The Best Man by Kristan Higgins

Transcript Of Video

All right, so I just finished this book right here, which is: The Best Man by Kristan Higgins. It is a really good book. Umm, she’s an amazing author, first of all, let me just get that out of the way. Umm, so this book is the first book in the Blue Heron series, which is the name of the Holland family vineyard up in, um, the Finger Lakes region of New York. And, so, this book focuses on Faith Holland, who is the youngest child of the Holland Family, umm, proper. And, she comes back home after having, uh, kinda run away, uh, because of, uh,  her…fiancé telling her that she was gay, er, that he was gay, sorry, her fiancé telling her that HE was gay. Umm, at their wedding, so she had moved away, to San Francisco, uh, for like 3 years. And comes back home. And, uh, the best man, clearly, uh, was her fiancé’s best friend and he’s the one who outed him, or kind of, um convinced him to out himself. And, uh, she ends up falling in love with him, and, Levi Cooper is his name. And, they fall in love and blahda blahda blah. So that’s the storyline.

And, it’s a great, uh, just a great story. It’s, there’s so many rich characters. The thing I love about Kristan Higgins’ books is that, she sucks you in, from the get go. The characters are so real and they’re so intriguing. And her writing style is so natural and so…..what’s the word? Natural and free-flowing and, and seductive that you, it pulls you in and won’t let you go. Umm, you, you just wanna jump in and, and read right through it. I mean I literally read the book in like a day and a half because I wanted to know what happens. You get so invested in her characters and in the storyline and in the people that… And not just the main characters. Not just the story, the characters that the story is about, but everybody else. All of their family members, the friends, the sub characters. I mean there’s the whole town of, that you get to find out about. Umm, you wanna know what’s gonna happen and you wanna know what’s around the corner and  you wanna see all of those things happen. 

Plus she has this great ability to write real chemistry. And that’s re, a really neat thing, um, that not a lot of ac, uh, authors have. Umm, her, her characters aren’t fake. They’re not, it’s not that typical A and B romance story. I mean it’s not boy meets girl, you fall in love,  you’re with,  harr, thrown an obstacle, and then they overcome the obstacle and they get together. Like, there’s, it’s, you no, you don’t really  know what’s going to happen. And I’ve read several of her books now and it’s, every single one is different. You never really know what the storyline’s gonna do. I mean, clearly, some, you know, eventually the characters are going to get together. But it’s always, you don’t how it’s gonna happen, and  you don’t know who’s gonna be involved, and you don’t know what twists and turns are gonna happen. So it’s really interesting to find out, you know, where the storyline is going to take you. Plus it’s just really fun to read about all of the other characters. Because each character has such a great history and they have, you know, these great wounds that they have to overcome. And, and, you know, everybody, everybody does, everybody has history, everybody needs to get through something to really open themselves up to a relationship and to really let somebody in. And she is so good at writing about that and really making it real. And, and helping those characters come together and solve those things for each other and…

This book is yet another great example. The Best Man is so fantastic. Both of the characters… have….just…they’re really rich and they’re very… At first I didn’t really know what to think of, of the character of Faith Holland. I loved Levi. I thought he was a great character, and he had this great depth and this insane compl…you know, and he was just a complex character that, that was so full and rich. And, Faith I wasn’t really sure about, I was like, “she’s not her normal female lead”. Umm, she was, seemed a little weaker and then, all of a sudden, like, she just totally fleshed her out. And all, I was like, “oh, there’s the twist, got it” and you fall in love with her, and are totally behind her. Umm, and, I mean it’s crazy, there’s so many, I don’t wanna give anything away because there’s just so much to it. But, it’s a great book, you should check it out, I think you’ll love it. Um, yeah, so I think that’s it, check it out. Kristan Higgins. The Best Man. You won’t be sorry. Enjoy!

