Artsy with Mya

 Jane Eyre is a literary classic that I have loved since I was a young child along with books like Little Women, Pride and Prejudice and Les Misérables. I have always been interested and have enjoyed reading new interpretations of these stories visualized through different authors. It is always extremely interesting to see how authors and in this case artists stay true to the original story while making sure that it also fits into the new format.  Manga is a very specific style of art and I enjoyed seeing how the artist interpreted the characters descriptions from the book into a visual format. This book and all the other books I have read from Manga Classics have all done a wonderful job adapting the story into a new format while still remaining true to the original. If you like reading manga, I recommend this book,. If you like the original Jane Eyre, this is a wonderful interpretation and if you want to get into either the classics or into manga, this is a wonderful bridge ...

 Home is such a funny concept to me and I feel like it has been for a long time. I have a lot of homes and I consider them all my home in one way or another even up to this day.  Obviously my first home is the home that I grew up in Kandiyohi. It was the home that I most remember from my childhood. It was my home before my family and I went to Zambia and it was my home afterwards too. I had lived in pretty much every single room of that house before we moved to our new house and that place will always be my childhood home.  Then of course there is my home in Zambia, the first one there. It's the home that my dad built for our family and I can still remember the exact layout of the floor plan and the outside garden and landscaping. I especially remember the huge porch that we had and back then I would actually get up early enough to watch the sunrise when it was still cool enough in the mornings to need a blanket outside. That house in Zambia is such a special home to me a...

 I haven't posted anything on here for a long time because I honestly have been really in such a weird place of limbo for most of this year. So close to the start of this year, I had no idea what I was going to do with my life beyond the same old, same old. I was working at my parents store and living with them and my siblings.  I thought about what I could do to jumpstart my life (in a way) or at least what I could do to make a change in some way. So I decided to apply to teach English in a foreign country. Did I know what country? No - I figured that out later. And as most everyone probably knows - I decided to teach in Thailand.  Some people (including my parents) have asked me why Thailand? - why this job? - what made you choose this?  The long and short answer of it is that once I started preparing for this; I just never stopped. Over the past two years after I graduated from college I have thought about pursuing a lot of different things/careers/ideas with vari...

 This was a pretty interesting biography of a women that strived so hard to be remembered and commemorated by the world, but she never full achieved that feeling and got that fame and prestige that she so desperately wanted.  Miriam Leslie was a woman who came from a hard background and she seized every opportunity in sight to better herself and her circumstances in the eyes of the world. She went through several men, quite a few different scandals and pulled out some truly stunning business deals throughout her life.  This is an extremely well-written and put-together biography, but overall I had a hard time reading just based on the formatting of the story. The author puts Miriam Leslie's story together very well and does not shy away from the different stages of her life that she went through. However, I did not enjoy it as a whole book and would not reach for this again.  I received this book free from NetGalley and Abrams Press to review and this is my honest re...

 I requested this book because the description made it sound like an actual cookbook sprinkled with some anecdotes or stories from the authors but that is not what this book is. There is really only about 5 or so recipes sprinkled throughout the book.  This is a book about the food and culture of North Carolina and how they intertwine and connect with each other throughout history. It is a really good look at different parts of North Carolina and how certain types of food are related to certain areas of North Carolina and the history of why.  However, this is not a cookbook which is what I was thinking this book was when I requested it. This is a good book, but it is not a cookbook so the reader should be aware of that before reading,  I received this book free from NetGalley and the Universtiy of North Carolina Press to review and this is my honest review.  4 out of 5 stars

 I honestly was not sure about this book when I first requested it, but I decided to try it out because I needed a new fiction book to read. The cover really drew me in and the synopsis sealed the deal.  The first chapter absolutely drew me in and convinced me to finish the book. The main character is fantastic. She is strong and smart but needs a little more work on her tact and discreetness in undercover work.  There is a through-line of potential romance and the reader is never quite sure if that will be followed through in this book until the last few chapters. The plotline was really well-written and believable between the female and male main characters.  I honestly would love more stories from this author and with these characters at the investigation agency. The supporting characters offer just a little bit of themselves and leave the reader wanting more and the main characters story leaves the reader ready for the next chapter.  I received this book fre...