Welcome or welcome back to my One Per Week blog, where I review one album, book, and/or movie per week. The album that I listened to this week was recommended to me by one my dearest friends. Mi amor, I’m sorry! You can skip my review for the album. I love you, and I hope there’s no hurt feelings.
Below are my reviews:
Album: A Letter to My Younger Self by Quinn XCII
2/5 stars
This is the first time I have ever listened to a song or album by Quinn XCII. You could describe A Letter to My Younger Self as an indie pop album. It’s nostalgic, and at least to me, several songs feel like they’re filled with regret.
While the album as a whole is perfectly fine, and most songs are pretty catchy, the album didn’t resonate with me. Sadly, I also didn’t love Quinn XCII’s voice.
My favorite song was the opening song “Am I High Rn”; I enjoyed the choir-like voices in the background. The song I liked least was “Meeting Strangers” because of the call and response portions (too cheesy for me!).
I wish I liked A Letter to My Younger Self more, but it’s just not for me.
Book: Return Billionaire to Sender by Annika Martin
4/5 stars
If cozy mysteries are my guilty pleasure, then romcom novels are my guilty guilty pleasure, especially the Billionaires of Manhattan series by Annika Martin.
Return Billionaire to Sender is the 5th book in the series, and it’s my favorite so far. All of these books are “grumpy-sunshine opposites-attract” kind of stories, and they are told from the perspectives of both the billionaires and female protagonists. The billionaire is always a mean workaholic, and the female protagonist is always sweet and quirky. Sometimes though, the female protagonists are a bit too quirky, which can become annoying. That’s not the case with this book; Noelle is genuine and lovable. You could also think of this story as a modern Beauty and the Beast. Noelle always sees the best in people, and she is able to tame the “beast” so he can show his goodness.
What’s also cool about this series is that the women in these novels are all friends, so once they’ve had their time in the spotlight in one of the novels, it’s fun to keep up with them and hear what they’ve been up to in the books that follow. Of course, it’s wildly unrealistic for a group of women to all end up dating billionaires, but you just suspend disbelief you want to enjoy these books.
I also know that in real life, the concept of a billionaire is incredibly unethical, but these books are set in a world were billionaires are a dime a dozen. It’s as if a group of friends all ended up marrying princes.
Anyway, if you’re looking for some wish-fulfilment or you’re like me and miss watching silly romcoms, I think you’ll enjoy this novel and series. Warning: there’s a few “saucy” scenes in these books, so discretion is advised!
Movie: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Written and Directed by Rian Johnson
5/5 stars
I am a huge Beatles fan, and like I said in last week’s post, I love mysteries, so of course I had to watch this movie! Even if this movie wasn’t a mystery, I probably would have watched it just because of the Beatles-related title. This movie is a sequel to Knives Out, but it’s a standalone film, so there’s no need to have seen the first movie. I actually liked Glass Onion a lot more than Knives Out, but it’s not fair to compare the two because they’re each their own thing.
This movie has some great commentary about the rich and famous. However, I wonder if the story will age well since a lot of things that the movie critiques are very connected to current times.
I don’t want to spoil this movie, and there’s already some great reviews and analyses about it out there, so I don’t want to say too much. But I do have a couple of things that I wanted to mention. Skip to the “Final Thoughts” section if you want to avoid any spoilers!
SPOILER WARNING: When the characters first arrive to the private island, Miles Bron is playing the guitar that, according to him, Paul McCartney used to write “Blackbird.” Then just like that, he drops the guitar. I tensed up so hard and had to pause the movie for a second. The story was barely getting started, but immediately I thought, “Yup, this guy is a villain.”
The other thing I wanted to mention is that Miles says that he wants to be remembered in the same breath as the Mona Lisa. In the end, he will be remembered in the same breath as the painting, but only for being responsible for its destruction. I don’t know if it’s just me, but this sentiment made me think about Mark David Chapman, the man who murdered John Lennon. Again, maybe it’s a stretch to connect these two things, but in both instances, the person is remembered in the same breath as a famous thing or person only for having destroyed them.
Final Thoughts: If you haven’t seen this movie yet, watch it. I promise you will have a fun time. I hope we get more mysteries with detective Blanc in the future!
Like I said, many have already talked about this movie at length, so if you want an in-depth analysis after you watch the movie, I recommend watching the video essays below:
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