Survivor 46 – Episode 1

I watched early seasons of Survivor, but only got back into it again in season 42, and I’ll be the first to admit, I struggle with reality tv.

Whenever I watch the first episode of a reality series, I ALWAYS think to myself ‘wow, I really HATE reality tv’, but as long as I stick it out through the first few episodes of the season, I always end up invested.

I let myself get so annoyed at the beginning of the season because I am the queen of having STRONG first impressions. On Big Brother, I’m usually totally spot on with my impressions (shoutout Turner from Big Brother, he was my favorite night one and remained so the entire season), but I’m not always right when it comes to Survivor. I don’t think I’m alone in having hated Emily at the beginning of last season and then ending up completely loving her, so I hope that happens again this season.

I just really hate how everyone in their confessionals in the first episode of a series act like such big shots and like they’re going to be the most ruthless, most cutthroat player, etc. etc. etc. It feels so fake to me. These people build themselves up to be these characters that are just not real and I hate the way I feel like everyone has an ego the size of the moon. I’d much rather see someone’s real character than something they’re trying to build up to.

Because of that, Hunter is by far my favorite player after episode one. I felt like he was open and relatable and he seemed like a genuinely nice person. I feel similarly about Q because of how confident he was in standing his ground before Tribal.

I’m excited to see how this season plays out, but I’m definitely kind of nervous for this season because last year’s cast kicked such ass that I don’t know if this season will be able to live up to it. The season prior too. I don’t think anyone will be able to live up to Jake (45), Kaleb (45), Yam Yam (44), Carolyn (44), Carson (44), Frannie (44), or Matt (44).

Here are my first impressions after the first episode:

  1. Based solely off the first shot of each tribe, I thought I was going to LOVE the Yanu tribe and they actually ended up being my least favorite. Not even because they were on the bottom, but I just genuinely don’t love the people as a group.
    • I was annoyed by how strong some of the tribe members personalities were (or weren’t)
      • I really didn’t like Kenzie at first – she felt overbearing and overconfident to me and all around just too set in her ways. She grew on me a bit by the end of the episode though.
      • I like Q a lot so far. I respect his game play and he seems like a genuinely good guy.
      • I like Jess, but I want to see more from her. I’m obviously not a castaway so I can’t possibly understand the brain fog she must be feeling, but I just wanted to reach out and shake her and tell her to put herself out there more. Before Tribal, I was terrified she was going to go home, and as an Asian woman myself, I really didn’t want to see her go home, especially not first.
    • Jelinksy
      • I want to be as nice as possible here, but honestly, Jelinksy drove me CRAZY. He was playing way too hard way too fast – and honestly just being plain old dumb about it.
      • He was also a freaking hypocrite – talking about not quitting and always giving 100% effort and I laughed OUT LOUD when Jeff called called him out for quitting and not owning it.
      • The kid was ignorant and just didn’t understand the mechanics of the game – and WHO QUITS A CHALLENGE (not once, but TWICE)?!
      • He also was just delusional? Thinking his actions would lead him to Survivor legend status? And thinking this was a huge blindside? No way, dude.
  2. I’m watching Survivor, I don’t want to hear anything about Taylor Swift
    • I’ll get hate for this, but I don’t like Taylor Swift, and quite honestly, I just want to engage in something and not have it turned back on Taylor Swift.
  3. I think my favorite tribe is the Nami tribe
    • I like this group as individuals and also as a group – I think their personalities mesh very well and make for good TV.
  4. I love that there are some contestants from Massachusetts – I hope they host some watch parties this season!
  5. Other people that stuck out to me in the premiere:
    • I liked Maria, especially after seeing her on the journey.
    • I love Tevin’s personality and I really hope to see an alliance between he and Hunter.
    • I really respected Moriah for her vulnerability and putting herself out there so early on.

Looking forward to seeing how things start to shake out on next week’s episode!

February’s Playlist!

I watched a lot of tv and movies this month so I didn’t have any specific playlist on a heavy rotation; I mostly listened to the playlists Spotify recommended to me and asked friends for recommendations when I wanted to listen to music.

