January Wrap-Up | 2019

Hopefully, January is an indicator of how the rest of the year will go, because it was a pretty solid month, both reading and watching-wise. I read 11 (ELEVEN!) books this month, and only one of them was a comic, and two were novellas. Also, I finished off some books that were leftover from 2018. It was a pretty productive month, so let's get into it.

Out of the eleven books that I read, six of them were 4+ stars, and my average star rating for the month was 3.81; so overall, a great month.

THE BOOKS

A STUDY IN CHARLOTTE - Brittany Cavallaro: 3.5/5 - I've heard about this book for years now and finally just grabbed the audiobook from my library. And this was fun. It was nothing revolutionary or groundbreaking, but I had a good time reading it. I'll definitely continue on with the series, most likely through audiobooks from the library, throughout the year. I will say I'm not the biggest fan of, especially in Sherlock Holmes retellings/reimaginings, when the gender/sex of either Holmes or Watson is changed to a female so that then there's an "acceptable" way to shoe-horn in a romance. It just bothers me, because the only reason you made one of them a girl is so that she's there to fall in love with the companion or with Moriarty or whoever. It's just a personal pet peeve of mine.

BY NIGHT, VOL. 1 - John Allison 3/5 - I actually read most of these in single issues during 2018, but I read the last issue this month. (The TPB is supposed to release in March.) This is from the author of everyone's favorite title, Giant Days, and ... it's not as good as Giant Days, but I didn't expect it to be. This is a bizarre little supernatural book, and it has me intrigued enough to try the second volume but I'm not sure if I'll continue on after that.

GONE GIRL - Gillian Flynn: 5/5 - I didn't read this for years because I figured that the hype was undeserved, and it was just kind of the popular book of the time. Also, I knew nothing about it. I literally knew that there was a woman and that she went missing. That's it. And wow wow wow did this completely surprise me. This was exceptionally well written, and the story was top-tier twisty and intriguing. It kept me reading, and I couldn't put it down. If you've gone as long as I have without getting spoiled for this, you should definitely read it. A new favorite, for sure.

IN AN ABSENT DREAM* - Seanan McGuire: 4.5/5 - I love this series, so much. I especially love these even books that delve fully into one character's story, one character's portal fantasy world. This fourth book in the Wayward Children series is following Lundy and her adventures when she was younger in the world that was opened up to her, the Goblin Market. As with the other books in this series, I really enjoy McGuire's writing and ability to craft such beautiful and vivid worlds in a succinct but effective way. A great installment in the series and I'm eager to continue on when the next book releases.

ONCE GHOSTED, TWICE SHY - Alyssa Cole: 4/5 - If you're not reading the Reluctant Royals series, you need to be. Alyssa Cole is here to come for all these pseudo-not-that-feminist-feminist-romance writers with quality romances. This one's a novella (you can read it as a standalone, but I would recommend reading at least the first book, A Princess in Theory, in order to get the full context of the story) following Likotski as she's back in New York and reconnecting with Fab, the woman who broke her heart the last time. This is a F/F romance starring two black women, and I completely fell in love with it. It's a little short, and I would have loved for this to have been a full-length novel. Likotski, who we meet in the first book, gains so much more depth to her character, and Fabiola is fantastically fleshed out, especially for having just been introduced in this story.

EVIDENCE OF THE AFFAIR - Taylor Jenkins Reid: 3/5  - Not going to lie, this was kind of disappointing. First of all, it's an epistolary novella, neither of which are formats that I really enjoy that much. Secondly, this was just very standard, based on the title and the premise, it's exactly what I figured it would be. About halfway through, I thought maybe there would a twist or a raising of the stakes, but this story is very flat and not much happens.

THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: 4/5 - If I wasn't reading these books through the Stephen Fry-narrated audiobook, I likely wouldn't enjoy them as much as I do. But I read this book (as inspired by Olive's random TBR pick) because I picked it for my randomly generated book off my physical, owned TBR shelf. I will hopefully continue reading this series throughout the year.

* I read and reviewed an early copy of this book for review from the publisher. All opinions are my own and aren't affected by receiving this book for free.

