photo via Netflix

Theodora 'Theo' Crain is one of the five children that grew up in Hill House, the home which has recently taken the paranormal horror world by storm, as well as Netflix. Based on the Shirley Jackson's classic novel, this updated version came out in a ten episode show was released right before Halloween on October 12, 2018. The perfect show for anyone who has had a fascination with the haunted house trope and doesn't mind a little scare, The Haunting of Hill House has been a hit, creating tension with family drama. The show has been on the top of everyone's to-watch list, but one thing that I can't stop talking about is Theo's gorgeous assortment of seemingly vintage inspired gloves that graced my laptop screen while binge-watching in a matter or three days.

And as someone with perpetually cold hands, I am thrilled by this new style possibility.

Theo's character within the show is played by Kate Siegel and Mckenna Grace, both who manage to rock the glove look from classic over the elbow black look to the very first pair of what I imaged to be 1920s to 1940s vintage that hung over the wrists of Mckenna Grace (also known for her roles in Gifted and I,Tonya) after being given them to ward of Theo's "sensitive" tendencies. They do to add a little something extra to her single horrified scream within Hill House, as well as tie together the past and present looks that takes place within the house.

via Netflix

via Netflix/Tumblr

From my first look at the show, right away we see the equestrian style leather that covers Kate Siegal's hands, and I knew that I would be in love with the classic Burberry meets Victorian wannabee vibe the entire show evokes even if my own closet is not quite there yet.

However, according to Syfy writer, Emma Fraser in interview with Hill House costume designer, Lynn Falconer, the gloves were not the major concern when dressing Theo's character to make the most impact. "This isn’t a style statement — even though she looks cool af on a night out in long gloves paired with a bralette, jeans and dangling suspenders. 'Her whole body is sensitive, but she is also looking for a connection,' noted Falconer about the clubbing ensemble we initially see this character in. The outfit came first, followed by the specific gloves to work with the sleeve length as longer gloves will cause hem issues with a long sleeve turtleneck."

via Netflix

The costumes have also been known throughout the show to create an element of foreshadowing among the characters from the robes to the everyday incorporation of the color red.

While I debate a re-watch to see all the mystery filled outfits I missed while waiting for the next scare to happen, I will also just be over here on Etsy trying to determine how to measure my hands for the next great pair of gloves to take me through the winter season and beyond, even if Theo wore them for more supernatural reasons.

If you are with me in bringing back the classy glove look, or just have a slight obsession with all things related to Hill House which keeps you up late at night watching conspiracy theories on YouTube, be sure to also check out the brands like Portolano or Shaneen Huxam which were used by Falconer in the show.

In the glittering hotbed of turn-of-the-twentieth-century Vienna, one woman’s life would define and defy an era 

Gustav Klimt gave Alma her first kiss. Gustav Mahler fell in love with her at first sight and proposed only a few weeks later. Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius abandoned all reason to pursue her. Poet and novelist Franz Werfel described her as “one of the very few magical women that exist.” But who was this woman who brought these most eminent of men to their knees? In Ecstasy, Mary Sharratt finally gives one of the most controversial and complex women of her time the center stage. 

Coming of age in the midst of a creative and cultural whirlwind, young, beautiful Alma Schindler yearns to make her mark as a composer. A brand-new era of possibility for women is dawning and she is determined to make the most of it. But Alma loses her heart to the great composer Gustav Mahler, nearly twenty years her senior. He demands that she give up her music as a condition for their marriage. Torn by her love and in awe of his genius, how will she remain true to herself and her artistic passion?

Part cautionary tale, part triumph of the feminist spirit, Ecstasy reveals the true Alma Mahler: composer, author, daughter, sister, mother, wife, lover, and muse.

Out of the two new books I purchased, Ecstasy was the first I picked up to read in my final week before Thanksgiving break. I started and easily fell into the classic feel of the early 1900s where Alma Schindler Mahler, a real famous composer, takes on a fictionalized life of her own with plenty of love and frustration as she comes to terms with who she and her dreams must be in the eyes of others in her life.

It was heartbreaking to a fellow artist I think more than anything. To live a good life, Alma fought with whether she should or shouldn't be the person to give up her dream of music to support her husbands.

"What if there are no good women or bad women? she asked herself. What if pure and impure, faithful and loose, madonna and whore were simply poisons used to reduce a healthy woman to a gibbering, nerve-sick wreck? Men make the rules and we break them so we don't go mad."

Of course, when someone gives up their dreams, there comes conflict and more than anything for Alma as she comes of age and into life which is told in a beautiful flurry of narrative events filled with art and music. It all makes me wonder how I have never heard of Sharratt's writing before. The compelling nature each page kept me going whole-heartedly through the hardship and struggle that I could oddly relate with in the sense of ear of making something worth while in life at another expense.

And though beautiful inside and out, I will not lie to you about everything in this novel. At times I couldn't help myself but want to scream at Alma though I knew it was a different time. She went into a terrible relationship getting the raw end of the deal. This issue I had almost overtook me at times, wondering what Alma was thinking and if it would ever get better as I read on, taking breaks when I needed to let irritation also have a break.

“Let’s raise our glasses to Alma Maria Schindler, Fran Zuckerandl said, who has turned the rest of us poor women emerald with envy. Not only is she the most beautiful girl in Vienna, and that’s quite bad enough, she’s also a brilliant pianist. That’s infuriating. But on top of it all, she composes!”