One album that a friend recommended to me was Sturgill Simpson’s A Sailor’s Guide to Earth and I FINALLY listened to Noah Kahan’s Stick Season (Forever) all the way through. I also listened to a lot of old country music.

Here’s the playlist I made of songs that stuck out to me most this month. It’s some old music and some music I liked from my recommended music:

  1. Morning in America – Jon Bellion
  2. No Shame – 5 Seconds of Summer
  3. i hate your ghost – Spencer Jordan
  4. stranger to me – Zachary Knowles
  5. 12 Hours – Chris James
  6. tomorrow tonight – Loote
  7. Last Minute – Sam MacPherson
  8. rocket science – vaultboy
  9. The Reminder – Chris James
  10. Drive You Back Home – Raynes
  11. Start – Sam MacPherson
  12. The Sky is Green – Spencer Jordan
  13. December, 1963 (Oh What a Night!) – Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
  14. I Hate LA – Hot Chelle Rae
  15. Stay – Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
  16. hiccup – Valley
  17. Starting to Scare Me – Katelyn Tarver
  18. Still Good – DNCE
  19. Big Girls Don’t Cry – Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
  20. No Hard Feelings – Old Dominion
  21. Here’s To The Zeros – Marianas Trench

You can listen to the playlist here if you like it!

Romantic Comedy – Curtis Sittenfeld

Romantic Comedy – 3.5/5 ✩

Romantic Comedy is about Sally Milz, a sketch writer for a late night comedy show. In 2018, Sally connects with Noah Brewster, who is that week’s host and musical guest on the show, but after a miscommunication, the pair go their separate ways. Two years later, Sally and Noah reconnect and relight the spark of what could’ve been when they first met.

Sittenfeld’s characters were witty and dynamic. Their love felt youthful and innocent and I really appreciated how both characters – especially Noah – were able to communicate their feelings for one another. It was refreshing to have a set of characters who were able to work through their issues rather than get lost in miscommunication.

What I disliked though about this novel was how it took place in present day, and by that, I mean it focused on modern politics and Covid played a tremendous role in the storyline. While I share very similar political views to Sittenfeld, part of the reason I love reading so much is that I can enter an alternate reality where I don’t have to think about the political climate. I read during the 2020 Pandemic because I could escape a reality where being in the same room as someone I loved could have actual, legitimate repercussions.

I was quite surprised when I started reading this book and Covid began playing such a large role in the characters’ lives because I genuinely had not known that it was part of the story at all. I think the romance in this story was strong, but I think it could’ve remained strong without having had the backdrop that it did, so for that reason, I give this book a 3.5/5 rating.

Las Vegas ’24

I’m an east girl with a west coast heart.

Earlier this year, I packed my bags for my first trip of 2024 and headed out to Sin City.

Vegas has always been on the top of my list of places I want to travel, but I’ve never been able to make the trip work. My friend Nicole and I have been best friends since pretty early on in college, both of us love being out west, and we both have a serious case of the travel bug but we’ve actually never travelled together.

Toward the end of last year, we decided that we wanted to finally make the trip. On a whim, we booked our flights, hotels, and started planning the weekend. We booked a flight out on a Friday afternoon and took the redeye home Sunday night. I was a little bit nervous that wouldn’t give us enough time there, but it was honestly the perfect amount of time. It’s an exhausting city, and although there were things we didn’t get to do that I wished we had, they will all still be there next time.

Where We Stayed

We stayed at a different hotel each night we were there and both definitely had their pros and cons. I actually did enjoy both of them, but I don’t think I’d stay at either of them again.

Night One: Circus Circus

Circus Circus was so.freaking.fun. There was so much to do in the hotel – I felt like we could’ve spent almost a full day in the hotel and we wouldn’t have gotten bored. The hotel had a casino, huge arcade area, bars, free circus acts, tons of food and dessert options, gift shops, a salon, and an amusement park???!!!

It’s definitely a perfect place for families to stay. It was fun, it was lively, and there were countless things for the kids to do.

If you’re looking for a 5 star hotel, though, this isn’t the hotel for you. It was safe, it was clean, but it was dated. For me and Nicole, though, it did the job; it fit our budget for the night and it was a hotel where we felt safe.

