This title’s lowkey describing me.
RELATED LINKS: Review: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
Welcome back to another opinionated book review! This time, we are returning back to the world of Pippa Fitz-Amobi, the teenager who managed to solve a murder mystery case by herself and acquit sweet Sal Singh for the murder of Andie Bell, all the while putting herself in danger.
The sequel to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, this book picks up right where the first book left off. Feeling the weight of Andie Bell’s case, Pippa has decided to give up her murder solving ways to try and live a normal life of a teenager in high school. But when her friend Connor tells her that his brother Jamie is missing, and the police refuse to look into it, Pippa has no choice but to investigate the missing person’s case which will lead her down another dangerous path.
Holly Jackson is really just an incredible writer and I believe she’s truly found her niche in writing this genre. If you’re a fan of a mystery-thriller, I highly recommend you pick this book up to read (after reading A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder obviously).
I believe I finished this book within a 48 hour period because I struggled to put it down, even at the expense of my sleep. At no point was there ever a lull in the action or suspense, and even when I thought I’d found a point in the book where it was okay to put my bookmark in and go to sleep, something wild happened, so I had no choice but to continue.
Good Girl, Bad Blood goes down a different path to the first book, this time looking into a potential missing person’s case as opposed to a case closed murder mystery; something that I really enjoyed. It keeps it fresh and unpredictable in the best sense, and it doesn’t get to the point like the Death in Paradise TV show where a bunch of murders happen in a small location and you’re questioning the believability of it.
There are quite a few twists and turns in this book, almost to the point that you forget the initial plot of this book is to find Jamie, and I absolutely loved that about Good Girl, Bad Blood. Once you think you’ve solved the case, the game is changed, and as a reader you’re left wondering where this is going and how it will end.
Once again, I found myself really adoring the character of Pippa, and her relationship with sweet angel Ravi. Her methodical investigative manner was once again highly detailed, but not in a way where it wasn’t believable for a switched-on high schooler to achieve. This made her seem like a real character, which is something a few authors struggle to achieve.
Wid-o-meter
Storyline: 9/10
Style of writing: 8.5/10
Overall: 8.75/10
A very successful sequel to an amazing first novel, Good Girl, Bad Blood is fantastically written with a gripping storyline from start to finish. With very little to fault, I highly recommend you pick this book up for a very enthralling read – again, after finishing A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder of course.
– by The Black Widow
Three Things They Don’t Tell You About Becoming a Wrestler
A wrestling article? No way!
I want to preface this by saying this won’t be a ‘peeling back the curtain’ type of article on the art of professional wrestling. I’m sure that’s been done to death, and I’m also sure that all wrestling fans are aware of what happens or can potentially happen behind the scenes.
This will be more of a look at things I wasn’t aware was going to happen prior to becoming a professional wrestler; things you don’t think about until it’s happened or happening to you, and you’re like “Wow”.
Before you do a suplex as pretty as mine, there are some things you should know. (CREDIT: New Photography Studios)
Before I begin listing these things, I would just like to add a disclaimer that this is based on my personal experience as a pro wrestler in Australia whose career spans across seven years. I’m sure others experiences would be vastly different to mine given outside influences, such as where they live, their access to training and shows, gender identity, race, etc. so by no means does this cover every single wrestler in the world.
1. Wrestling will take up a lot of your time
This is applicable to any wrestler regardless of their end goal: whether you want to get signed and make this your full-time career, or if this is more of a weekend hobby for you. Be prepared to give a lot of your time to wrestling. On paper, training once or twice a week doesn’t sound like too much, but then consider the weekends where you’ll have a show on, or going into your wrestling school/set location to film a promo that can potentially take up to a whole day. Doing other forms of physical training like working out at the gym, yoga and pilates, etc. also counts towards the betterment of yourself as a wrestler.
Show day will require almost your entire day to be blocked out, because you need to pack down the ring, load it onto a truck, then you need to unload the truck at the venue, set the ring up, and if you’re performing on the show, then you need to start working out your match. And don’t think you’re going home when the show ends, because now it’s time to repeat that cycle: pack the ring down, load it onto the truck, unload it at the wrestling school, set the ring back up there.
