My fixation pt. 2

So, for those who may not remember, I posted a blog consisting of some Egyptian gods and goddesses that I really like and find intriguing. I really enjoy Egyptian mythology and love learning more about it. This post is a continuation of the list from last time. Hope you enjoy:)

Again, these are in no particular order.

1. Ammit

Illustration showing a creature, with the green head of a crocodile, the forelegs of a golden lion and the brown hind legs of a hippopotamus.

If you’ve ever watched Moonknight(great series, btw) then you may already know of Ammit. Does the series accurately depict Ammit, though? Not entirely. First off, she’s not technically a goddess. She’s more often referred to as a demoness or some greatly feared creature. She’s physically depicted as having the head of a crocodile, the front legs of a lion, and the hind legs of a hippo. Her name means “devourer” or “soul-eater”. So… yeah, not entirely friendly. She’s associated with the idea of punishment for the soul. Her image served as a warning to the living to live a good life and avoid wrongdoing. The first thing I noticed after watching Moonknight and looking up the depiction of Ammit was obviously the physical difference.

Instead of looking like this…

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She would look like this…

Ammit is a demon creature that has the head of a crocodile the upper body  of a lion with huge mane and lower body of a hippo. It eats evil souls. The

I know it’s just a show, but I just find it a little humorous.

2. Anubis

Illustration showing a man with the head of a jackal, holding an ankh and a sceptre.

Despite what you may see in movies, Anubis is a pretty cool guy. It’s not really his fault he’s the god of the dead. Movies may often refer to him as something bad(because Hollywood), but he’s not. He’s depicted as having the head of a jackal and the body of a man. Worshipped throughout Egypt, he’s said to be a protector of the dead as he guides them in their journey through the underworld. He’s also the god of mummification and the afterlife(much like Osiris). He’s said to be a gentle and caring god, ensuring the dead are treated with respect. It’s really neat viewing him in this light.

3.  Ma’at

Illustration shows a woman with a blue ostrich feather on her head, and green wings which she holds out with her hands, she is wearing a red garment.

As the goddess of truth, justice, and balance, Ma’at is associated with order and harmony.  She is often shown as a woman wearing an ostrich feather on her headdress and having wings she holds out with her hands. She’s believed to represent the force that keeps the universe in balance and is called upon events such as crowning a pharaoh, or the signing of a peace treaty.  When people would die and make their way through the underworld to be judged, their deceased hearts would be weighed against Ma’at or her feather. I feel like she’d be like one of those moms where nothing gets past her.

4. Sekhmet

Illustration shows a woman with the head of a green lioness, she is wearing a red garment and holding an ankh cross and a sceptre.

This is the goddess of war, destruction, power, and strength. Her image is used as a symbol of courage and resilience. She is also the goddess of pestilence and plague, and because of this, she was thought to have the power to protect against disease and evil. She’s depicted as having the head of a lioness and the body of a woman and wears a headdress of a sun disc. If you remember me talking about Bastet and Hathor in my last post, I talked about how both of them have the power to protect against disease just like Sekhmet. This is because Sekhmet is the goddess that they turn into when angered. Once calm, she turns back into either Bastet or Hathor. Sekhmet is also considered a warrior of the sun god Ra and would fight against enemies of the sun.

That is it for the list. I really enjoyed writing this, and I hope you enjoyed reading it. See you next month. Much love<3

A New Hyperfixation… Possibly

I’ve always been interested in mythology, but I think it’s lately become a hyper-fixation. To be more specific, I’ve been diving into Egyptian mythology; although, I wouldn’t call it diving into it right now- more like swimming in the shallow waters before getting into the deep end of it. Growing up, I loved movies such as “The Mummy”(1999) and “Gods of Egypt”(2016) and I’ve always enjoyed hearing about how a lot of the mythology deals with the afterlife and not just the various deities. It’s definitely worth doing far more research on, in my opinion. The reason I chose to research Egyptian mythology as opposed to something like Greek mythology is that I feel like Greek mythology is so popularized that everyone knows at least a little bit about it. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely think it’s interesting, but I like learning more about things that may not be so commonly known. I also view Greek mythology as more or less like a modern reality TV show with a lot of drama like that- as far as the gods and goddesses are concerned. There are a lot of lessons to be taken from Greek myths, for sure, just like many other kinds of myths.