Overall, I felt like reading Ecstasy was the most well versed biography I have ever opened and quickly finished.

The historical detail is luxurious and transported be throughout into the world of places like Vienna and New York. Both of which I now have an extreme need to visit again or for the first time. Alma's romance and awakening into the world of artists of any form is definitely a story that more need to know when told in Sharrat's mind. Who would have thought I never knew who this passionate Alma was before coming across a version of her story on a modern day bookshelf?

Mary Sharratt is truly making her goal of writing women back into history worth while in this bittersweet novel of Ecstasy.




Mary Sharratt is an American writer who lives with her Belgian husband in the Pendle region of Lancashire, England, the setting for her acclaimed 2010 novel, DAUGHTERS OF THE WITCHING HILL, which recasts the Pendle Witches of 1612 in their historical context as cunning folk and healers.

Mary writes regular articles for Historical Novels Review and Solander on the theme of writing women back into history. When she isn't writing, she's usually riding her spirited Welsh mare through the Lancashire countryside.

It has been about a year since I began my one and only serious relationship. Around this time, I have also began to find myself in my head late alone at night reminiscing. Or worse, I find myself reminiscing with someone while they internally roll their eyes at my lack of faith that anyone will every even like me again for more than my vagina (which is a much easier task to manage). The same friend who rolls her eyes with me now, it is good to know, has also been through most of the ex-relationship as a whole. So, it was easy for her to remind me that he was sort of an asshole. “Yes,” I completely agree with her. But, does that make it wrong to miss him?

Like most things that come to an end in life, I am pretty sure that there is a grace period after where you are aloud to reminisce, increasing by the time and relative emotional gravity whatever event took place.I still like to reminisce about pizza when I was about four and the silence seemed as big as my face. I still tell stories of my eight year exploration into gymnastics before someone finally told me that I was too much of a wuss to actually make anything of it.

Maybe though, this is sort of the same situation as I lie in bed and think about all the nights where I braved the half mile walk to his place to watch a strange assortment Netflix before falling asleep against his surprisingly warm chest instead of reaching towards an empty space that made me think something no college living student should ever think, maybe my twin xl mattress is too big for one person. Or at least a person who doesn’t have a full heart back yet. Maybe someone needs to stand up and tell me to stop being a wuss and finally get over my ex since I am making a bad case for women not being able to get over the guys they’ve slept with. He ain't coming back even if he still texts you dog gifs throughout the week, which is both nice and also worrying. Yet, then again, what is the harm in remembering? And...slightly wishing to return back to those moments if only for a second.

You know, until the possibility of love is back in the air and I even know it is better to lock up the ex for good.

The main worry I am sure about this is the fear of not being able to fully move on. The question that, if I am constantly reminiscing, am I living still in the past, wondering if I will ever find another average slice of pizza to be as big as my face again? But here comes the charity. It was supposed to happen. An ex at some point or another is supposed to be an ex. Eventually, I got big enough that I could get two slices with extra cheese. We can’t go back and expect that all the reminiscing about the good stuff doesn’t also come with all the messy not so good bits that make me think of him and agree with my friend without a doubt. “Asshole.”

But mine, if only for a time.

So what does everyone else think? Is it bad to reminisce about your ex? Yourself with your ex? Exs?

I needed a YA novel in my life and I picked up this one. Or rather I was given this one late one night while at a birthday party. When it was nearly time to go home, my friend shoved it into my arms along with book of short stories. If there is any way to be very tired and slightly inebriated, it is to be so around book loving friends.

So here we are. Here I am after I read Scythe. The first in a duology I believe by Neal Shusterman who also wrote the well known YA series Unwind.


Thou shalt kill.

A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.

Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.

I expected a lot from this book. In the past year I feel like I have seen it everywhere. To me this had to be the next sort of big thing in the realm of dystopian YA novels. I was pumped going into the story and the entire concept the story held of people being chosen as death to a world where humans can never really die.

I expected badass characters and action plot lines that would make me want to read and read and read until I hit the last page. Unfortunately though, my expectations might have been a bit too high as they were not met.

Though the badassery was there in moments of when we were trying to pick a villain within the book, they didn't feel quite grounded for me to even care about the outcome. I was more trying to make sure I finished the book and see what happened rather than enjoy it even though I am usually a sucker for books where the protagonists are randomly taken from their normal lives to "save the world" or at least something to that effect.

“Hope in the shadow of fear is the world's most powerful motivator.”

And when that didn't happen, I was at least hoping for some fantastic characters that I could find myself really getting into and going on this slightly played out adventure with. But alas, instead of strong companionship between the characters that in the first pages seemed to have so much in common with each other, a romance was attempted even though the two characters did not even talk to one another to an extend throughout the entire novel which spanned months.

I love romance in all books, and if it was played out right, I have a feeling I would have really loved it in this one two. Instead all I felt was confusion and myself rooting less and less for these characters to even see each other again, let alone get together and live happily ever after under the immortal earth's sky.

I have a lot to say I feel negatively about Scythe, but I will not say that I didn't like it. Though the story did not immerse me and make me happy to be reading it, it was an overall ok and pleasant read that didn't frustrate me to the point of no end. I think the problem was that the tone of this book lost its mark without the necessary tension, and the pace felt very slow with not much happening that wasn't already outside of our main character's hands.

I am a character driven girl, and sadly these characters of Cita and Rowan all in all did not make me want to keep reading on to the second book, Thunderhead.