Sarah Says

Only I could record this at the end of October but not publish it until middle of November. The October wrap is here though and we have quite a bit to talk about! There’s more advanced copies of books I was sent but they’re all out now so put them on your TBR list - or in the case of one, don’t. Erin Sterling delivered on her sequel The Kiss Curse, and I’m officially caught up on the Bromance series just in time for the Christmas edition! All that and more now!

It’s the beginning of November and you know what that means! All the channels have entered the chat and we’re really into the Christmas movie swing now. We had 11 movies this weekend to watch and Lifetime absolutely came in and stole the weekend with Well Suited for Christmas. Hallmark won Saturday night with the 1-2 punch from both channels Lights, Camera, Christmas and A Maple Valley Christmas, while their Friday and Sunday movies played it safe but okay with A Magical Christmas Village and All Saints Christmas. UpTV did what UpTV does and gave me solid 2 movies in Unperfect Christmas Wish and Christmas Masquerade while not surprising me with a super cute and super cheesy Christmas in the Pines. Jodie Sweetin was back again with Lifetime’s premier of Merry Swissmas which was a solid start for the channel. And then GAC continued to confuse me with some of the worst written movies this season. Guys…are we okay there?? You can reach out. I’m here to help. Find all that plus more laughs now and make sure you’re following along on TikTok and Instagram at SockBunStudios for more adventures.

Week 2 is in the books and Hallmark has their work cut out for them this season. There were 5 movies again this week before the real Christmas movie season kicks off and we had the spectacular Ghosts of Christmas Always, the nostalgic A Cozy Christmas Inn, the downright awful Jolly Good Christmas and Christmas Bedtime Stories, and then the winner of the 8pm Saturday fight over on GAC with Catering Christmas. Hear the whole story finally on how my banner ended up in a Hallmark movie after a 326 day wait, and share some laughs over some truly bad decision making on Hallmark’s side with casting Will Kemp as an American. Catch all that plus more now!

Happy fa la la la holidays everyone! That’s right! It’s officially the start of 2022’s Christmas TV movie wrap-up season! Every week I watch all the made for tv Christmas movies on all the channels and recap them for you here and tell you if you should binge them or if they’re cringe. We had five movies this week to start off the season. Noel Next Door kicked it off for Hallmark and it was just okay to me. We Wish You a Married Christmas was Saturday’s Hallmark movie and it was a Nikki DeLoach movie but instead with Marisol Nichols that had me pulling out my hair by the end. And then Sunday’s A Kismet Chrisfmas made everything better with a cute magical Christmas cookie story lead by Sarah Ramos and Carlo Marks. On Hallmark Movies and Mysteries they set their bar high with We Need a Little Christmas - it was so good and I cried five times. Lastly on GAC Family, the only other network to start in October, Destined at Christmas tried….they just tried a little too hard for me. If you’re going to remake Serendipity at least have one over the top character like Eugene Levy. Find all that plus more now! And follow along on TikTok at Sockbunstudios to find all the movie reviews plus more Christmas talk daily.

Another month down in 2022 - seriously WHERE is this year going? Only one Hallmark movie to review but let’s talk about the trends I’m seeing this year on that channel for a minute. Then it was book review time. I finally got my hands on Kate Bromley’s new book Here For The Drama, which is a semi-follow up to Talk Bookish to Me. I made it through two ARCs that I was sent thanks to Putnam. The Make-Up Test by Jenny Howe was sent to me to review and while it wasn’t my favorite, it was a terrible book either. Never Rescue a Rogue by Virginia Heath I asked for the ARC because I loved her first book in the Merriwell Sisters series and I once again laughed my way through the historical romance. I love this new age of historical romance books that are more closed door romance. I made sure not to make the same mistake twice and immediately grabbed Love On The Brain by Ali Hazelwood and it did not disappoint. I just feel like I’m being science-fished because WHERE ARE THESE MEN?! Lastly, The Dead Romantics by Ashley Piston…it’s my favorite fall read and in a tight race for favorite book of the year. It’s another perfectly written book with no obvious plot holes and I immediately need to see it on a screen. Listen now for that and more!

Happy almost fa la la la holidays everyone! It’s almost the best time of the year and do we have a LOT to talk about. Hallmark, HBO Max, and UpTV have announced their full lineup of Christmas movies while we’re still waiting the full schedule from Lifetime, GAC Family, and Netflix. Safe to say though, there’s going to be a lot of movies to binge this season. I want to personally take a moment and thank whoever it is at Hallmark that’s going to listen to this for sparing us the cringiest series: the Godwink movies, but also why are we recycling plot lines in the name of “diversity”?? Give the people originality! GAC Family, I’m going to need some better organization from you, feel free to reach out because I’m ready to help. And who’s going to win the battle of Christmas movies this year? Lifetime absolutely scooped Hallmark and the rest with a reunion of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman’s Jane Seymour and Joe Lando. One thing I know for certain, this is the year of widows and reigniting old romance on Hallmark - did y’all not look at your slate of movies when you planned it out? Take a listen now to my early predictions on the good, the bad, and the downright awful. Oh, and lastly, GIVE US THE SEQUEL TO HOLIDAY DATE! I’ve been asking patiently for three years now!

I’m really starting to think Thursdays in September 2022 are cursed. First the Queen dies, and then the king of tennis Roger Federer announces his retirement in consecutive Thursday’s. This podcast is dedicated to honoring the range of emotions I experienced during these events because sometimes it’s hard to figure out why something means so much to you or why it’s affected you as deeply as it does. So let’s pour one out for Liz and Rog today.

Two weeks ago I didn’t think I’d even have an august wrap-up but somehow I managed to read five books in the second half of the month and what a wrap up we have! Every Summer After by Carley Fortune was the perfect end of summer read that I finished in under 24-hours, while Jenny Bayliss’ latest book Meet Me Under the Mistletoe, that releases September 27th started getting me in the holiday spirit early. Denise Williams has a cute trilogy of flight-inspired novellas that got me out of my reading slump and it was Lyssa Kay Adams with the third book in her Bromance Book Club series that left me in fits of laughter. Finally, Angie Hockman had a very Ohio-centric new book Dream On that put a fun twist on what happens when you meet your dream man. Let’s get into it!

Who knew one “silly little TikTok” could put me at the front of news articles around the world? Bama Rush is back for “season 2” on TikTok and in order to make sure I didn’t miss a second of it, I made one TikTok wishing the girls good luck so the algorithm gods would send me all the #bamarush videos. But that one video turned into a viral moment that got me talked about in private Facebook groups, Greek Rank, and sent moms to berate commenters on other social media platforms. Now when you google my name and Bama Rush you’ll find a host of articles in different languages telling the tale of how one 34 year old woman in Ohio just wanted to wish girls good luck and got a lot more than I bargained for! So here’s to the spreadsheet heard round the world in 2022.

It’s a true return to Hallmark movie reviews in the July wrap as I managed to watch two of the three new Christmas in July movies. Despite playing the song three times, My Grown Up Christmas List might be the steamiest Hallmark movie I’ve ever seen. Campfire Christmas on the other hand, despite giving me the wonderful idea of throwing a Christmas in July party, was forgettable. Moving onto the books, I only made it through four this month but you need to put them on your TBR lists. The Littlest Library by Poppy Alexander was good, could have been better, but the perfect escape from life with her imagery of the English countryside. You can’t get your hands on A Guide To Being Just Friends by Sophie Sullivan until next January, but if you still don’t have her other Jansen brothers books on your TBR I can’t trust you. Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter officially overtook TATB as the best high school love story and my mind will not be swayed. If I don’t see it on the screen somewhere then a true injustice has happened. Lastly I made it through Undercover Bromance by Alyssa Kay Adams, the second in the series. I didn’t know that I could love a group of men reading romance books more, but this was even better than the first one. Listen now for all the news!