One of my qualms with the hotel was the location. It’s on the strip, but it’s on one end of the strip, so it was very inconvenient for night life. We had to Uber to other parts of the Strip when we went out and we had to Uber back to the hotel at the end of the night and I would’ve preferred to be able to walk.

Night Two: Hilton Grand Vacations Club on the Las Vegas Strip

This hotel was straight out of my DREAMS. I love hotels and this might (okay, it probably will) sound weird, but this was one of those hotels that just smelt clean and luxurious when you walked in.

The room was beautiful – it had a full kitchen, full living room/sitting area with a pull out couch, and a spacious bedroom and bathroom. There was even a washer and dryer!

I loved EVERYTHING about this hotel, except one thing: the location. It was actually next to Circus Circus, but on the other side, closer to the end of the strip, so again, it wasn’t really walkable to where we wanted to be.

But if location isn’t a concern for you, I’d definitely recommend this hotel!

What We Did

Our first night in town, we didn’t do too much. We were exhausted and fighting a bit of a stomach virus, so while we intended to go to XS Nightclub to see Chainsmokers, we dressed up, went to the Circus Circus casino for a little while, and met up with a friend from college. At that point, we’d been up for over 24 hours, so we ended up spending the majority of our night eating In N Out and Raising Cane’s and catching up.

The next day, the three of us met up with another friend from college and got brunch at Hash House a Go Go – which, if you’ve never been, you have to try! We spent the rest of the day exploring the Strip and walking through all of the casinos and being tourists.

Nicole and I on the Strip!

Later that afternoon, we explored Circus Circus and then headed to the Venetian and got dinner at Smith & Wollensky before heading to the Westgate Resort for a Frankie Valli concert – probably the highlight of the weekend for me! Frankie is one of my all time favorite artists and being able to see him in concert meant the world to me (I might’ve even shed a tear or two!). Westgate was also really fun and lively – their casino was fun, there was live music in the casino after the concert, and it was also SO COOL to be in the same place that Elvis was.

That night, my friend from LA came to town and we went to XS Nightclub to see Marshmello, but there were SO many people there that we ended up going over to the club at Resorts World where Louis the Child was playing a set.

On our last day, we got brunch in the Venetian and then did some more exploring on the Strip. We went to go on the High Roller, but unfortunately, it was closed and it was a little bit too chilly to go ziplining, which was right next to the High Roller. Then we headed over to Fremont Street and explored Old Las Vegas before going over to The Strat and doing a little bit of gambling.

Tips If You’ve Never Been to Vegas

  1. Vegas is Not Walkable – Plan Accordingly
    • Vegas is a BIG PLACE. You might think because you’ve heard of the Las Vegas Strip that everything is going to be close and walkable, but you would be wrong. My friends and family told me, ‘Jordyn, you can’t walk everywhere. It’s a big city.’ and I heard them, but I don’t think I listened to them. When we were there, we had to Uber to different places, there was no walking from place to place. Even though things look close on the map – THEY ARE NOT!
  2. Do Your Research
    • The city can be overwhelming. It very big, it’s very crowded, and there are so many things to do that it really can get overwhelming.
    • I wouldn’t suggest planning your trip down to the minute, but I would suggest coming up with a list of things to do while you’re there. I find that when I have too many options of things to do, I end up not doing very much at all because I overthink the decision making process. If you have a list of things you want to get done while you’re out there, it will help keep you busier and you’ll have a better time.
    • I felt like I had done so much research before I visited, but I still felt like a deer in the headlights at times, so I would highly suggest educating yourself before you go.
  3. Wear Comfortable Shoes!
    • I know I said Vegas isn’t a walkable city, but you will still do your fair share of walking! If you’re out during the day, I’d suggest wearing sneakers or flip flops – basically, what I’m saying is, wear flat shoes.
    • I’m stubborn and I love wearing heels when I go out, so during the days, I wore my sneakers, then in the evenings, I wore a pair of heels and carried a purse big enough that I could stick a pair of flip flops in it and switch my shoes when my feet started to hurt too much.
  4. Check Out All of the Hotels/Casinos
    • One of my favorite parts of the trip was going from hotel to hotel. Once you get to a certain part of the strip, it does get easier to walk from place to place and all of the resorts are so grandiose. It’s definitely worth seeing as many as you can.
  5. Go With People You Trust
    • I didn’t feel like any parts of the city I visited were dangerous, but I definitely was on guard the whole time. I felt like it was a city where I couldn’t trust many people and I was grateful that I was with people who had my back and vise versa.
    • Vegas is obviously a big drinking and gambling city and it’s a place where people can very easily be taken advantage of. Stay safe and stay on guard.
  6. Over Budget
    • Vegas is an expensive city. I was on a tight budget while I was there, and I was able to still do everything I wanted, but everything costs money. Food and beverages are expensive, experiences require tickets, gambling gets expensive if you choose to do that, so make sure you allot enough money (and then some) for the things you want to do.
  7. Go to the In N Out Company Store!
    • I love In N Out and getting at least one burger from there was at the top of my Vegas bucket list. What I didn’t know I could do was visit the Company store. They had so much In N Out memorabilia and I ended up leaving there having spent way too much money. My favorite things I bought were my license plate frame lined with little red In N Out palm trees and a dog collar for my dog!