FIERCE FAIRYTALES - Nikita Gill: 3/5 - I keep reading modern poetry, hoping to find one that really hits me and that I completely fall in love with. But this was fine? There were a few that I really liked, but often with modern poetry, and this collection was no exception, I just feel like it gets very repetitive very quickly. If you like modern poetry mixed with prose, this is a really good collection. I just keep reading things I know I won't like.

RAMONA BLUE - Julie Murphy: 3/5 - I still don't know quite how to talk about this book. But the main component of this that I didn't quite enjoy was Murphy's writing. This was the first book I read from her, and it'll probably be the only one that I read. My enjoyment of an author's writing is a huge part of whether or not I like a book, and I really did not gel with her writing. It's just very not for me. The story itself was okay, but nothing was exceptional for me.

THE DEATH OF MRS. WESTAWAY - Ruth Ware: 4/5 - My first Ruth Ware that I picked up solely because of the fact that it takes place in an old, abandoned, gothic-y house, which has to be my favorite settings of all time in books, movies, anything. It's my weakness. And I got exactly what I wanted with this book. Was it like the most predictable thing I've ever read? Yeah. Was I very satisfied that I was absolutely right? I sure was. Did I stay up until 3am to finish this? I sure did. I could not put it down, and if you want a gothic-y stuck in a house atmosphere, you should read this one. I've heard her other books aren't as good, but I'll probably still give one or two a try.

SAGA, VOL. 1 - Brian K. Vaughan: 5/5 - Oof. Another completely hyped book that I feel like I'm the last person to read. This is incredible. I'm going to continue reading this series ASAP. If you like operatic SFF and comics, you've probably already read this, but if you haven't you should. It completely lives up to the hype.

And that's it. All the books I read in the first month of 2019. A good month, if I do say so myself.

Please tell me down in the comments any of the books you've read this month or if you've read any of the ones that I mentioned please let me know! I'll talk to you all again soon. 

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Toil & Trouble | Anthology Review

If witchcraft is the voice of women rising free and powerful (to change the world, make it ours, on our feet instead of on our knees) then I wish to be a witch more than anything. - Elizabeth May, Why They Watch Us Burn

I had really mixed feelings going into this: on the one hand, I love the idea of queer witch stories, but on the other hand, I have a notoriously bad track record with enjoying anthologies. I love the idea of anthologies and I love a lot of short stories, but often times with anthologies, I only find two to three stories or authors that I really enjoyed reading.

So, I was pleasantly surprised when I enjoyed most of the stories and fell in love with about eight of the fifteen stories. I have a full breakdown of every story in the collection over on my goodreads, but here I just want to geek out about all of the stories that I loved.

Part of what was surprising to me about the ones that I loved was that all eight of them are from authors I've never read before. Since reading their stories in this anthology, my TBR has gotten, ahem, quite a bit bigger. Or, at the very least, it got majorly reorganized.

My absolute favorite, favorite stories were: The One Who Stayed by Nova Ren Suma, The Gherin Girls by Emery Lord, Why They Watch Us Burn by Elizabeth May, The Truth About Queenie by Brandy Colbert, and Beware of Girls with Crooked Teeth by Jessica Spotswood.

• The One Who Stayed: This is my favorite story in the entire anthology. I am absolutely in love with Nova Ren Suma's writing. She writes an amazing short story, and she had my full attention throughout the whole story.
• The Gherin Girls: The sheer number of witch sisters in this anthology is amazing, and I loved most of them. But of the sister stories, this was my favorite. I loved all of the sisters in different ways, but I loved Nova. Like, she shaved her head when she got into a serious relationship with a dude so that people wouldn't assume she was straight. I love a bi protaginst.
• Why They Watch Us Burn: So, so amazing and well-written. The allegory, the story, everything about this was perfect for me. This also has a real cute F/F romance.
• The Truth About Queenie: After this story, I'm officially bumping up Colbert's book on my TBR. I absolutely fell in love with her writing. This story was very much real life with a touch of magic, which is one of my favorite ways for magic to be in stories. It also felt very Practical Magic, which I loved.
• Beware of Girls with Crooked Teeth: Oh, I love an unlikeable, morally grey female main character. Also, it felt like a period drama? Which super appealed to me. 