And in between training, shows and filming promos, you’re also going to be brainstorming things about your wrestling persona: your character/gimmick, wrestling gear, merch ideas, etc. This alone will take up a lot more time than you could possibly imagine. So if you’re serious about becoming a wrestler, then be prepared to miss personal events for wrestling, and to feel satisfied but exhausted, sore but content.
2. This crazy bunch of people will become your family
Outside of my family and work colleagues, the people I spend the most time with are my fellow wrestlers/trainees, and I’m sure this will be applicable to you as well if you’re considering stepping inside the squared circle.
I’m guaranteed to see these people at least once a week at training, and then we’ll spend all day together at a show. Because I spend so much time with these people, I was bound to form a strong relationship with most if not all of the people I wrestle with. And because I’ve built such strong relationships with my co-workers in the ring, we often go out socially without the pressures of training or show day where we can let loose and have fun.
Trust me when I say the friends you have from school, uni, or other avenues in your life will not get the same amount of time that your wrestling family will. And like any other family, there may be times where you argue or squabble, but you should be able to come back together eventually if you have that healthy respect and love for them; it’s normal. This has happened to me on multiple occasions. It’ll be fine. You’ll be fine.
3. Be prepared for wrestling to take a stronger toll on you mentally than it does physically
It’s a given that wrestling is a bit rough to your body; you’re learning how to throw yourself into the mat for sobbing out loud. But something that is rarely discussed is the mental toll it takes on you.
I don’t want this to scare anyone off chasing their dream of becoming a wrestler, so let me explain why. If you are willing to commit the time, effort and money to wrestling, then it’s safe to say that you care about wrestling. And when you care about something, if it doesn’t completely go according to your plan, then you may feel anxious, disturbed, dismayed or disappointed with the results. I have two examples of this happening to me:
1) I suffered a dislocated tailbone in a wrestling match. The physical pain of it hurt, obviously, and I couldn’t sit down for long periods of time. But what hurt me the most about this injury was that I had to sit on the sidelines for over a year, and the mental toll it took on me. When will I finally wrestle again? Will I ever wrestle again? Why is this taking so long? Will people forget about me? I can honestly say that the recovery of this injury was a lot harder on me mentally than it was physically.
2) I was written into a storyline which was then swiftly dropped seemingly out of nowhere for me, leaving me in limbo with ‘nothing going on’. To the outsider, this is such a small thing to happen that a wrestler should be able to bounce back from; to me, this was confirmation that I sucked, that I wasn’t a good wrestler, and that my time in wrestling was coming to a close.
Just like I say when someone is behind the curtain, nervous for their upcoming match: “You’re nervous because you care, which is a good thing”. If you make it into wrestling, sure there will be some times when you’re in your own head, feeling super anxious or even depressed about something wrestling related, but it’s important to keep in mind that you wouldn’t feel this strongly if you didn’t care about wrestling. But on the flipside, wrestling will always be there, so if you need time away from wrestling to get your head right so you can return at 200%, then I would strongly encourage you to do so.
Wrestling has truly been one of the biggest blessings of my life. I’ve created moments in my career that have resonated with and inspired fans across the globe; I’ve met some of the greatest people I will ever meet, including one of my best friends in Frankie B; and I can proudly say that I accomplished a dream that seven-year-old Nikki had way back when.
This too can be the case for you if you stick it out, because trust me when I say that the reward at the end of the tunnel is worth the long hours of keeping your head down and working hard.
– by The Black Widow
Review: Layla
No, we’re not reviewing former Divas Champion Layla El.
My obsession with Colleen Hoover books, despite the fact that they’re mostly unhinged and the twists are deeper than my love for Real Housewives, I was eager to pick up as many Hoover books as I could with my aforementioned Sarah gift card.
Continuing on in my quest of reading Hoover books, my adventure took me to Layla. This fictional novel tells the story of Leeds (Colleen looooves to pick unique names for her protagonists), a man who meets a deliciously eccentric woman named Layla and in true fashion, they fall in love. After a tragic accident puts Layla in the hospital, Leeds is by his woman’s side, helping her to recover. However, the scarring of the accident has changed Layla both emotionally and mentally, so Leeds goes to the troubles of trying to find the love back that he had prior to the accident.
