Tuesday 28 March 2017

Musing Monday - Norse gods & picture books


Musing Monday, March 27, 2017

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:


  • I’m currently reading…
  • Up next I think I’ll read…
  • I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
  • I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
  • I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
  • I can’t wait to get a copy of…
  • I wish I could read ___, but…
  • I blogged about ____ this past week…

 I’m currently reading…



Serpent's Kiss (The Beauchamp Family #2)
by Melissa de la Cruz

I finished my library book on Saturday so that meant starting a new book. Since I re-read Witches of East End with the sole purpose of refreshing myself enough to read the last two books in the series, I figured I probably should do that right away even though I wasn't in the mood for more of this series. But yes, I am now reading book #2, Serpent's Kiss. So why wasn't I in the mood for it? Well, the first time I read Witches of East End I really enjoyed it or at least my Goodreads rating of 4 indicates that I did. But after a reread, I was really tempted to lower it to a 3. There were just some things that annoyed me during the reread that made me not really look forward to reading more. But I am.

I'm about 80 pages into the sequel and so far, it's mostly all right. There are a few annoyances. Freddie is SUPER annoying so far, but he's been annoying since the moment he showed up as the twist at the end of Witches of East End. Freya's relationship drama is just slightly annoying too. I can't figure out why Ingrid is doing some of the things she's doing. And I have yet to see any indication of an overall plot. The slow reveal of the Norse mythology could definitely move faster, it's being revealed very slowly. But Bran's not in it yet so I'm liking that because even before the reveal in the first book I did not like Bran and thought he was all wrong for Freya.

Here's hoping it gets better as it goes along and that the things annoying me get worked out, because I really want to read the final book - it goes to the Salem Witch Trials, which I have always been fascinated with. Here have a summary:
Just as things have settled down in the off-the-map Long Island town of North Hampton for the magical Beauchamp family, everything gets turned upside down once more when Freya's twin brother Fryr, or "Freddie" as he's called now, returns from Limbo with shocking news - that it was none other than Freya's fiancé, Killian Gardiner, who set up his downfall.
He begs Freya to keep his presence a secret, even from their own family, but somehow the irascible Freddie is still able to conduct many affairs with the town's young lovelies from his self-imposed exile. Until he falls for the wrong girl.

While Freya tries to keep her brother from exacting revenge on the man she loves, Ingrid has her own problems. Her human boyfriend, Matt Noble, becomes entangled in a complicated investigation, and when the magical creatures at the center of it come to Ingrid for help, she has a difficult choice to make.

To top it off, a dead spirit is trying to make contact with Joanna - but does it mean to harm or warn the witches? All hell breaks loose at the family reunion over Thanksgiving, and much mayhem ensues, but when the culprit behind Freddie's imprisonment is finally revealed, it may already be too late to staunch the poison that's been released by the serpent's kiss. -- via Goodreads

        THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: What was your favourite picture book as a kid?


My first thought on seeing this question was, "Welp, time to ask my mum what the answer is!". See, I can't actually remember having a specific favourite picture book! I had a favourite novel - one that I made my mum read to me over and over again until I could read it to myself over and over again at the age of 6. That was The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. I also had a favourite poem as a child too, one that I still know most of the words to off by heart. E.V. Rieu's Sir Smasham Uppe. But I can't remember having one single favourite picture book. But I do remember having a favourite series of picture books when I was a kid. The Berenstain Bears series, I feel like I had about a million of these and I remember reading them all the time. But according to my mum, I didn't have one that I specifically loved that stood out to her.


Tuesday 21 March 2017

Musing Monday - fairy tales & alternate histories


Musing Monday, March 20, 2017

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:


  • I’m currently reading…
  • Up next I think I’ll read…
  • I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
  • I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
  • I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
  • I can’t wait to get a copy of…
  • I wish I could read ___, but…
  • I blogged about ____ this past week…

 I’m currently reading…


The Case of the Missing Moonstone (The Wollstonecraft Detective Agency #1)
by Jordan Stratford & Kelly Murphy

I was looking through lists of alternate history novels on Goodreads last week after finishing up, and love, Front Lines. I came across this one in the lists and saw that my local public library had an available ebook copy, so I downloaded it. I haven't been spending a lot of time reading it because my phone has been tied up in casting Netflix onto my TV for me, but what I have read so far I've really enjoyed. Ada is a fun character so far and I look very forward to getting to know her and Mary better.


