Geek on a Budget: Trying to stick with my Essentials Only Challenge

This morning, I talked myself out of ordering two 9-1-1 Buck and Eddie (Buddie) bookmarks and two mugs: Buck and Eddie and Hen. I wish I'd also found mugs for Hen and Karen, Athena and Bobby and Maddie and Chimney but so far I didn't find any. Both of the bookmarks are so cute but I know I don't need anymore because I have plenty of bookmarks. As well as mugs. But I don't have any 9-1-1 merchandise other than that Preppi 9-1-1 First-aid Kit which I bought a couple of years ago when it was on sale. And since neither FOX (when the show aired on the network) or ABC (where the show now airs) ever released any (or any more in ABC's case) official merchandise, so a lot of fans have created their own stuff. And I've seen so many cute stuff, that I'd like to get.

And not to be forgotten, I also talked myself out of getting a Gilmore Girls Lorelai and Luke mug I saw. Other than the DVDs and a few books (Rory's reading list, cook books, etc.), I also don't have a lot of Gilmore Girls merchandise. But I so want all of the 9-1-1 and Gilmore Girls stuff I found this week. However, since I'm still doing my Essentials Only challenge, none of this stuff is clearly necessities. I just really want them. Overall, I've been really good with this challenge it just when I see fandom stuff is when I really have to talk myself out of buying anything. This challenge has really helped me see that I want a lot of non-essential stuff. There's nothing wrong with buying non-essentials I just don't want to go over my budget which is what I would do if I bought all the stuff I keep finding.

When this challenge ends, I'm going to look over my fandom merchandise section of my budget and see if I need to increase it keep it as it is. Because I do love getting fandom stuff but I'm just going to try to stay on budget. It's funny that I don't have a lot of Gilmore Girls and 9-1-1 stuff, despite them being two of my favorite fandoms.

Photo of the Day: Hudson Williams

This picture of actor Hudson Williams feels like an ad for a luxury chess board set or a poster for a movie about a chess player. Which reminds me that I still haven't watched The Queen's Gambit miniseries. I also want to get the book of the same name by Walter Tevis. Not sure if I want to read the book first then watch the show or vice versa. Anyway, I saw this picture of Hudson and thought it looked like the perfect shot. This is just a really good picture.

Photography: Jake Rosenberg for the 2026 Canadian Screen Awards

Hiatus Watch: Every Year After and Dragon Striker

Happy Wednesday!

In between reading my books this summer, I'm going to try to watching some of the new (and new to me) shows and movies during hiatus. And two new shows that I want to watch are: Every Year After and Dragon Striker.

Every Year After is based on the book Every Summer After by Carly Fortune which up until now I had never heard of. Maybe I'll add it to my list to read later especially if I like the show. Looking at the trailer, the show which premiered today (June 10th) does have that summery feel to it. As it follows two (best?) friends questioning their romantic possibilities. Since, I've never read the book, it will be interesting to see if they do end up together or there's a twist and they don't. I guess friends to lovers is a popular trope for a reason. All episodes of the first season are available to watch on Amazon Prime.

As for the second new show (which premiered June 9th), Dragon Striker, it's an animated series that follows a young boy named Keys who not only attends a school and joins a sports team where he learns he may be the legendary "Dragon Striker". But he will also be fighting against a big evil. This seems like an interesting show and it kind of feels like a cross between Naruto and The Legend of Korra plus with sports. All episodes of the first season are also available to watch on Disney Plus.


Every Year After (Amazon Prime)

Starring: Sadie Soverall, Matt Cornett, Michael Bradway, Abigail Cowen, Aurora Perrineau, Joseph Chiu and more

Creators: Leila Gerstein and Amy Harris

Based On: The book Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

Description:

Two lifelong friends explore the enduring question - what if your first love was destined to be your soulmate? A sweeping romantic tale about love's timeless possibilities.

Currently Read: Body and Soul Food

Happy Saturday!

I took a little reading break before finding the next book I wanted to read. I'm still continuing with my To Be Read List challenge and so far I've been picking books that have been on my shelves for quite some time. Now this mystery book, Body and Soul Food by Abby Collette isn't that old and it's only been sitting on my shelf for almost five years. So that's not too bad. I think the cover art is so cute. I just love all the little details.

Anyway, when I first read the description, I found it interesting because separated twins Keaton and Koby reunite and open up a business of a bookstore that has a soul-food café. While doing that they are also trying to solve a murder. I do wonder why Koby's foster brother was murdered? I guess I'll find out when I read it.

Book: Body and Soul Food (A Books & Biscuits Mystery book #1) by Abby Collette

Description:

In this page-turning new mystery series, fraternal twins Keaton and Koby will pull double duty when they take down a killer while preparing to open their new bookstore and soul-food café, Books & Biscuits.

When Koby Hill and Keaton Rutledge were orphaned at age two, they were separated, but their unbreakable connection lingered. Years later, they reunite and decide to make up for lost time and capitalize on their shared interests by opening up a well-stocked bookstore and cozy soul-food café in the quaint Pacific Northwest town of Timber Lake. But this new chapter of their lives could end on a cliffhanger after Koby's foster brother is found murdered.

The murder, which occurred in public between light-rail stops, seems impossible for the police to solve. But as Keaton and Koby know, two heads are always better than one, especially when it comes to mysteries. With just a week to go before the grand opening of their new café, the twins will use their revitalized connection with each other to make sure this is the killer's final page.

Book of Interest: The Disaster Gay Detective Agency

Happy Friday!

I was reading the description for this comedy mystery book The Disaster Gay Detective Agency by Lev AC Rosen and knew I had to read it. This seems like a fun and interesting mystery because is Jon a murderer? He definitely seems like he's up to something. And Brandon, Nicole, Ollie and Ian are going to try to figure it out. But can they?

I'm going to add this to my list and the next time I go to the bookstore I'm going to get this. I've never read any books from this author, I like finding new or new to me authors and books. Are there any new ones you've found?

Book: The Disaster Gay Detective Agency by Lev AC Rosen

Description:

From award-winning, critically acclaimed crime writer Lev Rosen comes a punchy, hilarious mystery-thriller. Meet the disaster gays: They're messy. They're queer. And they're about to solve a murder… Or die trying.

Brandon is a hopeless romantic. So when a handsome stranger named Jon checks in at the hotel he works at and invites Brandon to his room, Brandon ignores the advice of his crew—a group of loveable and messy queer twenty-somethings—and accepts. What follows is a tale as old as time: they hook up, Jon promises to text, Brandon falls in love, and Jon ghosts. Case closed—or is it?

When Jon checks out early, leaving behind a bag of belongings and his cellphone, Brandon takes the phone and sets out to find him, thinking that this must at last be his Cinderella story.

But he gets more than he bargained for when he witnesses a murder—and sees Jon fleeing the scene.

Determined (and not in over their heads whatsoever), Brandon, Ollie, Nicole, and Ian decide to solve the mystery of the murder and uncover Jon's true identity…they just have to figure it out before a target falls on their own backs.

Book Review: The Gauntlet

Book: The Gauntlet (The Gauntlet book #1) by Karuna Riazi

Cover Illustration by Mehrdad Isvandi
Cover Design by Krista Vossen
Interior Design by Hilary Zarycky

Edition: Hardcover

Description:

A trio of friends from New York City find themselves trapped inside a mechanical board game that they must dismantle in order to save themselves and generations of other children in this action-packed debut that’s a steampunk Jumanji with a Middle Eastern flair.

Nothing can prepare you for The Gauntlet…

It didn’t look dangerous, exactly. When twelve-year-old Farah first laid eyes on the old-fashioned board game, she thought it looked…elegant.

It is made of wood, etched with exquisite images—a palace with domes and turrets, lattice-work windows that cast eerie shadows, a large spider—and at the very center of its cover, in broad letters, is written: The Gauntlet of Blood and Sand.

The Gauntlet is more than a game, though. It is the most ancient, the most dangerous kind of magic. It holds worlds inside worlds. And it takes players as prisoners.

Happy Pride Month!

I want to wish everyone a very Happy Pride Month! Especially to all my Book Girl readers who are celebrating and to anyone in the LGBTQ+ community who may not be able to come out. Whether you are in the closet or out your existence is so valid.

Happy pride month!

Characters Reading: Rosie the Pig (Masha and the Bear)

In the Masha and the Bear episode The Three Mashketeers, the episode begins with Rosie the Pig trying to avoid Masha and her cousin Dasha so she can return books she borrowed from Bear. After returning those books, Bear's assistant and cousin Panda, gave Rosie The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas to read. She was so intrigued by the book that after reading a few pages it had her along with Masha, Dasha and Panda interested in becoming The Three Musketeers or as Masha called them the Mashketeers. They wore Musketeer costumes and helped an injured Bear take a love letter and a present to his girlfriend for her birthday. But it wasn't an easy task because there were in-fights between Masha, Panda and Dasha and an ambush by the wolves and they had to deal with a romantic rival. So they definitely had an interesting adventure.

I still have yet to read The Three Musketeers, I will let this be my motivation to add it to my list. I've seen plenty of the adaptations and hopefully sometime soon I'll read the classic story.

(Masha and the Bear episode: The Three Mashketeers)

Happy Memorial Day!

I hope that while we are all enjoying the holiday that we can all take a moment today to honor all those who have died during battles and wars. I hope that at some point in time, there will be no more wars and that people will treat each other with love, kindness and respect. May this Memorial Day help us all to reflect on the state of the world and how we can make it a better place. Take care everyone.

Happy Memorial Day!

Hiatus Watch: The Boroughs

The Boroughs looks really interesting because what is going on at this retirement community. Are those things attacking them monsters or aliens? Does it have something to do with someone trying to stay young? What's going on? I guess I'll have to watch to get my answers. After watching the trailer, it made me think about the Ben 10 episode Permanent Retirement (season 1 episode 4) when Ben, Gwen and Grandpa Max went to visit Max's sister Vera at a retirement community. It's been a while since I've watched that episode but I do remember it being centered around strange things happening and that aliens were abducting people and replacing them. And it was up to the Tennyson family to save the day.

The first season which premiered yesterday (May 21st) only has eight episodes, so I'll probably start watching it over the weekend. I really want to know what's going to happen.


The Boroughs (Netflix)

Starring: Alfred Molina, Alfre Woodard, Denis O'Hare, Clarke Peters, Bill Pullman, Geena Davis, Jena Malone, Carlos Miranda and more

Creators: Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews

Description:

In a seemingly picturesque retirement community, a group of unlikely heroes must band together to stop an otherworldly threat from stealing the one thing they don't have - time.

Book of Interest: Maya and the Rising Dark

Lately, I've been on a bit of a fantasy kick, I'm currently reading a fantasy, The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi. And the last Book of Interest I posted was a fantasy and I found another one I want to read, Maya and the Rising Dark by Rena Barron. According to the description, it's going to be up to Maya to save the world when the Lord of Shadows is trying to destroy it. This just seems really interesting because it doesn't seem like she knew she was part god which means she's probably going to have to figure how to use any powers she might have while trying to stop the Lord of Shadows.

Book: Maya and the Rising Dark (Maya and the Rising Dark book #1) by Rena Barron

Description:

In this highly anticipated contemporary fantasy, twelve-year-old Maya’s search for her missing father puts her at the center of a battle between our world, the Orishas, and the mysterious and sinister Dark world. Perfect for fans of Aru Shah and the End of Time and The Serpent’s Secret.

Twelve-year-old Maya is the only one in her South Side Chicago neighborhood who witnesses weird occurrences like werehyenas stalking the streets at night and a scary man made of shadows plaguing her dreams. Her friends try to find an explanation—perhaps a ghost uprising or a lunchroom experiment gone awry. But to Maya, it sounds like something from one of Papa’s stories or her favorite comics.

When Papa goes missing, Maya is thrust into a world both strange and familiar as she uncovers the truth. Her father is the guardian of the veil between our world and the Dark—where an army led by the Lord of Shadows, the man from Maya’s nightmares, awaits. Maya herself is a godling, half orisha and half human, and her neighborhood is a safe haven. But now that the veil is failing, the Lord of Shadows is determined to destroy the human world and it’s up to Maya to stop him. She just hopes she can do it in time to attend Comic-Con before summer’s over.

Fandom Friday: Random Fandom Thoughts #53: 9-1-1 and Laufey

Happy Friday, here are two Fandom Thoughts that have been on my mind:

- It's starting to feel like 9-1-1 might be ending because the show is doing that telltale sign of adding in a kid in the later seasons of the show. It's usually to boost ratings and it's very noticeable how they are already overhyping and focusing so much attention on this new kid being added to the show. Because why is the only thing the showrunner and actors have been doing in the press is hyping up the Evan "Buck" Buckley and sperm donor kid Theo's storyline for the upcoming 10th season. Not to mention the social media accounts have been doing the same thing with overly promoting the kid.

This is a show about first responders dealing with various emergencies and the only thing that seemed to be focused on for the 10th season is this kid and Buck fostering him (until he most likely adopts him). Of course, the show isn't all about emergencies because fans love the show because it also focuses on the main characters and telling their stories. However lately, the writers haven't been doing a good job of balancing the stories and some characters are barely getting any screentime or good stories. And with the new kid they are acting as if this is the first kid to be on this show.

Book of Interest: Bromantasy

I was looking at some of the upcoming new releases when I found Bromantasy by Máire Roche. Reading the description makes it sound like an action adventure fantasy romantic comedy, it just feels like it's going to be a fun story. With Juniper who is lazy accidentally getting him and his best friend Mo in a monster hunting quest. But looks like not all is what it seems with this quest. I really can't wait to read this.

Book: Bromantasy by Máire Roche

Publication: May 26, 2026

Description:

Two heroes. One brain cell.

BROMANTASY is a cozy, queer fantasy about the mortifying ordeal of being known by your totally platonic best friend and the epic quest that might force you to confront the truth.

Fellas, is it gay to kiss your bff while on a quest through the forest you’re unqualified for?

Juniper O'Reilly is good at only two things: demolishing a pint of mead and finding the perfect skincare routine. Everything else—taking care of the farm, bartering for goods, any sort of manual labor—falls to Juniper’s best friend, the absurdly capable, endlessly patient Mo Elmthorn.

But when Juniper accidentally volunteers them both for a quest to kill a fearsome monster, he knows he’s finally gotten in over his head. Juniper hates camping, he hates the dark, and there’s no way all these foraged mushrooms are going to sit well in his stomach. One thing he doesn’t hate? How good Mo’s thighs look in his questing pants—he doesn’t have time to think about that, though, with a monster to hunt and their futures on the line.

But monsters come in all shapes and sizes. When Juniper and Mo realize that the terrifying beast they’ve sworn to kill is just a scared little girl torn from her family, they’re off to find not only the true villain of the story, but maybe even a happy ending.