Five on Friday - December 15, 2023 ~ Beartown Trilogy Book Reviews, Pantone Colour of the Year - Peach Fuzz, Meeting the Grinch, Bookshops and Bonedust Pre-order, and McDonalds Adult Happy Meals

Happy Friday everyone - I hope you all had a great week! It's been a lost cause of a week here - my little guy has been sick since the weekend so we've been in survival mode for the week, and I thought I was on track for Christmas prep and now I haven't sent out cards or wrapped anything and I'm feeling a little rushed! 

ONE 

I purchased everything in this post

If you would have told me at the start of the year that a trilogy of hockey books would be some of my favourite books of the year, I would have laughed, but I cannot sing enough praise about the Beartown series that includes Beartown, Us Against You and The Winners by Fredrik Backman. Of course, these are much more than a book about hockey - its about the characters, choices we make, how we respond to crisis, friendships, family, love, toxic masculinity, violence, everything is touched on in these books and handled so well - Fredrik Backman is a master with words and these books were so impactful. 

We meet everyone in Beartown - a small town focused on hockey when an act of violence changes everything before the most important game. It's about the characters and the response to violence, how sides are chosen, and standing up for what we believe in. We meet this variety of characters from all different backgrounds drawn together by one thing - this is a huge multi-pov story, but I found it easy enough to follow and the characters and setting will pull you in. In book two, Us Against You, things start to get a little political (I found this part a little slow at first), but eventually deals with issues around sexuality, toxic masculinity, love and lose. Then, in the third book, The Winners, we are two years past the events of the first book and we are watching our characters from the first two books all come together and move forward. I cannot express how connected to these characters and their stories I was (were talking yelling at them, crying, laughing - all of the above!) Amazing books - the first 2 were 4.5 stars and the third was a 5 star read. Highly recommended. 

TWO 

Pantone just announced their 2024 Colour of the Year - Peach Fuzz! It's such a lovely shade and I will for sure be trying to feature it a lot next year! What do you think of this shade?! 

THREE 

Last week, it was really cute, our local A&W hosted a little Christmas party where they had a Santa, a Grinch and some reindeers for everyone to meet and take pictures with! Everyone was so good and naturally, a little snow did not stop us! 

FOUR 

A cute little goodie arrived in the mail this week - a Viv keychain! There is lots of books that have little goodies the publishers will send if you pre-order books, and this is what they sent for pre-order Bookshops and Bonedust! So cute! 

FIVE 

Alright, McDonalds came back with their adult Happy meals this week - the Kerwin Frost box with nuggets or a big mac (meatless for me) and they had these cute little nugget toys in there! So fun!

I hope you all have a good weekend!