🎄 Week 16 Reviews 🎄
December 16th- 22nd
☃️ Book 1: Confessions of a Serial Songwriter by Shelly Peiken
Read by the author
Listened to December 17- 20th ☃️
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I have been a major music fan since I was a child. Throughout my childhood, I listened to classics from the 60s-80s. Also, the present day songs from the 90s and early 2000s. Music was and still is everything to me. Usually, when we think of music at least I know for me I think about the person singing the song. There is really so much more in the development of the music that we listen to other than that but still, I know that I really think about just the singer. This piece is about a woman who writes the music for or with many of the singers that I have listened to and loved in my life. Britney Spears, Natasha Bedingfield, Keith Urban, Celine Dion, Cher, Reba McEntire, NSYNC, Miley Cyrus, Ed Sheeran, Selena Gomez, Idina Menzel, David Archuletta, Demi Lovato, and so many more. The tales she tells are just so personal and I could not get enough of them.
Shelly's memoir is a quite amusing and poignant take on her life as a writer of music and how it has affected her over the years. The best part of this audiobook experience is listening to Shelly narrate her life. Each piece of insight that she gives becomes even more intriguing getting to listen to her take on it. There is always something special when you hear an author read their story and this is no different. She knows just when to change the inflection in her voice to match a more heartfelt section and also when to add a bit of humor to it. This piece gives a feeling like she is telling her stories right to the listener.
I really loved the part when she came up with the lyrics for the song "Bitch" that she wrote with Meridith Brooks. Really that is true, you will be sitting in the most random place and random thoughts for writing will come in your head. This happens all the time for me with poetry and with stories. It is why I now carry around a notebook with me everywhere that I go because I never know when new inspirations will hit me. You do not want to forget a great line and then try to remember it again later. Most likely you will never get the line back. Or it will not be as good as the one that you come up with in the moment. This was a part that I could really relate to and I love how she said it.
This book was so great and I loved reading about Shelly's experiences. It felt somewhat like a friend telling me about her life and I could not get enough of it.
*I received this book for free for an honest review*
❄️Book 2: Grrl Scouts: Magic Socks by Jim Mahfood
Read December 20th ❄️
2. 5 stars
A Short Synopsis
Writing Style
One aspect that got me out of the overall story was the writing. It did get quite funny at times which definitely helped me want to see what happened next. This is described as a psychedelic, hilarious, and destructive insanity that fills the whole entire story and trust me this is right. There were just times that I wished that this would have stuck to the aspects of the story like the past of the Socks or something like that more. This could have had so much more development in aspects like that and would have had so much more of a plot. I love pieces that have weird stuff like magic Socks but this could have used much more of strange features instead of the crazy and action-packed stuff. This idea is something that really made me want to read it but I had a hard time staying invested throughout the whole thing.
The Art, Lettering, and Coloring
Also, the art style is something different than what I have ever seen before in a graphic novel. It’s colorful, wildly entertaining at times, and a bit crazy to go along with it. There were times while I was looking at the designs in the panels and I could not believe how nice they looked. The colors are all bright and just pop on every single page. Then there are pages with more of a psychedelic side of the story that contrasted well with the others but to me were not as appealing. This is a graphic piece that has adult scenes that I would not recommend for the younger readers.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I can say that there are some aspects of this piece that I really enjoyed especially the concept of it. There was just so much more that I wanted from it and that I was hoping for. This is a crazy piece that I believe was hilarious at times, but when I’m reading a story I want more than just a few laughs. The concept I felt was just so silly but it really did not get implemented as well as I would have hoped. This piece I believe does a perfect job showing the insanity of this story of the GRRL Scouts but the plot is lacking. I would have really liked to see more of the Socks and also learned more about each of the girls. The major focus is on how crazy this all is and can be but when it comes down to it that does not help make me invested in any of these characters or the story as a whole. This is definitely a piece that is interesting to look at. I just wish there was more that made me want to read more about the girls.
*I received this book for free for an honest review*
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