Each Wednesday, Long and Short Reviews hosts a weekly “blog hop”. For more details on how to participate, please click here.
Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge for November 5, 2025
November 5, 2025 By 3 Comments
Each Wednesday, Long and Short Reviews hosts a weekly “blog hop”. For more details on how to participate, please click here.
A Strange or Useless Talent I Have
Top Ten Tuesday: The First 10 Books I Randomly Grabbed from My Shelf
November 4, 2025 By 41 Comments
Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
These are all books from my TBR list I’m curious to read.
1.Mate (Bride, #2) by Ali Hazelwood
2. Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake
3. The Hearth Witch’s Guide to Magic & Murder (The Hemlock Saga, #1) by Kiri Callaghan
4. Overdue by Stephanie Perkins
5. Dracula by Bram Stoker
6. Twice by Mitch Albom
7. Wanting Daisy Dead by Sue Watson
8. The Keeper of Magical Things by Julie Leong
9. The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri
10. Crafting for Sinners by Jenny Kiefer
Movie Review: A Minecraft Movie
November 3, 2025 By Leave a Comment
A Minecraft Movie
Writers: Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer, Neil Widener, Gavin James, and Chris Galletta
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Danielle Brooks, Emma Myers, Sebastian Hansen
Publisher: Warner Bros. Pictures
Genre: Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars (6 Stars on IMDB)
Reviewed by AstilbeFour misfits are suddenly pulled through a mysterious portal into a bizarre cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination. To get back home they’ll have to master this world while embarking on a quest with an unexpected expert crafter.
Anything can happen in the overworld.
There were so many Easter eggs here for viewers who have played Minecraft. I’d strongly recommend doing a little research on the game first for viewers who haven’t played it yet due to how funny many of them were, although the plot does still make sense without understanding these references. It’s not always easy to strike a balance between drawing in new fans and entertaining the existing ones. This spoke to both audiences in my opinion, though, and it worked on enough levels to appeal to many different types of viewers.
I would have liked to see more time spent showing just how creative the Minecraft universe can be. This was what first encouraged me to play the game, so I was hoping the film version would explore more of the many unique things that can be done with a crafting table and a vivid imagination. If not for the numerous references to various quirks of the game, I would have struggled to remain interested in certain places due to how easy it was to predict what would happen next.
With that being said, this movie had a fantastic sense of humour that, while written mostly for kids, did have moments teens and adults can appreciate as well. There is definitely something to be said for writing something the entire family can enjoy together. I laughed out loud several times and thought this highlighted the playful aspects of this universe well.
A Minecraft Movie was lighthearted and entertaining.
Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge for October 29, 2025
October 29, 2025 By 1 Comment
Each Wednesday, Long and Short Reviews hosts a weekly “blog hop”. For more details on how to participate, please click here.
Books I’ve Recommended and Why
Top Ten Tuesday: Halloween Quotes
October 28, 2025 By 46 Comments
Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Halloween is nearly here, so today I’ll share some fun quotes about this holiday.
1. “People give you a hard time about being a kid at twelve. They didn’t want to give you Halloween candy anymore. They said things like, “If this were the Middle Ages, you’d be married and you’d own a farm with about a million chickens on it.” They were trying to kick you out of childhood. Once you were gone, there was no going back, so you had to hold on as long as you could.”
― Lullabies for Little Criminals
2. “For some of us, Halloween is everyday.”
― Tim Burton
3. “The farther we’ve gotten from the magic and mystery of our past, the more we’ve come to need Halloween.”―
4. “It was so close to October that Halloween was knocking at his heart.”
― Candles For November
5. “Dear Great Pumpkin, Halloween is now only a few days away. Children all over the world await you coming. When you rise out of the pumpkin patch that night, please remember I am your most loyal follower. Have a nice trip. Don’t forget to take out flight insurance.”
― The Complete Peanuts, 1961-1962
6. “Most people will tell you growing up means you stop believing in Halloween things – I’m telling you the reverse. You start to grow up when you understand that the stuff that scares you is part of the air you breathe.”
―
7. “People think that ghosts only come out at night, or on Halloween, when the world is dark and the walls are thin. But the truth is, ghosts are everywhere. In the bread aisle at your grocery store, in the middle of you grandmother’s garden, in the front seat on your bus. Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t there.”
― City of Ghosts
8. “Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Christmas and the others can end up making you sad, because you know you should be happy. But on Halloween you get to become anything that you want to be”
― Love Letters to the Dead
9. “I turned down Halloween parties every year, where people wanted zombies raised at the stroke of midnight or some such nonsense. The scarier my reputation got, the more people wanted me to come be scary for them. I’d told Bert I could always go and threaten to shoot all the partygoers, that’d be scary. Bert had not been amused. But he had stopped asking me to do parties.”
― Cerulean Sins
10. “The Harvest Moon glows round and bold,
In pumpkin shades outlined in gold,
Illuminating eerie forms,
Unnatural as a candied corn.
Beware what dare crawls up your sleeve,
For ’tis the night called Hallows Eve.”
― Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year
Happy Halloween to everyone who celebrates it!
Movie Review: Sinners
October 27, 2025 By Leave a Comment
Sinners
Writers: Ryan Coogler
Director: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Saul Williams, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Andrene Ward-Hammond, and Jack O’Connell
Publisher: Warner Bros. Pictures
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Historical
Rating: 5 Stars (10 Stars on IMDB)
Reviewed by AstilbeTrying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.
Horror and history are the perfect match.