My other favorites were Love Spell by Anna-Marie McLemore, Afterbirth by Andrea Cremer, and The Legend of Stone Mary by Robin Tally. 

• Love Spell: So, now I understand the absolute love for Anna-Marie McLemore and her writing. The writing itself is absolutely gorgeous, and I love how she incorporates Spanish into her writing. It just exists, she doesn't translate or explain it, it's just part of the story. Also, the family relationship in this book hit me right in the heart. Gonna go read all her books ASAP.
• Afterbirth: This was the historical, Crucible-esk story that I wanted going into this. I loved Cremer's writing, and I'm kind of sad that her other novels don't sound super appealing to me.
• The Legend of Stone Mary: I feel personally blessed that Robin Tally has so many other books for me to read after this. The writing wasn't my favorite, but there was nothing wrong with it either. However, the storytelling and the plot of this story kept me so engaged.

I'd also like to give a quick honorable mention to Zoraida Córdova's Divine Are the Stars. I didn't love this one as a short story. I loved the roots of this story, the magical realism, the relationships, but it was just too short? I wanted this to be fleshed out more, so I think I'll really love her full-length novels.

My average rating for this anthology is closer to a 3.5-3.75, but I bumped it to a 4. Because while there were a handful of stories that I really didn't like, the ones that I enjoyed I absolutely loved. So, if you're wanting some good, queer witch stories leading up to or on Halloween, this is a great choice.

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If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio | Review

For those of you unaware, this is a literary/general fiction book that’s also kind of a mystery/thriller. It’s not wholly a mystery, and I would debate calling it a thriller at all.

The premise is this: it’s 1997 and there are seven friends who are in their fourth year of the (Shakespeare-only) drama program at their university, and at the beginning of the book one of the friends—our main character, Oliver—is getting released from his 10-year prison sentence for something that happened in their final year of school. This book goes back and forth between 1997 Oliver and the 2007 Oliver that is explaining what really happened that year to a now-former police officer who just wants to know the truth.

Before we delve into my thoughts on this book, I need to put out a content warning for a few things that happen in this book: physical violence, suicide attempt, overall poor representation of sexuality, mention of an eating disorder.

If you’re curious about the discussion on sexuality, I’ll have to direct you to my goodreads review of this book since both the author and the novel treat sexuality as a plot twist and a spoiler. I personally don’t agree with this. Sexuality should never be a plot twist, whether your book takes place in 2017, 1997, 1827, or 4207. Rio’s handling of sexuality is almost entirely why I gave this book 1 star.

In my goodreads review, I also break down in detail each of the content warnings above, so please go check that out if those are things that will affect you.

NOW. Onto the actual review of the book.

Even if I could push aside my feelings about Rio’s poor treatment of sexuality (spoiler: I couldn’t), then this would have been at most a three star read but more likely a two and half. On my rating scale, 2.5 is just average and a 3 is average but still enjoyable. With a different ending, this could have been a three. Take out the “sexuality is a plot twist” aspect and this would easily have been a four star read.

This is the debut novel from Rio, and it shows in the writing. There are certain plot conveniences that happen because this story is told in first person and Oliver needs to be privy to certain information to make the story move forward.

Also, in a clear attempt to not use the phrase “I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding” Rio uses “I breathe out a breath I didn’t know I was holding” which made me stop reading for a solid two minutes because I was laughing so hard.

Story-wise there’s nothing horribly original here. Many people (almost everyone) has compared this to The Secret History by Donna Tartt, but I haven’t read that book. While not able to speak with any level of expertise on the topic, based on reviews, there are a striking number of similarities between the two, but there is no mention of Tartt in the Acknowledgements or the Author’s Note so the similarities could be coincidental.