In this post, I want to talk about some of the gods/goddesses I really like and am learning more things about. I hope you enjoy this as much as I like talking about it<3

(Sidenote: these are not in any particular order, there aren’t any that I like more than the others)

1.The Ennead

Colourful illustratons of the nine Ennead gods and goddesses.

The way I understand it, the Ennead is possibly the most popular myth regarding the creation of the world- there are many Egyptian myths that talk about the creation of the world and Egypt. They are a group of nine ancient gods and goddesses that basically work together to make up everything regarding creation including life, death, the atmosphere, moisture in the environment, the sky, etc. Some of the gods and goddesses that are commonly known are part of the Ennead like Osiris(the god of the afterlife and fertility) and Isis(the goddess of protection, motherhood, and magic). A few that I’ll list will be those in the Ennead because I really think they’re interesting.

2. Atum

Illustration showing a man wearing a crown, with a long black beard, gold and blue clothing, holding an ankh and a sceptre.

According to a popular Egyptian myth, he is part of the Ennead and he created the world along with the other gods and goddesses. His direct children are Shu(the god of air) and Tefnut(goddess of moisture), and from them, the other gods came to be. He is depicted as a man wearing a double crown for Upper and Lower Egypt. He is associated with the evening sun, and it was believed that he traveled across the sky during the day and passed through the underworld at night before being reborn at dawn.

3. Bastet

Illustration showing a woman figure, with a cat head, holding an ankh and wearing colourful clothing.

Bastet is the goddess of cats, fertility, and childbirth; she is often associated with joy and dance. She is often depicted as a woman with the head of a cat, as shown in the picture above. She is mostly worshipped by Egyptians who own cats(cats are considered very sacred in ancient Egypt). She is believed to have the power to protect against evil spirits and diseases and her image is used as a kind of a good luck charm.

4. Hathor

Illustration shows a woman wearing a red dress and a red sun disc headdress with a snake at the front, holding an ankh and a sceptre.

Hathor is the goddess of love, joy, music, and beauty; she’s often linked to women, motherhood, and fertility. She is depicted as either with the head of a cow and the body of a woman, a woman with a headdress of cow horns and a sun disc, or a cow with a headdress of cow horns and a sun disc. She is thought to protect against illness and danger, much like Bastet. Egyptian queens are often portrayed with Hathor’s headdress. Hathor is the Egyptian version of Aphrodite- the Greek goddess of love and beauty.

5. Isis

Illustration showing a woman in a red dress with a throne as a crown on her head, she is holding an ankh and a sceptre.

One of my personal favorites(along with Ma’at, who I’ll talk about in another post, possibly) and one of the Ennead, Isis is the goddess of protection, motherhood, and magic. She is the wife of Osiris and the mother of Horus(god of the sky). She is often depicted as a woman with the hieroglyph for “throne” worn as a crown or with Hathor’s crown. She is believed to perform magic and heal the sick. In some myths, it’s said that the annual floods of the Nile are caused by Isis’ tears over her late husband Osiris.

Those are all that I’ll talk about in this post, and I’ll post a part two to this. There is a lot about the mythology that I find really interesting and I want to learn more about it. I hope you’ve enjoyed this as much as I did and I’ll see you guys next time. Much love<3

New Year, Same Me

Happy 2024! It almost doesn’t feel real that time has passed that quickly. When the school year started, of course, I knew then that I would soon be graduating. But now that it’s officially our graduation year, the reality of it all is beginning to set in more and more. It feels like time flew away before I had a chance to grab it and enjoy it. That’s partially my fault, which is why I wanna talk about a resolution I have for myself: savoring every waking moment. With it being our first post of 2024, I thought it might be an appropriate(and perhaps predictable) way to start. Now, I’ll be honest, I was not planning on making any resolution for this year because I didn’t think it mattered since I’d break it after a week. This one, however, is something I’m confident I’ll keep because it’s been on my mind for a while.