Can’t wait for my next trip out west!

One Day (2011)

Since I watched One Day on Netflix over the weekend, I’ve been completely infatuated with the story. My TikTok page is consumed by One Day videos and each time I see one, I yearn to go back to their story. Rather than rewatch the show so soon, I decided to watch the film with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess.

I don’t want to solely draw comparisons between the show and the movie, but because I loved the show as much as I did, I’m having a little bit of trouble not comparing the two.

Like the Netflix series, the film follows Emma and Dexter and their relationship after spending graduation night together. The story spans twenty years, so we’re able to see tremendous growth between both characters as they navigate the highs and lows of their intertwined lives.

Emma and Dexter meet on July 15th and the story is structured so that we see what the characters are doing on July 15th of each following year. While I think this is an incredibly unique way of telling a story, I don’t know if I believe that it works for a film.

It works very well for a novel where each chapter can be a different day and similarly, it works for a tv series where each episode can show us a different day. For a film though, I think the story has to move too quickly to stay within the time constraints of a movie and it creates a disconnect between viewer and character that I didn’t feel while watching the show.

The structure of the story already makes you feel like you need to fill in the blanks at some points, so I dislike how each day in the film passes by so quickly. I don’t feel too much of a connection to the characters and I feel like we miss so much of their story. Even graduation night, which I would have guessed would take up a good bit of the movie, didn’t last too long and it left me wondering why the pair would remain so close after that one night.

I do appreciate how they movie opened – with Emma on her bike – and then we return back to this scene later in the movie just moments before her accident. I thought this was a very creative way of bringing the movie full circle, but Emma’s accident felt way too gruesome for me though. I am not easily grossed out by blood or anything, but this scene felt gruesome because of the sheer brutality of it. I felt almost like the accident was included for the shock value rather than the emotional value and to move along the story.

Overall, I would not recommend this movie. I’m not sure if it’s because I loved the series so much that I’m being overly critical of the film, but I was just never able to get invested in the film and really connect with the characters like I think was necessary for their story.

If you’re interested in the movie though, I’ve linked the trailer below!

I’m Meeting the Dawson’s Creek Cast!!

Dawson’s Creek has always been my ultimate comfort show. My parents watched the show when it was airing on tv, and one year for Christmas, I got the series on dvd so the three of us could watch the show together.

I love the stories on the show, but I also love it because of how much nostalgia I feel when I watch it; if I’m not mistaken, we finished the series the night before I started high school. Plus, I’m a sucker for a good 2000s WB drama, and this one hits ALL the marks.

Since I started Dawson’s Creek, something I’ve realized I love is going to comic cons – I even think that my first ever comic con was Rhode Island Comic Con where I met John Wesley Shipp from Dawson’s Creek. Anyway, my birthday is next month and I found out that James Van Der Beek and Kerr Smith – Dawson and Jack from the series – are going to be at 90s Con in Hartford, CT the weekend of my birthday!

