Tag: halloween

Make Market 16×20 Halloween Diamond Paintings

On By Michel McDonaldIn diamond painting, HalloweenLeave a comment
Castle and Owl
Jack-O’-Lanterns
Skeleton Lovers
Regency Skeletons

I just realized that I forgot to post the 16×20 Halloween diamond paintings from Make Market that I made.

So the first one is the Castle and Owl and I made that for myself and then my life partner told me that someone would buy that at the craft fair and that didn’t even occur to me to sell these there, so I ended up buying more because he told me that. I did bring this one with me to the craft fair and nobody wanted it. Every time somebody looked at it, I would tell them that it glowed in the dark and they would say oh that’s awesome, but still nobody wanted it. After the craft fair, one of my Etsy customers bought it as a Christmas gift for a friend of theirs.

So, I posted a video on TikTok about all of the diamond paintings that I bought for Halloween from Michael’s craft store and someone actually told me that she wanted the Jack-O’-Lanterns and so I told her what my price was and she accepted. So I made it and I sent it to her, but I didn’t have one for myself and I originally wanted this for myself and Michael’s had already sold out of this one, so I went to eBay and found one and I actually paid $30 to get it. The one you see in the image above is the one that I made for myself.

I didn’t want to get the skeletons because I wasn’t even sure if I would even hang them because of the morbidity of them being skeletons you know. But of course for Halloween that’s a totally different story, but still, I wasn’t sure I would even hang them in my room. Before I even went to the craft fair, I showed these two skeleton diamond paintings to my neighbor and she actually told me that she wanted to buy the Skeleton Lovers. So I did not bring that one with me to the craft fair. I actually brought the Regency Skeletons with me and nobody wanted it. A couple of people thought it was cool, but not enough to want to buy it. So I did hang it in my room and I actually love it. I actually fell in love with the Skeleton Lovers and wish that I could have bought another one when I had the chance. They actually restocked it on the Michaels website and I bought one, but it didn’t come. They gave me something else instead. Something that I already had, which was really disappointing because I really wanted that one for myself.

I actually have many more Diamond paintings that are in a drawer that I wasn’t able to make before Halloween, but I have a whole year to make them before next Halloween, and I’m very excited to make them. I have all four of the mystery Diamond paintings and I love them all. One of them is flowers and that one is supposed to be for Halloween, but a lot of people think that it was not Halloween related because it’s flowers, but it does look like a Halloween type of flowers to me. Another one is a skeleton in a frame and it kind of looks like the Regency skeleton collections that they had at Michaels for this season. Then there is another one that is a skull sitting on a book and that looks pretty cool. Then the fourth one is actually Jack-O’-Lanterns with a crow. That one is a glow in the dark one and I really look forward to making that one.

And then I have some other ones that are square diamond paintings. I have the Haunted Mansion, the Headless Horseman, Three Ghosts, Spell Book, the Cat with Pumpkin (which is actually round and not square) and the Wondering one which is Alice from Alice in Wonderland.

Haunted Mansion
Headless Horseman
Three Ghosts
Spell Book
Cat with Pumpkin
Wondering

I clearly have a severe case of FOMO 😂. But the reason why is because I discovered that once they sell out of all of these for the season, they will never have them ever again. And I wanted them, so I bought them. I actually have two of the Spell Book and two of the Three Ghosts and the reason why is because I bought another Skeleton Lovers and another Jack-o’-Lanterns and they didn’t come, instead I got these duplicates. But that is okay because somebody on TikTok wants me to sell them the Three Ghosts kit and I also want to make the Spell Book for someone and I also want to keep the other one for myself. So it all worked out in the end.

I remember when I finished buying all of the summer diamond paintings saying I don’t think I will buy any of their Halloween diamond paintings because even though I love Halloween, I don’t love it that much. Well, I bought every diamond painting they had for Halloween lol. I have no regrets.

