Tumtum and Nutmeg: Adventures Beyond Nutmouse Hall

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This charming series from Emily Bearn is a heart-warming and adorable read. Reading this series is like drinking a hot pumpkin spice latte in the fall. This book is a collection of three short stories that follow Tumtum and Nutmeg, two wholesome and benevolent mice living within a broom cupboard of Rose Cottage. As readers, we get to witness these two interact with the young, human children of small Rose Cottage, defeat their nefarious Aunt, battle rats, and enjoy their vast home within the cupboard. While Tumtum would rather stay in one of the 27 rooms of Nutmouse Hall and read, his wife Nutmeg can’t help but pity the human children of Rose Cottage whose mother died when they were little and whose father is struggling to support them. In the first short story, Nutmeg is determined to bring the children joy after learning that their father cannot afford to give them Christmas presents this year and Tumtum joins the cause just to be with Nutmeg.

As a child, I remember purchasing this book at a garage sale, its 512 pages intimidated me and the descriptive writing was far beyond my level. Recently, I picked this book back up after I abandoned it many years ago, deeming it too difficult. Reading this was like a beautiful trip back into childhood, equivalent to a trip to Disneyland or visiting your own elementary school. These stories are so heart-warming and devoid of drama or toxicity-it was like a cleanse. Although I typically read fantasy or historical fiction, these stories have a special place in my heart. It makes your problems seem insignificant as you turn the next page to discover how these tiny mice will defeat a human adult or make presents for small human children. If you are looking to enjoy a whimsical, children’s chapter book, this series is the one for you. I deeply encourage you to dive into the adventures of rational Tumtum and magnanimous Nutmeg to escape the world’s troubles and have a little fun.

Tumtum & Nutmeg: Adventures Beyond Nutmouse Hall by Emily Beam is available to download for free from Libby.

The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas

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*this review may contain spoilers

First off, I would like to acknowledge that this book is a “sequel” to Armas’s The Spanish Love Deception so I would read that before reading this book. I LOVED The Spanish Love Deception which urged me to read this sequel. However, it did not live up to the hype and anticipation that was coming from this book.

It follows two characters, Rosie Graham and Lucas Martin who are mutuals between Catalina Martin. Rosie Graham is Catalina’s best friend while Lucas is Catalina’s cousin. They get in an awkward situation when Rosie decides to stay at Lina’s apartment while she is away on her honeymoon not knowing that Lucas was due to stay at Lina’s apartment as well. Instead of moving separate ways they learn to love being in one another’s presence and create a plan to simultaneously live in the apartment with one another.

Rosie has been struggling with her romance writing and looks at Lucas for inspiration for her novels. They begin a fake dating pact to help influence her writing but they end up falling in love for each other, I’m aware it is very cliché. They have one of the most romantic comebacks and have a happy ending.

The reason I said I didn’t really enjoy the book was because it didn’t exceed the expectation I had of Spanish Love Deception. Although I liked the characters, I didn’t feel bonded enough with either of them to fully enjoy the story. One thing I did like was that it was written in a dual POV so I got to see inside both the character’s thoughts and feelings about one another.

-Madison C.

The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas is available to download for free from Libby.

Extended Play (EP) Review: You are Dreaming by Elliott Fullam

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It’s only been a month and a half since Elliott Fullam released his debut album What’s Wrong and he’s back at it again with a 4 track extended play (EP) named You are Dreaming. Fullam does a great job further developing (and even expanding) the sound he created in What’s Wrong.

The cover of You are Dreaming

You are Dreaming goes beyond Elliott Smith meets Duster, especially with its instrumentation. Don’t get me wrong, he sounds somewhat similar to his influences in terms of vocals and production respectively, but Smith is much more original in this release. We can see this originality on the track “On and On”.

“On and On” features acoustic guitars, Fullam’s signature wispy vocals, a Duster-esque drum (in terms of production), and a keyboard. The addition of a keyboard especially differentiates him from his influences which are quite obvious if they’re listened to before or after listening to Fullam.

It’s a great thing that Elliott Fullam was able to release You are Dreaming. His original plan was to release a single but due to issues with Spotify, he ended up releasing an EP as an apology to his fans. The EP is a pretty good indie rock album. I give it a 7.9/10 as I find it to be somewhat of an improvement over What’s Wrong, but still quite similar to it. Give it a look; it’ll make your day!

