HP and the Cursed Child (JK Rowling)

I'm back so soon with another review because yesterday was a big day in the book community: we have an eighth Harry Potter story to read and love as much as the others! I originally had not planned to go out and buy the book on release day, but I happened to be in the right place at the right time so I couldn't pass by without grabbing a copy. Shout out to Cole's for giving away special Harry Potter book bags with the purchase of the book because I am in love with the bag. As a final note before the review, I will say this: I am a huge Harry Potter fan so you may think I'm bias (which is possible) but I am trying to write this review as objectively as I can for you readers. Now on with the review!

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a novel composed of the script from the West End stage play written by JK Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany. Since this is Harry Potter, and I know I wouldn't have wanted any spoilers if I didn't have the book, I'm not going to provide much of a synopsis. What I will say is that the script begins where the epilogue of the original series leaves off. You are immediately thrown into Kings Cross station and then into Platform 9 3/4 where you get to follow Albus as he journeys to Hogwarts for the first time. Since this is a story of the next generation, the focus is on Albus and his friend Scorpius, who both manage to find themselves in some trouble.

The writing style is different so I will preface my review by reminding you guys that the book doesn't read as a regular novel. Since the entirety of the story is explained through dialogue, with minimal descriptors presented as stage directions, you don't necessarily get the full "Hogwarts experience" as with the main series. This concept was difficult in the first couple scenes as I had to adjust my way of reading to recognize the dynamic of the conversation so that I didn't have to read the name of who was talking; however, it soon started to read as a normal book once you get past that small detail.

The plot is definitely something I would never have come up with on my own and it's definitely better than anything I had thought or predicted for the epilogue. I will say that the first quarter of the book feels slightly rushed since we see snippets of Albus' first few years at Hogwarts. With that said, I do recognize that this is a play and those productions have time constraints; there would be no way to include stories of each year without writing another 7 book series. Another exciting thing about the plot is that JK Rowling addressed some of the questions that I've had for years. I know a lot of people had questions about the Time Turners and why they were not used more extensively to "fix" certain events. For those of you that had wondered that, definitely read Cursed Child for some more insight.

The characters made me so happy because you have the old ones you know and love mixed in with the new ones you grow to love quite quickly. Since the plot is quite fast paced, you don't gain as much character development as we did with the original series; however, as mentioned before, certain things are incomparable because you have a West End play versus a 7 book series. One thing I will say is that the dynamic between Albus and Scorpius, as well as their relationships to their respective fathers, is familiar and new all at the same time. I loved the chemistry that exists there and how easy it is to cheer them on in their adventures.

Rating: 4.5/5

Reason: It's Harry Potter and I loved revisiting the Wizarding World, but the script means the story lacks descriptors and a more flushed out story.

Find a copy here

Until next time,
Happy Reading Fellow Bookworms :)

 As always comment your thoughts and follow all of the associated pages (listed in the sidebar). I am not currently accepting requests as my list is quite long!

In Vitro Lottery (Ed Ryder)

It has been quite some time since my last review and I am so sorry about that! As mentioned last time, I started a new co-op job which has become quite crazy in the last two weeks. I've been working a decent amount of overtime and the work has been physically demanding. What does that have to do with no reviews? It means I come home, shower, eat, and then fall asleep. But I have finished another book and I am back to tell you about it.

In Vitro Lottery by Ed Ryder is a science fiction novel about a world in which it costs to reproduce, after the Norwegian Death killed many people and a virus stopped natural reproduction. Now a company holds the fate of every family through the In Vitro Lottery. If your name is selected, you have the honour of receiving the treatment for free. However, when Kate wins the lottery, only to pass it to her sister Emily, something happens that makes her want to claim her prize and get close to the clinic head Victor Pearson. Why would she do that? Kate has some unfinished business she'd like to wrap up.