Kerr Smith has long been my favorite; Jack is such a dynamic and legendary character and I’ve always wanted to meet Kerr. Despite how many conventions I’ve been to over the years, I’ve never been able to meet him. My friends and family know how much meeting him means to me; I literally made my Tumblr bio in high school ‘My number one goal in life is to meet Kerr Smith’ (and embarrassingly enough, that bio is still on that profile even though the account is has long been dormant).

Kerr has only recently started making convention appearances, and last summer, I found out the day before his appearance that he was going to be in Austin, TX and I had everything planned within an hour to pack up and fly to Austin, but my friends and family (rightfully) pushed me to wait, convinced he’d be a convention closer to me.

Thankfully, they were right!

So, as I started mentally prepping to meet him and James, I began thinking of what I wanted them to sign. I’m not normally a big fan of getting autographs, but I’ve loved this show for so long and have wanted to meet the cast for so long that I figured I should get their autographs. I really didn’t want them signing something generic though that would just end up sitting in a folder, never to be seen again. That’s when I got the idea: I could paint something!

I’ve been diving back into painting recently and I’ve had a couple actors sign canvases I’ve painted. Check them out below.

The canvas on the left is signed by Nathaniel Buzolic from Vampire Diaries and The Originals. The quote ‘Dream You Can, Believe You Must’ is one of my favorite quotes he’s written and Nate has a tattoo on his wrist that says Take Heart, which inspired me to get one as well. The image I painted is of a photo he and I took together back in 2019.
The canvas on the right is signed by Josh Radnor from How I Met Your Mother. I painted some little motifs from the show – the yellow umbrella, Ted’s red cowboy boots, and the blue French horn – and I included one of my favorite jokes from the show Have You Met Ted? I also included a line from the band The Summer Set’s song Legendary, which is based off of How I Met Your Mother.

I know I’m being ambitious in my thinking for my Dawson’s Creek painting, but check out what I’m going to attempt painting for 90s Con.

Wish me luck!!

Dawson’s Creek – Season One

Every few years I go back and rewatch Dawson’s Creek the full way through. In preparation to meet Kerr Smith and James Van Der Beek at 90s Con next month, I started rewatching the series this week.

I think I was 13 when I watched the show for the first time and I notice that each time I rewatch, my opinions from that first watch change and evolve so much. So, let’s go through my impressions this time.

