I did A LOT of watching stuff in April. I said Heated Rivalry changed my brain chemistry, and this is one effect of that. It reminded me how great this medium of storytelling can be and gave me the motivation to watch a bunch of things I’d been wanting to watch.

Last month, I talked about how I subscribed to HBO Max for a month and watched Heated Rivalry S1 five times. I managed to watch it two more times before my subscription ran out 😅 I have a whole post about that show, so I won’t keep talking about it here.

I also did manage to squeeze Our Flag Means Death in there while I had the subscription! To be honest, I thought I would like it more, after everything I’d heard. It was enjoyable, but not really a standout for me.

I watched the movie Riley. Twice, actually (though multitasking the second time). Found it because one of the Heated Rivalry actors is in it, and he only has a small part, but I genuinely loved the whole movie. It’s an idea that’s been done many times before (closeted queer teen figuring things out), but it was executed really well. Great writing and acting and everything else. There were a lot of uncomfortable scenes, but they were supposed to be, and it felt very real.

Nobody Dumps My Daughter is another movie I watched because a Heated Rivalry actor is in it 😅 (I don’t have a problem, I swear!) He ended up only having like three lines, and the movie was not really for me. Sort of a true crime, I guess? But I thought the actors were good.

I finally watched the Del Toro Frankenstein movie. Visually, it was neat. Otherwise, it was fine, but nothing special for me. Quite different from the book, right? It’s been a few years, but I feel like it changed a lot.

I watched the Peaky Blinders: Immortal Man movie, since I have seen all seasons of Peaky Blinders. There’s probably a lot I missed (details, references, etc.) because of how long it’s been since I started watching Peaky Blinders and even when the show ended, but I enjoyed the movie. It was missing pretty much all the main cast except Tommy, but I got more pulled in as it went on, loved the dynamic between Tommy and his son, and it’s always been a series with great characters and acting and sets and costumes and mood.

I watched both seasons of Arcane. The animation and art style is gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous! I think you could take a screenshot at any moment, and it’d be wall-worthy art. Great soundtrack. Fantastic story and characters and relationships too. It’s dark with a lot of death and violence and messed up stuff. But I really liked it.

So yeah, that was my month. I think this is the most series/movie watching I’ve done in a month… ever 😅

Before you go, here’s a really funny video:

Blog/Bookish Updates:

Nothing this month.

Books I Received for Review:

I received this gorgeous hardcover copy of The Last Best Quest Ever by F.T. Lukens from Simon & Schuster! I already have my review for this one up, it’s a cute ragtag team fantasy adventure.

I received audiobook copies of The Entanglement of Rival Wizards and The Fake Divination Offense by Sara Raasch from Macmillan Audio! More on these below.

Books I Finished:

If you’re considering buying any of these books from Amazon, I’d really appreciate if you’d use my affiliate link!

I think this is also the most reading I’ve done in a month in a while!

He’s the Devil by Tobi Coventry – This was one of my recent Libro.fm audiobooks from the ALC program. A man gets a new roommate who brings something dark with him. Maybe not really for me, but I did find it surprising in a good way.

The Wolf and His King by Finn Longmann – A werewolf who usually stays away from people risks it all to become a knight. Enjoyable enough, but a little too much telling, so I never felt the emotions or relationships.

The Entanglement of Rival Wizards // The Fake Divination Offense by Sara Raasch – M/M romances with magic in a world that’s sort of modern/DnD. These were cute! With just a touch of heaviness, mostly because of past trauma, but ultimately happy. I found the MC of the second one to be even more interesting.