ACOTAR Review!

I've always been a fan of 'hint of' books. By that, I mean 'a hint of magic', 'a hint of mystery', 'a hint of fantasy', but not too much. Despite being a massive Harry Potter fan, and a LoTR watcher (several times, on repeat), I always thought a lot of fantasy books were a little too strong, and I struggled to find them believable or the characters relatable.

This year, however, I decided it was time to give fantasy another chance. At the recommendation of a friend, I picked up a copy of Sarah J Maas' 'A Court of Thorns and Roses', and believe you me, I have definitely not looked back. Feyre's life became intertwined with my own as I found myself considering her dilemmas, her options, and even her future as I stayed up into the small hours reading this masterpiece...

...and if ACOTAR is a masterpiece, then its sequel, 'A Court of Mist and Fury' is the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Just when I thought the storyline and world couldn't possibly get any better, Maas hit me with THIS. I practically salivated over how the characters developed, at the numerous cliffhangers, and high-action moments that oozed out of the pages. Luckily for me, my timing was absolutely on point, as I finished this just a week before the release of the third book, 'A Court of Wings and Ruin'.

I promise no spoilers, but what I will say is that ACOMAF ended on quite the cliffhanger, and so I was absolutely itching to get my hands on Maas' latest work of genius, which I knew I'd love before even beginning. When reading, I found the beginning a little slow starting, and missed some of my favourite characters (no spoilers, but if you've read this then you'll know exactly who I mean!), but as the action picked up, I found myself once again caught in the magical world of Prythian, watching the politics between courts more closely than the politics of my own coutry!

The third book is a fantastic addition to the series, and once again the character development was superb. I write this before finishing the book, partly because I was so eager to write a review, and partly because I am savouring the final few chapters in the foolish hope that I can make them last forever - I simply do not want to leave this magical world behind. 

If you haven't read this series, or like my past self think it isn't quite your thing, I would encourage you to give it a try - you never know, you too may be surprised.

House of MinaLima Visit!

If you know me at all, or have even spent, say, an hour in my company, you will probably know already just how obsessed I am with Harry Potter and the Wizarding World of J.K Rowling, and if you don't, then just take my word for it.

Being a Potterhead of ridiculous proportions, when my friend and fellow fan mentioned the House of MinaLima in Soho I knew instantly that I just had to visit. 

If you didn't know already, House of MinaLima is an exhibition of the graphic art in the Harry Potter films and the more recent Fantastic Beasts created by Miraphora (Mina) and Eduardo (Lima). The exhibition included posters, magazines, textbooks, and packaging, which is all absolutely AMAZING, and you can even buy if you're feeling flush. The four-storey building has familiar designs lining every single wall, and display cases on each floor house actual props from the films (like held by the actors...seriously now this excited me so much). You can also do something I've tried time and time again to do, and read all that tiny text on the Daily Prophet covers from the films.

The whole building feels so quirky - the winding staircase in the narrow hallways made me feel as though I was in the Leaky Cauldron (one of my favourite Harry Potter locations), and the Marauder's Map floor design on one floor is so incredible that I had to take photos (which you're encouraged to do, incidentally).

If you live in London, or if you happen to be visiting reasonably soon and you're into the Wizarding World like myself, I'd definitely check this out - but hurry, even though the online store is always live, it's only around in the flesh until February 4th!

Wake me up before you Mar-go: Paper Towns

couple of spoilers, but I'm convinced I'm the last person on Earth to read this gem of a book

'She's a bitch and Q needs his head checked'

These were the words scrawled on a post-it note inside a copy of Paper Towns I picked up a year or so ago. I think it's safe to say that Quentin's therapist parents have the second half of this appraisal down, but IS Margo really a bitch?

After finishing Paper Towns, I'll admit I felt the same as the anonymous post-it author, and was somewhat annoyed with Margo. How could she have the audacity to turn up at Quentin's window after years of barely talking, demand his assistance in a barely-legal-yet-very-fun adventure which keeps them out all night, have one magical moment, and then disappear completely? How dare she leave a trail of hardly determinable clues which she knew Q couldn't resist when she knows how concerned Q is about getting into college? Isn't it just rude?

I thought about it some more, though, and realised I might have been a little harsh. Some people aren't made to stay in one place, and Margo is the stereotypical caged bird - she's constantly seeking more than the lot she's been dealt, and reminds me of that friend everyone has who's convinced they're descended from royalty one way or another. Quentin's teenage awkward-ness is relatable on so many levels, and so its only natural to 'side' with him, but wouldn't more of us love to go on a Margo adventure given the chance?

To give her credit, Margo's explanation of her behaviour helps us to understand her a bit better, and it isn't really her fault that Q worked out the positions on the map like some top FBI agent. Her intentions were, actually, pretty damn sweet when you give it real thought. To give someone access to a place you've considered personally yours for so long must be difficult and would have been a cute goodbye gift in all honesty, if it had been a bit clearer.

Q and Margo's love and their almost-there-but-not-quite relationship looks pretty one-sided on the surface, but had Paper Towns been written from Margo's viewpoint, maybe things would look a lot more equal, and we might even have a bit more sympathy for her as she decided to leave Q and her entire life behind in search of something bigger and better.

Cinder Review

Okay, I have to be honest, when I first started seeing this book circulating on Instagram and various book blogs, I wasn't sure it was going to be for me. I thought the concept of re-working a classic fairy tale was fun and cool, but I never expected it to be anything gripping, and I thought I'd spend the whole book searching for the parallels with the folk tale. After reading so many amazing reviews, however, I really thought I should pick up a copy and give it a go. 