What caught my attention about this one specifically out of all the books I was looking at was the premise. Ada Lovelace and Mary Shelley meet as young girls, become friends, and form a detective agency. It reminds me very much of another series I have recently enjoyed, the Stoker & Holmes series where Sherlock's niece and Bram's sister become friends and solve mysteries and hunt vampires in a Steampunk London.


I have high hopes for my enjoyment of this book so we'll see if it lives up to them.
History, mystery, and science collide in a new series for middle-grade readers, perfect for fans of The Mysterious Benedict Society and Lemony Snicket! 

Jordan Stratford imagines an alternate 1826, where Ada Lovelace (the world’s first computer programmer) and Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein) meet as girls and form a secret detective agency!

Lady Ada Byron, age eleven, is a genius. Isolated, awkward and a bit rude—but a genius. Mary Godwin, age fourteen, is a romantic. Adventurous, astute, and kind, Mary is to become Ada’s first true friend. And together, the girls conspire to form the Wollstonecraft Detective Agency—a secret constabulary for the apprehension of clever criminals. Their first case involves a stolen heirloom, a false confession, and an array of fishy suspects. But it’s no match for the deductive powers and bold hearts of Ada and Mary.

Mystery fans will love this tween girl riff on Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. History buffs will be delighted to see all the real figures who play a role in this story and appreciate the extensive backmatter that helps separate truth from fiction. Parents and educators hoping to promote the STEM fields for girls will be thrilled to have a series where two girls use math, science, and creative analytical thinking to solve crimes. But most espicially--emerging readers will love this series filled with humor, action, intrigue and wonderful artwork from Kelly Murphy. -- via Goodreads

        THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: What do think of fairy tales in general? The book versions and their movie counter parts?


I love fairy tales. One of my favourite classes in my undergraduate program was my children's literature class where we spent a good deal of time looking at the old school fairy tales and their influence. I think there's always going to be room for the classic tales, and for the modern adaptations on their themes and stories. Some modern fairy tales that I have enjoyed in book form include:


  1. Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles
  2. the Modern Faerie Tales series by Holly Black
  3. Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
  4. the fairy tales in A.S. Byatt's Elementals: Stories of Fire and Ice
  5. Bill Willingham's Fables comic series
As a Disney fan it's probably obvious that I enjoy film adaptations of fairy tales as well as I do those written in books. As with books I like the classical adaptations, like those depicted in the Disney films, we well as the more modern and irreverent versions. Films like The Princess Bride and Hoodwinked definitely speak to that.


What's your favourite modern fairy tale?



Saturday 18 March 2017

Something There That Wasn't There Before - a review of Beauty and the Beast (2017)




Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme.  Any Disney fan knows these words and the ones that follow in the classic title song for ‘Beauty and the Beast’.  It’s a wonderful classic tale of a beautiful girl and a cursed selfish prince, destined to spend his days as a hideous beast unless he can find love before the final petal falls from the enchanted rose.  We all know the story, we’ve all fell in love with the award winning animated film but Disney have know remade the classic as a live action film as it has been doing with many of them lately (Cinderella, Jungle Book etc).  


I had big expectations going into this and I was not disappointed.  I was delighted as the cast was announced, many of my favourite actors and actresses signing up for roles.  Much had been made of Emma Watson being cast as Belle and for me, she did a bang up job.  Yes she can sing, yes she can act and thanks to her role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series, she was perfectly suited to bookish Belle, always with her nose in a book but highly intelligent and resourceful as well, not one to step away from a fight.  In the latter point she was probably a lot more proactive in that than the animated Belle but it was all in keeping with the familiar story.


The Beast was always one of my favourite characters but I have said to people many times before that I always felt Disney got it wrong in the animated film as the Beast was much more handsome as a beast than when he was changed back into the Prince. For me, I just didn’t feel he had that Disney Prince quality that many of the others did.  However this time they got it spot on by casting the gorgeous Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey’s Matthew Crawley) in the title role.  Yes when we first see him, he’s not all that handsome which fits in with his vain, selfish and arrogant young self and as a beast he can be at times truly terrifying.  But when the curse is lifted and he is returned to human form, wow what a handsome prince he makes.  He has a mighty fine voice too, and is given a solo in a new song written for this movie and not from the original soundtrack entitled ‘Evermore’ .