However, instead of classics, this group is obsessed with Shakespeare. So much so that they often have whole exchanges in which they are quoting the Bard like a conservative Christian would quote the Bible. When it's just a line thrown into the dialogue, it's not distracting and usually quite clever, but when they get into multiple page-long exchanges at too many points in the story, it's very easy to just skim over them.

It also made me feel very pretentious and frankly bad that I've ever enjoyed Shakespeare. I feel like I need to go wash my mouth out with As You Like It.

Would I recommend this? No, I gave it one star. If you really want to read it, I’d tell you to go ahead and read it for yourself. The things that bogged down my reading experience may not hinder yours at all, but they were things that I hadn't seen mentioned in reviews and had I known them, I wouldn’t have read this book.

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
Published: 11 April 2017 by Flatiron Books
Format - Length: Hardcover - 352 pages
Source: Library
Genre: Adult Fiction, Mystery, Historical Fiction
Goodreads | My Goodreads Review

Enter the players. There were seven of us then, seven bright young things with wide precious futures ahead of us. Until that year, we saw no further than the books in front of our faces.

On the day Oliver Marks is released from jail, the man who put him there is waiting at the door. Detective Colborne wants to know the truth, and after ten years, Oliver is finally ready to tell it.

Ten years ago: Oliver is one of seven young Shakespearean actors at Dellecher Classical Conservatory, a place of keen ambition and fierce competition. In this secluded world of firelight and leather-bound books, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingénue, extra. But in their fourth and final year, the balance of power begins to shift, good-natured rivalries turn ugly, and on opening night real violence invades the students’ world of make believe. In the morning, the fourth-years find themselves facing their very own tragedy, and their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, each other, and themselves that they are innocent.

Part coming-of-age story, part confession, If We Were Villains explores the magical and dangerous boundary between art and life. In this tale of loyalty and betrayal, madness and ecstasy, the players must choose what roles to play before the curtain falls.

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This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab | Monster, May I?

 (It took me forever to get this picture right. Appreciate it, please.)

August Flynn is a monster. He can see the souls of people who have sinned, and then with a song from his violin, he can steal their soul.

Kate Harker is a monstrous human. One of the first scenes with this girl is her burning down a chapel, so, yeah, she's not really the "typical YA protagonist" that we see.

Schwab is one of my favorite authors. She has an incredible talent for crafting characters, and that for me always comes across as the strongest point in her books. They are all so complex and real and, often if not always, not entirely good. To be cliche and pull out my inner Harry Potter nerd, no person is ever wholly good or wholly evil, and I think that Schwab is really talented at creating characters with both light and dark inside them.

Also on the note of characters, there are some amazing side characters in this book. August's family, especially his brother and sister, are so interesting and don't fall to the wayside as many YA family members do.

I'm not typically a fan of urban fantasy (meaning: I normally just don't read it) but that's what this is and it's made me interested in checking out more from this genre. 

The history that Schwab creates in this book of an America that has fallen and changed is (let me say it for the thousandth time) endlessly interesting. The beginning of the book does get a little information-heavy; however, because the monsters and how they work and the division of the main city is so interesting, I ate up and valued the information rather than finding it sluggish.

Something happens in this book that genuinely made me stop and freak out a bit. This happens very rarely for me in books, so I was very happy to see that Schwab had made me care so much for these characters that I had to put the book down for a second to calm down. 

I did find the ending ever so slightly underwhelming, but it was only really one aspect of the ending that it really didn't bother me too much. I'm happy with how the story ultimately ended, and I'm now very much anticipating Our Dark Duet, which releases in June of this year.

FAVORITE QUOTES

It was a cruel trick of the universe, thought August, that he only felt human after doing something so monstrous.

 But the teacher had been right about one thing: violence breeds. Someone pulls a trigger, sets off a bomb, drives a bus full of tourists off a bridge, and what's left in the wake isn't just shell casings, wreckage, bodies. There's something else. Something bad. An aftermath. A recoil. A reaction to all that anger and pain and death.

This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity #1) by Victoria Schwab
Published: 5 July 2016 by Greenwillow Books
Format - Length: Hardcover - 427 pages
Source: Owlcrate
Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy
Goodreads | My Goodreads Review
Amazon | Barnes and Noble

There’s no such thing as safe.