  1. I’m Team Joey
    • The first time I watched, I definitely was a Joey fan, but at the end of the day, it was because I LONGED for her to be with Dawson. I was firmly a Team Dawson and Joey girl.
      • If you don’t know who Joey ends up with at the end of the series, I can almost promise you that at some point in this post I will spoil who it is, so take this as your warning.
    • Now, I love her attitude, I love her wardrobe, her facial expressions are hilarious, and I love how complicated her character can be. I know romance is at the heart of this show, it’s a teen drama after all, but watching the series as an adult, I just want the best for Joey. I hurt when she hurts, I feel her heartbreak at seeing the boy she loves with another girl, I feel the giddiness in a budding crush. Yes, she has her moments when she annoys me, but I love Joey Potter. Her character feels real and realistic.
      • To me, the show is Joey’s show. It might be called Dawson’s Creek, but this is Joey Potter’s world and we’re all just living in it.
  2. I Feel for Jen
    • When I first watched the series, I hated Jen because I felt like she was getting in the way of Joey and Dawson getting together, and I’m not sure if I was already annoyed by her in this season, but as a young teen, I was a Jen Lindley HATER. I was annoyed by almost everything she did.
    • Now, I adore Jen and I really, truly feel for her. She grew up way too fast, she has been completely objectified by men her entire life, she’s living with a woman who is trying to force her to be religious when that’s not something she believes in, and she tries so hard to befriend Joey, who just can’t get out of her own way because she’s jealous of Dawson’s feelings for Jen.
      • Jen Lindley is really just trying to get a fresh start and it feels like everything is against her for a little while.
  3. Dawson. Is. Intolerable.
    • Listen, I love Dawson Leery because he’s Dawson Leery, but boy does this kid have a lot of growing up to do.
      • When I was young, I adored Dawson. I loved everything about him. Watching it now, I still appreciate how much he loves film and he’s so pure hearted and well intentioned, but the way he goes about things honestly just hurts to watch. I used to love his blind optimism and how he seemed to live in this fantasy dream world in his mind, but now, it’s like, ‘dude, get out of your own head and learn to live in the real world!’
      • It also blows my mind that he doesn’t have any idea that Joey has feelings for him, and then once he does start to put it together, he just brushes her feelings aside. For a boy who has a vocabulary like his, I would’ve expected him to have some better communication skills.
      • The way he treats women is unacceptable. I know he’s never had a girlfriend before, but he should know better than to treat women the way he does. He has Mitch Leery as an example, he should know how to treat women.
        • The way he treats Jen when he finds out she’s not a virgin boiled my blood. The way he spoke to her and treated her like she was less than really tainted my perception of him. Again, I know he’s just a kid, but he still should’ve known better. He has very antiquated views (and I know this was also the late 90s, so viewpoints will be different) but the way he slut-shamed Jen did not sit well with me.
        • He literally tells Pacey that winning Jen back has become a bizarre hobby.
          • No woman should be won, nor should that ownership be a hobby.
        • I don’t like how he treated Mary Beth on the double date with Jen and Cliff. He completely used her to try and get Jen back and didn’t even take her feelings into consideration. High schoolers do this all the time, but that doesn’t mean I have to approve of it.
        • His relationship and feelings over ownership over Joey
          • Pacey develops feelings for Joey toward the end of season one and asks Dawson for his permission to ask Joey out and Dawson says no, to which Pacey responds ‘You don’t want her but you don’t want anyone else to have her either.’ and I think this is exactly how Dawson feels, which is so twisted.
          • After the beauty pageant, Dawson sees Joey as if he’s seeing her for the first time, saying ‘You transformed into this beautiful Joey’ and I am SO PROUD of Joey for calling him out on this because he truly couldn’t see the backhanded nature of his comment. She was finally was hearing the words she wanted to hear from him, and yet she chose to walk away from him and I couldn’t be more proud.
            • This is a really underrated part of the show in my opinion. This isn’t word for word, but Dawson says, ‘I thought this was what you wanted’ and Joey responds, ‘I want you to look at me and see the person you’ve always known and realize that what we’ve always had is more incredible than just some passing physical attraction – it’s just lipstick, it’s just hairspray. Tomorrow I’m gonna wake up and be Joey. Just Joey. You’ve had a lifetime to process your feelings for me and I can’t spend the rest of mine hoping that you might throw a general glance in my direction.’
  4. Pacey, Pacey, Pacey
    • I adore Pacey. He definitely doesn’t make the best decisions this season, but I still adore him. I remember not caring for his relationship with Tamara when I first watched, but the older I get, the worse their relationship becomes. Thankfully, it’s a fleeting relationship, and honestly, I choose to just overlook it when I watch because I know it’s going to be over almost as fast as it started. On the whole, the relationship was wrong. But I will say, I fault Tamara more for it than anything. She should’ve known better and stuck to her instincts.
    • I think Pacey is such a witty and dynamic character and I love how this season sets up that growth. Though he might not make the greatest decisions, he’s so pure and kind at heart.
    • I love the episode where Joey and Pacey team up for an extra credit assignment. It so perfectly sets up their later romance (Hardcore Pacey and Joey shipper here)
  5. The Finale
    • I forgot how HEAVY the season finale is! Between Joey seeing her dad and Jen’s grandfather passing away… it’s so SAD. I couldn’t keep the tears in.
  6. Mitch and Gale
    • When I was young, I knew the wrongness of Gale’s infidelity, but watching it this time, I could not stop crying. I adore Mitch Leery and I hate seeing how hurt he is.
    • I hate the way Mitch yells at Gale in the car, but watching him grieve and come to terms with the fact that the woman he loves more than life itself cheated on him hurt so bad. Then, when he comes back home and Gale explains to him her reasoning behind the affair.. the tears would.not.stop.
  7. Grams
    • I freaking love Grams… Later in the series. In this season, I hate how stuck in her ways she is, but I will say, I appreciate seeing it because it makes the transformation I know she undergoes in later seasons mean even more.
  8. Film References
    • I love all of the film references and I love the Detention/Breakfast Club episode
    • Kevin Williamson is such an incredible writer and storyteller.
  9. The Pilot
    • Pilots are tough, but this is one of my all time favorite pilots and one of my favorite episodes of the entire series.