I suppose, in a roundabout way, it relates to the theme word I chose for this year, which is patience. What patience means for me, in this context, is to not rush life and not try to force things to happen too soon. Just sit back, take a deep breath, and allow things to fall into place as they are meant to. Let go of the steering wheel and enjoy the ride. I have to remind myself that if I worry too much about everything in front of me far beyond what I can see, I fail to enjoy life as it is right now. It is difficult to not worry about what’s about to happen; I’m almost an adult about to graduate high school and go into college(possibly). That impending reality almost naturally comes with a heavy worry hanging over my head; it’s kind of a package deal. Okay so, the whole idea is to not worry, be patient, and enjoy the present time. How on earth will I go about that, knowing how pessimistic I can be?

Well, I guess a good start would be to look on the bright side of literally everything. Yes, even the storm and flood warnings. There is a silver lining to everything and when I don’t immediately see it, I search for it. Okay, what could possibly be a bright side to this thunderstorm? Well, obviously not having to walk back and forth on campus in the cold rain, but maybe it provides an opportunity to enjoy the company of friends inside, read a book, watch a movie, start a new painting, apply for scholarships, etc. Hell, maybe even take a nap and let my brain refresh. I’m not gonna lie, I’ve always loved the sound of rain and thunder and always found it calming. Of course, this is simply an example of how my attitude is going to be when it comes to this new year. And, if all else fails and you literally cannot see a bright side to the darkness, light a match. Make a bright side. Yes, I am very aware of how corny that sounded. Moving on.

The point I wanted to emphasize in this blog is that I don’t feel like this is going to be my year, so I’m going to make it so. Does that sound at least slightly depressing? Maybe, but that’s okay. So, yeah, that’s my resolution for the year. I know I’m not normally this chatty in a blog post(or maybe I am), but I just wanted to have that out in the open. I hope y’all enjoyed this or got something out of this. I don’t suppose this was an expected New Year’s resolution and that wasn’t the intention because I know myself too well; if I had said something more major or dramatic, I would not follow through with it. But I hope you guys had a good New Year so far, and I will see y’all next month. Much love<3

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Whoever said being a senior is fun should be hit with a chair.

I’m kidding, obviously, but there’s one way to get someone’s attention, lol. 

No, this blog won’t be about how not fun being a senior is- I just wanted to get that statement out in the open. If it was, it wouldn’t be a blog, it’d be a book. At least for me, it would be, I don’t know about y’all’s experience. If it’s been good and fun for you, may the good lord above keep blessing you like that.

All jokes aside, since it is the Christmas season, it may be good to list what all I’m excited about for this holiday. What kind of traditions am I looking forward to, my gift list(it’s not long), what activities I can’t wait to do, etc. If you’re wondering, yes, this is the only idea I have for a blog that doesn’t involve a bunch of complaining.  To start off, I may as well list what I hope to get for Christmas. 

1.Books

This contains an image of: book stacks

Come on, you should know me by now to figure this would be the first thing I list. Most of the books that I want are those that complete a series I’ve started before with a couple of standalones. 

2. New clothes(specifically sweaters)

Chocolate Brown Casual Collar Long Sleeve Knitted Fabric Plain Pullovers Embellished Slight Stretch  Women ClothingBeis Casual Collar  Tela Floral,todo estampado A línea Embellished No-Elástico Primavera/Verano/OtoñoNegro  Collar  Mezclilla Liso Pierna recta Embellished No-Elástico

Am I the only one who, as a little kid, thought getting clothes was the worst Christmas gift ever? No? Good, I’m not alone. Well, now they’re at the top of my list, and I want to stock up on sweaters(since Mississippi wants to be inconsistent and bipolar with the weather) because it’s getting freezing.