Kate Harker wants to be as ruthless as her father. After five years and six boarding schools, she’s finally going home to prove that she can be.

August Flynn wants to be human. But he isn’t. He’s a monster, one that can steal souls with a song. He’s one of the three most powerful monsters in a city overrun with them. His own father’s secret weapon.

Their city is divided.

Their city is crumbling.

Kate and August are the only two who see both sides, the only two who could do something.

But how do you decide to be a hero or a villain when it’s hard to tell which is which?

Have you read this book? What's your favorite Schwab book? Tell me down in comments!

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Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda | Review

WOW. Wow wow wow wow wow wow.

Note: this is the first book in absolute ages (possibly ever) that I have finished in under 24 hours. I listened to a lot of it on audio while doing menial tasks throughout the day and then stayed up until 5 AM reading this because I am so in love with Simon and Blue.

A second note: This post has been sitting in my drafts for actual months. I still love it as much as the moment I finished it.

I knew people loved this book, so naturally, I went in skeptical because 9 times out of 10 I am that one person that didn't like TFIOS, Eleanor & Park, Will Herondale, etc. So I went in skeptical and was instantly shocked with how much I adored Simon and his Bachelor(ette) watching family, even if they do watch it at the wrong time of the year (but that's really not something normal people would notice). I had my guesses to Blue's identity. However, just over halfway through, I was starting to get worried because there is no way that people liked Guy A (name redacted because of spoilers) as Blue. No fucking way. Half of me was worried this was going to be a 9 out of 10 situations and then kept to my trust in my book friends and a blind trust that Becky Albertalli wasn't cliche as fuck.

And she wasn't.

And I was happy.

Honestly, I can't think of a single thing that I didn't enjoy about this book. It creates suspense. It plays with tropes. I was rooting for Simon. I hated Martin. The friendships were refreshingly honest for YA; they weren't all happy all the time but had obstacles to overcome. The romance is fucking adorable. Albertalli in not so many words says to teens that "Masturbation to Drarry fanfic is completely normal" which I've never seen in YA and gets a major thumbs up from me. She also nails the southern USA, said from a Tennessean. It was compulsively readable and addicting. I adored the emails between Blue and Simon. It gets straight to the point and doesn't spend three chapter idling around. Simon's unique voice is distinct and lovable.

5 well-deserved stars to you, Becky Albertalli. 5 stars to you and Simon and Blue.

TLDR: JUST READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T. YOU WON'T REGRET IT.

Goodreads | My Goodreads Review | Amazon | Kindle | Barnes and Noble

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Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo | Review + *flailing*

asdfghjklpoiuytrewqzxcvbnm (translation: this book is going directly onto my favorites shelf)

Even almost a week after finishing this book, I still have trouble talking about it cohesively. This is hands down one of the best books in YA fiction and definitely one of my favorite books of the year thus far. The only thing that I didn't enjoy about this book while reading it was that at a certain point in the novel, the flashbacks were happening every chapter from every character's POV. However, those flashbacks all served the purpose of successful character building and then the next chapter after I had that thought, the flashbacks were pretty much done and the action really started. So, honestly, I don't really have that much of a problem with it.

A few of my favorite things I loved about this book:

- Nina's sass and unapologetic dedication and belief in herself. I definitely see why everyone loves Inej (she will appear later on this list) but while I was reading this book, I could feel myself latching on to Nina's character and her story and her history. I felt myself relating so much to her, and I love that there's more than one female main character to read about.

- Matthias's narrative was the reason Matthias was my favorite character to read from. I think this is why Six of Crows doesn't come across as super info-dumpy. He also had by far the most unique voice out of all of the characters and I absolutely adored reading through his eyes. Fantastic job.

- I've never actually read a heist story before, but from what I've heard (and from what Leigh has said) it follows the basic structure of a heist story. We see our characters struggle and we see how they react under that insane pressure. Whether they grow or break or become more vulnerable or create new walls. 

