From Not to Hot, Mama June is BACK

Let's all take a second to reminisce.

Throughout history, there have been some reality TV series that definitely killed a brain cell or two, yet we just COULDN'T look away. From Mike "The Situation" ramming his head into a wall on Jersey Shore, to Frankie Gotti stomping up the stairs because he's "got a life!" on Growing Up Gotti.

Still, the one that caused a void in my heart since its cancellation a few years ago is TLC's Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. Television just hasn't been the same without mud fights and homemade "sketti." Never fear - Mama June is back on WE tv with her new show From Not to Hot, which chronicles her revenge weight loss surgery to slim down before attending ex-husband Sugar Bear's wedding in 44 days.

The first episode aired on Friday, 2/24, and picked up right where Honey Boo Boo left off. It opens with Honey Boo Boo aka Alana attempting to pack her own school lunch - a entire box of snack cakes and a full quart of ice cream, surely a nutritious lunch for a growing kid.

Sugar Bear then visits Mama June with some exciting news - he's getting married. To whom, we have no idea, but June figures if he can get back in the game after their divorce, so can she. With the help of her sister Doe Doe, June gets herself on some dating apps, and quickly snags a date to a local all-you-can-eat buffet with, quite frankly, the dullest guy on earth.

As we know from Honey Boo Boo, June is a straight shooter who tells it like it is and doesn't give a damn what people think. Seconds after sitting down, she lays it all on the line, asking if he's been married and other questions most would save until at the least the third date. Long story short, June's date bails half way through, leaving the show's producer to chase him down in the parking lot.

Even though June's body transformation isn't rumored to take place until the end of the season, we still get to experience all the familiar wonders of Honey Boo Boo, and maybe even a healthier recipe for the infamous ketchup and pasta combo know as "sketti."

Obsession of the Week - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Every time I go in Target (which I have to admit is a lot...), I spend some time in the movies/books section. For a solid few months, I'd see this weird grayish book with a strange girl on the front floating in midair. One day, I skimmed through the pages, came across pictures of some creepy man with no pupils and a dog with the head of a girl, and immediately put it back on the shelf.

Shortly after, I saw a commercial for a new Tim Burton movie about a headmistress and a home of weird kids, one of whom had a working mouth on the back of her head. I love Burton's work, so when I realized it was an adaptation of the book I was too chicken to look at, I decided it couldn't be THAT bad and gave Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children a shot.

My first impression wasn't great. I almost quit/dropped the book before the first chapter even began. On one of the introductory pages, there's a picture of a girl, which I later learned is the lead female character Emma Bloom, covered in shadows and basically staring into your soul.

Still, I pressed on and I'm so glad I did. The story centers on Jacob Portman and the special bond he and his grandfather, Abe, had throughout his childhood. Abe tells Jacob tales of the home he stayed in as a child, where there were children with special abilities, including an invisible boy and a girl who could levitate.

Jacob assumed these were fairy tales, until he makes the journey to the long abandoned children's home and enters the "loop" - the same day repeated over and over for eternity. This particular loop is on September 3rd, 1940, the day before all of Abe's friends, the peculiar children that Jacob assumed were fictional, die in a bomb explosion from the war. In this loop, they are perfectly safe and never age.

Jacob befriends the invisible boy, Millard, and finds more than a friend in the girl who can create fire with her hands, Emma Bloom. Emma also happened to be in love with Jacob's grandfather when Abe was part of the loop, which isn't awkward at all......

Going into this book, I didn't know what to expect. I don't deal well with stories that involve creepy kids, but the peculiar children are fantastic. They each have their own special ability, and work to help Jacob recognize his own talent, which is unfortunately the ability to see dark shadow creatures called hollows.

The second and third books of the series are waiting on my bookshelf, and I can't wait to see what happens to Jacob and his peculiar friends as they battle hollows and protect their loop.