Sorry, that isn’t the silhouette of former DIvas Champion Layla El.
Okay so, Layla wasn’t what I expected at all.
Besides reading the blurb on the back, I had no prior knowledge or expectations of the book so I went in with a fresh mind. Maybe bar the fact that because the title is just a feminine first name, I assumed it was going to be similar to Verity. Boy was I bloody wrong.
Without giving too much away, Hoover tried dabbling in the supernatural when she wrote Layla. I think she did a fair job if this was her first time in doing so, but from a personal standpoint, I prefer the realism of her thriller stories, so I wasn’t particularly the biggest fan of the supernatural touch to this book. I guess, in addition to that, it probably means I wasn’t the biggest fan of the book altogether.
Layla is written well as is to be expected by Colleen Hoover, and the characters are well fleshed out, which is to be commended. I think it’s important to mention that while I think the ‘slightly eccentric yet doesn’t know she’s beautiful’ archetype is a bit overdone and borderline unbelievable, that the character of Layla was actually very likeable. (If you’ve read this book, then take that sentence very literally.) Leeds was alright, I guess.
I also liked the isolation of the main characters at the B&B location so it meant that the storyline wasn’t too affected by the outside world, and of course, the sentimental reason behind this location to the characters was cute.
Because the big twist, and a main portion of the storyline, revolved around the supernatural, I just wasn’t as much of a fan of it as I probably could have been. When I inevitably got to the big reveal towards the end, I remember scoffing and saying “Ugh, really?”
Wid-o-meter
Storyline: 6/10
Style of writing: 8/10
Overall: 7/10
I think, if I can offer my readers any kind of advice before going into reading Layla, is to go in with low-to-no expectations, and if you’ve read Hoover’s other works, then go in knowing that what you’re about to read will be like nothing else you’ve read of hers. I think this was my downfall tbh.
Happy reading, lovebugs!
– by The Black Widow
The Housewives of New York: Ranked
It’s the Big Apple’s time to shine!
When I first started my foray into Real Housewives, I was fairly adamant that I wasn’t going to watch Real Housewives of New York because the snippets I did see didn’t tickle my fancy at all. Additionally, my impressions of Ramona and LuAnn from RHUGT weren’t the greatest, so it was a city I was happy to skip.
But then I had no other cities to watch, and my love for Real Housewives proved too great, so I started the second ever franchise with little expectations, and to be honest, I actually really enjoyed it!
Thought I’d trigger a fanbase by including a picture of the new RHONY over the OG’s.
It’s important to note that these rankings will take into consideration the original group of women that made up RHONY as well as the iconic women who appeared in the reboot. So from the wonderful eccentricities of Alex McCord, to the most Brynntesting girl in the room Brynn Whitfield…
Let’s get to ranking!
23. Ramona Singer
I find Ramona to be an abhorrent human being, and I’m one of those Bravoholics that can’t excuse poor behaviour and bad human qualities because “they’re entertaining”. Sure, she was entertaining at some points and she had some iconic moments, but she was so blatantly rude and condescending to literally everyone and tried to pass it off as ‘just being honest’. Good riddance tbh.
22. Luann de Lesseps
If you were to ask me who the most overrated housewife is, I’d say Luann. Luann seems to have such a big following among the Bravoverse and I truly don’t get it. While not as rude and condescending as Ramona, Luann makes up for it in grand delusion and not in the fun kinda way either. I’m surprised she’s noticed that other people exist in this world to be completely honest, so this is why she finds herself ranked so low.
21. Cindy Barshop
The first one season wonder of this list, Cindy was just kinda there. While I did agree with her that a ‘pecking order’ among the group was ridiculous, Cindy just didn’t mesh with the group and it came across on screen very clearly. Being cropped out of the group photo really sealed the deal as well.