Make Market Halloween diamond paintings from Michaels craft store

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, diamond paintingLeave a comment

Well, I think I’ve officially lost my mind. After all of the summer Diamond paintings, I thought to myself there’s no way I’m going to buy any of the diamond paintings for Halloween from Make Market at Michaels. I like Halloween, but I’m not sure I want to spend a lot of money on Diamond paintings for them. I didn’t know how awesome they were and I did buy a few, but I limited myself to those few. Then my life partner suggested that the ones that I had already made I could sell at the craft fair and put in my Etsy shop and he said I should buy more of one particular set because they are the 5x7s and he thinks that those will sell because they’re small and they have more to do with the Enchanted Cottage store that we will be selling them at. It’s a mystical shop and they are mystical Diamond paintings, so it only makes sense that I doubled up this particular set.

I had also bought the diamond painting of the Witch Eye, which looks like the witch from The Wizard of Oz, or Wicked, take your pic. I had also bought and made the Red Queen which is an Alice in Wonderland Diamond painting and I thought that those 2 would actually be perfect to sell it at the craft fair. I made the Spooky Mushrooms for myself to go with my 16×20 Mushrooms Diamond painting, but I bought another one because I think someone would like that at the craft fair. Also, I’m bringing my bigger mushroom diamond painting because I think someone would want to buy it there. I want to keep it, but I can always make another one.

So, I had put the celestial kit in my shopping cart on the Michaels website along with some other of the 8×10 framed Diamond paintings like these and I was going to wait for the price to go down a little bit. I wanted them to go down to clearance prices because then I could buy a whole bunch of Diamond paintings, but I had a lot of the 8x10s and some of the 16x20s in my cart and I thought I’m already getting a really good price with the 50% off plus my senior citizen discount. So I think I’ll just go ahead and make the purchase now. Well, then I started working on the 16×20 Diamond painting of the castle and owl which I believe is like a Harry Potter thing. And my life partner said that someone would definitely want to buy that and I said well, I’m making this for myself. Then I got to thinking that he’s right, somebody would probably want to buy that one, so I had to place another order LOL. I actually ended up buying a bunch of Diamond paintings that I actually did not want to buy at all, but I ended up buying them because I was going to get free shipping on my cart over $49. Again, I was waiting for them to go on clearance, but then I noticed there were some that were saying that they are no longer available to ship and I was afraid that if I did not pull the trigger and make my purchase, then half of my cart would probably be unavailable.

So I took the Box images and put them all into one image to show what I actually bought. The first image is all of the 16×20 inch Diamond paintings from both orders. So I have the Castle and Owl as I said, and I bought another one. I only bought one mystery Diamond painting because I was afraid if I bought all four, they would end up sending me duplicates.

This next image shows all of the 8×10 Diamond paintings that have frames and also come with a purple stylus. So, I already have the Red Queen, Witch Eye and Spooky Mushrooms. I figured that somebody would want the mushrooms so I bought another one because I want to keep the one that I have. The one that has the skull and the spiders, somebody that buys buttons from my Etsy Shop actually wants that one, so I’m making it for her. I bought a second Red Queen because I want to keep one for myself.

This next image are of the three boxes that have the 5×7 Diamond paintings. The celestial on the far left is the one that I have and I bought a second one. The one in the middle is the regency set of 5×7 Diamond paintings that I thought somebody would definitely want to buy there. The one on the far right is an Alice in Wonderland themed set. I bought one in each order.

So I mentioned that I wanted to keep the Red Queen for myself so I bought a second one, and then this set that has four 5x7s, I thought somebody would definitely want to buy that at the craft fair, but I wanted to keep one for myself as well. The reason why is because I bought that 16×20 Diamond painting of Alice and I want to keep that for myself, so I wanted to keep all three of those to stay together.

It is worth noting that all of these Diamond paintings have round Diamond drills, except for two of them. The 16×20 one that has the spellbook and the bottles of potions and the 16×20 of Alice in Wonderland both have square diamond drills. Those two are actually sitting together in the image that has all of the 16×20 Diamond painting boxes.

