Category Archives: Books

My thoughts on books I’ve read

The Crimes of Grindelwald

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Hey!

I know I said that real posts are coming and once again I promise they are, but since it’s already December I could resist staring #HPDecember early. This was started a few years ago when a couple of book bloggers decided that there was no better way to indulge in the holiday season than to read Harry Potter. They were entirely right and with the release of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald it seemed like a perfect way to continue the tradition.

If you were paying attention to my Goodreads linked in the sidebar you will have noticed that I did finish the script book a few weeks ago, however it took me until last week to see the movie. Yes, I knew all the spoilers and if you haven’t seen the movie or read the script book turn your eyes away because I will be spoiling all of it here for you.

In this movie , we catch up with Newt Scamander nearly 6 months after the last movie has ended. He has published the first edition of Fantastic Beasts and where to find them , returned to England and been banned from international travel by the Ministry of Magic. After Newt has a hearing that doesn’t quite go well at the Ministry of Magic, Newt runs into Professor Albus Dumbledore. Professor Dumbledore informs Newt that Creedance is still alive and in Paris, he also strongly suggests that Newt go find him before Grindelwald does. Newt refuses and heads home, but not before Professor Dumbledore slips him Nicolas Flamel’s address. Once home Queenie and Jacob show up on Newt’s doorstep to announce their engagement. After a very weird fight and undoing Jacob from a love potion, Queen storms of to Paris to find Tina and the guys follow just to make sure they are all safe. Things only get crazier and more questions arise and get unanswered than ever before. The end of the movie shows Queenie and Creedance siding with Grindelwald, Leta Lestrange dead, and Dumbledore holding a blood pact that he and Grindelwald made years ago.

The movie and the book was so crazy that I barely even have words, but then again this does seem in typical J.K. Rowling fashion to keep us in the dark about so many things until the very end. The mere thought that this series will span 5 movies because we are going from 1926 to 1943 is crazy! The first bomb that was dropped from the trailer was that Nagini was a human, which to some of us wasn’t that big a deal, the bigger deal that was divulged in the movie was that she didn’t automatically side with Grindelwald. The second bomb that was dropped in the movie, at least to some was that Queenie chose Grindelwald’s side after she and Jacob fight about getting married. I’m still hoping that Queenie comes back to the good side in the next movie. The third bomb that was dropped was Grindelwald’s revelation that Creedance was Aurelius Dumbledore. If you have been following all the threads online regarding this revelation you might realize that either Grindelwald is lying or that Creedance isn’t a real person.

I was impressed by the visuals of the movie and how beautiful Paris looked in the 1920s. It was also nice to see Professor Dumbledore as a young man and to catch a glance of Professor McGonagall as a young woman. I won’t nitpick as some of the movie illustrations of some of the spells we have seen in other movies, but it was interesting to see how Professor Dumbledore and Grindelwald used magic as compared to everyone else. I was also impressed to see Newt’s lab and to see all the creatures he has collected. We only were able to see a small fraction of it in the first movie. Ahhh…Baby Nifflers! They are really so cute and the Niffler might be my favorite character and unsung hero from these movies so far.

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If you have seen this movie or read the scrip book let me know your thoughts. Have you read Harry Potter again since your first read? Will you be joining me in #HPDecember? Look for my Harry Potter related content this month as well as more content in general in the coming weeks.

See you soon!

Spellbook of the Lost and Found

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Hey!

I know that it has been a minute since I’ve been here with a real post let alone a review. All this radio silence all over the social media has not been good, but I have been living life and prepping my content calendar for the rest of the year and the beginning of 2019. I can hardly believe that I’m actually saying that 2019 is around the corner.

Back to real reason you are here, today’s post is yet another book review. Posts about real life are coming and more will be on the way in the future. Today’s review is on Spellbook of the lost and found by Moira Fowley -Doyle. I had tried to read this for the Creating & Co RIP Readathon in October, but didn’t finish and decided to shelve the book for some other time, luckily I was needing to pick another book up at the library.

This book is about what you believe to be 6 teenagers who find a spellbook that claims to bring back lost things. The book is written from the perspective of three of the teenagers Olive, Laurel, and Hazel. Throughout the story the spellbook is used to cast a spell several times to bring back lost things and after every spell is cast some things are found while other things are lost. The book gets really confusing for a while before straightening itself out to the conclusion.

As I’ve always promised I won’t give away the ending of the book. I would recommend that you read the book for a slightly spooky read. I thought that this would have been a perfect October read if I had finished it in October. The back and forth between the characters sometimes confused me because you were often meeting characters and then not hearing about them for a chapter or two. Overall the book was good, but it is definitely more of a borrow library book vs own book.

Let me know what you have been reading and other things that you have been up to lately. If you want to keep with all the books that I have read feel free to check out my Goodreads which is linked in the sidebar. I’m hoping to see you again soon with another post.

96 words of Love

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It’s been a hot minute since I’ve been here, but I’ve been busily reading if you haven’t been following my goodreads for all the self help books that I’ve been swallowing as well as getting ready for the holiday season. I have high hopes of bringing you tons of reviews and more great content over the next month with that wonderful promise let’s jump into the real reason that you are here today.