3. Simple jewelry(gold)

Metals Type: zinc AlloyMaterial: MetalThis contains an image of: 1pair Fashion Faux Pearl & Cubic Zirconia Decor Butterfly Drop Earrings For Women For Daily DecorationYellow Gold Fashionable Collar  Stainless Steel   Embellished   Fashion JewelryThis contains an image of: I got Gold... Gold, Silver, Pearl or Jade?

The only specifics I have when it comes to jewelry are that I prefer gold jewelry and that it’s something that I can safely wear(sensitive skin problems). But that’s it.

No, seriously, that’s it. That’s my entire list. It doesn’t take much or anything expensive to make me happy. But, anyway, I only shared my list because I’d love to hear what’s on y’all’s. Of course, that’s not the only thing I’m looking forward to. I also can’t wait to see some family and relatives that I don’t normally get to see because they live out of state. One of the things about having a big family is that they tend to scatter all over the place, so I don’t get to see some of my cousins often, so I’m excited. I’m ready for all the hot cocoa and Christmas movie nights. My family likes to watch the classic Christmas movies(the ones that look like little toys and puppets). Since I have a big family, it makes activities like secret Santa and/or dirty Santa really interesting. Normally around the holidays, we have about 30 people come to our house. Or a little more. Is it chaos? Yes. Can it be stressful? Also yes, and I’d be lying if I said that I don’t wish I could skip all the noisy and crazy parts that come along for the holidays. And when you have a Monica amongst the chaos(if you know, you know) it can sometimes add to it. It’s definitely not all bad, though. I genuinely enjoy spending that kind of time with my family; it’s definitely never dull.

So, that’s all I have to say, I hope you’ve enjoyed my rambling. I hope you guys have a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Much love<3

Everyone needs an articulated skeleton full of Christmas lightsThis contains an image of: Christmas AestheticThis contains an image of: When you’re sad and lonely but you gotta keep your Christmas spirit upThis contains an image of: my main man kev

Writing Inspo and Ideas

I have no other idea of what to write about, so I’d like to use this month’s blog to kinda spill out what has been my inspiration lately as well as some workshop ideas for future pieces. Since we are now in our poetry unit, I have been using platforms like Pinterest to spark ideas and I normally look for photography that is very creative/unique and kind of tells its own story. I love using pictures as visual prompts for future poems and I thought I’d share some of them and maybe they spark something for you as well 🙂

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Some of these I’ve already used for a piece, but these are some that I find really cool and would love to use them for prompts in the near future. I’ve used the lighthouse photo for an idea for a story that I’m not quite sure if I want to do for the national writing month. I was thinking something like a haunted lighthouse that a young woman has to look after since her family member passed away or something like that. I think it may be interesting especially if the lighthouse is isolated from the mainland like in the picture. I don’t know, it’s still a work-in-process kind of an idea. I’ve used the picture of the girl with the bottle for one of my poems in my collection(which y’all will see soon enough). When I first saw if, of course, the first thing I though of was bottling emotions so I ran with that idea. I feel like some of the other pictures could be used to write something spooky or eerie. Maybe y’all see something different in these photos. I especially love the photo of the girl and the headlights and the one where it looks like someone is trying to escape a mirror or painting.

Pinterest | Aesthetic photography, Art reference photos, Aesthetic artPhotography Retrato Art | Creative portrait photography, Portrait art,  Conceptual photographyPinterest

Here are some others that I really love and I think each interpretation of these could go a bunch a different ways, so that’s why I added these.