I will definitely be able to finish all of the 8×10 and all of the 5×7 Diamond paintings long before the craft fair comes along, but I am doubtful that I will be able to finish all of the 16×20 Halloween diamond paintings before the craft fair. I’m almost finished with Castle and Owl, so I know that will be ready, and I’m fairly certain that I will probably be able to make two or maybe three of the other 16×20 ones. I’m definitely not going to be able to do them all. I think the ones that I will make for the craft fair will be the ones that I do not feel strongly about keeping. Any of the diamond paintings that I have already made that I bought a second one for will be on hold until after the craft fair to see if anybody buys them or not. If nobody wants them, then I won’t have to make them again for myself. There is no reason to waste any of my time making the second one for myself if I end up keeping them.

This is a lot of work, but I know I can handle it because I can make one of the 8x10s in one day, and I will have plenty of time to finish all of those long before I need them. Because I will be working on all of these Diamond paintings, I won’t really have time to make anything else for the craft fair. I do want to make some Halloween buttons because you can’t go to a craft fair in October and not bring Halloween buttons. Those I could do in a couple of hours.

Some of the other Diamond paintings that I made for myself will be coming with me to the craft fair because those are not seasonal which means I can buy the kit again to make the diamond painting again. All of the Halloween Diamond paintings are going to literally be discontinued when they no longer have any to sell. They do this every year apparently, so every Diamond painting that you see here will not be there next year. They might have another version of some of them, but they won’t be the same ones. I saw some images from last year and one of them was a 16×20 of the skeleton lovers and they looked completely different from the one for this year. They also had a 16×20 Diamond painting of the witch from Wicked and I really wish that I had gotten that one.

Of course, I will also be adding whatever I will be bringing with me to the craft fair to my Etsy shop because if somebody doesn’t buy something at the craft fair, they can get it from my Etsy shop to be mailed to them. So it doesn’t matter where someone buys them, I just hope someone buys them.

I really do enjoy doing this craft, but I am worried about the amount of money I’ve spent already to buy this massive amount of Diamond paintings that I have no guarantee anybody will want to buy. But that’s the gamble that you take when you buy craft items to make to sell at a craft fair or on Etsy. Everything is a gamble, and it doesn’t matter what it is.

Update October 7, 2025: I thought I updated this but apparently I did not. I bought this for myself and then my life partner suggested I sell it at the craft fair, so then I bought another one for myself which I will make after the craft faire after all of the other Diamond paintings that I need to make as gifts for people. I may get this finished for myself before the end of this year, or I may have to wait until January, but I will make it for myself and it will hang in my bedroom all year long and not just on Halloween.

Halloween Allergy Free Candy

On By Michel McDonaldIn HalloweenLeave a comment

halloween candy sign
Halloween is a fun time of year for children and adults alike. It’s the time when you can role play and be someone you are not. It’s fun, yes? I think so.

It’s not fun when a child comes home from a long night of door-to-door begging for candy (let’s call a spade a spade), only to find out they can’t eat 3/4 of the candy they collected because they have food allergies. And yes, food allergies are real. I am lactose intolerant which means no milk chocolate. I won’t die, I’ll just fart until no one wants to be around me, even me. Oh and it causes stomach cramps. Have you seen what happens to children with peanut allergies? Imagine having to tell your child that all their efforts were for nothing, because if they eat the candy they collected, they might die.

At first when I saw this sign on the Today Show website, I was like most people who probably think this is just too much PC bullcrap being shoved down people’s throats. But then I started thinking about how legit the allergies really are, and I put myself in my little 2 to 10 year old shoes and thought how I would have felt all those years ago if I were told I couldn’t eat any of the candy. I would have been devastated. So instead of thinking about how PC this sign is and start thinking how the children might feel. Also, that candy that you spent a lot of money is just going to go into the trash, so you’ve wasted money on candy that will never be eaten.

Now, I don’t agree with everything on the list, like come on, carrots? Raisins? Really? No child wants dried fruit or vegetables. I mean come on people. And if you hand out apples or oranges to kids, their parents are just going to throw them in the trash, and you have a huge chance of your house being decorated with toilet paper.

There are a few things on the list that I used to love to get as a child, and that is Necco Wafers, Smarties, Life Savers and Lemon Drops. And if you really want to hand out chocolate candy with or without peanuts, why not do both? Why not put a sign on the door saying you have dairy free, peanut free, and gluten free candy as well as regular candy? That way the parents of children with allergies will know which house to go to, and they can tell you that their child has the food allergies so they know which bowl of candy to grab. It’s not that difficult.