The Final Gambit

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This is the third book in the Inheritance Games series. The series follows Avery after she is revealed to have been left a large inheritance from a billionaire named Tobias Hawthorne. Prior to the reading of his will, Avery had no idea who he was. Avery is a teenager whose mother died and her father left, leaving her kind half-sister Libby to take care of her.

She met Tobias Hawthorne only once in a completely random, coincidental way, and has not seen him since that brief encounter when she was much younger. Although Tobias Hawthorne has now died, he leaves behind the majority of his money and possessions to Avery – along with some hidden games. However, he left everything to Avery with one condition: that she stay in Hawthorne House for one full year. Then, once she turns 18, the money and possessions will legally be hers, as long as she fulfills this condition. During this year, Avery will face many threats against both her own life and the lives of those she cares about. Meanwhile, the question remains: why Avery? Tobias Hawthorne had four grandsons: Nash, Grayson, Jameson, and Xander. It was expected that Grayson would receive the fortune, not someone unknown like Avery. Even now, months later, Avery has no idea why she was chosen to receive the inheritance.

This is an exciting book with many puzzles and mysteries to solve. There were a lot of plot twists and I definitely was not anticipating the ending of this book. I really enjoyed reading this entire series. I would recommend this book to those who like adventure, action, and romance books.

-Peri A.

The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

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The novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen follows the story of the Bennett sisters, whose mother desires nothing but to get them all married. Early on in the book, the family is introduced to a neighbor’s friend- a wealthy man named Mr. Darcy. The author beautifully develops the relationship between him and one of the oldest Bennett sisters, Elizabeth.

Jane Austen’s ability to realistically capture the struggles in a relationship is the quality I admired the most while reading this book. The author is able to eloquently show the obstacles one must overcome in order to find true love, such as pride, arrogance, and social class. While reading, I found myself at the edge of my seat, wondering what the outcome would be of the protagonists’ turbulent relationship. I also enjoyed how the novel shared the struggles of other family members as well, while still keeping the main focus on Darcy and Elizabeth.

I would recommend this novel to anyone interested in classics, or the romance genre in general, as this is truly one of the most iconic love stories of all time. Although it is difficult to adjust to at first, Jane Austen has an iconic writing style that demonstrates her creativity and elegance, giving her stories a tone that fully immerses readers into the same time period as their favorite characters.

-Aysha H.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

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James and the Giant Peach is one of Roald Dahl’s most popular books.  The story is about a boy named James Henry Trotter, who is sent to live with his two horrible aunts after his parents had been killed by a zoo animal.  Life is miserable for James until an old man comes along and gives him a bag full of small crystals.  The man claims that the crystals contain more power and magic “than in all the rest of the world put together.”  Unfortunately, James accidentally drops the crystals on the ground under a peach tree and loses them.  To his surprise, a peach on the tree soon grows to an unnatural size.  The giant peach ends up as big as a house.

One night, James decides to sneak out of the house to inspect the monstrous peach.  Getting closer, he notices a hole on the side of the peach.  He crawls into the hole and through a tunnel until he reaches the pit.  The pit of the giant peach has a door cut into it.  James pushes it open and crawls inside.  To his surprise, seven oversized bugs are living inside the pit.  James is frightened at first, but he quickly grows accustomed to the strange creatures.  One of the giant bugs cuts the stem of the peach.  The peach rolls away with everyone inside.  James and his new friends set off on an exciting journey.

I like the character of James in this book, but to be honest, I like the bugs even more.  I especially like Centipede, Old-Green-Grasshopper, and Earthworm.  I think Earthworm is my favorite character of all.  Even though he often seems gloomy and pessimistic, he is very entertaining as he quarrels with the other bugs.  He usually fights with Centipede.  The interactions between the bugs are very amusing.

I have loved reading Roald Dahl’s books since I was very young.  This is one of the first books by the author that I read, so I still feel nostalgic about it.  I have ready many other Roald Dahl books, but this is still one of my favorites.  I would highly recommend this book to anyone, especially if they have not had a chance to read one of Roald Dahl’s books yet.

James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.