I didn't really give Meyer's book a fighting chance - I'd already almost decided I wasn't going to enjoy it, and for the first few chapters I couldn't see where Meyer could possibly take this story to make a sort of sci-fi Cinderella work, but the more I read, the deeper I got invested into the story, and it was so well written and the storyline so gripping that I completely forgot it was based on the classic. Additionally, Meyer has managed to grip the perfect balance within this book, and the plot isn't so reliant on the fairy tale that it's predictable and dull - in fact I found myself pleasantly surprised by how Cinder's tale panned out.

The twists and turns layered on top of a timeless classic make this story an incredible read, and I only discovered afterwards that it's the first of a series (where have I been living, right?) so I'm super excited to buy the rest and read my way through the rest of the Lunar Chronicles - I'm just glad I didn't accidentally read out of order!

Boarding School Books: Are they accurate?

I recently started reading C.J. Daugherty's 'Night School' books from the recommendation of a friend, and I have to say I'm enjoying them immensely - I had a stack of books set for reading and instead rushed out to purchase the entirety of Daugherty's series so that I could read them first!

If you haven't read these, firstly where have you been living?! and secondly, get started now, you definitely won't regret it. I've been practically flipping through these, and I think I find them particularly interesting as a result of their setting - Cimmeria Academy, the boarding school with all its mystery, intrigue, and sprawling gothic grounds.

Romantic as these, as well as other boarding school novels are, how accurate are they, really? As somebody who attended boarding schools for a large portion of my education, I can answer this pretty confidently.

Unlike a lot of boarding school books, where the author has run away with an old-fashioned idea of hell in acres of parkland, Daugherty has achieved a pretty good picture of life inside one of these schools. Her protagonist, Allie, initially has a lot of questions and confusions (one being the definition of prep, which I clearly remember asking about myself as a child!) which are legitimate and sound, and when she takes Cimmeria into her stride, she begins to find a special bond is formed between her and her peers, which is something I relate to strongly. When you spend as much time as that with your best friends (and, in fact, some people you truly can't stand), eating with them, spending your down time in the evenings in their company, you become more like siblings than schoolmates, and that includes the regular squabbles faced when you stay in such close proximity!

I think Daugherty has achieved something many haven't, and I really enjoy reading a series where I'm not constantly tearing my hair out at the stereotypical Brontë-style cold porridge breakfast and bare rooms with paper thin mattresses. If you want a true insight to boarding school life, these are pretty spot on (Except for the whole Night School thing, of course).

Eleanor and Park: Review

Okay, I appreciate I'm most likely the LAST PERSON IN THE WORLD to read this book, but I finally got around to it recently and I am so glad I did!

Although I doubt anyone is as behind the times as myself, in case you haven't read it, the book centres around high school students Eleanor and Park (who'd have thought?) and their first love, complicated by not only the usual high school issues of bullying, but by larger issues of poverty and hints of domestic abuse. Against this background of chaos, love fuelled by music, comic books, and the classic teenage feelings of not fitting in burns through for the pair.

Rainbow Rowell (what a name) has an easy, friendly style that meant it's pretty easy to practically flick through this book, and it's on the short side if bigger books aren't your thing, which means it's also light and easy to chuck in your bag if (like me) you spend a lot of time on public transport.

If you're a fan of the classic coming-of-age novel, books that make your eyes water, or Romeo-and-Juliet-esque first love stories, this is a must-read.

Both characters had relatable elements for me, which made my love for both characters and my hatred for those against them all the stronger as the book went on, and meant that I was a blubbering, quivering wreck when I finished it at 4am on a Wednesday morning, feeling for the pair and with the pair with all of my being.

You really can't put a score or rating on a book that touches you like this has touched myself and many others, so I'd definitely give it a 10/10...I only wish it had been longer!

Silence is Goldfish: Review

Good Evening/Morning/Afternoon/Time is a social construct so just say hello!

You all know how much I enjoy writing this blog, and if you're following my instagram or know me in the 'real' world, you'll know just how much I enjoy reading. I read most days, and feel practically naked without a good book in my hands, and so after giving this a LOT of thought (and trust me when I say I think too much as it is) I have decided to use this blog for regular book reviews. I hope you'll all stay and perhaps even enjoy reading a few of them now and then, but it is of course entirely up to you - this is appearing on your feeds, after all!

So, without further chatter, I'm going to dive straight in (note my 'unintentional' pun) with a review of Annabel Pitcher's 'Silence is Goldfish'.

Centred around Tess, who vows to become mute after learning that the dad she loved so dearly isn't her biological father, this novel explores some of the most interesting aspects of silence from Tess' own mind, where she converses with a semi-imaginary friend 'Mr Goldfish' to make sense of the world surrounding her.

After reading a book about selective mutism several years ago, I was hesitant to get into this one, finding the last a little too descriptive (should have worked out that it wouldn't be dialogue heavy first, right?) but I really enjoyed the use of 'Mr Goldfish' in this book - although I initially found him odd and a little juvenile for the teenage protagonist, I soon accepted his existence and he acted not only to ask questions I, as the reader, had myself, but also to make the book a more light-hearted, fifteen year old's view of a serious topic.

Plot-wise, this moved quickly at a pace I enjoyed as a reader. I found the many twists and turns intriguing, and struggled to put the book down once I'd started.

I'd definitely recommend this book, but particularly so if you have any form of interest in mental health and mutism as topics. There is also an element of mystery running throughout, as Tess seeks her 'real', biological father despite the challenges presented by her mutism and overbearing family, and the classic struggles of teenage life remain strong through broken friendships and aspects of bullying.

8/10 from me!