE
Have I established that I love book buying as much as I love book reading?! Ha - I love scrolling through The Next Page's used section and I have found some good finds for around $5 each! Have you read any of these?! I'm hoping to get to some of these soon!
FOUR
I finally caved and made the famous internet Feta and Tomato pasta and I will be honest, it was delicious! Worth making - I've already sent the recipe I used to people and we will make it again! I used a recipe from Grilled Cheese Social, but really they are basically everywhere and it's easy to make!
FIVE
I watched Firefly Lane last weekend and I'm curious if you've watched it what your thoughts are?! I think for the most part I enjoyed it, although I think every relationship in the show had some level of toxicity, so it wasn't always an easy watch! Also, it killed me that they left a huge question unanswered (I had to google it) - I've heard it's pretty different than the book (which is why I usually read the book first), but I thought it was okay, not as heartwarming of a friendship story as I had hoped though!
I hope you all have a great weekend!
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