The Escape Room review

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Has anyone ever been stuck in an elevator for more than a few minutes? I would lose my mind! Imagine being stuck in one for an unknown time with a group of people you work with but would stab in the back in a minute to get ahead of.

Welcome to the escape room. Your goal is simple. Get out alive.

In the lucrative world of finance, Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam are at the top of their game. They’ve mastered the art of the deal and celebrate their success in style—but a life of extreme luxury always comes at a cost.

Invited to participate in an escape room challenge as a team-building exercise, the ferociously competitive co-workers crowd into the elevator of a high-rise building, eager to prove themselves. But when the lights go off and the doors stay shut, it quickly becomes clear that this is no ordinary competition: they’re caught in a dangerous game of survival.

Trapped in the dark, the colleagues must put aside their bitter rivalries and work together to solve cryptic clues to break free. But as the game begins to reveal the team’s darkest secrets, they realize there’s a price to be paid for the terrible deeds they committed in their ruthless climb up the corporate ladder. As tempers fray, and the clues turn deadly, they must solve one final chilling puzzle: which one of them will kill in order to survive?

The Escape Room

This book grabbed me right of the hop. If you liked The Wolf of Wall Street, this one is for you. It alternates from the greedy, ruthless, investment banking team stuck in the elevator to the perspective of Sarah Hall, the newest employee of their team.

Sarah’s portrayal of her new career intrigued me from the beginning. For for her interview, she was flown in to stay at a swanky 5-star hotel and her 2-week training class wooed the new trainees with expensive gifts every day. She quickly learned you have to play the game and look the part to succeed in this company.

Meanwhile, as it flashes forward to employees in the elevator, the situation gets crazy. As it heats up and the claustrophobia becomes overwhelming, they start losing their minds and cool as they don’t know why they are there and when they will get out.

I loved the book from the over the top opulence of the lifestyle to the undoing of the characters. I kept thinking this would make a great movie. This is Megan Goldin’s first book and she is going to be an author to watch for.

Tell Me a Secret Book Review

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Samantha Hayes has done it again!

I was up late finishing this one. The book started with a dramatic scene of a young girl seeing something no one should ever see! Flash forward to present life.

Lorna sounds great on paper. She has a handsome husband Mark, a great career as a psychologist, and beautiful children. The trouble is we can make almost anything sound great on paper.

There are flaws behind the surface. Lorna had been involved in an illicit affair, her husband is not all that nice and her kids seem disturbed. Things escalate when her old fling arrives back at her office for therapy–an excuse to see her again.

You really see a woman become unhinged more every day. As we read back through Lorna’a past journals, you really see her spiral out of control. Cue another character named Nikki that clearly has a major issue towards Lorna and a plan to out her secrets.

I really was guessing up to the very end of where the book was going. There was a true WTH moment involving reading back to see what I may have missed. The short chapters and alternating perspective of the characters worked well together to climax a big secret.

This is not my first Samantha Hayes read and will not be my last!

Check out her other novels.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6577129.Samantha_Hayes

Books, Books, and More Books

My all-time life long favorite hobby is reading! I read every single day. As a typical type A, I have a hard time being still. I find reading is the one activity that calms me down. You will see I have my GoodReads account posted on the home page. I keep it pretty current with what I am finishing reading.

My favorite genre is physiological thrillers. My friends make fun of me as I am afraid of scary movies, clowns, ghosts, etc. However, I have no problem with creep stalkers and book murders. Go figure.

I still read many other types of books and have finally accepted that if I am not enjoying a book, it is ok to not finish it and move on. There are waaaaay too many great books out there to force me though one. I think that is where a lot of people go wrong and just assume they do not like to read. When you find the right book for you, I promise you will not want to put it down.

As I usually read about 3 books a week, I am a huge fan of my local library. Did you know that aside from the fun of browsing, most libraries will reserve books per your request and oftentimes order them for you if they are not in stock! For my tablet peeps, most libraries have an electronic check out for your tablets. Very cool.

My favorite books sites are Goodreads–this is where I keep track of the books I want to read and the books I have read and rated. What I like about this site is they will give you recommendations based on your reading habits and book ratings.

Another place I have discovered is Bookish First. This is the neatest site. They feature 1 or 2 news books weekly and give you a first look at the book. You are asked to read and write a short impression of the book. You are awarded points for doing this, which you can redeem for a new book to be mailed to you. Also–every time you do a review, you are entered into a drawing to win the book. I have won 3 times!!! This is also a good way to sample books you may have not been drawn to. I have discovered a few great reads that I would not have picked up.

Lastly, I do have an Instagram page dedicated to nothing but books! Please come by and give it a look. My husband also does little videos of what he thinks the books are about based only on the cover. They can be quite humorous. You can find me at under_thecover.

What are your favorite things about reading? Do you have any suggestions for fellow readers?

