Sarai Henderson's Blog, page 168

Movie Review: The Hustle

Title: The HustleGenre: ComedyRelease Date: May 10th, 2019My Rating: ★★★★☆IMDB Rating: 5.4/10Cast: Summary from IMDB: Two con women - one low rent and the other high class - team up to take down the men who have wronged them.
IMDB Trailer
Review: Even though this movie received some low reviews on IMDB, I still really enjoyed the story. I guess I'm a sucker for dumb comedies. The story actually kept me on my toes and I didn't see the ending coming. I guess I wasn't thinking that there would actually be some substance to the story, only funny one liners and weird circumstances. All in all, I gave this movie 4 out of 5 stars because I was thoroughly entertained.  

Weekly Menu #329 And The Book Of The Week

Monday! What can I say? Its been a quick week. It seems like the weeks are just flying by and there is nothing I can do about it. Christmas is right around the corner and then New Years, and then what? Monday, that's what. It's always Monday.

This weeks book is Belle Revolte by Linsey Miller. I love this cover and I'm excited to see what is behind it. What are you reading this week? Let me know in the comments bellow.

Monday- Orange Chicken Stir Fry
Tuesday- Tuscan Sausage Spaghetti 
Wednesday- Beef and Broccoli Lo Mein
Thursday- Buttery Garlic Chicken
Friday- Ground Beef and Guacamole Tacos
Saturday- Beef Barley Stew 
Sunday
- Family DinnerChicken Piccata Meatballs

Sunday Confessions # 21

Welcome back to my weekly confessions. It has been a long week. Work is busy and I haven't been feeling well. I think its because I'm on meds that lower my immune system and I'm having a hard time fighting my allergies. Whatever it is, it sucks. 

Sunday Confessions # 20~Weekly Menu #328 And The Book Of The Week~November 2019 Wrap Up~Book Review: Leonard by William Shatner


Weekly Menu #329 And The Book Of The Week~ Book Review: Wonder Woman Leigh Bardugo~Book Review: Way of the Wolf by E.E. Knight~Sunday Confessions #22

Nothing new at Book Confessions this week. Strange, I know, but Its good to slow down some times.

Now that my Christmas shopping is done, I have more time to read. I'm going to try and read three books this coming week. Lets see if I can do it.

Book Review: Leonard by William Shatner

Title: Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable ManBy: William ShatnerGenre: BiographyPages: 278Release Date: February 16th, 2016Publisher: Thomas Dunne BooksRating: ★★★★☆
Summary from Goodreads: Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner first crossed paths as actors on the set of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Little did they know that their next roles, in a new science-fiction television series, would shape their lives in ways no one could have anticipated. In seventy-nine television episodes and six feature films, they grew to know each other more than most friends could ever imagine.
Over the course of half a century, Shatner and Nimoy saw each other through personal and professional highs and lows. In this powerfully emotional book, Shatner tells the story of a man who was his friend for five decades, recounting anecdotes and untold stories of their lives on and off set, as well as gathering stories from others who knew Nimoy well, to present a full picture of a rich life.

As much a biography of Nimoy as a story of their friendship, Leonard is a uniquely heartfelt book written by one legendary actor in celebration of another.



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Review: This books is a remarkable story about friendship and loss. I loved how the author portrays his friend. It wasn't always wonderful. It was raw and gritty, but still so real. Nimoy was really a remarkable man.

November 2019 Wrap Up

I can't believe November is already over... The year is already over. I'm almost ready for Christmas which is unusual for me. I'm that person who waits until the last minute to buy my Christmas gifts. Not this year. I got a jump on it and am almost finished.
I hope you're making good headway on you Christmas shopping, but also have time to do some reading. I know my reading has been slower than normal, but what is slow, really? I guess slow for me. Here are the books I read in November. Enjoy!

Nothing worth 5 stars this month...










I'm on the last book of my Best of Goodreads 2018 Challenge. I can definitely finish it before the end of December. 
12/50 for my read around the country challenge.
4/196 for my Star Wars story line challenge.
30/341 for my Gilmore Girls challenge. 
Hoping to work on these more in 2020.