- I actually enjoyed all the relationships in this book, which if you know me and my tastes, will probably come across as a surprise. I am incredibly picky when it comes to reading about a romance between characters because most of the time it's just incredibly ridiculous in YA books. However, the fantastic thing about the majority of the relationships in this book are either preexisting or have been simmering for a good while. We do get the excitement of a new relationship and a bit of flirting between those characters. They're all so cute!

- We have a diverse cast of characters! Our main character, Kaz, walks with a cane. Throughout the story, we find out why he has a limp, but the stand-out part about Kaz to me is that Leigh Bardugo writes in her acknowledgments:

"I have a degenerative condition called osteonecrosis. This basically translates to 'bone death,' which sounds kind of gothy and romantic, but actually means that every step I take is painful and that I sometimes need to walk with a cane. [. . .] I often felt that Kaz and I were limping along this road together." 

Alongside Kaz, we have characters of color, and we also have diversity of body type and sexuality. - The use of humor in this book is done incredibly well and Jesper is my baby. I love him dearly. No one touch him.

- The discussion topics this book brings up are fantastic, especially the ones surrounding Kaz's character. I would label him probably as a chaotic good character, and then we have Nina who is probably more a lawful/neutral good character. And we have a discussion amongst the characters, notably Nina and Inej, about whether what he does and how he does it is right or not.

- Inej. Her past and her determination and her true level of skill. Her belief in herself and how much she grows throughout this novel. She's brilliant. I could go on for hours. My book is underlined and written in and made me cry, oh did it make me cry.

FAVORITE QUOTES

By far my favorite from the entire book:

“Many boys will bring you flowers. But someday you'll meet a boy who will learn your favorite flower, your favorite song, your favorite sweet. And even if he is too poor to give you any of them, it won't matter because he will have taken the time to know you as no one else does. Only that boy earns your heart.” 

A classic:

No mourners. No funerals. Among them, it passed for 'good luck.'

This is why Matthias is my favorite (with Jesper as a close second):

Jesper knocking his head against the hull and cast his eyes heavenward.
"Fine. But if Pekka Rollins kills us all, I'm going to get Wylan's ghost to teach my ghost how to play the flute just so that I can annoy the hell out of your ghost."
Brekker's lips quirked. "I'll just hire Matthias' ghost to kick your ghost's ass."
"My ghost won't associate with your ghost," Matthias said primly, and then wondered if the sea air was rotting his brain. 

A conversation between my favorite couple:

“It's not natural for women to fight."
"It's not natural for someone to be as stupid as he is tall, and yet there you stand.” 

Classic Kaz:

“When everyone knows you’re a monster, you needn’t waste time doing every monstrous thing.”

Have you read this yet? I just got Crooked Kingdom on Friday and haven't had time to read it yet, so don't say anything about it! If you've read SOC, tell me your thoughts down in the comments!

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child | Script Review (SPOILERS)

A few disclaimers:

1) I already knew the story going into this. I had read a few tumblr posts about the plot and was like "lol this is either the worst thing ever or the best troll job I've ever seen." Suffice to say it was not the best troll job I've ever seen, so I went into this book with extremely low expectations with the tiniest glimmer of hope that what I'd read wasn't true. (AKA: This isn't a review of "this book didn't meet lofty expectations.")

2) I'm not here to attack people that did enjoy the book. The world (and the book community) would be a very dull place if everyone had the exact same opinions on books.

3) I know very little about plays. Most of my knowledge resides in one act plays and more classically viewed plays. I wasn't expecting it to be Shakespeare, but I was expecting a much different written word than I was given in this script.

4) As a poor American college student who will probably never see this play in real life, I cannot attest to the production value of this play. I am sure there was a lot of money funneled into making the effects work and the magic seem realistic. I am sure that the actors deliver their lines phenomenally; however, I expect a script to be able to give me a whole story, and in my opinion it should be able to stand on it's own.

TLDR: This was essentially bad fanfiction, and I will be returning it ASAP for a book that I will actually enjoy.

OKAY. NOW THE REVIEW.