Some other ideas that I had for the national writing month are more along the lines of fantasy and mystery. I started something a little while ago about a girl named Briar and her two best friends, Kat and Serena, sleeping over at Briar’s house and someone breaks in. What I have written down so far is simply the character detail and background of Briar and what her current situation is leading up to the first main event. I’m not sure where I want to take it and how I want to evolve(for lack of a better word) the situation. I’ll just have to cross that bridge when I get to it. The thing is that I don’t know which idea I like more: Briar’s story or the story with the lighthouse. What do y’all think(no, seriously, I’m looking for honest opinions and you can even tell me that they’re silly if they are)?

I know this is a particularly short blog, but I figured I wouldn’t bore y’all too much with so many details. Spooky day is almost here so I hope that each of you have a happy Halloween and I’d love to know what or who y’all are dressing up as. I hope y’all enjoyed this and I will see you guys next time. Much love<3

My Favorite Pinterest Artists

So, lately I’ve been needing some inspiration for a project whether that just be pencil and paper, watercolor, paint on a canvas, or a digital drawing. So, of course, I go straight to Pinterest and I revisited some artwork by some artists that I absolutely love. They each have very different styles and each one is unique. From what I’ve seen, what they each have in common is that their artwork is mostly character design. I say Pinterest artists even though I know their artwork can be found elsewhere; this is just where I found them. So, for this blog, I thought I’d share some of my favorite artists that I found on Pinterest and their artwork. I hope you enjoy:) 

(Btw: fair warning, I don’t know much about each artist as a person and their growth as an artist. I’m just going based on observations of their pieces. Maybe later on, I’ll do more research on them)

1. Margaret Morales

Margaret Morales — Bio

I have grown very fond of her unique character drawings. Every one of her pieces I’ve seen, they’ve been fantasy characters and she uses a wide range of color palettes and not just either light or dark or bright. Each one of her pieces, in my opinion, is beautifully unique. If I’m not mistaken, her main medium of choice is watercolor, which I love because of the amount of detail in each of her pieces.

Margaret Morales – Tintoretto – Official WebsiteMargaret Morales — Ink illustrationsTwinkle, an art canvas by Margaret Morales - INPRNTMargaret Morales – Tintoretto – Official WebsiteMargaret MoralesMargaret Morales — Gallery work and auctionsVibrant watercolours - PressReaderMargaret Morales (@margaretmoralesart) • Instagram photos and videos

 

2. Gretal Lusky

Gretel Lusky – Audio Books, Best Sellers, Author Bio | Audible.com

I love their style and various different character drawings and they also do fanart. I have a lot of their drawing saved. From what I understand, they use a wide range of mediums like marker, watercolor, and digital. I like that their style is fun, cool, and mystical all at the same time. I have seen their drawing of Disney princesses, DC characters, Marvel characters, Winx Club characters, and more. They really make them look like their own characters, and I love it.

Art of Gretel LuskyArt of Gretel LuskyWonder Woman, in Ron Pittman's Gretel Lusky Comic Art Gallery RoomPin on Art InspoArt of Gretel LuskyArt of Gretel LuskyGretel Lusky on X: "New art ☄️ https://t.co/FGb1TLWW3z" / XArt of Gretel Lusky

 

3. Angel Ganev

Stream Angel Ganev music | Listen to songs, albums, playlists for free on  SoundCloud

I have been a fan of their art for a few years now, and I even attempted to redraw some of their pieces in my style(they definitely didn’t do the originals justice). Their pieces consist of mainly character drawing and I believe they’ve done portraits of some of their followers or something like that. Their range of mediums mainly goes from pen and pencil drawings and digital drawings.

Painting Artwork Color Demon By Angel Ganev 3angel ganevArtStation - S k e t c h e s 🌿 + Tutorial, Angel Ganev | Drawing people,  Cool art drawings, Art drawings sketchesLinxspiration — Angel Ganev Creates Illustrations With Incredible...Angel Ganev (angelganev) - Profile | PinterestThis contains an image of: I n n o n c e, by Angel Ganev

Of course, these are not the only artists that I particularly love, but I thought that for this post, these would be great to start the list. I may do another blog later about other artists, but I’m not sure. If any of you can think of other artists that you love, I’d love to hear them. They may end up being a new favorite or favorites. Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and I will see you guys next time. Much love<3

Hello Again:)

So you mean to tell me that I’m already a senior and that I’ll be graduating in a few months? No, I don’t believe you. I swear it felt like it was yesterday when I was sitting in my eighth grade math class listening to my teacher waste twenty minutes talking about something that had nothing to do with math.