Book Review: The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

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The Year of Magical Thinking von Joan Didion - englisches Buch - bücher.de

A Year of Magical Thinking examines Joan Didion’s life and methods of mourning following the death of her husband of forty years, John Dunne.

Throughout the novel, Didion details her avoidance of, then obsession over, the sudden cardiac event one December night that killed the love of her life. The added stress of her daughter, Quintana Roo, being in the hospital on life support at the time leads to an nervous breakdown of sorts–and an examination of the nature of grieving and mourning itself.

I was first introduced to Didion’s writing about a year ago, and she quickly became one of my favorite authors of all time. That being said, I was a little reluctant to read this book- I knew that the subject matter would be darker and sadder than her usual writing style. Still, I was thoroughly impressed. Despite the turmoil in her personal life, Didion keeps her writing clean and precise, and doesn’t dwell on heavy-handed clichés about grief to convey her ideas; in fact, she even rejects some of these clichés (especially those about ‘healing’ and ‘coping’) as unrealistic.

Even so, the reader can feel her pain through her writing. She and John were inseparable- she even cites an instance when she was in San Francisco for a week writing a piece, and he would fly up from Santa Monica every night to have dinner with her before flying home again to be with their daughter. The loss hits her hard, and it’s apparent- she struggles desperately to keep herself sane and strong, for the sake of her daughter.

-Vaidehi B.

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.

2022 World Cup

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The 2022 World Cup has come and gone, just like it does every 4 years. However, this World Cup will go down as one of the top World Cups in history.

 The 2022 tournament in Qatar brought tons of surprises, and wrapped up with the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) completing his trophy collection and accomplishing the most decorated career possible in the sport of football(or soccer). 

If you don’t know much about the World Cup, don’t worry, I’ll give a brief explanation real quick. It is played between the national teams of the qualifying country. To qualify for the tournament, teams need to be successful in the World Cup Qualifiers or be the host country. The tournament starts in the Group Stage, where there are 8 groups of 4 countries, and after each team plays 3 matches (against the 3 other teams in the group). Then, the top 2 countries from each group enter the knockout stage, where if you lose, you go home. The winners keep advancing until they reach the last match of the tournament, the World Cup Final. The 2 teams that lost in the semifinals also receive a chance to compete for the 3rd through a 3rd place match. 

In the 2022 World Cup, we saw Belgium, the team ranked 2nd in the FIFA national team rankings, go out in the group stage. Denmark, the 10th ranked team, and Germany, the 11th ranked team, also failed to advance to the knockout rounds. However, the biggest surprise came from Italy, the 6th ranked team, not even qualifying to take part in the World Cup. 

A pleasant surprise came when we saw Christian Pulisic and the USMNT (US Men’s National Team) qualify for the round of 16, before ultimately falling 3-1 to The Netherlands. In the Round of 16, we also saw Morocco knock out Spain on their way to the Quarterfinals. 

In the Quarterfinals, we witnessed some more surprising upsets. First, Luka Modric and Croatia stunned Neymar Jr and Brazil by drawing with them at the end of extra time, even after Neymar’s 105+1’ goal as Petkovic (Croatia) came up with an equalizer in the 117’ of the match, 3 minutes before the end of extra time. If you only watch one highlight from the World Cup, I suggest it be Neymar’s goal against Croatia. Then, Croatia proceeded to beat Brazil in penalties 4-2, sending the 1st ranked team home. We also saw Morocco shock the world by upsetting Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal 1-0. Some believe that the Portugal manager, Fernando Santos, made a mistake by bringing Ronaldo off the bench, as it was too late for them to come up with an equalizer. Ronaldo, in probably his last World Cup, was eliminated in the Quarterfinals, with his dream of winning the international tournament being just a dream. Messi and Argentina barely got past the Netherlands in a Penalty Shootout, after the Netherlands came back from a 2-0 deficit and came up with an equalizer in the last minute of second half stoppage time (90+11’). France beat England after Giroud scored a decider (go-ahead goal) in the 78th minute of the contest. Soon after, Harry Kane skied (hit over the goal)  a penalty, missing out on the chance to equalize. 

In the Semi-Finals, the favorites won, as Lionel Messi and Argentina comfortably handled Croatia 3-0, while France defeated Morocco 2-0. However, Morocco’s record-breaking World Cup journey was a huge accomplishment as they became the first African Nation to make the Semi-finals in the tournament. Morocco also received 4th place in the tournament, losing to Croatia in the 3rd place match. 