SPOILERS FROM HERE ONWARD.

WHAT I LIKED:

• Scorpius Malfoy. He is the Hermione in this Albus & Scorpius friendship wherein Albus is the worst combo of Ron + Harry that I've ever seen. I have more to discuss on everything I didn't like later.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:

• Literally everything else.

• All of the characters felt two-dimensional to me. I would love to introduce Jack Thorne to the idea of character development because I don't think he's heard of it. For most of Acts II & III we go on this absolutely horrendous journey through time. The outcome of this is Albus sitting down with his dad in the Slytherin dormitory and having a lovely conversation (3.11). The natural outcome of that conversation seemed to be, while not explicitly stated, that MAYBE THE ADULTS KNOW A THING OR TWO THAT TWO 14 YEAR OLD BOYS DON'T UNDERSTAND. Yet, the next scene is two 14 year old boys doing things that they think is best for the world. (And, yes, I say entire world. Read Acts II and III. This pertains to the entire wizarding world.)

• THE GIRL'S NAME IS DELPHI. DELPHI. AS IN THE ORACLE OF DELPHI. COULD WE HAVE PICKED A MORE OBVIOUS NAME FOR THE GIRL WHO IS ABOUT TO SCREW WITH THE PROPHECIES?

• As stated above, I have very limited knowledge of reading plays, so this definitely won't be a negative for everyone. However, for me reading this book was incredibly difficult. I understand wanting to incorporate a character's voice into a story, but this script got to an absolutely ridiculous point with hyphens that Sarah J. Maas would say "Wow, um, this is a lot of fucking hyphens." I had a hard time even understanding what the characters were saying because it was shrouded in hyphens when structurally there should have just been another grammatical note there (i.e. period, comma, italics).

• Speaking of the dialogue, it was cheesy as hell. Ludo Bagman, who while not a very strong character initially, was essentially a caricature of himself. I could give you more examples, such as Hermione referring to Ron as "husband" when directly speaking to him in Act IV. (Also, she comes into a room about two or three times and says "What did I miss?" Um. Hamilton reference?) (Also, there are such muggle references coming of Ginny's mouth in this play that she would never have known [i.e. "Saved by the door."] REALLY? Get a laugh from the audience in another way, please.)

• You will never be able to tell me that Amos Diggory, the man that never blamed Harry for Cedric's death, the man who refused to take the Triwizard money from Harry because he "deserved it" and the man that was glad Cedric's death was quick rather than drawn out would ever blame Harry for his son's death whether he was under the Imperius Curse or not. (Was he under that? idk this was very unclear. Maybe it was a confounding charm?) We literally have a whole chapter in GOF where 4th year Hogwarts students learn to throw off the Imperius Curse, so don't try and tell me that a man who fought with the original Order can't do it.

• On the same note of believability, am I really supposed to believe that in the middle of a war, Bellatrix had Voldemort's child? Bellatrix would totally do anything for him, I won't deny that, but for most of the seventh book, wasn't he in hiding? And in the scenes that we do see Bellatrix, she's never described as looking pregnant? idk, these are small things (Additionally, the idea that Voldemort would want a child is laughable to me. Like, he would never.)

• This script contradicts fundamental laws stated within the original seven books. Not only is the time travel completely laughable and inconsistent with the time travel present in book 3, nor is this "long-distance time-travel" explained in the least, it messes with things that are laced within the very things they are trying to fix. Maybe I'm just being dense, but how are any of them allowed to see Lily and James's house in the past? The Fidelius Charm should, in theory still be in effect in the past, so how are any of our characters seeing the house as they have not been told the location by Peter Pettigrew? I guess since they are from the future, they are outside of the laws of time? The charm has already been broken in their time, so they can see the house? This needs explanation and gets none for the sake of a stirring scene that fans of the series have already read and seen a dozen times throughout the movies and books.

• The entire first act had no flow or sense of direction in my opinion. It skimmed over everything to give the audience all but meaningless glances in time.