Review Criminal Minds Season 1

Transcript of Video

I’ve just re-watched Criminal Minds Season 1, which, I love this show, um, I love everything about it. So this is gonna be kind of a rave vs. umm, anything critical really to say about the show. Umm. I think that, uh,  most television shows, what they try to do in their first season is really establish their show. It’s, uh, their introduction to their audience, what their planning to do for their…uh, their concept. What, umm, all their characters are about and sort of just set up their, umm, their main concept. What they’re going to do show to show, what they’re going to do season to season. Sort of give you,…get you hooked and get you entrapped into what they’re doing. I think what Criminal Minds did really well with their first season is, umm, that they sucked you in right away and they did all of those things within like the first episode. You, you knew exactly what it was about, you knew exactly the relationships between all of these great characters. Um, You got to learn a little bit about each of the characters, even in that first show. You knew exactly who did what: umm, You knew that Reid was this great genius, crazy genius. You knew that Gideon was kind of  the leader of the team, but that he was getting tired and, and umm, had dealt with a lot and had seen a lot in his career. You knew that Hotch was kind of the one who held everybody together. Umm. JJ is uh, not introduced in the first episode I don’t think, umm, but you, when you see her later her role is introduced right away and you know who she is. Umm, Elle is the, is the newbie and the only girl, and she deals with sex crimes, and, and her, umm, she’s a go-getter, and, and impatient, and she wants to, to get in there and, and do things and get them done, and umm, you know, all of those things. And, and Derek is kind of the, he’s the, he’s obsessional crimes? But he also is the more psychological one? I think. Umm, he kind of puts himself in the place of the criminal. Umm, he sort of is, is the actor outer, if you would say. Umm. He, he goes in and puts himself in the place of the criminal, and, and figures out how they get in and how they were able to pull in off, um, physically, um, he, he’s the one who really gets in there and does it. Umm, He’s also the first one through the door, uh, when they’re breaking in to, to get the person, you know, at the end, when they’re catching the criminal. He’s the, he’s the physical one, he’s the one who’s in there getting them and pulling his gun and fighting and all of that. So…

You kind of get to see that right at the beginning and umm, all of their roles are set, and you know you have Garcia, uh, a couple episodes in. Even though she’s not umm, in the Main Titles, umm, until Season 2, but, uh, she’s always under the, umm, “Also Starring” in the, in the titles. Umm, Kirsten Vangsness, who is fantastic, she’s an amazing actress, and, uh, definitely, definitely a great character. Umm, and You know, which is why they kept  her on and brought, kept bringing her back I think. Umm, but the, the thing that I love about procedural crime shows and again, that Criminal Minds does really well, especially in this first season, is, um, that they… While they’re you know, you have your “Crime of the”…”Crime of the Week”: Umm, this is you know, every, every episode you’re dealing with one criminal. You have something going on that they need to solve and they have to figure out this problem. Umm. You also have the continuing story lines of the relationships between these characters that you’ve come to get to know and get to love and… Criminal Minds uh, they, they create this family unit, umm. Because the BAU is such a specialized unit in the FBI that you kind of learn about through this show. Umm, and they, from the get go, from episode 1, um, you, you see that they, they really care about each other and that they, they know all of their roles, but they also know each other. And they learn how to, they’re profilers, so you know, you profile each other. They kind of have this rule, umm, that you learn about throughout the season that they don’t really profile each other, but at the same time they do. Umm, they kind, they have each other’s backs, and when something’s wrong they know, and they check in with each other, and they, they keep each other safe and they keep each other healthy, and they, you know, they’re just there for each other to, to back each other up and when something’s bugging someone they, you know whoever is best suited to help them deal with it, helps them deal with it. Umm, it’s kind of a great family unit and I think that that’s something that’s really, really important and really, really neat about those crime dramas. And it’s, it’s one of those really cool things that, that happens in this type of show especially, that, umm, doesn’t happen in a lot of, umm, other shows that, that are out there. And, uh, Criminal Minds is just so good at it. Even, even in this first season, umm, as they’re building their foundation of , of what their show is about, they, they have this core family unit of the team and, and you know it’s all about that. Umm.

But even in this first season where they’re, they’re creating their identity they have these great stand out episodes. And, one of the great things about going back and watching this season for the second time, or I think it’s like my fourth or fifth time, but watching it again, is, is realizing “oh my goodness, that was season one”. Some of the great episodes where, umm, you know, there are sensational storylines, of you know, revelations about characters, and, and things that just happen. Uh. The different storylines that you’re, you’re thinking “how could they have done that on television, in their first season, and, you know, been able to get away with it?” Umm, things like, there’s an episode called “Riding the Lightening”, where it’s a husband and wife serial killer who killed 12 young girls and are on death row. And so the team goes in to uh, the jail to interview them. And it’s,  it’s this great in depth look at the minds of serial killers and how they work. And it’s, it’s such a great episode that looks at, you know, guilt and, and the idea of, of serial killers and looking at them and that type of an episode and it’s, and it’s crazy good. Umm, the episode “The Fox” is a really good one. Umm, It’s kinda creepy also. There’s a serial killer who uh, basically kidnaps families in their own house. Kind of a creepy episode, but it’s done really well. Umm, “Derailed” is another really good one that’s in season one. Umm, has a really, kind of a spotlight on Elle and Reid as characters, and you learn a little bit more about each of them separately. 