I did the Today Show Halloween Candy Poll and was shocked by the lack of empathy of Today Show viewers and website readers.

Today Show Halloween Candy PollIt never occurred to me before reading this article that there might be a child out there with food allergies. I know there are children out there who were born diabetic, so I am sure those parents don’t even introduce them to Halloween because the candy could literally kill them if they ate too much sugar. Or maybe those parents bring their child to a Halloween party where they know the candy is sugar free.

Hey, speaking of a Halloween party, why couldn’t the parents who have children with food allergies just throw a kick ass haunted house and Halloween party with allergy free candy that all children could enjoy? This way the kids can still go home with a bag full of candy that they can eat, and they will have a fun memory of the party they went to. I seem to recall going to a Halloween party or two as a child where I never even went home with a bag full of candy. I remember bobbing for apples and playing games, and it was fun. I think this is the ultimate solution to this problem. Don’t you?

Halloween Whopper Discontinued???

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

bk-halloween-whopper5b25dWe went to Burger King a few days ago and they had a sign on the door saying they were out of the black buns for the Halloween Whopper. They told us they would get more buns that evening, but of course we didn’t go back. Today we went back to the doctor’s office to get my blood drawn, and decided we’d try again for the Halloween Whopper. They had a new sign on the same door saying the Halloween Whopper was discontinued.

WHAT? DISCONTINUED? Ok, that’s a bit dramatic lol.

We went in and I asked the woman at the register what the delio was. She told me that they only allowed 1 pallet of buns per delivery, and they only get their delivery twice a week. How can they possibly expect to sell any Halloween Whoppers with only 2 pallet of buns per week? I would imagine that if Burger King spent, and this is just a wild guess, millions of dollars in advertising, that they would have enough black buns for every Burger King per delivery. How is it possible that they could run a million dollar promotion, and not have enough product? It just seems like a bad business practice.

I heard about the buns causing people to have green poop anyway. Just think of it as green slime, like you know, from Ghostbusters. Slimer has invaded your stomach and is causing you to poop green lol. I’m sure it’s from whatever dye they put in the buns. I’m not sure the A1 would cause green poop, but then again I hardly ever eat A1. I haven’t actually had it since I was a child because it’s nasty.

My partner decided since they didn’t have the Halloween Whopper that he would have a Big Fish sandwich. I decided that I wanted a Whopper since the Big Fish from the other day left a brick in my stomach. The regular Whopper was awesome, so I didn’t really miss the black bun aka green poop.

After that I went straight to the gym. If I’m going to eat unhealthy food, I have to burn off the calories.

Weight Gain

On By Michel McDonaldIn Cycling, Diet, Food, Noom, Pain, WeightLeave a comment

WeightGain

We went to the doctor’s office today so I could get my clearance note for surgery to remove my parotid gland.  They had me step on the scale and I was shocked to see that I was 205lbs.  So yeah, I’m a bit verklempt lol.

One of my issues with exercising is that when I walk or ride my bike or do anything that burns calories, the Noom app tells me that I can eat more calories, so I end up eating those extra calories, but then I might even go over those extra calories because I think to myself that I did such a good job that it’s okay.  Well, that’s not how it works.  I should still stick with 1400 calories, 1500 at the most.  Even if it says I can eat 1700, I should draw the line in the sand at 1500.

I’ve been using the Noom app for my cardio, but I decided to download the Noom Cardio Trainer.  I’m sure that it will still show the extra calories in the Noom app, but I just want to see how it goes with the Noom Cardio Trainer.

I’ve been eating those Quinoa and Tofu burgers every day with hamburger buns which is not a good idea; I should be eating them without any bread.  Here is my typical day:

Every morning I will either have a bowl of Malt-O-Meal or a banana for breakfast, which by the way the Malt-O-Meal is a green food (which means healthy) and the banana is obviously a green food.  For my morning snack (second breakfast?) I usually have a banana.  For lunch I normally eat a Weight Watchers Smart Ones frozen dinner, although I’ve been eating the Quinoa and Tofu burgers, both by the way are green, except for the bun of course.  Afternoon snack (linner?) is typically a banana or crackers or sometimes I will have a bowl of broccoli.  That has been consistent.  Dinner is typically a Weight Watchers Smart Ones, but I’ve been eating the Quinoa and Tofu Burgers.  For evening snack I’ve been eating a lot of crackers.  I need to stop doing that, but I get so hungry that it feels like I’m famished.

I’m assuming that my issue here is the bread and the crackers.  I also have to admit that I’ve been eating candy corn, but not daily.  I’m guessing that the amount that I’ve eaten so far is finally catching up to me, so I will stop eating them for the rest of the season.  If I am having this much difficulty from the candy corn, just imagine how it’s going to be when Eggnog is available in stores.  I’m going to go crazy because I just LOVE eggnog lol.

So getting back to the Noom cardio trainer, I have set up 5 days a week to go riding on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.  I’m going to go out 5 days a week to do at least 11 miles per day, if I can do more, then great, but I’m not going to push myself that hard.  The app suggests 5 days a week, so I’m giving myself 2 days off, but not 2 consecutive days which is why I chose Sundays and Wednesdays as my days off.

balance ballI am also going to buy that Gaiam Total Body Balance Ball Kit which is sold on Amazon for $20.  It has an exercise DVD with it which I can watch while doing the exercises in my bedroom.  The doctor at Physical Therapy told me I should buy one so I can do exercises for my back since I only have 3 more sessions left.  My insurance only pays for so many sessions, then I’m on my own.  My back isn’t in as much pain as it was, but anyone who has, or anyone who knows anyone with scoliosis knows that the pain is really bad.  The only thing that really helps my pain is the exercises.  Pain meds don’t do anything for my back pain, they help my parotid gland pain, but not my back pain.  $20 is a small price to pay for pain relief.  I wanted to buy one at Target, but they were the same price, but without the DVD.

I really hope I can get back down to my comfortable weight of 192lbs and possibly get back on track with my weight loss so I can get down to my ultimate goal of 170lbs.  Considering I lost 70lbs this year, 35lbs shouldn’t be that difficult to lose, although it’s harder than I thought.

So to recap, my goal is to stay away from Halloween Candy and any other holiday sweets, bread and to exercise more and to try not to eat more than 1500 calories per day, even when the app says I can eat more.

Ready… set…  GO!

Avon Sugar Cookie Dough

On By Michel McDonaldIn AVON, Diet, FoodLeave a comment

My cousin Tabitha Vavrick sells AVON on the internet and in September I bought these Halloween cookie cutters.  They were very inexpensive and I love cookies, so I bought them.  I posted on Facebook that I was going to make them with Sweet N Low instead of sugar because of my blood sugar issue, but people warned me against it and told me to use Splenda instead, but I can’t use Splenda because it gives me the worst stomach cramps.  They told me to use Stevia and that it turns out gives me something I won’t discuss here since we are talking about food lol.

I decided that I would just go ahead and use sugar despite my problem with being a diabetic, but those same people warned me against using the recipe that came with the cookie cutters.  I don’t know why I let people talk me into alternative things.  They told me to find the Paula Deen sugar cookie recipe, which I did and I made and the cookies were awful.  I mixed all of the ingredients right and they just didn’t taste very good.

That was a month ago and a few days ago I wanted to try it again, but this time using the recipe that came with the cookie cutters.  I did it, and it was wonderful.  I don’t mean to give any secrets away by posting this recipe card, but they sell other cookie cutters that don’t even come with a recipe (their 3D Christmas Tree cookie cutters) so I figured that if someone bought that, they would want a good recipe, and this one is the best.

I have had sugar cookies my entire life and they don’t taste like this recipe, probably because the recipe that the professionals use has sugar on top of the cookies and these don’t.  That makes the cookies sweeter, these don’t need that extra sweetness because they are awesome on their own.

You could decorate them if you wanted to, but that would just add more sugar to it and I’ve tried coloring cookies before, it’s not good lol.  The cookies taste awesome alone without any extra sugar on top.

If you wanted to buy some of these or other cookie cutters, buy them from my cousin Tabitha Vavrick.  They have some great prices on a lot of their products.

I can’t wait for December so I can make the 3D Christmas Tree Cookies with this recipe.

My New Website

On By Michel McDonaldIn Web DesignLeave a comment

new website home

My website has been under construction for quite some time now.  I’ve been trying to think of something interesting to do with it.  My problem was, I had so much crap in my old website that I felt overwhelmed.  It’s kind of like I had a hoarding problem, but I was hoarding old images and old information that is no longer relevant.  I decided the best thing I could do was to back everything up on my computer, then delete it all on the website and start from scratch, and this is the result.

The index page is just an image that says welcome to the page, I didn’t take a screenshot because it’s a temporary image.  I will have to work on that page some more.  The home page is like a Windows desktop with icons and wallpaper.  I wanted to make it so that no matter what screen resolution you are using, you could see the full image and it will resize when you resize the browser.  It’s also stationary so when you are scrolling through a page, the wallpaper is always there.  Although the icons on the home page don’t go down that far that you need to scroll if you are using Google Chrome with a resolution of 1280×768 if you have a widescreen monitor, and 1024×768 if you don’t.  Of course the wallpaper is 1280×768 so if you don’t have a widescreen monitor, the wallpaper is squished lol.

Right now (in October) there is a picture of 2 pumpkins for Halloween, but I will change it for each holiday.  I figured it would be easier to use a desktop image for the home page than to have to keep changing the theme for the whole site every holiday.  When I was using FrontPage themes, I would have to change the theme, and then go to each individual page and adjust things.  Sometimes it could take hours or days, so this is just one page I have to change the wallpaper on.

new website eqWhen you click one of the icons on the home page, you will get a page that looks like this.  I decided that I wanted to emulate the Facebook Timeline idea, but with a thinner banner and a 256×256 icon which is the same one you see on the “desktop.”  The game pages (EQ, EQ2, LOTRO and DCUO) all look the same where you see a 256×256 icon of all of my characters images with a bio.  I also thought it would make them more interesting if I gave them a story.  I haven’t finished them all, but I’m working on it.

I don’t really have to have all of this information out there, but it’s fun.  Even if nobody ever looks at it, it’s still something that makes me happy.

I haven’t quite figured out what I want to do with the crafts page, whether I want to add patterns or just images of the things I have made in the past, or both.  I am still waiting for inspiration.  My Holiday page is still empty, but I am working on that.  I made the icon with 4 holidays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, but I mean what information could I possibly have for anything but Halloween?  All I have are my pumpkin pictures, so perhaps I will change that to a Halloween only page.

Update, I made the change already.

I would love to get some feedback, so please tell me if you like it or hate it and why.

Halloween Pumpkins 2011

On By Michel McDonaldIn HalloweenLeave a comment

We made our decision last night on which pumpkins I was going to carve today.  Wicked Witch of the West and Frankenstein.

I haven’t carved a pumpkin since 2007 and I’m glad I could finally add 2 more to my album.

By the way, I bought these 2 patterns at the Zombie Pumpkins website.

Writing Books

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books2 Comments

I started writing my autobiography again on my netbook using SoopBook.  I was using just a regular word processor before but it seems easier using SoopBook since it uses the WordPress blogging platform that I use to write my blog with.  It’s easier to do it when I’m using something that I am familiar with.

I have 3 1/2 chapters written down so far.  It has been a little taxing on my emotions having to go through each and every memory.  What is even more difficult is having to remember when each memory happened.  So many things happened and it was so many years ago that sometimes the memories just bleed into each other and I can’t remember which event happened first and second and even in which month or year.  I am doing my best to remember but these things take a lot of time to write.

I have sort of veered off to another book that I wanted to write.  I figured that if I’m going to have an autobiography, I should probably be known as a writer first.  So I am writing a short story about an Indigo Child named Henry who has a premonition about something that will greatly impact his life and he has to stop it from happening before he loses everyone he loves.  It’s not going to be a huge novel, think of it as a half hour episode of the Twilight Zone.