• The plot was a conglomeration of cliches and tropes. If they had been twisted or manipulated in an original way, I would be more okay with it, but this felt very unoriginal to me and more like something I've read a ton of. I mean, did we really have to go there with the trolley lady? Did we really?

• Hermione hid the time-turner in a bookcase? I mean, really? Hermione of all people knows the power of time turners and doesn't destroy it immediately. LOL. THAT'S HILARIOUS.

• Somehow, Scorpius conveniently knows that Snape's patronus is a doe, the same as Lily's but somehow both he and Albus missed out on the lesson that was titled "don't fuck with time, it's a bad idea" or "Time-Travel: A History."

• Queer-baiting. One of the stage directions in Part 1 is literally something along the lines of "SCORPIUS looks at ALBUS. Heartbroken." after he does something slightly romantic towards Delphi. Then you're going to tell me that he happily chases after Rose at the end? I mean, I am all for bisexual Scorpius, but completely dismissing all of his feelings was poorly handled.

• The only universe in which Hermione doesn't become a bitter, enraged old maid is the universe where she marries Ron Weasley. Am I supposed to believe that the brightest witch of her age became all but useless without love? HAS JACK THORNE READ THESE BOOKS?

WHEW. I'm done. I'm promptly going to return this book and pretend that I never read it.

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson | Review

Playlists were such a big part of Amy and Roger and Since You've Been Gone that I was both glad for a break from the playlists while also missing them deeply so I was really happy that the Target edition of the book has "Andie's Summer Playlist" (missing a few songs, but it's the thought that counts, yes?) for me to obsess over*.

* But really, it's all I've listened to since I finished the book. It's an amazing playlist.

Also, if you haven't seen these two beautiful wallpapers from Pop! Goes the Reader, you have to check them out because they are super cute and one of them is already resting comfortably on my desktop background.

I absolutely adored this book. It's by far my favorite Morgan Matson book that I have read*, and it has my new favorite book boyfriend. His name is Clark, and he's the most adorable nerd you'll ever read. I promise. 

Aside from the most perfect romance story, there are two main things that I absolutely loved about this story: the family aspect and the friendships. So many important things are brought up with both of these topics while still feeling realistic and incredibly well done. We see Andie going through ups and downs with both her father and her friends which I think is super important and great.

* I've just started Second Chance Summer!

It's also really funny (and also really sad?) and I genuinely appreciate the humor in this. We get so many amazing "dad" jokes in this book. (I put dad in quote marks because this my same sense of very dry, pun-driven humor.) We get all the emotional punches in this book, and even though I could see some of the plot points coming*, I was still hanging on to every word and seeing the journey Andie would take to get that point.

I'm usually not pleased with contemporaries because it's always boy meets girl but they can't be together because reasons or boy meets girl and they immediately fall in love, conflict happens, and then they overcome struggle (but then the book ends before you really see their relationship grow). We get the before and during of the relationship in this book so if you, like me, are constantly displeased by the amount of couple-ness happening then I honestly think you'll love this romance.

There are really important places that the friendship goes in this book, and while I won't tell you where it goes (because spoilers) it takes a really powerful turn. (And honestly I could read a whole other book about it.)

*especially if you've been around the YA contemporary block a few times

But honestly, if you haven't picked this book up, please do because I don't think you'll be disappointed.

(Also, this is a perfectly acceptable first Morgan Matson book, so don't feel super intimidated if this will have been your first Matson.)

The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson
Published: 3 May 2016 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Format - Length: Hardcover - 519
Source: Target
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary, Romance
Goodreads | My Goodreads Review

Andie had it all planned out.

When you are a politician’s daughter who’s pretty much raised yourself, you learn everything can be planned or spun, or both. Especially your future.

Important internship? Check.

Amazing friends? Check.

Guys? Check (as long as we’re talking no more than three weeks).

But that was before the scandal. Before having to be in the same house with her dad. Before walking an insane number of dogs. That was before Clark and those few months that might change her whole life.

Because here’s the thing—if everything’s planned out, you can never find the unexpected.

And where’s the fun in that?

Have you read this yet? What's your favorite summer contemporary? Tell me down in the comments!

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