I recently finished 96 Words of Love  by Rachel Roy and Ava Dash. Before I jump into the gushy parts of this review, I should let you know that I did receive this book as part of a Goodreads Advanced Reader Copy giveaway and that I wasn’t compensated for anything I am about to say.

All that being said, the quick synopsis for 96 Words of Love is a coming of age story featuring an Indian American girl named Raya, who thought her well planned American life would work out just the way she wanted. Raya is thrown into a tailspin when her beloved grandmother dies leaving her and her cousin, Anandi with the note saying that she wishes that she could have traveled back to the ashram to retrieve the things she left behind there. Raya’s cousin Anandi convinces her to go on a pilgrimage to the ashram to find the things grandmother left behind. After convincing her parents to let her go on the pilgrimage for a month, Raya sets out on the adventure that will unknowingly change her world.

I loved the premise of the story being a coming of age pilgrimage and time in an ashram in India. I also loved the fact that Raya got to learn a lot more about her heritage, her grandmother, and the Indian culture. It was also interesting to know that this book was a modern retelling of an Indian folk story. As I’ve always promised I won’t spoil the ending for you , but there is a romantic twist in the book which I didn’t mind and could have seen coming a mile away. It did seem weird that there was a other minor sub-story that happened toward the end of the book.

I mean, if you’re writing a romantic contemporary story write a romantic contemporary story. If you are writing a story about humanitarian efforts and self discovery write about that. When one becomes a subplot for the other it looks dull, half assed and unfinished. Other that than I can honestly say that I would recommend this book to someone who is looking for a more diverse character read. I found the book interesting, but not a serious page turner which is why it took me so long to read. I could see this as a pool book or a fun summer read.

96 Words of Love by Rachel Roy and Ava Dash is set to release on January 15, 2019. Be sure to pick it up at your local bookstore or let your local library know that you want to read this book.

Julie & Julia

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I know that it has been a while since I’ve written on here, but don’t worry I’ve still been reading. I will probably end up doing a Currently post soon with everything that has been happening lately. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, this review is going to be on Julie & Julia. This will mainly be a book review, but since the movie recently appeared on Netflix I did have a chance to rewatch it and will add in some comparisons toward the end of the post.

In the book written by Julie Powell, Julie talks about how her life living in New York post 9/11 is and how she is struggling to deal with the corporate government job. When Julie’s life becomes too much for her she finds herself heading home and stealing her mother’s reliable Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. It isn’t long before Julie is convinced by her husband to take on the recipes in the book and tell people about it in the form of a blog. Mostly because blogging was the first wave of social media in the early 2000s.

In case you haven’t read the book or watched the movie I won’t spoil the end. It ends up okay at the end of the book. I initially watched the movie because the plot sounded intriguing and had hopes of reading the book soon after, but that didn’t happen until well now. I’ll admit that I did google Julie Powell while reading the book, just to see what happened to her. I was a bit disappointed to find out that while she and her husband are still together, she did admit to cheating on him between the publishing of the first book and her second book. Knowing that may have clouded my views on the relationship of the Powells portrayed in the book. I still found the book intriguing and much more relatable than the movie. There addition to the Powells having a live in relative during this time, which is mentioned occasionally in the book. I loved that the book was written in blogposts form taking on a recipe as well as doing some back story.

Have you read this book? Have you watched the movie? Let me know what you have been reading lately. As always you can follow what I’ve been reading on my goodreads which is in the sidebar. If you see anything that I’ve read, but don’t cover on the here let me know and I will definitely cover it. See you soon!

Midnight Crossroad

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So a few weeks ago, Creating & Co Book Club held their second annual RIP Readathon. I really loved the Readathon last year and was even able to vlog parts of it. This year I wasn’t so lucky and my reading slump hit me hard. I did check out 4 or 5 books from the library to read that week, but didn’t manage to finish any of them. Midnight Crossroad was one of the books I started that week.

Midnight Crossroad is the first in a series of three books by Charlaine Harris. In case you are wondering why this title sounds so familiar its because there is a show on NBC based on the books. I fell for the intrigue of the show and can’t wait for it to start again! When I heard about the books from Marnie Goldberg’s channel I knew that I would have to check it out. The book covers the first part of the show and then it continues into the rest of the series.

Here’s the rundown of the book: Manfred Bernardo is an online psychic who decides that after his grandmother dies, he would move to Midnight, Texas and live a quieter simpler life. Unbeknownst to him he is moving to a town where only outsiders are welcome. After Manfred gets settled in town, the body of a former resident is found over a cliff. It begins a rivalry between them and a white supremacist group in a neighboring town.

I promise as always not to spoil the ending of the book, but I guarantee that you will be surprised at the end. I knew that I definitely I was! I found the book exciting and rather intriguing to follow, though it did take me longer to read due to the fact that I have been so tired lately. I would definitely recommend this book and can’t wait to continue the series and see how Manfred’s life in Midnight turns out.

Have you read this book? Have you watched the show? Have you read any of the other Charlaine Harris books? Let me know what you have been reading lately. As always you can follow what I’ve been reading on my goodreads which is in the sidebar. If you see anything that I’ve read, but don’t cover on the here let me know and I will definitely cover it. See you soon!