I wrote the first chapter today and I have many more ideas for the second chapter in my head but I will have to get to it tomorrow.  It’s really a heart breaking story and every time I think about what I’m going to write I start to cry because I know how it will end lol.

I don’t even know where this story came from, it just popped into my head out of nowhere.  I was trying to read a book and I just couldn’t focus on what I was reading because I had this big story churning in my brain and I was just thinking, how can I be reading this book when I need to be writing this amazing story about this amazing little Indigo Child?

It’s going to be a Halloween story so I hope to be finished with it before or on October 1st 2011.  It will be my first ever story that I have ever thought of so be easy on me when you criticize me because I’ve never written a story before.  Of course when I have it published I will link the ebook in my blog so all 5 of my readers can get first dibs lol.

I’m hoping that this little short story will get bigger and end up being a novel instead of a short story but we will have to see how many twists and turns my brain can think of.  I am giving it a title that will be open to a second book, maybe even more, who knows.  We will see.

Cirque Du Freak eBooks

On By Michel McDonaldIn Books, eBook, Kindle, Nook1 Comment

I started reading the Darren Shan “Cirque Du Freak” books late last year on Halloween.  I figured it was time to start a new series of books and since it was Halloween, I wanted it to be some type of horror book and I remembered the Vampire’s Assistant started out as a book so I figured it would be a good read.

The ebooks were only a couple bucks and I figured it would be a very good purchase.  I didn’t read them all right away, I read the first 3 then stopped to pursue other books.  But last month I decided that I wanted to finish them once and for all.

These books are small so it doesn’t take more than a day to read them, less for everyone else who doesn’t have dyslexia.  So it usually takes me 2 days at a couple of hours each day to read them.

The first book was very similar to the movie but with a lot more detail.  At first I thought the movie was all 12 books rolled into a movie but after the first book I realized it wasn’t the case because decades have passed in the book where only maybe months have passed in the movie.  But the movie also didn’t get to the war of the scars either and with Darren and Mr. Crepsley leaving the Cirque at the end of the movie, or rather the next day when Darren has had his rest, it leaves it open for more story which I doubt they will ever tell in movie format.

The books were very good to read and since I had most of the characters in my head from watching the movie I was able to visualize most of them for when I read the books.

I hate giving away plots or story lines because I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone but if you do get a chance to read these please do.

I said the books were a couple bucks, well, unfortunately they raised the price.  eBooks are now $7.99 each but you can buy the actual books in a set for only $35 on Amazon.  That’s only a couple bucks per book and it is so worth it.  I don’t know if $8 is worth it since they are so small though.  I’m just glad I bought the whole series when I did lol.

If you weren’t aware of the story, here is a synopsis from the Cirque du Freak Wiki:

The Vampire’s Assistant is a fantasy-adventure based on the first three books of the series, The Saga of Darren Shan, by author Darren Shan about a teenager who unknowingly breaks a 200-year-old truce between two warring factions of vampires. Pulled into a fantastic life of misunderstood sideshow freaks and grotesque creatures of the night, one teen will vanish from the safety of a boring existence and fulfill his destiny in a place drawn from nightmares.

16-year-old Darren was like most kids in his suburban neighborhood. He hung out with his best friend Steve, got decent grades, and usually stayed out of trouble. But when he and Steve stumble upon a traveling freak show, things begin to change inside Darren. That’s the exact moment when a vampire named Larten Crepsley turns him into something bloodthirsty.

Newly undead, he joins the Cirque du Freak, a touring sideshow filled with monstrous creatures from a snakeboy and a Wolf Man to a bearded lady and a gigantic ringmaster. As Darren flexes his newfound powers in this dark world, he becomes a treasured pawn between the vampires and their deadlier counterparts. And while trying to survive, one boy will struggle to keep their brewing war from devouring what’s left of his humanity.

There is a lot more about the story than in this synopsis but you can find out about it by reading the books.  This synopsis says the movie is based on the first 3 books but that isn’t exactly the truth because so much happens in the 2nd and 3rd book that you never even see in the movie.  If I were you I would just get the books and find out for yourself.  I double dare you.