Dining room overhaul

I have been wanting a new dining room table for awhile.  Our dark square gathering table for 8 has been great over the years.  However, I found it too dark and I am not a fan of the purple nail polish and scratches all over the table.   The hunt for a new table was on.  I saw some I liked, but add in 8 chairs and it is a pretty penny to replace it all.  As I am an avid Pinterest girl, I started looking at dining room makeovers.  I decided that I could paint the table–no problem.  My issue was with the chairs.  They are bar stool height and one of them is a bench.  The upholstery is built in  and cannot be pulled off to recover.  I bit the bullet and decided to chalk paint them.

I knew this was a project I would need to start while my husband was out of town for a few days as he would NOT be on board with this idea.  I have learned to do now and ask forgiveness later.  But really, what could go wrong with this?

Before I chickened out, I sanded the table with my trusty mouse sander.  That was the point of no return.  I rounded up my daughter and we headed to Home Depot.  I was on the hunt for chalk paint.  I went with Behrs chalk paint.  For the table, I picked a shade of white and for the cushions, I did an Onyx gray.  While we were there we picked up some bright yellow paint for her to redo her room.  Go hard or go home!

I started painting the table white but felt it was missing something–so I added some grey over it.  Then I sanded some off to show white.  I finished it with an antique wax, which is a brownish wax color you apply and then wipe off.  It wound up giving it a really nice driftwood effect.

So onto the chairs.  The wood was pretty easy to paint.  I stuck with the white and just distressed them with my sander to have some of the dark shine through.  Now onto the upholstery–I followed the instructions I saw and sprayed them down with water first.  You also have to dilute your chalk paint.  I did about a 50/50 mix.  I would up applying 3 coats to each chair.  They are still a little mottled in color, but I ran out of paint and was really tired. I like to call it a rustic design.  To finish the project, I did a layer off clear wax over the wood and the upholstery.  I found that ironing the upholstery after the wax sat overnight, softened the chairs some.

After logging about 30 hours into this project, it was done!  I just needed some new curtains and new wall decor.  We found a cool old shutter at a re purposed store and worked around that.  I made a new shelf for the side and a framed sign.  I am so happy with my finished product.

My husband Jose is now a believer in my skills!  He does not love how the cushions of the chairs feel , but agrees it has totally changed the look of our home.

Now, I want to totally redo our bedroom.  I believe he will be out of town again next month……..

 

Weekend Mason Jar Project

I am fairly new to the DIY world, although I have grown up with amazing crafty parents.  Over the years I have dabbled in projects and often get more excited about the supplies than the execution.  Well no more!  I have been getting woodworking lessons from my dad and sewing/craft lessons from my mom and I am ready to play!

I recently redid my dining room by chalk painting the laaaaarge wood table for 8 and painting, yes painting the chairs and upholstered cushions.  We can talk about that more later.  However, I love the finished result and wanted to do something for the table top.

 

I decided to start with mason jars.  There are so many things that can be done with these easy to find jars.  My personal style is a mix off colors and elements, so I went for 3 different types of paints.  They are all spray paints.  One is a chalk paint, one is metallic, and I tried a milk glass finish.

I set up shop in the garage–and gave them a spray.  They all took quite easy, however, I gave them a touch up second coat the next day.  I wanted to give them a little bling so I added gold glitter around the rims.  I used mod podge and shook the glitter over.

 

After it dried, I used the valspar sealing wax over the jars and then over the glitter rim.  I found that when the chalk paint jar rubbed on the other painted glass, it chipped off easy.  The sealing wax will be a good deterrent for any future chips.

So-I now have 3 pretty jars.  I decided they would display nicely in a wooden tray.  Again, I really like mixing elements, so I thought it would look good to day a gold metallic base with a bluish trim.  After measuring and cutting my wood, I started to paint the trim pieces.  I hit a wall with the color–one shade came out way to green and the other shade of blue really clashed.  Not to fear–get yourself a good mouse sander and you can erase away paint when you change your mind.

I went to a trusted gray chalk paint trim and then moved onto the base.  Ughhh–my gold metallic looked like a yellow and did not vibe with the grey.   Sooo–I decided no biggie, that could be the bottom and I will go with a standard wood stain.  That looked fine.

Then I just got crazy and stained over the yellow gold and guess what–I loved it.  I have learned with any kind of project, you have to roll with it.  Don’t get caught up in perfection as the coolest things can come out of what may have been considered a mistake.  Roll with it!  Now that I had a cool base, I added little hints of gold to the trim with a small brush.

Now for the fun part–power tools!!!!!  My husband bought me this Ryobi brad nailer for my birthday and I cannot even explain to you the rush I get from using it!

My tray came together nicely and it is time to put it all together.  I found a pretty bunch of fake flowers from Micheal’s that set off the look.  I am really happy with my new dining room accent.  What do you think?