Finally, in the World Cup Final, we saw 2 powerhouses, Argentina and France, face off for a chance to make history. France was looking to be the first team since Brazil in 1962 to defend their title and be back-to-back champions. Lionel Messi on Argentina was looking to add the last missing trophy to complete his accomplished trophy cabinet. The match started with Argentina looking dominant while France was worse than terrible. Argentina started off their scoring with a penalty from Messi. Then, Angel Di Maria finished the counter-attack with an outstanding goal, making it 2-0 Argentina. In the 79th minute of action, France received a penalty, and Mbappe nailed it through the bottom left corner (80’). Then, 1 minute later, in the 81st minute, Kylian Mbappe scored another miraculous goal, tying it up at 2-2. It went to Extra time before Messi knocked in another goal in the 108th minute, cleaning up the save from the French Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. In the 118th minute, Mbappe scored another penalty, accomplishing a hat trick and knotting the game at 3-3. However, France also received another chance to score in the 120+3’ where Randal Kolo Muani took a shot between him and the goalkeeper, which the Argentine goalkeeper Emi Martinez saved. The biggest regret for France is Kolo Muani had Mbappe running on his left, and a pass to the French superstar could’ve won them the tournament. Argentina outlasted France in the penalty shootout, winning 4-2 and giving Messi his much desired World Cup victory. 

In conclusion, the 2022 Qatar World Cup was definitely one of the wildest World Cups yet, and I await the 2026 world cup with tremendous excitement.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

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Their Eyes Were Watching God is a novel by Zora Neale Hurston.  The story is set in Florida around the turn of the twentieth century.  The main character is a woman named Janie Crawford.  Janie had a difficult background.  She was raised by her grandmother, who had been a slave for much of her life.  Janie also endured many trials.  She marries three men over the course of her life.  Her first husband is very controlling and does not treat her well.  Her second husband is very ambitious, and is also controlling.  Her third husband is different.  He shows more love and respect toward Janie and she feels much happier with him than during her previous marriages.

I was impressed by the main character.  She demonstrates great courage and endurance despite many difficult trials.  As a young woman she struggled to find love and happiness, but over time she developed strength and confidence that helped her to overcome challenging circumstances.  She was constantly under pressure from people around her to behave in a certain way, but she learned to bravely assert herself when necessary against people who tried to mistreat her.  She handled tragic events in her life with grace and courage, and became stronger as a result.

This book is considered one of the great classics of the Harlem Renaissance.  The author skillfully incorporates Southern vernacular with standard English.  I found this book to be a very insightful perspective on the culture and lifestyle in the South after the Civil War.  I appreciated its lessons about the harmful effects of spousal abuse and the power of love and respect.  This book is tragic in many ways but also inspiring.  I would highly recommend it.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.

Album Review: Bleach by Nirvana

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Nirvana has to be one of the most influential bands of all time, changing music forever with their breakout album Nevermind. Nevermind wasn’t the trio’s first work, with Bleach being their freshman album. I love Nirvana so I naturally had to check out their debut album.

The album cover of Bleach

First of all, Bleach is a much different album than Nevermind and In Utero (Nirvana’s final studio album). It’s much more sludgy and metallic with it being comparable to the music of The Melvins, another grunge band from Nirvana’s neck of the woods. The best track off the album, in my opinion, is “Downer” which perfectly captures the vibe of Bleach.

If you listened to “Downer” and “Lithium” back to back, you’d think that Kurt Cobain had some sort of Temple of Dog-esque deal with the former track having different musicians than the latter (David Grohl didn’t play on Bleach but the guitar and bass are where some of the largest sonic differences come from). The song is on the faster side and has more in common with metal than the alternative rock of the 90s. Cobain has a strong vocal delivery and Krist Novoselic has an incredible bass line.


Kurt Cobain said not many people own Bleach while on MTV’s Unplugged program. His statement mostly holds up after his death, with Bleach being Nirvana’s least streamed album on Spotify. I personally think it’s the album’s weakest but it’s still a decent album in its own right. I give it a 7/10. You should definitely check it out when you have a moment.