20. Leah McSweeney
How Leah could go from such a fantastic first season, to the most abysmal sophomore season is beyond me. Initially, I liked her young, free-spirited energy, and she was a great addition to a significantly older cast. And then the popularity got to her head, and she made young and free-spirited seem like a bad thing to the point of being unbearable. Oh well. At least I can thank her for bringing Brynn to our screens since she’s the sole reason RHONY had to be recast.
19. Sai de Silva
I personally have a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to ‘influencers’ so immediately I was wary of Sai. Turns out I had every reason to be. She was just so unbearable to watch, so I can’t imagine how unbearable she is to be around. The only praise I’ll give her is that every cast needs a villain, and with some refining, she could be a good one.
18. Erin Lichy
Erin’s beautiful and she looks like she lives a fancy, interesting life, but homegirl needs some lessons on how to be a bone collector because her pot-stirring ways were so obvious and they flopped nearly every time. I’ll cut her some slack that it was her first season and they had big shoes to fill, so hopefully she finds her footing more in her second season. Also I’ve never been so sure that someone has bad breath before.
17. Ubah Hassan
Ubah had a great start for me, being a beautiful, strong and outspoken woman that radiated classy model energy, and she finished off the season fairly the same. And then she had one of the worst reunion performances I’ve ever seen, which tanked her position on this list. Here’s to hoping she makes a snappy recovery in her second season.
16. Jules Wainstein
I actually really liked Jules. I thought she was beautiful, was great with her kids, and had an interesting story to share. Of the one season wonders (Eboni excluded for obvious reasons), I thought Jules was the most deserving of a second season. I couldn’t stand Bethenny bringing Jules’s eating disorder up, and also couldn’t stand that Bethenny had an issue with Jules mentioning she was Asian because if you’re not a POC, you don’t get how race plays into simple aspects of life. I hope Jules is living her best life now.
15. Jill Zarin
For the first couple of seasons, I really liked Jill. She was fun to watch, seemed to live an elite New York kind of lifestyle, and she was kinda quirky. And then her atrocious performance in season four happened, and that really dropped her down the list. Also, Jill’s unquenchable thirst for being featured in the spotlight is both hilarious and pathetic and gets really annoying sometimes.
14. Sonja Morgan
Sonja is a really popular housewife among the Bravoverse, and while I get why others may like her, I just couldn’t get behind her. Her shtick of being an older woman living as if she was a 21-year-old horny sorority girl got old very quick, and it became extremely embarrassing to watch all of her drunk antics. I will, however, applaud her for being the only one to acknowledge and accept Eboni voicing her struggles as a black woman in season 13.
13. Aviva Drescher
Let’s be honest: Aviva is iconic. Maybe bar Bethenny, Aviva was the sharpest with her words, and she could effortlessly read a bitch as made evident with her ‘white trash’ spiel. Her backstory of how she lost her leg was also very interesting. I don’t even need to mention the leg toss because that goes down in history, and rightfully so. Iconic. Simply iconic.
12. Kelly Killoren Bensimon
I lowkey love the crazy, unhinged housewives, and Kelly was New York’s version of this archetype. I mean, it wasn’t called Scary Island for no reason. Kelly was beautiful, but almost every word she spoke made absolutely no sense, but you could tell in her mind she thought she was spitting hard facts and truths. God bless her, that wonderful action verb of a woman.
11. Eboni K. Williams
I compare Eboni to Tiffany Moon of RHOD, in that their respective casts were never really confronted with the topic of race on their shows until they showed up. Eboni was the first black woman to be featured on RHONY, and she was unapologetic about that fact, looking to educate the women on black culture as well as explain to them the harsh stereotypes she faces as a black woman. Sure, she was a bit condescending, but I also think she should be proud that she’s a strong, intelligent black woman, and if others find that intimidating, that’s on them.
10. Bethenny Frankel
Bethenny was a hard one for me to rank, considering that I really liked her on the show, but despise her outside of it. The difference between Ramona and Bethenny, however, is that Bethenny was at least likeable during her tenure on RHONY. She was that bitch of the show, most of the season’s storylines revolved around her, and she was essentially always guaranteed to get first chair at the reunion. Her anti-Bravo antics currently can get fucked, however, and I’m sick of seeing her stupid face eating in her TikToks.