Well, even though now it feels like it all went by really quickly, I did cherish every moment I have spent in MSA so far. Since being here, I’ve learned to be a lot more self confident and I have had an amazing opportunity to further my talent as an artist. I know it sounds cheesy, but I swear it’s true.

I know that this year promises to be the busiest as we prepare for events like preview day, portfolio day, showcases, graduation, not to mention applying for colleges and scholarships, but I have a feeling that it’ll be a great year.

Since we’ll only be posting once a month, I think it’ll be good for me to use this as just something to use to write about something silly, random, fun, etc. Like last year, I posted a lot about Marvel, my love for reading, other nerd stuff. I’ll probably be doing a lot of that again and maybe just to let off some steam.

For this go-round, I’ll talk about a new favorite movie that recently came out on Netflix: “Nimona”

Nimona - Netflix Movie - Where To Watch

I absolutely love this movie and have watched it two or three times already. I love the animation style, Nimona’s chaotic energy, the themes that play out throughout this movie, everything about it is just chef’s kiss.

If you are unfamiliar with the movie or haven’t watched it, Nimona is about a girl(Nimona) who has the ability to shapeshift and because of this, she is seen as a monster in the society. Ballister is a knight that was framed for unaliving the queen, so he’s seen as another villain. At first, Nimona just wants to be the villain’s sidekick until she learns that Ballister is innocent. The two work together to clear Ballister’s name in a society that is closed off from the rest of the world by a wall because they have lived in fear of outside “monsters” for a thousand years.

I’m not gonna lie, this movie made me laugh and cry and. I watched it after the first few previews before I’d start to see too many spoiler clips. I honestly wasn’t expecting a lot from it, just for it to be something cute and fun to watch, and I am not picky when it comes to movies, I think the only two genres that I don’t care that much for are rom-coms and anime(please don’t come for me). So Nimona was up my alley. I loved that Ballister played a fatherly role to Nimona(even though she’s a thousand years old, but she still has the chaotic energy of a teenager). I loved seeing the relationship between these two progress through the movie. And I absolutely loved both of their character development. 

Nimona' Review: This Was Worth the WaitNetflix releases official trailer for graphic novel adaptation 'Nimona'  starring Riz Ahmed, Eugene Lee Yang

If you haven’t seen this movie and you love to watch fun, animated movies with a lot of good, deep themes, I highly recommend watching it. Here’s one of my favorite scenes<3

 

See you later, MSA!

Agh! I can’t believe junior is already almost over; I swear it was like yesterday we were all outside ringing the bell. This is my last post for the school year which means that the next time you hear from me, I will be a senior(that’s a slightly scary thought). For my last post, I will do a self reflection of how I’ve grown as a person and a writer. This is is simply a long, boring paragraph of how much I have changed as a person for the better and as a writer and artist. If upcoming juniors ever read this post, I would hope this could relieve some of that anxiety that comes with moving into a completely new learning and living environment. Anyways, without further ado, please enjoy.

Ever since kindergarten, I have attended North Pike which, if y’all don’t know, is a very big school and not the best place to be(I won’t get into details). One of the things I will say though is that I was always self conscious about certain things, including how I was around friends and my style of clothing(to name only a couple). The students at my old school were in general just not the best people to be around and it was especially difficult for someone who really  loves art and reading like me because of course that was considered very weird. When I started coming here, I deeply appreciated how weird was the normal and that different kinds of weird were welcome and embraced. One of my biggest worries was that I wasn’t gonna be able to make any new friends, but that was changed quite literally on day one. Throughout the year, I gradually became a more outgoing person although I still consider myself very ambiverted. I was not at all the kind of person to spend her days going out just doing whatever and to this day that is still not my go-to thing but if invited by friends, I’ll be more than willing to go and have fun. I like to think that I also became a more assertive person since attending here the details of why that is are some that I’d like to not share, but you get the general idea. 