Now I started this book about halfway through June and I finished it last night. For me, that is a long time to spend on a single book; however, as mentioned above, I've been working and had little time to read. Despite that fact, I did find myself not wanting to pick up the book at times. Though the characters are written quite well, and the concept is something I definitely wanted to "wow" me, the plot line just didn't get there. I personally found the book to be choppy, jumping it's focus in a slightly confusing manner. The novel felt as though key elements had been written and then secondary elements were created later to fill in the gaps. Of course, this is a personal opinion, but I did struggle to become immersed into the book when the plot changed courses more times than necessary.

I will add, however, that the concept for the book was definitely strong and I loved the idea of it. The last 30 - 40 pages grabbed my attention and held onto it. I just wish the rest of the book had of been similar in style and pace.

Rating: 2/5

Reason: Amazing concept and characters. Lack of a mono-directional plot.

Find a copy here

Until next time,
Happy Reading Fellow Bookworms :)

 

 As always comment your thoughts and follow all of the associated pages (listed in the sidebar). I am not currently accepting requests as my list is quite long!

 

A copy of the book was provided to me for honest review purposes.

Stake Out (Lily Luchesi)

Hello everyone and I hope you've been enjoying the month of June so far; I know I've been! I started my new co-op job last week and it's been quite interesting. I've been working outside almost every day for 8 hours, which is way more time than I would usually spend. But one good thing comes from being in the heat all day: being tired in the evening and curling up with a good book.

Stake Out by Lily Luchesi is a paranormal mystery novel that follows detective Danny Mancini as he tries to catch the murderer of the case he's been working on. But this case turns out to be quite unusual when the man he's chasing has been playing this game for 200 years: the guy is a vampire. With this revelation, Danny teams up with FBI agent Angelica Cross, from a secret paranormal division, to take this vampire down. But is there more to this case than meets the eye and what is it about Angelica that sparks something in Danny?

I read Stake Out fairly quickly and it was a pretty decent novel. It's the first in a selection of "Paranormal Detective" novels by Lily Luchesi. I've never really been drawn into the paranormal - mystery crossover genre before so this was a pretty good book to start with. The two elements were cohesive and didn't seem to be too extreme to the point of clashing. The plot was easy to follow but at times felt a little too predictable for a mystery novel; I think without the paranormal element, this book would have fallen quite low on the scale for me.

The characters were well written, but at times I wished the surface would have been scratched a little deeper; I didn't quite connect as much as I hoped I would. They were very stereotypical characters and almost always acted as I expected them to. I only wish that there was some more spunk or spontaneity to them. Overall, it was a good, light read which can be perfect for a low-key evening.

Rating: 3.5/5

Reason: It was a cohesive story that just lacked some more punch.

Find a copy here

Until next time,
Happy Reading Fellow Bookworms :)

 As always comment your thoughts and follow all of the associated pages (listed in the sidebar). I am not currently accepting requests as my list is quite long!

A copy of the book was provided to me for honest review purposes.

Rebellion Project (Sara Schoen)

Welcome to an extra special review! It's almost the middle of the week, which isn't my normal posting day, but this is part of a book tour. I was provided an ARC of today's book through Rock Your World Promotions in exchange for an honest review, and hopefully to get some more readers hyped about the book which is out today!

The Rebellion Project by Sara Schoen is a YA fiction novel that follows Lauren Scott's journey to find the person she has always wanted to be, and what better time than high school to do just that! Lauren is the stereotyped "geek" who skipped a couple grades and always follows the rules, no matter the cost to her social stature. However, the name calling begins to rub her the wrong way, especially when she catches her father - the king of rules - breaking everything he tells her to do. With this revelation, Lauren turns to her best friend Parker who tells her to seek the help of the one person who knows how to break the rules and bring her from drool to cool: Kayden Daniels. But is fraternizing with the enemy a good idea, or does it have bad written all over it? Perhaps it could be both?

Watch The Trailer

After reading this book in under two days I was left with only a few words: WOW, HOLY SMOKES, and AMAZING! It's been quite some time since I've read a YA fiction that wasn't science fiction or mystery and it made an incredible change. I don't even know where to start with this one, so I'm going to break it down a little bit:

Plot

There is definitely something for everyone in this and I have to say, I related to this more than I thought I would! There is romance, high school drama, rebellion (duh!), family values, heartache, and so much more. I definitely think most young readers will look at this plot and honestly say, "that's me" at some point.