The supporting cast are wonderful, Ian McKellen as the pompous Cogsworth, Ewan McGregor as the charming Lumiere and Emma Thompson as the kindly Mrs Potts. Back in the village Kevin Kline gives a charming performance as Maurice, Belle’s father, going from mad professor to caring father with ease.  Even Gaston is devilishly handsome and I can see why the girls would fall for him, if he wasn’t such an evil swine (in the back Gaston? Not good form).  Luke Evans brings a handsome villainy to the proceedings and Josh Gad is delightful as his ever adoring sidekick Le Fou, although in a change from the animated version it’s nice to see the little guy get a happy ending too.  




The soundtrack is pretty much as the original movie with classics such as Something There, The Mob Song, Belle, Gaston and a fabulous version of Be Our Guest.  However as mentioned before there are a couple of new numbers inserted in, but there is no 'Human Again', the song which was written for the original movie then cut then reinserted again following the inclusion in the musical.  I was fully expecting to see it in this version but sadly it was not to be. Instead there was a new number called ‘Days in the Sun’ but it’s not as good as ‘Human Again’.

I don’t want to dwell on the whole Stockholm Syndrome issue as I have always viewed this film (and indeed the original fairytale) for the romantic story it was designed to be and nothing more. As for the controversy surrounding the character of Le Fou being gay, I couldn’t give a flying fig and whilst it is certainly implied, it’s nothing more than a dance.


To summarise, I was enchanted by this movie just as much as I was by the 1991 animated version and despite some little tweaks to the storyline, I am eagerly anticipating the DVD release of this, so I can watch it as many times as I have watched the original and get lost in the fairytale once again.



Rating:



A worthy remake and enchanting



Monday 13 March 2017

Musing Mondays - Witches of East End & writing book reviews


Musing Monday, February 27, 2017

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:


  • I’m currently reading…
  • Up next I think I’ll read…
  • I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
  • I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
  • I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
  • I can’t wait to get a copy of…
  • I wish I could read ___, but…
  • I blogged about ____ this past week…

 I’m currently (re-)reading…


Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz

I wanted to finally read the second and third books in this series because the second book Serpent's Kiss has been sitting on my TBR shelves since it was released in 2012. However, I read the first book way back in 2011 when it was first published, so that means a re-read before I can finish the series. This is a trend you should expect to see a lot this year because I am trying to read through as much of my TBR shelves as possible and they are mostly filled with sequels to first books that I haven't read recently enough to remember all the details of.

This book series is based loosely, from what I remember, on Norse mythology. That's not something one would really guess from reading the cover blurb because the only potential giveaway there is the name Freya. I also seem to remember there being a tie-in to de la Cruz's Blue Bloods series late in the novel which implies that they are set within the same universe. As I haven't read the Blue Bloods books I can't really make an opinion on that tie-in.

Lifetime tried to adapt the series into a TV show, starring Jenna Dewan Tatum, back in 2013-2014. It only lasted 2 seasons, and I remember it not being a very good adaptation. It wasn't even a stellar show, but it changed a LOT of what I remembered from the book, and not for the good in my opinion.

From the author of the highly addictive and bestselling Blue Bloods series, with almost 3 million copies sold, comes a new novel, Melissa de la Cruz's first for adults, featuring a family of formidable and beguiling witches.

The three Beauchamp women--Joanna and her daughters Freya and Ingrid--live in North Hampton, out on the tip of Long Island. Their beautiful, mist-shrouded town seems almost stuck in time, and all three women lead seemingly quiet, uneventful existences. But they are harboring a mighty secret--they are powerful witches banned from using their magic. Joanna can resurrect people from the dead and heal the most serious of injuries. Ingrid, her bookish daughter, has the ability to predict the future and weave knots that can solve anything from infertility to infidelity. And finally, there's Freya, the wild child, who has a charm or a potion that can cure most any heartache.