As a writer, I used be very meticulous in my writing, meaning I paid close attention to adding vivid descriptions and image and I am glad to say I have been good at that, but the overall plot and theme and other essential writing elements  weren’t quite as strong. I have gotten a lot better at it since coming here and learning to balance out the amount of imagery inclusion of plot and theme. I also liked that I have been able to learn about and write stories, poems, etc. in different formats in styles. I had some favorites of course, but it fun in general exploring those different writing styles. The process of workshop and revision is also extremely helpful because it’s where you can gather what impact its made on readers and they can give positive feedback and critique based on what you wanted them to gain and experience through your writing. There are incidents and projects(such as coffeehouse, Poetry Out Loud, podcasting, etc.) that also have taken me far out of my comfort zone and, I will be 100% honest, I really didn’t like at first but they have overall helped me for the better. This experience that I have had so far makes me very hopeful for my senior year and I am excited for it.

That is all I have to day about my journey so far, and I do hope to grow even more as a writer and person throughout my upcoming senior year. It’s a little scary but also very exciting. I hope you have enjoyed this, and I will see you later, MSA<3

Love Hypothesis pt 2

Last week I started talking about some characters from a book I have recently finished reading called The Love Hypothesis and of course this is a continuation of that since I only did two of the characters so far. I said that I was gonna talk about Olive and Malcom for this post but I think I’m gonna switch it up a bit(adding more characters). This will likely also contain spoilers from the book so proceed with caution if you haven’t read it yet and you would like to.

Olive Smith

Olive is indeed the main character of the book and it would seem that she’d be the very first one I talk about before anyone else, but I really wanted to talk about Adam and Tom. Anyways, Olive is the sunshine in the grumpyXsunshine trope in the book and she definitely lives up to that “role” very well and she is a very lighthearted and kind person. The book does dive very deep into her character, though. It breaks down why she does what she does for her best friend and it also explains why she is in Stanford to become a scientist primarily in biology- to develop a possible cure for pancreatic cancer(it goes so much deeper than that, but I’ll leave that part for y’all to read if you wish to). As lighthearted and kind as she is, she is also very much an overthinker(something I relate to a little too well) and she has a lot of self-doubt and is one of those people that couldn’t think of a single thing about herself that someone else could like about her when in reality there isn’t anything that someone wouldn’t like about her. And I absolutely love how much of a selfless person she is.

Malcom (don’t remember his last name)

Let me start off by saying that we all need a Malcom in our lives. He is one of Olive’s best friends/roommate and quite honestly one of the best friends anyone could ask for. Since he and Olive are so close, he knows very well of the various struggles she goes through and is there for her in every way he knows he can be and always finds ways to cheer her up. Now, he does not like Adam whatsoever because he was overly critical of a paper that Malcom had submitted, but he set those past feelings aside after finding out that he and Olive are fake dating and why they are. He also becomes genuinely supportive when Olive tells him she’s developing real feelings for Adam. At the end of the book, Adam and Malcom end up getting along. I honestly love Malcom so much and feel he very much deserved the happy relationship he gets into towards the end of the book.

Anh (also don’t remember her last name)

Okay, if I am being totally honest, I found Anh to be slightly annoying but she is a really good friend to Olive(I feel like most of us have one of those people in our lives that we love so much but have to fight the urge to smack them upside the head). Anh is the reason why Olive and Adam are fake dating. How, what’d she do? She didn’t necessarily do anything, but she fell in love with Olive’s ex, Jeremy, but refused to pursue him even after Olive has told her many, many times that she is completely over him and she is okay with it, which she genuinely is because she and Jeremy weren’t that serious anyway and it was a short relationship. Anh finally decides to go out with him when she sees that Olive is “dating” Adam and has really moved on. She is also the friend that first detected that there were some real feelings on both sides. The reason I found her a little annoying is that she kept putting Olive in very awkward situations but I can’t really be upset because she didn’t know that it was fake.

