Bullet Points, February
It's been a big month over here at not an expert hq: here's what I'm reading, buying, vibing with!
Every month, I round up what I’m reading, buying and vibing with to bring to you– because I yearn for the high of internet influencing.
What an exciting time (for me)! The SmoochPit mentorship program came to a close this month and with that, I dove into the query trenches1. It turns out, the querying process is mostly just sitting on your hands and trying not to lose your mind. I had to write a note to myself in my notebook that says, “Go touch grass, idiot,” (lovingly) if that gives you any indication of where I am mentally.
Anyway, I’m mainlining audiobooks to keep myself from checking QueryTracker every 30 seconds. Currently taking bets on how likely it is that I write a single essay for this poor newsletter next month.
Reading:
Say You’ll Be Mine by Naina Kumar, a SmoochPit mentor! I did not know this before I got the book from the library. I had just heard so much hype about this and Naina’s second book, which I need to get next because I really enjoyed this one.
Can’t Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan (out 5/13, thanks Netgalley & Forever publishing). One thing Kennedy Ryan always delivers on is a little mess, a little drama, a little spice. There is no miscommunication trope here— every conflict is layered and deep and keeps me reading to figure out how tf they’re going to figure this out and end up together.
Deep End by Ali Hazelwood. Reads like a college AU fanfiction in a good way. Lukas does not appear to be modeled after Adam Driver. I’m not touching the “kink” discourse with a ten foot pole.
First-Time Caller by B.K. Borison. No exaggeration, I’m pretty sure this is the best romance I’ve ever read in my life. It’s taken the number one spot. I finished reading, went out and bought a physical copy and contemplated rereading it immediately. Beautiful, emotional, deep, atmospheric. First-Time Caller does it all.
Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson: tragically, a DNF. I got about halfway through and found that I didn’t care how it ended. Never a good sign. It just wasn’t for me2.
Buying:
Treats from a friend’s3 bakeshop. She did a drop for Valentine’s day and it was amazing, of course. A passionfruit creme brulee white chocolate bonbon was one of the offerings. I am going to gatekeep because she runs a small operation and I can’t risk her selling out before I can get to her.
A hotdog at a hockey game. Do I care about sports? Famously, no. Did I, at one point, get bored enough to pull out my phone and start reading my ebook? Yes. But did I get a hotdog and a fun drink? I sure did! And there was a fight! Yay!
A restock of the ELF tubing mascara. This time, I’m going back to black instead of brown. It was a fun experiment, but black mascara is more for me.
Vibing with:
Eagles Superbowl win (duhhhhhh)! It was my husband’s birthday so thw win was especially exciting. We had a few people over, made Southwest eggrolls (inspired by Chili’s) and the classic buffalo chicken dip.
Junk journaling (lite). I’m not committed to the format, but I’ve decided to try my hand at doing an end-of-month spread in my journal, without agonizing over whether it’s aesthetically pleasing or not. Some junk I’ve acquired for February: the stickers from my bakeshop goodies; the labels of 2 Bombshell ciders, meticulously peeled off4; some Japanese kitkat wrappers5, the little insert that came with a Cinnamaroll blind box I got while shopping with my niece.
Getting “my” Sephora birthday gift early. Life hack: sign your husband up so you can get 2 gifts in a year. His bday is before mine, so I used his number to acquire the Juliette has a Gun giftset that includes the famed not a perfume, which, contrary to my many complaints in the sephora perfume section, actually does smell like something once it’s on skin6, and their newest scent, which skews bubble-gummy and florally with very little complexity to balance it— that pink pepper note is not pulling its weight. Anyway, it was free so who cares?
And a very under-the-wire addition: You by Larry Lovestein and the Velvet Revival. This was Mac Miller’s side project and it’s a five song EP that my husband played for me last night while we were making dinner and it truly stopped me in my tracks, it’s so fucking insanely good.
It’s probably more like, I sat at the edge of the trench and dipped my toes in and then very carefully lowered myself into the query trenches because I was afraid of how deep it would be. But still…
You see how I say it’s just not for me instead of giving you an itemized list of reasons I disliked it? How demure of me. I’m trying to toe the line between staying honest and not being scathing. As a born and bred hater, it’s difficult.
Actually, technically, she’s my husband’s friend’s ex-girlfriend. It’s complicated.
This did include some reckless behavior with a paring knife, but I emerged unscathed.
A chocolate orange flavor and a ??? strawberry chocolate cake flavor of some kind— the label was in Japanese, Idk.
And not in the hellhole that is a Sephora perfume section. I once watched a grown man lean down and spray himself with a diabolical amount of Ariana Grande Cloud before just…leaving the store. Okay. Whatever.