My string of bad luck continued into March. Besides not finding a new job, literally, every application of mine was rejected or came back with “we’re going with other applicants at this time”, my computer decided that I was no longer allowed to play video games after I finished Hollow Knight. I have professionally worked for a decade with computers, you would think I would be able to fix this issue rather easily. But nope… I did next to everything I could think of.
- Installed Windows Updates
- Uninstalled and reinstalled my graphic card drivers
- Restored my computer to a recovery point (this caused the computer to BSOD)
- Updated the BIOS to fix the BSOD issue
- Reset the Computer (left files alone)
- Adjusted Power Options for Graphic Card and OS
- Restoring the computer back to ASUS Factory defaults
After that, I was left with no idea what to do since the bare minimum I got resolved was getting rid of the static from a constant basis to just went I first launch a window. Still can’t play any video games, though they go a little further in loading… by making it to the menu screen before crashing. I managed to determine it was a hardware issue (took it to a place that helped me 100% confirm that), but I didn’t have enough to buy the replacement, so that has to wait for a while. And I need to use what money afforded to me from unemployment towards bills and rent. At least I have my Nintendo Switch so I could still play games on stream in the meantime.
After giving up on playing games on my computer (since that’s the only thing it’s not capable of doing at the moment), I ended up playing and enjoying the hell out of Pokémon Legends: Arceus. I plan on doing a mixture of painting, body painting, and enjoying chill games like Animal Crossing New Horizons, My Time at Portia, and Story of Seasons in the future until I can manage to get a new graphic card. I miss playing other games, especially with my friends as we did that every weekend for the better part of the last few months. Luckily, right now we have several games on Switch we can play and I’m so thankful they are willing to play those with me while I deal with my computer issues. Luckily, they’re all addicted to Super Animal Royale which is cross-platform so it wasn’t a hard sell.
Body Paints of the Month
Books I Managed to Read this Month
If they have a ♥ next to them, they are available on Kindle Unlimited. If I did a review, I’ll link it outside I decided to include quick reviews of books or series. If it’s a series, the mini-review is at the end of all the books. Mostly it’s just a quick blurb about what the book/series was about. For the most part, these are in the order that I read them in, but if they were a series I kept them together so the blurb went underneath the series.
- Caged Wolf (Darkmore Penitentiary, Book 1) by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti – 3.75 stars ♥
- Alpha Wolf (Darkmore Penitentiary, Book 2) by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti – 3.75 stars ♥
- Feral Wolf (Darkmore Penitentiary, Book 3) by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti – 3.75 stars ♥
- This is another series in the Zodiac Academy realm. It takes place 10 years after Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac, and 5 years after the events of Zodiac Academy. It is standalone so you don’t need to read the other series to know what’s happening in this one, though there are some character cross-overs so you understand the characters better if you read the others. Specifically Ruthless Boys of the Zodiac.
- Rosalie got herself captured to be sent to Darkmore Penitentiary to break out two individuals. An incubus named Sin Wilder, and Roary Night, a lion shifter that got locked up protecting her a decade ago in a heist gone wrong. However, she ends up intangled with two more alphas in the prison: Mason Cain (the commanding officer of Darkmore) and Ethan Shadowbrook (Lunar Brotherhood Alpha, sworn enemy of her family). This is a reverse harem series and is incomplete. So, waiting on the next book to find out what happens with these characters.
- Sun Crossed (Zodiac Wolves, Book 3) by Elizabeth Briggs – 3.5 stars ♥
- Ayla and Kaden face off against the Sun Witches and Leo pack, but have very different approaches on how to handle the issue. Resulting in a lot of tension and discord in their relationship after they finally got together in the last book. There is one more book in the series but it won’t be released until January 2023, so I’m curious where the last book will go considering everything that happened in the third book.
- Dark Fire (Fireblood Dragon, Book 10) by Ruby Dixon – 3.25 stars ♥
- Final book in the Fireblood Dragon series. Read my thoughts on the whole series and this book here.
- The War of Two Queens (Blood and Ash, Book 4) by Jennifer L. Armentrout – 4.25 stars
- The fourth book in the Blood and Ash series, whereas some of the previous books (book 2 and 3) leaned more towards the romance side of things this one returns to the fantasy elements of book 1. There is still romance, but there aren’t many scenes. There’s also a lot revealed in this book and ties everything to the Flesh and Fire (Prequel) series. I can’t wait to see where both series head moving forward especially with things revealed at the end of the book.
