TMST

 

10/20/2026 If you could have any office supply in unlimited quantities, what would it be?

I have pens, so many pens, I am a bit of a free pen hoarder so not that. Paper would have been good but these days, nah, not so much drawing going on.

Someone is gonna come up with smth really smart and I am gonna be all I should have thought of that!

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10/27/2026  Who do you want on your team during the zombie apocalypse and why?

Carole´s Monday: Dracula

 

Author: Bram Stoker
Narrator: Ella Purnell, Jonathan Bailey, & full cast

Title: Dracula

Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Classic
Format: Audiobook

Published: October 1, 2026 (this rendition)
Where I Got It: My shelf (Audible)


Summary: 

When her fiancé vanishes in Transylvania, Mina pieces together letters, diary entries and chilling testimony to hunt the predator stalking those she loves — only to discover he's already hunting her. Dracula lurks in shadow, slips into dreams, and casts no reflection. To nearly all, he defies beyond what the eye can see, and what the mind can comprehend. When her closest friend Lucy succumbs to his thrall, the enigmatic Professor Van Helsing is summoned to wage war on this unfathomable threat. But it is Mina; her intellect, her resolve, her gift for drawing the unseen lines between clues, who may hold the key to stopping this ancient scourge. If he hasn't already found his way inside her mind…

Review:

Love me some Dracula. Esp Dracula remakes. And when I heard the cast of this one, I couldn't resist checking it out!

Mina's fiancé vanishes, and she is trying to piece together the letters, diary entries, and chilling testimony to figure out what happened. He returns, but he isn't the same. At the same time, her childhood friend is dying, and they do not know why. They bring in Professor Van Helsing to combat the threat. However, it is Mina who will connect all the dots and figure out that they are being hunted by an ancient scourge. 

The original story is good, but man, was this cast amazing. They really did a wonderful job breathing fresh air into this story. Fabulous. I was so invested. I listened to this during a long drive down to Florida, and I was in Tennessee by the time I finished it. I was surrounded by trees and darkness. Such a great way to listen to this. I was so scared by the end. I ran to the hotel to check in. 

I would listen to this rendition again. It really just flushed out the story and made me love the story all over again. I haven't read the original since 2012, and I remember it seemed to drag on and on. I didn't feel this way with this narration. They just brought this to life so well. 

5 stars, 100%. 

Reading Challenges

- Audiobook #43

Sea of Charms by Sarah Beth Durst

Series: Spellshop (#3)

Format : 384 pages, Paperback

Published: January 1, 2026 by Pan Macmillan

Cozy fantasy/library

I like this series, it is so sweet and cozy. Sure the Empire has fallen, the king was thrown out an window. But we do not really see all of that. Instead we have Marin, she left a bad marriage, her parents equipped her ship and now she is doing jobs between islands.

Dax is the golden composer. The city is falling apart but he knows nothing about that. They have met before and then she helps him flee.

She has a sea dragon friend and a talking plant as crew. Dax has never left his safe little bubble. She has debts to pay, he has dined with the king.

They have adventures, they get closer and they will get that happy ending. And we meet people from previous books, yay. I think these islands will be just fine.

I enjoy these, fun times

Her boat. Her rules. His music. Their hearts . . .

Marin has always belonged on the great blue sea. Betrayed by love, she lives and works as a supply runner, sailing from island to island, delivering an array of goods with Perri the sea serpent and Ree the sailor shrub as her crew.

On one of her routine trips to the capital, Alyssium, Marin finds a revolution underway - and a friend in the line of fire.

What starts as a rescue evolves into a deal: Marin will keep Dax on as a member of her crew if he pretends to be her boyfriend at the End-of-Harvest Festival back home.

But against her better judgment, Marin finds herself intrigued by his stubbornness, his passion for stories, his charming smile - and realizes that perhaps she isn't saving him. Maybe it's the other way around.

Audio: After Anne by Renata McMann and Summer Hanford

By: Renata McMann, Summer Hanford

Narrated by: Benjamin Fife

Series: Pride and Prejudice Variation

Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins

Release date: 09-08-26 by Tantor Media

Categories: Literature & Fiction

PP variation time!  In this one Lizzy gets to know Anne a bit better, but no one else knows. Darcy still asks Lizzy to marry him and that goes badly. And here is where it takes a new turn, Anne grows a backbone and just ups and leave. The whole place is in an uproar! Where is Anne!?

And Lady Catherine gets this crazy idea and hires Lizzy as her companion, tells Darcy he must come too and they set off to find Anne. And Darcy and Lizzy must spend a lot of time together trying to find Anne, and no one must know she is missing.

It will be awkward, but it will also give them the time to come to terms with their feelings as she learns he is not the man she thought he was.

Wickham is an ass as always. But he will learn his lesson.

Anne is awesome, I liked that she learnt to take what she want.

Darcy was humbled, I liked that.

I enjoyed this variation. It has its twists and turns and you know they will get there in the end.

The narration was well done and I do not know if I have listened to this narrator before, but he does it well

Elizabeth Bennet cannot believe the effrontery of Mr. Darcy's proposal to her, but before she can firmly decide to despise him, he hands her a letter. Unsure what he could possibly have to say to redeem himself, she sneaks off to read his words, only to witness the flight of Miss Anne de Bourgh. Now, despite the array of turbulent emotions between them, Lady Catherine de Bourgh insists that Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy form a team to search for her daughter. Though Lady Catherine has motives of her own, being thrown together may help Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth better understand each other, all while they go after Anne.