Characters

It's funny how an author can create characters that each have a unique personality, but are recognizable in such a way that you can put someone you know into each one. The archetypes are familiar, yet also new. I fell in love with Kayden from the beginning and sometimes found myself internally shouting at my book for some of his stupidity. A+ work on characters!

Writing

This is the only part where the novel falters in my mind. I recognize I had an ARC but there were several typos or grammatical errors, which at times were distracting. That's just the type of reader I am. In addition, there were some passages of non-dialogue text that seemed to drag or become repetitive; it's hard to explain (perhaps personal taste?).

Overall, the book was pretty incredible and I definitely struggled to put it down to complete other things I needed to do in the day. To be honest, I didn't do too well with putting it down - I think I may have binged-read the novel. Good job Sara Schoen! As mentioned at the start, this review was part of a book tour so check out some of the other reviews.

Rating: 4.5/5

Reason: Both the plot and the characters were incredible! 

You can pick up a copy here

Until next time,
Happy Reading Fellow Bookworms :)

 As always comment your thoughts and follow all of the associated pages (listed in the sidebar). I am not currently accepting requests as my list is quite long!

A copy of the book was provided to me for honest review purposes.

Visions Of My Heart (Garikai Nhongo)

Welcome back everyone! I'm excited to be back to posting reviews and I hope to be a little more consistent now that I have free time. This review is a little bit different because it's for poetry. You may recall when I reviewed The Great Repression last year, which was the first time I'd ever truly sat down and read a book of poems. So welcome to the second poetry book on this blog!

Vision Of My Heart: 101 Tales Told In Verse is a book of short poems by the author Garikai Nhongo. He reached out to me all the way back in February and kindly provided me with a copy of his book in exchange for an honest review. The poems reflect the journey through love and heartbreak, as well as the overall journey of life.

When I first started the collection of poems, I did so with an open mind and tried to put my heart in the place of the author, since poetry is quite personal. Unfortunately, for me, I found it difficult to get through the poems for a few reasons. First, the poetry was done through rhyming verses which gave the pieces a lack of fluidity; some rhymes felt forced and others didn't rhyme correctly or at all. It made it difficult for me to immerse myself in the journey. Second, the poems began to feel oddly enough repetitive; I'm not sure why it felt that way to me, but it did.

For the sake of my honest review, I will let you know that I actually couldn't complete the book. It's rare for me to give up on a book because I understand the importance of the complete story and full picture. But, for the case of this book of poetry, I just didn't find that my heart was in it. Despite that, as I mention whenever I review something that didn't capture my interest, I always encourage you to give it a try since it may capture something in you.

Rating: 1/5

Reason: For me the rhyming held back the connection to the stories and at times were forced or not present. Also, I didn't finish the story so I can't rate it any higher.

You can try a copy here

 

Until next time,
Happy Reading Fellow Bookworms :)

 

 As always comment your thoughts and follow all of the associated pages (listed in the sidebar). I am not currently accepting requests as my list is quite long!

 

A copy of the book was provided to me for honest review purposes.

In Real Life (Joey Graceffa)

It's May and the sun is shining! That makes me extremely happy because April was crazy with exams and trying to find a job for my co-op placement. Now that all of those responsibilities are done, and I've taken some time out for myself to regroup, I think I'm ready to exit the reading slump I've been in. Every term after exams, I'm left not wanting to read anything due to the fact that I just spent a month reading study notes. But I'm back, starting with a book I bought myself after Christmas!

In Real Life: My Journey to a Pixelated World by Joey Graceffa is an autobiography about his childhood, family, and transition into a full-time YouTube position. For those who aren't followers of Joey, I'll give you a brief description. Joey Graceffa joined YouTube back in 2007 with his friend Brittany, before beginning his own channel in 2009. Through the success of his channel, with over 6 million subscribers, Joey has achieved many great successes and experienced some pretty amazing things - one of which was being on The Amazing Race... twice!