 It was a great November. Only read 14 books, but still reading. I have a few review books to get through and a book club book to finish. I can't wait to see what December brings. 
What was your favorite book you read in November?

Weekly Menu #328 And The Book Of The Week

Monday! We are one week closer to Christmas and I have to say I am almost done with my Christmas shopping. I'm normally the one that waits until the last minute to buy presents, so I'm really proud of myself this year. Just two more presents to buy. Of course they are the hardest people to buy for... Ugh...

This weeks book is Where the Crawdads Sing. I've already dove into the covers of this wonderful book and so far its pretty delicious. I can't wait to share it with all of you. What have you been reading lately? Share with me in the comments.

Lets get on to the menu, Enjoy!


Monday- Caramelized-Pineapple Burgers
Tuesday- Pan Roasted Chicken and Gravy
Wednesday- Crispy Beef Gyro 
Thursday- Ginger Soy Marinated Steak 
Friday- French Onion Beef Stroganoff
Saturday- Orange Chicken Stir Fry
Sunday- Leftovers Night

Sunday Confessions # 20

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I've pre scheduled this post due to the holiday so hopefully I've had a wonderful Thanksgiving too. 
My reading has slowed down lately, its just that time of the year and I'm not always able to pick up a book and dive into it. I think I'm down to two or so books a week which is a far cry from the five or six I was getting through just a few weeks ago. That's ok thought. I wanted to read 150 books this year and I did, I wanted to read all the best books of 2018 according to Goodreads, and I'm currently reading the last book, its interesting so far. So, even though I've slowed down, I'm not worried about it.
Well, Lets get to this weeks confessions and see what's been going on around the blogosphere. 

Sunday Confessions # 19~Weekly Menu #327 And The Book Of The Week~Book Review: Wildfire Carrie Mac~Book Review: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaures by Steve Brusatte

Weekly Menu #328 And The Book Of The Week ~November 2019 Wrap Up~Book Review: Leonard by William Shatner~Sunday Confessions # 21


 I'm excited to read all three of these books. Already started Wonder Woman Warbringer because its short and a comic book. Can't wait to review it for you.
My book club Books and Burgers isn't meeting until January, but I've had this book on my currently reading list since October and it's calling my name. 

I've only heard great things about this book. Wonderful things, and I think now is the time to pick it up and just read it. I will probably forget the whole thing before our next meeting at the end of January, but I plan on making good notes and hoping for the best.
You can't turn down a book when it calls to you. You just can't.
Who is with me? Let's read Where the Crawdads Sing and have a wonderful discussion. 

Thanks for stopping by this weeks confessions, they are always fun to write and see what's been happening on the blog and around the blogosphere in the last week. Come back next week for more reviews and books to sink your teeth into.

Book Review: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaures by Steve Brusatte

Title: The Rise and Fall of the DinosaursBy: Steve BrusatteGenre: NonfictionPages: 404Release Date: April 24th, 2018Publisher: William MorrowRating: ★★★☆☆
Summary from Goodreads: The dinosaurs. Sixty-six million years ago, the Earth’s most fearsome creatures vanished. Today they remain one of our planet’s great mysteries. Now The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs reveals their extraordinary, 200-million-year-long story as never before.
In this captivating narrative (enlivened with more than seventy original illustrations and photographs), Steve Brusatte, a young American paleontologist who has emerged as one of the foremost stars of the field—naming fifteen new species and leading groundbreaking scientific studies and fieldwork—masterfully tells the complete, surprising, and new history of the dinosaurs, drawing on cutting-edge science to dramatically bring to life their lost world and illuminate their enigmatic origins, spectacular flourishing, astonishing diversity, cataclysmic extinction, and startling living legacy. Captivating and revelatory, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs is a book for the ages.