- Zodiac Academy: Origins of an Academy Bully by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti – 3.5 stars ♥
- Mini-book regarding the time when Orion was forced into becoming the guardian for Darius. It was a short story and there wasn’t a whole lot of new information. But it was nice to read from a time before Orion has his world ripped apart, back when he was still happy about everything and had dreams for the future. Not that he didn’t reach that point again in Zodiac Academy with Darcy, but it’s not the same since here he doesn’t have that darkness in him yet.
- The Unseelie Prince (Maze of Shadows, Book 1) by Kathryn Ann Kingsley – 3.75 stars ♥
- The Unseelie Crown (Maze of Shadows, Book 2) by Kathryn Ann Kingsley – 3.75 stars ♥
- The Unseelie Throne (Maze of Shadows, Book 3) by Kathryn Ann Kingsley – 3.75 stars ♥
- The Unseelie King (Maze of Shadows, Book 4) by Kathryn Ann Kingsley – 3.75 stars ♥
- A series about a mortal who was captured by the Unseelie Prince, who needs to be married in order to become King. However, he is known as the Bloody Prince and those in his court and not want to prevent this at all costs as they fear he will slaughter millions. Abigail does not want those deaths indirectly on her hands, so she does everything she can to prevent it all the while falling for the Prince. It was a seriously good series. It has a healthy mix of things while still exploring darker elements to a point where you kind of root for everyone. Some you’re like “oh hell no, you did not do that” but at the same time you understand why they did what they did.
- SpoilerI love how the book switched POV from both the protagonist and antagonist. I totally called that Valroy was the Maze, when the end of the third book happened. I had inklings to it before then but it was during the scene where the Seelie Queen tried to kill him that I realized he couldn’t be killed that way. Because that wasn’t his true form. The maze was with the bleeding tree being his heart/one point of weakness. It also was interesting to see how the two couldn’t stand the thought of killing the other but neither could let the other win. So, they come to a truce where they 1. Are happily married and together 2. Forever fighting a war against each other where Valroy is trying to destroy two worlds and Abigail is there to stop him. It made for an interesting ending where neither party really wins, but at the same time they do.
- Oaths and Omissions (Monsters & Muses, Book 3) by Sav R. Miller – 3.5 stars ♥
- Loosely based on the Greek mythology of Helen of Troy, this story explores the relationship between Lenny (Helene) Primrose and Jonas Wolfe. Their families have had a long time rivalry especially after Lenny’s father helped orchestrate the death of Jonas’s father. They start a fake relationship, which eventually becomes real while neither admit that detail. We also get to see characters from the other books in this series: Kal, Elena, and Riley. Not to mention Jonas was a business partner of Kal’s during his book. So, it was nice to return to familiar characters. I’m guessing the next book is focused on Alistair Wolfe (Jonas’s brother), though I’m not sure which Greek mythology that one will be loosely based around.
- Zodiac Academy: The Big A.S.S. Party by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti – 3.5 stars ♥
- A short story from Zodiac Academy that takes place during the third where Geraldine and Max get together for the first time during the Lunar Eclipse. And the fifth book where Geraldine throws a birthday party for the Vega twins. It goes back and forth between Geraldine’s and Max’s POV during these events. We also get the reveal of Gerry’s arranged engagement, something that isn’t brought up in the main books until much later.
Check out this post to see how my rating scale works, but quick version: 5 stars = Masterpiece, nothing can literally be better than this. Not to mention, a major book slump happens afterward where I cannot pick up another book for quite some time. 4 stars = One of the best books I’ve ever read, I couldn’t put it down and found little fault in it. 3 stars = A good book but there were some flaws from editing to plot to you name it. 2 stars = Liked the book, but wouldn’t say it was something that was memorable. 1 star = Book wasn’t for me. I almost never give a 5-star rating, some books have come close but something always held me back from giving it to those books. I also use .25 increments with the ratings, so there’s a range in each of those levels.
Hope you had a great March!
Love ya,
Mae Polzine
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