Audiobook Review: Capture the Sun by Jessie Milhalik

 

📚 Capture the Sun – Jessie Mihalik

🥃🥃🥃 Bourbons

🔥🔥🔥 Heat Level

I love this world. Truly. Jessie Mihalik has built a universe that hits all my sci-fi romance buttons—spaceships, political maneuvering, badass heroines, and rogues with hidden hearts of gold. The series is fun, clever, and richly layered. But if I’m being honest, this installment didn’t quite hit the same as the others.

Part of that is on me. I read the first two books back to back, and I was fully immersed. But by the time this one came around, I’d let too much time pass and most of the plot details from book two had drifted off into the void. The emotional weight just didn’t carry the same punch when I couldn’t remember what everyone was mad about. Totally a me problem, not a Mihalik problem.

Movie Review: Clan of the Cave Bear (1986)

🎬 Movie Review: The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986)

Rating: 🥃
Flames: 🔥

Cold as prehistoric soup

I went into this movie hoping for a nostalgic, if slightly cheesy, adaptation of Jean M. Auel’s The Clan of the Cave Bear. What I got instead was… a mostly silent, confusing, and emotionally flat experience that would’ve completely lost me if I hadn’t read the books.

The biggest issue? No subtitles for the sign language. The Clan communicates almost entirely through hand signals, and while that’s true to the source material, it completely alienates the viewer here. There’s no narration, no explanation, and no way to form a connection with the characters. It’s all grunts, glares, and gestures—with zero emotional weight behind it. I found myself constantly guessing what was happening, and not in a good way.

Audiobook Review: Plains of Passage by Jean Auel

 

📚 Plains of Passage – Jean M. Auel

Earth’s Children, Book Four

🥃🥃🥃 Bourbons |

 🔥🔥 Flames

Ayla and Jondalar are back on the move, trekking across Ice Age Europe with horses, a wolf, and enough gear to start a small civilization. If that sounds like a lot—it is. Plains of Passage is the definition of old-school epic: sweeping landscapes, deeply researched prehistoric culture, and a writing style that insists on telling you every single thing that’s happening, whether it moves the plot forward or not.

This book is detailed to a fault. We don’t just know what Ayla does—we know how, why, what time of day, what herbs she uses, and probably how her grandmother’s cousin once did it, too. It's impressive in its own way, but also exhausting. At times it reads less like a novel and more like a prehistoric field guide with relationship angst.

Review: False Start by Steve Shipley

Series: Blake Willis Thriller #2

Rating: 🥃🥃🥃🥃½

Flame Level: 🔥🔥

Format: eBook

Story Snapshot:

Another whisky heist. A team on shaky ground. Buried secrets rising to the surface. When an ambush leaves Blake Willis reeling, he’ll have to rebuild, recalibrate, and figure out who he can trust before it’s too late.

My Thoughts:

We’re back with Blake Willis, and if you thought things were messy in False Trust, buckle up — it only gets twistier from here. This one kicks off with a literal bang, and Blake is thrown into survival mode fast. The fallout from the last book hits hard, and you can feel it ripple through everything — the mission, the team, even Blake’s judgment.

One of my favorite things about this installment is that it doesn’t shy away from the emotional aftermath. Blake is trying to move forward, but the ghosts of betrayal are still riding shotgun. And honestly? I love a man with trust issues when there's a legit reason for it. It gives him a little extra bite.

Audiobook Review: The Mammoth Hunters by Jean Auel

Series: Earth’s Children #3

Rating: 🥃🥃🥃

Flame Level: 🔥🔥

Format: Audiobook

Story Snapshot:

Ice-Age survival—with mammoth hunts, wolf-taming, and slow-burn romance. A deep dive into prehistoric life that’s more animal bond than modern hookup.

My Thoughts:

I didn’t expect to spend 25 hours of my life wrapped up in mammoth fur, dodging jealous lovers, and emotionally adopting a prehistoric wolf pup… but here we are.

This was a whole Ice Age vibe. Ayla is that girl — competent, strong, bonding with wild animals like she’s auditioning for Animal Planet. But when it comes to men? Whew. Let’s just say she handles a spear better than she handles her feelings for Jondalar. I wanted to shake her a little… then him a lot.

Audiobook Review: The Valley of Horses by Jean Auel

 

Series: Earth’s Children #2

Rating: 🥃🥃🥃

Flame Level: 🔥🔥

Format: Audiobook

Story Snapshot:

Self-sufficient cave girl meets wandering Ice Age himbo. Horses are tamed. Sparks fly. Everything is described in detail — including the body parts.

My Thoughts:

Look, I didn’t come here to fall for a blond prehistoric himbo with trust issues… but here we are.

This one split its time between two lonely hearts and a lot of long, frozen travel sequences. On one hand: Ayla, abandoned, self-sufficient, learning how to hunt like a beast and raise her own dang horses and cave lion. On the other: Jondalar, pouty and pretty, taking the longest route to personal growth I’ve ever read.

Audiobook Review: The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel

Series: Earth’s Children #1

Rating: 🥃🥃🥃

Format: Audiobook

Story Snapshot:

Self-sufficient cave girl defies clan norms in this immersive prehistoric saga — with 1980s vibes.

My Thoughts:

This is where it all begins — reindeer hides, clan drama, and a girl who’s clearly not built for quiet obedience.

Ayla was hard for me to connect to at first. She’s smart, she’s strong, but she feels a little distant — like we’re watching her through a sheet of Ice Age glass. That said, I admired the hell out of her perseverance. She never stopped trying, even when the odds (and the Clan’s traditions) were stacked against her.

Review: False Trust by Steve Shipley

Series: Blake Willis Thriller #1

Rating: 🥃🥃🥃🥃

Flame Level: 🔥🔥

Format: eBook

Story Snapshot:

Rare whisky heist. Missing wife. Corporate betrayal in Australian wine country. If you like your thrillers smooth with a smoky finish, pour yourself a glass and settle in.

My Thoughts:

As a bourbon enthusiast, I was immediately intrigued by the premise of a great whisky heist. I mean, how could I not be? It gave major Pappygate vibes, and honestly, that was my favorite aspect of the entire story.

I loved that we got a little peek into the aging process of whisky, but I was definitely hoping for more nerdy detail — filtering, proofing, barrel to bottle… give me the caramel nectar science! There were also quite a few references to wine, wineries, and Australia. While I can appreciate the vibe, I was left yearning for the warm familiarity of bourbon.