Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – Tethered (Elayna R. Gallea)

Hey Dearies!

I wanted to take a break from the thrillers I had been reading and actually found this one instead. Normally, I’m a fantasy or romance reader, and since I had read one of Elayna’s books before, this one caught my eye since it was a romance between a human and a vampire.

I know a lot of people who, when they think of vampire and human romances, immediately think of the Twilight Saga. Which is nothing like that, thank god. Nothing against the Twilight Saga, but when I think of vampires, they don’t sparkle in the sun.

Anyway, another thing to note from this book is that this entire series is also connected to the other series that I started with her, which I found was interesting! That was the Of Earth and Flame; I did do a review on that, which had elves and dragon shifters. I read that one because it was recommended on Pinterest, as it was a close retelling of Barbie as Rapunzel.

I did do a review on that one as well, but I haven’t decided if I was going to continue the series, and when I thought about doing so, I ended up going down a long spiral of different thrillers. Tethered is also another series, and it did end on a cliffhanger, so I’ll let you know at the end of the review if I will take a look at the second one or not.

The book starts out in both Luna’s POV and Sebastian’s POV. Luna talks about how she is arranged to be married to Sebastian to reunite two kingdoms in the current war that has been going on.

Luna isn’t thrilled about this arrangement, as she didn’t want to be married to a vampire, but she only does as she is told because her father told her to do so. She also didn’t want to leave her kingdom, knowing her brother needs a cure, which they go into a little bit of detail about.

Sebastian, on the other hand, is only doing this arrangement for his mother’s sake; although she’s not his biological mother, she sort of adopted him and changed him into a powerful vampire. I’m still confused about that whole can of worms too.

However, they aren’t only getting married; the vampire Queen Marguerite insists on having a Binding Ceremony. This will bind them together, but instead, they end up becoming Tethered, which is even stronger than the Binding. They literally can’t be apart more than 30 feet from each other without being in a lot of pain.

Since being Tethered wasn’t the plan, both Luna and Sebastian start looking into how to become untethered from each other. Over time, they start to realize that they are getting feelings for each other and try to deny them because of the fact that they think it’s the Tethered bond that is causing them to want to be more intimate with each other.

I will say, the author does take her time building up the relationship between the two, but there was a point where I’m like:

Plus, with them struggling to figure out their feelings and chemistry, they also are dealing with other things that are happening in the castle, such as someone trying to murder Luna and instead murdering her handmaid.

I also did have a really hard time relating to the main characters because of her name being Luna; if you haven’t read my reviews on the I Want Your Family series, that explains why I have a hard time rooting for anyone who names their characters Luna.

It was also a hard slow to get into; it took me a little bit just to get into it, which I was kind of bummed out about, but it was also the same for her other book that I read before. Then again, it could just be me in general because I’ve been so sucked into fast thrillers that I expected the pace of all my books to be like that.

Overall, the book did end on a cliffhanger, and honestly, I’m up in the air about whether I want to read the second one, just because the first one was slow and took so long to get into, but it made me want to read this sequel more than the last book of hers I’ve read.

The only thing that would suck is that, for me to read the sequel, I would have to buy it since Tethered was already available on Kindle Unlimited. To me, if I didn’t absolutely love the first book, it makes no sense for me to get the second book unless I needed to know what happened.

Sequels are a hit or miss for me; it really has to make me want to finish the series or saga. I’ll use the Twilight Saga as an example. I liked Twilight; granted, I didn’t like the vampires that sparkle crpa, but I liked it enough to read the second one, New Moon. I really had to power through New Moon just to get to Eclipse.

I even fell asleep at the theater when New Moon came out. The only thing I liked about New Moon was finding out about the werewolves, and Jacob turning into one was pretty cool. In order to get through it, you had to endure Bella’s teenage “my life is over” crap.

As a reader, you’ll find out which books you were able to get right into and others that you had to either push yourself to get through or you weren’t able to finish. That’s okay! I’ve got a couple of books that I had tried and tried to get myself to go through and really couldn’t do.

Anyway, what did you think of Tethered? Are you a sucker when it comes to vampire love stories? Or are you like me and jump around to ones to keep it interesting? Let me know down below!

Posted in Arts and Crafts, Crochet, Top Projects for Crochet/Knitting

Top 10 Free Crochet Halloween Stuffies (Craft Odysseys)

Hey Dearies! Since we are in the last week of October and Halloween is just days away, I figured I would share some of these super cute stuffies that you can make for this spooky holiday!

Note: I don’t own any of these patterns, all rights go to their original creators. I will be proving the link to the original patterns. Make sure that if you create any of these, please don’t claim the patterns as your own, these creators work hard to create these patterns!

Now, some of these patterns might be a little hard for beginners, but we love to challenge our skills! These are also perfect gifts to that person who are big fans of the Halloween season.

1. Cute Baby Ghost
https://www.windingroadcrochet.com/pretty-little-ghost-free-crochet-pattern/

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This is super cute! I also love the little spider that they added on the side for the ghost! If you are wondering how their cheeks get pink, any lite blush or eyeshadow can create that effect.

2. Little Bat
https://coolcreativity.com/crochet/amigurumi-little-bat-free-crochet-pattern/

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This is another adorable pattern, I just love these cute baby bats!

3. Little Pumpkins
https://stringydingding.com/pumpkin-amigurumi-free-crochet-pattern/

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Last year, I made a bigger version of these mini pumpkins, although, I didn’t have enough time to make it more adorable. I’m tempted to make a mini one!

4. Sharlotte The Spider
https://woolpatterns.com/cute-halloween-amigurumi-free-crochet-patterns/

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If you don’t like real spiders, I think you’ll be on board with Sharlotte! This reminds me of Charlotte’s Web book I read back in elementary school.

5. Frankenstein
https://spinayarncrochet.com/frankensteins-monster-free-crochet-pattern/

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This little guy is freaking cute! These are perfect for the little ones to cuddle with at night. This creator has a few of these little guys and the next one is on this list!

6. Classic Vampire
https://spinayarncrochet.com/vampire-amigurumi-free-crochet-pattern/

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I’m a big vampire fan and the reason why I said this was a ‘classic vampire’, because, well, it is. That and it doesn’t sparkle in the sunlight, that’s for sure. However, putting a little bit of highlight on it could make this little monster shine in the daylight.

7. Candy Corn Cuddler
https://3amgracedesigns.com/candy-corn-kawaii-cuddler/

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This is something I would definitely create and put on my couch, however, my two-year-old would most likely take it whenever I wanted to cuddle with it. I can’t blame her either, that cuddler is too cute!

8. Zombie Bear
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/zombie-bear-2

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This bear is cute and spooky, just look at him. Now, this stuffy is one of those fun one that you can use your scrap yarn for. If you are a big Halloween fan, this might be something that you want to make for your spooky collection.

9. Oogie Boogie
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/oogie-boogie

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If you already know who this guy is, then you must either have seen The Nightmare Before Christmas or are a HUGE fan of the movie. I couldn’t forget this guy, that’s for sure, but the best part, he’s a free pattern. And if you check out the creator, you’ll also find that they have created Zero and Jack, as well.

10. Hocus Pocus Witches
http://thecrochetqueendesigns.com/free-pattern-red-haired-witch/

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Well, I had to save the best for last! Hocus Pocus is one of those movies that you have to see every year for Halloween and when I saw this on Pinterest, I was so excited! More excited that the pattern was free!

Which ones were your favorites? Which one would you love to create for yourself? Let me know in the comments!

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