One Day

From the second I saw the promo teaser for One Day, I knew I was going to love this series.

One Day follows Emma and Dexter, two people who meet on graduation night and are left inexplicably connected. The pair meet on July 15th, and each subsequent episode takes place on July 15th of the following year.

I thought this was a brilliant way to tell Emma and Dexter’s story – although there were moments when I definitely wanted to know exactly what had happened and how it happened between one year and the next, I thought this was a great way to show the passage of time and demonstrate the ebbs and flows in Emma and Dexter’s relationship.

From what I’d heard of the show, I knew this was going to be a story that was going to stick with me and I was so nervous to dive into it. The icing on the cake before I started the series was when a writer that I really look up to posted this tweet:

There are very few things that Carina Mackenzie posts that I disagree with, so this simultaneously terrified me and was also the final push I needed to start the show.

The casting for Emma and Dex was absolutely perfect. You could FEEL the chemistry on the screen, and if there’s one thing you should know about me it’s that I’m a hopeless romantic. I love love. I love romance. Give me any love story and I’m going to devour it.

Now I’ll be honest: this wasn’t the love story I was expecting, but it was a love story that felt real. Emma and Dexter have an undeniable connection throughout the series and there were so many times I found myself balling my hands into fists and silently begging the characters to just grow up, be honest with each other, and GET TOGETHER.

I don’t want to spoil anything, but their story really did end up being on of the most satisfyingly heartbreaking romances I’ve watched unfold. Their story shows you the importance of time and how crucial it is to appreciate the time and the people we have with us. It shows you how special it is to love. It helps you see how beautiful human connection is and growing with, not away from, people.

And now, because this story is all I’m capable of thinking about anymore(!!!!), it’s time to read the book!

If you’re on the fence about watching this series, take the leap (but have your tissues ready!). You won’t regret it.

Check out the trailer below. And if you have anything you want to add about the series, drop a comment!

A couple spoiler-y notes!

If you haven’t finished the series, I’d suggest not continuing!

  • WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE END OF THE SERIES
    • Can I just say how proud I am of Dexter?
      • Throughout the entire series, he and Emma were incredibly dynamic characters, even despite his fair share of hot mess moments on the show. From his use of drugs and alcohol, to how he treated Emma, to dealing with his mom’s death, to handling a divorce and being a father, and finally, dealing Emma’s death –Dexter grew SO. MUCH.
      • As a viewer, there was obvious heartbreak in Emma’s death, but seeing the way Dex dealt with it – from hysteric sobs at his parent’s house (this absolutely broke my heart), to drinking too much, to spending the anniversary of Emma’s death with his friends and family, and finally, to revisiting the places he visited with Emma… My heart broke and mended itself a million times over. I was crying sad tears mixed with a feeling of such empowerment for Dex, mixed again with sadness.
      • The ending of this series was done so incredibly well – you felt every single emotion Dexter did – and the only way I think it could’ve been done better (which would have unfortunately completely negated the meaning of the series) would have been if Emma had grown old with Dex and their future children.
  • I can’t take credit for this one, I watched a TikTok about this, but the symbolism of the rain hit me so hard
    • July 15th is St. Swithin’s Day and they say various times throughout the series that if it rains on July 15th, then it’s going to rain for the rest of the summer. I didn’t really think too much of this, and when I watched the series, what happened went completely over my head.
    • Until the 13th episode of the series (aka, many, many July 15ths after their initial meeting) it’s never rained. The first, and only time, it rains is when Emma gets in her accident. Although Emma and Dexter have their fair share of ups and downs from one July 15th to the next, the worst thing that happens to the two of them happens on the one July 15th when it rained. I think this is so meaningful.
  • And, not a spoiler, but the filming locations and settings on this series were BEAUTIFUL

Just Another Missing Person – Gillian McAllister

Just Another Missing Person – 2/5 ✩

Just Another Missing Person is a mystery thriller that follows a missing persons case. Julia, the detective heading the search for missing 22 year old Olivia, is a straight edged detective who places a high value on her work, sometimes to her detriment. As the search begins to find Olivia, Julia is blackmailed into framing someone for the murder of the young girl, and although Julia would never put her career in harms way nor would she want to do anything that could derail the search to find Olivia, Julia has no choice but to follow the blackmailer’s orders.

