NOVEMBER 2020 PLAYLIST + WRAP UP | Never Hollowed By The Stare

November went steadily by. It started with some pretty lackluster reads but the vampires made it all better.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND AFFILIATE LINKS

At the tail-end of October, I announced that I’m going to make some changes to the blog. I’ve retired some memes and moved some of my regular posts to different days. I’m glad the changes are working out so far. I was able to manage my time better and write posts ahead of time.

I have finally stepped out of my cave (somewhat) and created a Twitter account. Follow me @neverhollowed.

I have been considering creating some sort of social media presence because I know that’s an effective way to grow a blog. Unfortunately, I hated social media. Blame it on how toxic Facebook is, ugh!

I have zero photography and graphic design skills so Instagram and Pinterest are out. I have been checking out many of my favorite authors’ Twitter pages for a long time now and I find that Twitter is not so bad as long as I stay away from the trolls. I like how warm and welcoming the gay romance community is which is what convinced me to take the leap.

Also, if you guys noticed, I have new affiliate links. Like here below:

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SONGS OF NOVEMBER

Loving how post-punk bands are making a stronger presence this decade. I just heard IDLES sold out their first stadium concert. Wow! This month, I have Shame, Viagra Boys and LIFE on Music Monday. Also gave Sufjan Stevens a proper listen for the first time. He wasn’t the boring folksy artist I thought he was.

I have a couple of songs from yesteryears. (Love Is Like A) Heat Wave from The Who is the song that captures Garrett’s feels as he realized he was falling in love with Rain in High Heat. You Were Made For Me by Freddie & the Dreamers was practically made for Discovering Destiny, especially with lyrics that goes “You were made for me (you were made for me). Everybody tells me so.” This was literally what the secondary characters were doing.

Going a bit out of my usual genres with an EDM tune by Memba. The lyrics for Walls Down grabbed me with how accurately they described Finn’s fragile humanity, fierce fighting spirit and how he’s breaking down Marcus’s walls in How To Vex A Vampire. For the sequel, How To Elude A Vampire, I went with a Girls Rituals‘ song, Treat Me Like A Doll. The book focused on dealing with Finn’s stalker, the Dollmaker and the sound effects and the lyrics mirror the creepiness of the situation.

Walls by recent discovery Stokeswood has a catchy uptempo tune which wouldn’t be the first pick for a serious, gritty book like Death Comes To Main Street. But the song is about “finding the will and conviction to put your head down, grab life by the throat, and never look back.” according the the band which is what Paul did in the story.

Street Spirit (Fade Out) by Radiohead is one of my all-time favorite songs. According to Thom Yorke, it’s a song about death. Death and spirits were something Abe and Thomas had to deal with in Conned. I like how the song ended with “Immerse your soul in love” because it’s what kept them strong through it all.

NOVEMBER READS

High Heat – Annabeth Albert (2 stars) contemporary romance, smoke jumper, disability, age gap, healing, animals, pansexual
Feel The Fire – Annabeth Albert (2.5 stars) contemporary romance, smoke jumper, childhood friends to lovers, second chance, demisexual, family man
Conned – Kim Fielding (3.5 stars) paranormal, murder mystery, historical, psychic, con man, private detective, spirits, 1920s
Godfather Wars – Brittany Cournoyer (3.5 stars) contemporary romance, enemies to lovers, rivals, animals, humor
Discovering Destiny – Abigail Kade (3 stars) urban fantasy, paranormal, soul mates, destiny, witches, magic, animals
How To Vex A Vampire – Alice Winters (4 stars) urban fantasy, paranormal, law enforcement, vampires, grumpy/sunshine, stalker, humor, animals, disability
Hardwood – K.M. Neuhold (3.5 stars) contemporary romance, coming out, single dad, construction worker, teacher, men over 40, humor
How To Elude A Vampire – Alice Winters (4 stars) urban fantasy, paranormal, law enforcement, vampires, grumpy/sunshine, stalker, humor, animals, disability, established couple
Death Comes To Main Street – Felice Stevens writing as A.P. Eisen (4 stars) mystery, law enforcement, established couple, homophobia, gritty

November started with two DNFs, both from the same series, which is just sad. I had high expectations of Hotshots but the stories weren’t doing it for me so I had to let them go.

I was excited about Discovering Destiny. There were some elements that worked but there were also many that didn’t. I’m interested enough in the Familiar Magick world to continue with the series so we’ll see how the next book turns out.

Finn and Marcus saved this month from becoming a total drag. VRC: Vampire Related Crimes is another hilarious paranormal series by Alice Winters. I love all the characters here and that the humor wasn’t as over the top as the author’s other books.

The month closed with a great book. I’m a big fan of The Paul Monroe Mystery series and Death Comes to Main Street is the best installment so far. There were improvements to the writing and many aspects in the story that were executed well.

I haven’t read his book yet, but Karsyn is my favorite character this month. He’s the tsundere Russian vampire detective Finn won over. He’s going to be paired with Claude, Marcus’s uber flirty brother. So far, Claude is trying to make Karsyn like him. Boy is stubborn but Claude has his methods. I love them already.

MANGA

You Are My Darling!!! – Sakurai Taiki
Restart wa Onaka wo Sukesete – Cocomi
Boy Meets Maria – Peyo
Keppeki Buchou no Mousou – Setsuna Kai
Escape – Miyamoto Kano
Otoshimono – Miyamoto Kano
Kimi wa Natsu no Naka dj – Akane no Koro – Furuya Nagisa
Kimi wa Samishigari ya no Hana – Nomori Mina

Faves this month are the soft, slow burn gem, Restart wa Onaka wo Sukesete, and the wildly imaginative, Keppeki Buchou no Mousou.

ON THE BLOG THIS MONTH

Short films:

Misc:

Not a bad month all in all.

We are in the final stretch of 2020. With the work from home situation we’re having, I was able to save up a lot of paid time offs. We can’t convert them to cash so I have a lot of days off this December. Being the hikkikomori that I am, I’m sure I’ll be spending them all at home because my life is just bursting with excitement and adventure like that (this is why I rarely give personal stuff updates).

I’m really looking forward to the new year. I think 2021 is going to be good to us.

Thanks for reading!