Holden Rodrigues 

Last one and one of the most likeable characters. He’s funny, charming, loyal, and a genuinely good friend to Adam. Adam and Holden have bee best friends since childhood and have been there for each other when each were in touch situations. He also became a good friend to Olive as well, he was the one that first told her that Adam liked her for years. As I read more about Holden, the more I saw that he was kind of conflicted about Adam being friends with Tom because he had suspected that Tom wasn’t a real friend but he put off saying too much about it because he felt that he may have been too protective and maybe even jealous, but he knew something was off. Honestly, I can kind of relate to him because I have had friends who were hanging with toxic people but I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to seem like a bad friend and didn’t want to start anything that was unnecessary in case I was wrong. But, of course, Holden was right about Tom.

That’s it, I have pretty much said everything I wanted about the characters. The Love Hypothesis is a really good and fun book and I really recommend it. But, of course, if it’s not your cup of tea, that’s completely understandable. I hope you have enjoyed this and I will see you again next week for the last time *sadness* </3

Love Hypothesis

Love Hypothesis is the title of a book that I had just finished reading this past Saturday and, in case it wasn’t obvious, it’s a romance novel(more specifically a rom com). For this post, I thought it might be fun for me to talk about some of my favorite characters and my least favorite characters. I have a lot to say about each of them so this will more likely take two parts. Without further ado, please enjoy(full disclosure, if you haven’t read the book and you wish to, this will contain some spoilers)

The Love Hypothesis: 9780593336823: Hazelwood, Ali: Books - Amazon.com

Before we get into the characters, here’s a summary of the book:)

In the book, the main characters Olive and Adam meet in the bathroom(gender neutral, don’t freak out) and Olive’s freaking out because she’s not confident in her future in academia. Olive is wearing expired contacts(because college students can’t afford new ones) and it’s gotten to the point where she can’t see and she’s ranting to this stranger(Adam) and he encourages her. 3 years later, Olive gets caught in a situation with her best friend Anh and her ex Jeremy that leads to her and Adam fake-dating. Well, of course, as they spend more time together, Olive catches real feelings and they end up getting together for real in the end.

Adam Carlson

I felt this would be a good character to start with. In the book, it’s a grumpy and sunshine trope in which Adam is the grumpy one in this case. Adam is a professor at Stanford  University who has a reputation for being way too brutally honest when giving feedback to students. Of course, he’s different towards Olive and he’s a lot kinder and more encouraging towards her. His development in the book was really cute(in my opinion) and thanks to Olive, he becomes less cold in general. As it turns out, Adam has had a huge crush on Olive for three years, and I loved the way that it was revealed in the book. Of course it makes me wonder if that fact was the real reason that he agrees to fake date Olive. Regardless, I loved Adam’s character in general and the way he was towards Olive. The more you get into the book, the more you could tell how much he cared for her even before it’s directly revealed that had feelings for her.

Tom Benton

If you decide to read the book, do NOT get attached to Tom. Does he die in the book? If only… When he is first introduced, he seems like a genuinely good guy and he had me fooled until the end. I do hate his character. Why? Well, he does things for other people only if he knows if it’ll ultimately benefit him. There are a lot of examples that I won’t get into. But basically, he’s very good at manipulating people and he was one of Adam’s closest friends until Adam realizes the kind of person he really is. He’s one of those people to seems selfless and does selfless things for people but it’s ultimately to fulfill his own selfish agenda. You find little reason to not like him until the end and then it’s like the complete opposite, you end up finding very little reason to like him.

These are the only two I will talk about for this week. Next week, I will talk about Olive and one of her best friends Malcom. I hope you enjoyed this post, stay tuned for part two<3