Gillian McAllister is a phenomenal writer, especially when it comes to mystery and suspense. Her novel Wrong Place Wrong Time (2022) had some of the greatest twists and she has a great talent for telling stories unconventionally.

In this book, McAllister tells the story from three different perspectives: Julia’s, Lewis’, the father of the missing girl, and Emma’s, the mother of the individual being framed in Olivia’s case. McAllister also sprinkles in some of Olivia’s perspective by sharing some of her social media posts.

While I think this is an interesting way to tell her story, I think the switching of perspectives did a bit of a disservice to her story, making it unnecessarily confusing at times. Of course, all three of their perspectives converge to tie the story together, but I still believe that the shifts in perspective hindered rather than helped her story.

Although it was a great examination of the love a parent has for their child, I found the story dull at times and because we were essentially following three separate stories that ultimately came together as one later in the book, it felt like there were too many paths to follow to get to that final one and I found myself wishing I could just get to the end to see how it’s all resolved.

While I didn’t love this book, I will definitely continue reading McAllister’s book and look forward to her next release. This book just isn’t on my list of favorites.

You Shouldn’t Have Come Here – Jeneva Rose

2.5/5 ✩

You Shouldn’t Have Come Here is a mystery thriller that follows Grace Evans, a city girl who takes a vacation at an Airbnb in Wyoming. Grace is immediately drawn to Calvin Wells, the owner of the property she’s staying on, but something in the town doesn’t feel right. Though hesitant to stay, Grace decides to stay for the duration of her scheduled trip and grows very close to Calvin. But as time goes on and the town – and Calvin – start to seem even more unsafe, Grace realizes she might not actually make it back home.

**Warning: this review will contain spoilers**

From the get go, readers get the feel that the town is mysterious and unsafe. Other than Calvin, the people that live in the town are unwelcoming and make continuous comments about how Grace shouldn’t have come to this town. Calvin also harps on the fact that he doesn’t want Grace to leave him, and on numerous occasions, characters comment that Grace isn’t going to leave town.

The story is told through dual points of view, so we get insight into both Grace’s and Calvin’s perspectives throughout the entire book, and although I always knew something was amiss, because the story was told through both Grace’s and Calvin’s perspectives, both characters seemed trustworthy.

It isn’t until just about the very, very end of the book that I realized something was off with both of our narrators. Not only has Calvin been lying about holding a woman hostage the entire story, but Grace is also not who she says she is.

Had we learned this information earlier in the novel, it would’ve felt more believable and even created a greater sense of suspense of who was going to survive at the end of the book, but by saving this reveal for SO late in the novel, it felt jumbled and rushed. It created a HUGE disconnect between me and the characters and I felt like I spent so long getting to know these characters only to have those conceptions stripped away with very little time to come to terms with that.

Until the end of the end of the novel, Grace presents herself as an innocent city girl looking for a little escape from reality. Calvin, on the other hand, appears to be a welcoming Airbnb host with a twisted family history who wants nothing more than to share his lifestyle with a beautiful woman.

In reality, Grace’s real name isn’t even Grace and she reveals that she takes regular trips out of her hometown and away from her loving family to commit murder. Similarly, Calvin routinely holds women hostage on his property.

Because of the false sense of trust the author builds between reader and character, many of the characters’ actions then feel unbelievable. It’s hard to grasp that Grace would be so fearful for her own life – particularly when she wakes up with night terrors thinking Calvin has tried to harm her – when it’s evident that she knows how to defend herself and is more than capable of murder. In fact, she thrives on the act.

I can understand why the author would incorporate this twist – it’s something I never saw coming, and as a mystery thriller writer, that’s exactly what you want to do, though I do not think that the way she executed this was successful. Additionally, as a big reader and writer myself, I noticed there were more than a few grammatical and tense errors in the writing which made it difficult for me to fully immerse myself in the writing at all. The writing felt rushed and a little bit mundane to me, almost like the author was listing things instead of writing a cohesive story.