Being a fan of Joey, ever since I started following his channel about 4 years ago, I was really excited to read his autobiography to get a deeper glimpse into the world he already shares. I was surprised by how many of his stories I didn't know yet despite watching his daily vlogs on YouTube. For those who watch his vlogs, you know that he is extremely bubbly and positive throughout most of his video time, which is why this book was a nice change. Having the opportunity to learn more about the hardships he went through in childhood, made me look up to Joey even more than I already did. Joey inspires me to strive for full positivity despite any weights that try to pull you down.

There is a section of photos that has some
incredible throwbacks for the Joey fans

In Real Life is a nice breath of fresh air to realign your perspective on things, especially for the younger readers who might be reading this review. If you are in high school or elementary school, Joey fan or not, I do recommend reading his autobiography because he gives some great advice! To Joey, if by some crazy chance he sees this, thank you for sharing more of your life with your viewers and the lessons you've learned along the way.

Rating: 4/5

Reason: For me I would give it a perfect. But, in terms of readership, if you aren't already a fan of Joey I fear that this would be lacking something. Also, I would say it's a very narrow audience in terms of age - I would recommend ages 12 - 24.

Pick up a copy! 

Until next time,
Happy Reading Fellow Bookworms :)

 

 As always comment your thoughts and follow all of the associated pages (listed in the sidebar). I am not currently accepting requests as my list is quite long!

Weeping Water (JT Ruby)

It's another month! Time really does fly when you're busy at university and heading into exams. Speaking of which, I finished my first one yesterday and only have 4 more to get through! While studying, it's always important to take breaks from the material and read something completely unrelated. My choice for that was the book I'm going to talk about today. The author of the book is actually from my hometown so I was extremely excited to read this one. Thank you JT Ruby for kindly providing me with a copy to review!

Work Hard - Read Harder

Weeping Waters is a science fiction novel that follows Elliot and Annie, as well as their respective families, as they face the reanimation process 35 years after death. CryoCore, a company with advancing technology, provides humans with a second chance at life by freezing the bodies until the proper medical treatment can be guaranteed; this is the fate Elliot and Annie's bodies face. Though they had separate tragedies and lives before CryoCore, their rehabilitation brings them together in an unusual love story. They both face the struggles of getting out of CryoCore and back to life, but will they be able to keep their new life together?

My initial reaction to this book was WOW. It was fast-paced when it needed to be and slower when necessary; it had the perfect balance. Falling in love with the characters doesn't take long either because each one has a unique personality type so you are bound to find one you can relate to. Elliot is a level-headed, young businessman who sees second life as an opportunity, despite initial hesitations towards CryoCore. Annie is the opposite, making her very spontaneous and full of quick reaction, which gets her in trouble. I like to see it as Annie is the rebellious young teenager and Elliot is the older teenager facing a transition to adulthood; gives you the idea of the personalities a little better.

In terms of final responses to Weeping Water, it really makes you think and reflect. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know this is something I really enjoy in a novel. The concept of CryoCore makes you think about the life you are leading and if you are doing it justice by living fully; it brings the idea of "anything can happen so live as though today is your last." By adding a second-chance at life, it pushes the question further by asking you "what regrets would you want to make right if given the chance?"

Lastly, I want to give a shout out to the author, JT Ruby, for his incredible writing style. It flowed so smoothly and was only descriptive when necessary. Furthermore, I enjoyed that a fair amount of the novel was written through dialogue instead of narrative passages; it's more immersive for a reader so I'm really happy.

Rating: 5/5

Reason: Thought-provoking and immersing novel
Disclaimer: There are a couple of mature sections.
Trigger Warning: Attempted sexual assault.

Pick up a copy!

Until next time,
Happy Reading Fellow Bookworms :)

 As always comment your thoughts, e-mail me for business inquiries, and follow all of the associated pages (listed in the sidebar).

A copy of the book was provided to me for honest review purposes.