9. Jenna Lyons
I had preconceived notions of Jenna Lyons, and those led me to believe I wouldn’t like her. However, the images of a stonefaced, monotone boss-like figure were dashed when this sweet, gentle woman spoke for the first time, and I almost immediately fell in love with Jenna. I do believe she’s holding back, however, and would love to see more of her authentic self next season.
8. Jessel Taank
I started off not liking Jessel, especially with the Christmas tree lingerie fiasco, but then her fun side shone through, and she showed why she was the main girl for season 14. Her ability to stand up for herself, while also talking with this almost sweet naivety made her really likeable, and I can’t wait to see more of her next season.
7. Alex McCord
Oh my sweet Alex McCord. I don’t know how I’ve coped without you for so long. At first, I was indifferent to the eccentric Alex who couldn’t bear to be away from her man for more than 30 seconds, but then I grew to love her as she became more confident in her voice, and her reads were just so iconic. (“You are in high school!” anyone?) I will never forgive Caroline Manzo and Brandi Glanville for preventing us from seeing Alex’s grand return in RHUGT.
6. Heather Thomson
I saw Heather’s grinning face floating around Housewives Twitter before I started RHONY, so with that in mind, I assumed I wouldn’t like her. But I really liked both sides of Heather’s personality: the sweet and nurturing side that would refer to her friends as ‘mama’; and the no-nonsense ratchet side that so effortlessly dragged Aviva. I also really admired her strong business acumen, and her efforts to relate to Eboni. I will never forgive Leah McSweeney for ruining a potential Heather comeback in season 13.
5. Kristen Taekman
Every Housewives city will randomly cast a young, pretty housewife to change up the dynamic, and Kristen was New York’s version of this archetype. What makes Kristen different, though, is that she was super likeable, shady when she had to be, could defend herself when she needed to, and was just like the sweet girl next door. Her comeback performance on RHUGT also just goes to show that sometimes the ‘forgotten’ Housewives are some of the best Housewives.
4. Tinsley Mortimer
I didn’t know anything about Tinsley before RHONY, so finding out that she was the It Girl of New York and also lowkey inspired Gossip Girl was super fascinating. I love the sweet, non-confrontational but can get into it when needs be (more on that later) Housewife archetype, and I found Tinsley to be a version of this. Her personal storyline of wanting to find love was just so captivating, and how could you not be on her side with this? It’s just a shame she left halfway through season 12, because that was shaping up to be her best season yet.
3. Dorinda Medley
Like Radzi says, “When Dorinda is bad, she’s so good!” I had unfairly grouped Dorinda in with Ramona and Luann so I expected not to like her, but I ended up loving the Meddler so much. You had weet and sober Dorinda, who was very motherly and nurturing, but then you get martini Slurinda, who would just verbally eviscerate anyone for no good reason. Mix that together and you have yourself a top tier Housewife. In saying that, I could see why she was ‘put on pause’ at the end of season 12.
2. Brynn Whitfield
If I could pick any Housewife to be my spirit animal, it would definitely be Brynn Whitfield. Brynn is flirty, sexy and confident, willing to use her sexuality to her advantage whenever she wants, but also has a serious side that serves as a good friend and someone you don’t want to mess with. And that is basically describing myself. Learning more about Brynn’s backstory and her family dynamics also make her one of the more fascinating Housewives across any city.
1. Carole Radziwill
As mentioned before, I love the sweet non-confrontational but still don’t mess with me Housewife archetype, and that describes Princess Carole. An underrated Housewife IMO, Carole could hang in there with the heavy hitters like Bethenny and come out relatively unscathed, but she could also stay out of the drama while providing humourous commentary. Her personal backstory as a widow was also very interesting to watch. If I’m going to be honest, Carole won me over when one of the first things she says on RHONY is “I don’t hate children. I just can’t stand when mothers get together and that’s all they talk about”. Iconic.
Can you believe it? Over four years, I have finally finished all of Bravo‘s Real Housewives cities! (Excluding RHODC, but that has one season so it doesn’t really count.) I won’t know what to do with my spare time anymore! Someone send help!
– by the Black Widow
Widow's Lure 