The character development was everything I hoped it would be. Both the protagonists and the vampiric antagonists were well-rounded individuals who all had their own virtues and vices. They genuinely felt like real people – or real former people – to me who sometimes made terrible mistakes only to reveal wholesome aspects of their personalities that I found relatable and understandable a few scenes later. Sympathizing with vampires or other creatures of the night isn’t something I generally do, but I thought they made some intelligent points about the advantages of joining them and had a much clearer understanding of how the world should work than some of the human characters did.
I loved the way the director wove sharp social commentary about race, colonialism, and how those in power can manipulate things that are supposed to be good for malicious purposes into what was already an exciting vampire movie. This film could be interpreted in multiple ways that each stood on their own merits but also created an even more compelling story if they were layered on top of each other. That isn’t an easy feat to accomplish! It was one of my major reasons for choosing a perfect rating, and I would have given it even more stars if such a thing were possible.
Not every question I had about the characters or plot was answered which I consider to be a huge asset of this story. There were some scenes that were either partially explained or more or less left hanging, especially when it came to the behavior of the vampires in the last twenty minutes. Thinking about possible explanations for their poor choices in those moments made me want to rewatch this to see if there are additional hints about why this happened that I may have missed. I already have a few theories about why it was written that way and thought allowing the audience to come up with our own ideas made those scenes even more powerful.
There wasn’t a single thing I’d change about Sinners. It was memorable and thought provoking from every angle.
Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge for October 22, 2025
October 22, 2025 By 1 Comment
Each Wednesday, Long and Short Reviews hosts a weekly “blog hop”. For more details on how to participate, please click here.
Things That Scare Me
Top Ten Tuesday: Cozy/Atmospheric Reads
October 21, 2025 By 45 Comments
Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Fall is the time for cozy blankets and a cup of something warm… unless it’s still 90 degrees where you are. Since I live in one of those areas where it won’t really start to cool down for another few weeks, I thought I’d go with a more creepy, atmospheric sort of vibe rather than cozy fall feels. I do love a good spooky read, so hopefully one of these sparks a bit of interest.
The Hacienda and Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas. These are both set in Mexico in the early 1800’s and give off a very spooky, gothic vibe.
This Ancient Evil by Dorothy Daniels. Another set in Mexico, but in the late 1800’s. I had some issues with this book, but the setting of the secluded ranchero with the mysterious pyramid in the background gave it a pleasantly creepy vibe.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. I listened to a full cast audiobook of this novella and I found myself constantly looking over my shoulder. You can just feel the evil – or is it madness? – lurking off in the shadows.
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. I have an audio version of this that I return to every October because it’s just so creepy. An old mansion, sitting empty after its owner died, located in a difficult to reach place. What could go wrong, right? If you’re like me and enjoy creepy movies, both the 1989 and 2012 movie versions of this are great. I prefer the 1989 version simply because it’s less refined and more spooky.
The Wrong Family by Tarryn Fisher. How creepy is it to know that someone could be living in the crawl space of your house without your knowledge? I try not to read books like this simply because I might not ever sleep again if I do.
House of Monstrous Women by Daphne Fama. Set in a creepy forest in an even creepier mansion in the wilds of 1986 Philippines, this book just drips tension and anxiety. Just beware – there are a lot of bugs in this book.
The Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox. Fleeing scandal, Lydia and her family retreat to Willow Hall, a country estate with secrets and a dark history. Set in the early 1800’s, it’s very gothic and creepy.
The Witches of New York by Ami McKay. A young girl stumbles into a shop looking for work and discovers a whole new world, one where witches are real. Beatrice discovers the magic within her and, in 1880’s New York City, uses it to the best of her ability. Beautifully written and very engrossing.
And to end this post with a couple of less creepy, but still Halloween adjacent books, I give you two of the cutest books I’ve read this year.
Bob the Vampire Snail by Andrea Zuill. Adorable picture book about a snail who is bitten and turns into a vampire. This made me wish my kids were still small so I could share it with them.
Garlic and the Vampire and Garlic and the Witch by Bree Paulsen. A duology of cute and at times intense graphic novels involving anthropomorphic vegetables, including a very daring head of garlic.
Movie Review: 28 Years Later
October 20, 2025 By Leave a Comment
28 Years Later
Writers: Alex Garland
Director: Danny Boyle
Starring: Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, and Ralph Fiennes
Publisher: Columbia Pictures
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Horror, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars (8 Stars on IMDB)
Reviewed by AstilbeA group of survivors of the rage virus live on a small island. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors.
Survival takes on many different meanings after a few decades of zombies running around.
One of the cool things about this film was that it didn’t require any knowledge of the first three instalments in order to understand what was going on during it. Obviously, there were a few interesting callbacks for fans who did start at the beginning, but this otherwise felt like an introduction to a new horror series which I found refreshing and surprising.
The plot twists were pretty easy to spot ahead of time for me given how often I watch zombie films, so I would have liked to see a little more development there given how long this was set after the original outbreak. A new generation of people had been born into and grown up on an island filled with zombies by the time this tale began. Even something as simple as discussing the rules they had grown up following about how to stay safe in such a dangerous environment could have given the storyline creative ways to flourish if a few more scenes had been dedicated to the topic. The possibilities were endless.
With that being said, I enjoyed the plot development that had taken place over twenty-eight years, especially when it came to the tense but sometimes also complex relationships between various characters of both human and zombie origin. This film had some poignant things to say about the meaning of life and how to push through a day, often literally, while dealing with painful emotions like grief or uncertainty. The deeper layers of the storyline were what encouraged me to choose a higher rating and have made me incredibly curious to see what happens in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple once it is also released.
28 Years Later was a grisly but thoughtful adventure.