For centuries, all three women have been forced to suppress their abilities. But then Freya, who is about to get married to the wealthy and mysterious Bran Gardiner, finds that her increasingly complicated romantic life makes it more difficult than ever to hide her secret. Soon Ingrid and Joanna confront similar dilemmas, and the Beauchamp women realize they can no longer conceal their true selves. They unearth their wands from the attic, dust off their broomsticks, and begin casting spells on the townspeople. It all seems like a bit of good-natured, innocent magic, but then mysterious, violent attacks begin to plague the town. When a young girl disappears over the Fourth of July weekend, they realize it's time to uncover who and what dark forces are working against them.

With a brand-new cast of characters, a fascinating and fresh world to discover, and a few surprise appearances from some of the Blue Blood fan favorites, this is a page-turning, deliciously fun, magical summer read fraught with love affairs, witchcraft, and an unforgettable battle between good and evil. -- via Goodreads

        THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: Do you post book reviews right after you finish the book? Or do you wait a while so you can fully digest it before posting a review?


I don't actually write reviews very often anymore and that's partially the reason why. When I used to write reviews on my old blog, I had 2 ways of doing it. I would do a weekly review on Fridays of a book I had finished during that week. The other way was to dredge up a book I hadn't read in ages and then write a review on it since I'd had time to really reflect on the story. I stopped doing both because I kind of got burnt out. I love talking about what I'm reading/have read in the past. Talking about books is awesome. But writing reviews felt too forced and it turned reading into too much work. I would feel stressed and compelled to have to finish books quickly in order to review them every Friday. And then sometimes, I would struggle with the reviews for books I hadn't read because I'd want to talk about details but couldn't remember them all enough to do it well. Might start doing discussion posts instead of straight reviews, that could be interesting.


Tuesday 7 March 2017

Musing Mondays - Which author would I be friends with if I could


Musing Monday, March 6, 2017

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:


  • I’m currently reading…
  • Up next I think I’ll read…
  • I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
  • I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
  • I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
  • I can’t wait to get a copy of…
  • I wish I could read ___, but…
  • I blogged about ____ this past week…

I'm not feeling 100% tonight and so can't think of anything I want to write about for the first part of the meme this week. Therefore I am just going to answer the random question!

        THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: If you could be best friends with an author, who would you choose and why?



I have actually given this question some thought throughout the years. I've daydreamed more than once about what it would be like to be friends with someone of my favourite authors. I thought about Douglas Adams when he was still alive, or Eoin Colfer or Garth Nix or Neil Gaiman. And the obvious answer for a HUGE Potterhead like me would be J.K. Rowling, and I would definitely LOVE to be friends with her especially after watching her on Twitter lately. She is just an awesome and amazing and inspirational woman. But I think I'm going to have to say John Green. He is just so personable and likeable and seems very down to earth. He seems like he would be a lot of fun especially when you get him together with his brother Hank.


Wednesday 1 March 2017

Calendar Girls - Mar 2017 - best book with an active war (in my opinion) - #CalendarGirlsBooks






Calendar Girls is hosted by bloggers, Flavia the Bibliophile and Melanie Noell Bernard – both have amazing blogs full of fun, bookish posts. Calendar Girls is a brand new monthly blog event inspired by Neil Sedaka’s 1961 song Calendar Girl. Just like in the song, we decided to use a specific theme for each month and choose a book based on these themes! The event is meant to incite discussions with other bloggers about books we’ve read and loved, is meant to help bloggers meet other bloggers, and also for bloggers and readers to find out about blogs which they normally may not have come across! Want to know more? Click on the links above! And it’s not too late to jump on the Calendar Girl train! Join now!

Best book with an active war


I am so excited to talk about the book I chose this month and to share it with all of you. The minute I saw the topic for March I knew exactly what book I was going to choose. This book has been sitting on my TBR pile since I bought it last year waiting patiently for me to get to it, and I have been very eager to get to it. Now a caveat, I am still in the process of reading it, I started it on Sunday, but I still believe it is the best choice for best book with an active war. The further I get into it the more solidified that opinion becomes. I'm enjoying this book so much that I looked it up right after starting it to see when the next one would be out, saw that it was released on Jan 31, 2017, and promptly ordered it. It is now sitting on my TBR shelf waiting for me to finish the first book. My pick is a genre that I don't actually read a lot from but would like to start reading more of, historical fiction. It has a premise that was just too perfectly to my tastes for me to not be 100% drawn to it. So without further ado, I give you my choice for the best book with an active war: