Tangled Vines

I feel like it's safe to say we've all heard of the Murdaugh Family at this point.

I've been following this case since day one. I mean this all happened less than an hour away from where I live. So I have been hardcore invested in this.

 

Tangled Vines does a deep dive into the entire Murdaugh Family. For decades, Murdaugh's ran wild through South Carolina. They literally help create the city and immediately took over the legal system. Every single generation of Murdaugh men have worked within the legal system in some capacity. But for some reason, Alex and his boys decided that meant they ran the city. Buster and Paul could do no wrong. Aside from constantly bailing them out, Alex preyed on families who were already going through some of the worst times of their lives. He saw dollar signs mixing with their tears.

 

I first became invested in this case when I heard about Mallory Beach.

I drive over the bridge where her body was found, regularly for work. Every single time, it reminds me that the Murdaugh's truly got away with everything. Well, almost everything.

 

There's so many conspiracies surrounding this family, that it would be hard to discredit them all. While John Glatt does touch on a handful of theories, he keeps it pretty cut and dry. Overall this was a well written, cohesive book on The Murdaugh Family Murders.

Looking for other books by John Glatt?

The Perfect Father

The Doomsday Mother

The Family Next Door

I Would Leave Me If I Could

I got a little musical bug in my ear the other day and could not stop listening to the album Maniac by Halsey.

I get in the moods where music speaks to me and Halsey's words were like poetry. I listened to the album on repeat for days before deciding I needed to re-read her actually poetry book.

The first time I read I Would Leave Me If I Could, I was in a happy, committed relationship. Since then, I've gotten divorced and experienced the deepest heartbreak I never could have imagined. I knew going into this a second time that I would take away something completely different.

 

It hurt. 

But it felt more like a growing pain.

The anxiety and depression hit me like a ton of bricks but gave me so much hope. It made me realize that heartbreak hits everyone a little differently but we always manage to bounce back. It's okay to be sad. It's okay to ask for help. It's okay to be vulnerable.

Listening to Maniac and reading I Would Love Me If I Could was one of the most therapeutic experiences of my life.

Looking for my original review?

I Would Leave Me If I Could

Sucker

I saw this book and immediately pre-ordered it.

The premise was vague but it sounded a looooooot like Elizabeth Holmes as a vampire. Which hello, that sounds absolutely amazing.

But is that what I got?

I mean.....kind of.

This was the purest form of elitism.

It was set in the Silicon Valley, at a start up company (obviously), with a snotty ass rich kid who opened his own record label with daddy's money. They're barely making ends met, when a woman from Chuck's past shows up to give him the opportunity of a lifetime. Olivia is developing a health and wellness company that could detect all kinds of illnesses with a single drop of blood. And the best part? She wants Charles Grossheart to be her muse.

Olivia Watt's company, Kenosis, is literally just Elizabeth Holmes' Theranos. I'm talking this author put her in the same kind of freaking clothing and everything. It's like this novel wanted to be "Eat the rich!" But just came out more as, I'm an entitled asshole and always will be.

It just really, really did not work for me at all.