Review: As Good As Dead

Posted in Books, Entertainment by

The finale to what has been a fantastic series!

RELATED LINKS: Review: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
Review: Good Girl, Bad Blood

If you have followed along with the adventures of Pippa Fitz-Amobi with me, you will know that As Good As Dead is the finale in the series. This poor girl has been through enough, after all, so it’s only fitting that the series ends here.

As Good As Dead picks up where Good Girl, Bad Blood finished. Pippa is left reeling from the dramatic events of the second book, and to make matters worse, someone is leaving anonymous threats to her: “Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?” As expected, Pippa’s life is turned upside down, and she has to race against the clock to protect herself.

These book covers are so iconic. Like they have literally all serrrved.

If you haven’t read my reviews for the previous two books, I’ll summarise it in saying that this series is so well written and the plots have been so great; these have truly been some of my favourite bloody books.

Unfortunately, As Good As Dead was very noticeably the worst book of the trio.

To start this review off sweet, Holly Jackson’s writing is still as phenomenal as it’s always been. Every part of the book was very easy to picture in my head due to the words and language that Holly used, and to me it was very easy to follow the narrative in the story.

One thing that I think Holly is really good at is writing well-rounded characters, but not just the main characters; even the supporting characters are well written and easy to imagine. That’s an incredible feat to accomplish in my books.

This is where the tone of the review will change. Without dipping too much into spoiler territory, the plot of this novel was so unbelievable to me, and this really damaged my view of this book.

There’s a twist at around the middle point of the book which I clocked very early on, yet we’re led to believe that Pippa – the very bright, switched on and intelligent murder mystery solver – had no idea about this.

And then the rest of the plot unfolds, and the young girl who seemingly had no idea about the plot twist suddenly becomes a forensic and scheming mastermind. While I’m sure that some of the science behind the rest of the plot is legitimate, I just think how the second half of the book unfolds is extremely unbelievable to the point that I stopped taking the book seriously.

Wid-o-meter
Storyline: 5.5/10
Style of writing: 8/10
Overall: 6.75/10

I have to be honest; I was let down by this book, and that’s mainly because the second half of the plot was just so ridiculous. What I liked about the first two books was, despite the fact that it was a teenage girl investigating a murder and a disappearance, it was written in a way that it was believable. However, the unbelievability of this book really dragged it down tbh.

Despite this, please still pick this one up and read it. You do need to get the ending of Pippa’s story. She didn’t go through all of this for nothing!

– by The Black Widow

What Pride Means To Me

Posted in Lifestyle by

It’s Pride season, bitches!

The month of June marks the start of a few things: it’s the start of a freezing cold Winter (in Australia, at least); and it also means that it’s officially Pride month!

The rainbow capitalism of it all would suggest that Pride month is just “gay month” where people wear ostentatious rainbow badges, socks, or outfits, and talk about how queer they are.

While I think both of those things are important to the representation of Pride month, that doesn’t even begin to cover what this month is really about.

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To me, Pride was born because of the many years that queer folk experienced where they were forced ‘into the closet’ because society dictated that they should not be proud of their queerness or who they are as people.

Pride exists, not only as a celebration of being queer which I think is a super important part of Pride month, but because the people under the LGBTQIA+ rainbow umbrella deserve the right to exist in this world without persecution.

Pride exists because if our generation can celebrate embracing our gender identity and sexual orientation, then the younger generations who may be questioning their identity will see that there’s nothing wrong with being attracted to the same gender, or realising that they’re not on the gender binary.

Pride exists to provide a safe space for those who may be ostracised from their family or friends, or for someone who’s deep in the closet but longs for a life where they can be with the person they love without fear of judgment or ridicule.

To me, Pride is obviously for the queer folk to celebrate who they are, but also exists as a reminder for everyone in general to embrace their true selves and love every aspect of themselves, whether it’s their gender identity, sexual orientation, or even other aspects of who they are like their race and cultural background, etc.

This Pride month, I want you to take some quiet time to yourself to sit back, think about all the wonderful aspects that make you truly you, and be proud of who you are and how far you’ve come in your life journey.

And if you are not ready to publicly embrace these parts of yourself, then that’s totally okay! When you’re ready, the Rainbow Army will be here to hold your hand, walk beside you, and guide you in your next step to living your true, authentic life.

Happy Pride month everyone! Love who you love, and most importantly, love who you are.

– by The Black Widow

Review: Good Girl, Bad Blood

Posted in Books, Entertainment by

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.

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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

Posted in Wrestling by

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