Brusatte traces the evolution of dinosaurs from their inauspicious start as small shadow dwellers—themselves the beneficiaries of a mass extinction caused by volcanic eruptions at the beginning of the Triassic period—into the dominant array of species every wide-eyed child memorizes today, T. rex, Triceratops, Brontosaurus, and more. This gifted scientist and writer re-creates the dinosaurs’ peak during the Jurassic and Cretaceous, when thousands of species thrived, and winged and feathered dinosaurs, the prehistoric ancestors of modern birds, emerged. The story continues to the end of the Cretaceous period, when a giant asteroid or comet struck the planet and nearly every dinosaur species (but not all) died out, in the most extraordinary extinction event in earth’s history, one full of lessons for today as we confront a “sixth extinction.”

Brusatte also recalls compelling stories from his globe-trotting expeditions during one of the most exciting eras in dinosaur research—which he calls “a new golden age of discovery”—and offers thrilling accounts of some of the remarkable findings he and his colleagues have made, including primitive human-sized tyrannosaurs; monstrous carnivores even larger than T. rex; and paradigm-shifting feathered raptors from China.

An electrifying scientific history that unearths the dinosaurs’ epic saga, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs will be a definitive and treasured account for decades to come.
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Review: Read this book since it was one of the best of 2018, but it really wasn't my cup of tea. I found it kind of dry and drawn out. I know way more about dinosaurs than I ever wanted to know, but yet, I don't think I retained that much. sigh... I was really hoping to like this one so I had to facts to throw at my autistic son, but that was not the case. 
If you've read this book, what did you think of it? 

Book Review: Wildfire Carrie Mac

Title: WildfireBy: Carrie MacGenre: FictionPages: 272Release Date: January 28th, 2020Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young ReadersRating: ★★★★☆
Summary from Goodreads:  Into the Wild  meets  The Serpent King  in this story about Annie and Pete, two best friends on a dangerous and emotional trek through the woods.
Annie and Pete have been best friends since they were little. They know each other better than anyone, and they've been on more adventures than they can count--they even have a notebook filled with all the times they've almost died. But they always survive, because together, they're invincible.

And they've always been just friends. But lately, Annie has been thinking that maybe friendship is just the beginning, and she's been mentally replaying all the times they were almost something more.

Now they're heading out on their next great quest: a ten-day backpacking trip through the mountains of Washington State, ending at Fire Camp, where they'll learn to fight the area's growing wildfire problem. The woods spark with the promise of adventure, but a freak climbing accident interrupts their progress, and as the wildfires close in and smoke envelops them, Annie and Pete wander farther from the trail. Carrie Mac's gripping story of the power of unrequited love and the danger of the elements is harrowing, beautiful, and unforgettable.
Addon Goodreads

Review: This was an amazingly intense story, filled with pain, hope and love. The main characters decide to go on a camping trip that would change their lives forever. This book was rough to get through, but in a good way. It gave me the feels and kept me guessing as to what was going to happen. The love aspect was almost secondary to the amazing trip they are going on, but it was nice that it didn't overshadow the story as so many authors like to do. 
I have to admit, I cried at the end, but a story that gives me the feels is worth the read. If you are looking for a book to read on a stormy afternoon, cuddle up in a blanket and grab your hot chocolate, this is the story for you. 
Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
This book was set in the state of Washington so if you are needing a book for that state, here you go.

Weekly Menu #327 And The Book Of The Week

Monday! Is it really Monday again?! The boys are on Thanksgiving vacation from school and the holiday season is upon us. I really need to start my Christmas decorating and gift buying. Before I know it, Christmas will be here and I will be panicking.

This weeks book is Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. Its the last book in my 2018 Best of Goodreads Challenge and I'm excited to read it.

Lets get to this weeks menu, enjoy!


Monday- Beef Ramen Stir Fry
Tuesday- Sizzlin' Saigon Steak Bowls


Wednesday- Chicken Gyro Couscous Bowls


Thursday- Thanksgiving!BBQ a TurkeyOven Roast a Turkey 
Friday- Pulled Pork Tacos


Saturday- Caramelized-Pineapple Burgers


Sunday- Leftovers Night