Umm, and then of course, just, uh, this show does a really great job of ending their seasons with these horrible cliff hangers. Where something happens, umm, and it’s carried over, you know, into the next season where you don’t know what has happened until the season starts the next year and they’re incredibly good at it. And, umm season one, I’m gonna, watch out for spoilers, uh gonna tell you, that uh, season one starts with the episode of um, where the character of Elle is umm, shot at the very end and uh, and you don’t know if she’s alive, you don’t know if she’s dead, you don’t know what’s going on and it’s crazy and scary and… They’re dealing with a serial killer who, or this psychopath who knows everything about them and they’re, where they’re at and who they are, and , uh, knows where they’re going on vacation, it’s crazy, creepy good and, and it’s just all kind of scary. Umm, And, uh, Sorry, my comp, my webcam is being all weird. Umm, but it’s,  it’s a really good, good season. Umm. And it’s a great start to an incredible run. So, if you haven’t seen it you should check it out. And uh, yeah, that’s about it, I think that’s all I have to say. Sorry it’s been a little break in videos here, so this one’s a little longer than normal, but, talk to you later.

Unauthorized Access by Andrew McAllister

Transcript of Video

Ok, So…I just finished reading Unauthorized Access by Andrew McAllister. Now this book is a thriller, or at least that’s how it’s classified. And, um, the thing that I really, really like about this book in particular is, um, the way that, uh, because it’s written in third person, uh, you’re able to get inside everybody’s head, like literally. The writer writes from, I think almost every character’s perspective. Which is really nice. Um, As an actor it’s very hard sometimes to understand the….motivation for characters that are the…bad guys, quote, unquote. And the neat thing about this book is that, um, you really get the chance to see the motivation of the …bad guy. So, that is something that I really appreciated about this book.

Umm, it’s a really interesting cyber attack book. I’m not really a huge, uh, cyber attack fan. Umm, Not that I’ve really read books, any books about cyber attacks, um, you know. But, um, this is really well written, there’s, umm, depth of character, there’s all kinds of interesting things going on. Umm, you don’t really know what’s going to happen, and that was the really, really neat part about the book. Umm, everybody, uh everything happens, uh, so fast, and it keeps you on the edge of your seat, and things, scenes jump from one to another. Umm But not in a way that’s confusing, but in a way that you never really know, umm, where it’s gonna go, or what’s gonna happen. Uh, which is the great thing about a thriller, it keeps you on your, on the edge of your seat and you want to know what’s going to happen next. Umm, so that was really, really well written and really intense and very, very cool. Umm, I would show you the book, but it’s uh, an e-book, so I, I can’t, I don’t have the book with me, it’s on my phone, but, umm. 

So, yeah, it was just a great book. Umm, The one thing that I didn’t like. There was…there, You know, there’s always a little bit negati, negative. But, uh, was the female character, the girlfriend, Lesley. While I could understand her motivation, cause you hear the, uh, back story, and her, her back story, and her life and all of that information. Um, So you understand where she’s coming from. I had a very hard time liking her? Umm. I couldn’t….uhhh, ooo, what’s the word that I’m looking for?…I couldn’t … Sympathize! … that’s, that’s what it is. I couldn’t sympathize, uh, with her lack of… belief in the main character. Umm, it was very, very hard, uh, to, to be sympathetic and to, to like her until the very end. Um, I, while I, you know enjoyed her character and there, she was a strong women and she was very, um, there was a lot to her. Umm, I just, I got mad at her and I didn’t, she frustrated me the whole book, up until the very end. So, um, that was just the one, the one negative thing about the book. 

But otherwise it was a fantastic story and there’s all kinds of intrigue and, and you know, just plot lines that intermingle. And, and I love getting into everybody’s head. And it was incredibly well written. So I will definitely check out other books by this author because, um, it was fascinating. So, yeah, that’s what I think and check it out!