Reading Reviews

Reading Reviews

Hello! If this is the first time you are visiting this blog, you may not know that I review books and post the reviews here. With reviews, they can be very tricky to navigate and I think that they should be used, but used properly(?), if that makes sense. This post if fairly random too, so sorry for the break in the usual feed of book, movie, and TV show stuff.


As a reader of reviews, I always try to pick apart what the review says about certain things about the story. For example, if a review says that there is going to be poor characterization- that will matter to me. But if the review is poor because the reader didn't like the love triangle, I'll probably ignore that because I love love triangles. It's just something that I know I try to do when I'm deciding whether or not to read a book and I'm looking at reviews.


As a reviewer, this is something that I also tend to be very aware of. I never want to accidentally discourage someone from reading a book because I didn't like it. There are times when I'll even put giant disclosure on my review saying that this is my opinion and that it may be very different from others. That being said, it is also partially the reason why I usually break up my reviews into three parts: Characters, Plot, and World/Writing. For people who read for certain things, they can sort of jump to the part of the review that they care most about, because that's what they care most about in a book.

Overall, I love reading and writing reviews. I think that they are a great way to get excited for books or simply learn more about them or get a new perspective. However, I think it is also SUPER important that everyone, myself included, remember that every review is coming from the opinions and perspective of one person (usually). Just because they do not like a book means that I will not like it; and just because they like a book, it doesn't mean that I will like it too. The same goes for my reviews- they are my own thoughts. Always be open to reading books, even if some people have bad reviews of them, because only you can have your thoughts about a book.


If you want to see any of my reviews, you can click here and see all of them!

Thanks for reading!

Fallen Movie Trailer Reaction!

Fallen Movie Trailer Reaction

So after what feels like forever, there is now a movie trailer for Fallen by Lauren Kate! It actually came out a little while ago, I think somewhere around end of October? But I only saw for the first time the other day. If you also haven't seen it yet, you can go here to see it!


Going from the beginning, I am really looking forward to the setting of the movie. Sword and Cross looks great and I really really hope that we get to see a lot of different angles of the building/castle that they chose. A bit after I got over that, we see Cam. Cam is probably my favorite angel in this series and he is who I wanted Luce to be with for awhile before she got annoying. Based on what was in the trailer, I think the actor who plays him, Harrison Gilbertson, is going to do a really nice job portraying his character.

Another actor that I think that they got spot-on was Penny. Just from what was in the trailer, I totally felt like this actress was playing the character amazingly. Penny is like the socially awkward but really kinda awesome character of the story and I think that this is going to be shown in the movie. I hope so at least! :)


I really appreciated the pool scene. And then they started to swim, and I was a swimmer, so that part stuck out in my mind like a sore thumb. Daniel starts doing butterfly, which is book-wise correct, but there were a few things with his technique that made me cringe. Not necessarily because it was wrong, but I know how that must have felt!! Especially if he had to do it over and over again- oh me oh my, that must have been painful!

Towards the end of the trailer, we see the wings. At least, we see Daniel's wings, because they're white and glowing. I don't think we've seen Cam's wings, or wings from his side of things, because I don't recall seeing the black wings. There may have been a quick shot of them that I missed, but I don't think so. I hope that they do a good job with them and don't make them white too because that's  kinda important to the story. Black wings versus white wings.


I am so excited to see this movie when it comes out in the United States! I loved reading Fallen and I hope that they do a good job with the movie!

Thanks for reading!!

King's Cage and Fifty Shades Darker

SO MUCH BOOKISH STUFF THIS WEEK!!!

Ok, there are two gigantic things that are coming out this week in the bookish world. The first, King's Cage by Victoria Aveyard is going to be released. And second, Fifty Shades Darker comes out this weekend. There are probably a lot more things happening this week, like the release of Wintersong by S. Jae Jones, but these two really jump out to me.

King's Cage:
OH MY IT IS FINALLY HERE AND I CANNOT OH ME OH MY WE FINALLY HAVE THE NEXT BOOK AND I AM GOING TO SCREAM AND CRY AREN'T I?!?!?!?!!


King's Cage comes out today actually, February 7, 2017. This is the third book of the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard. I have this book pre-ordered and it should be coming in at some point this week. I will probably stay up the entire night that it comes in the mail. The great upside to this- there is one more book coming out after this one! This is going to be, overall, a four book series.

Fifty Shades Darker:
To be completely honest, I am more excited about King's Cage coming out, but this is exciting too because it's another page to screen adaptation that is being released. I am a sucker for good adaptations and I really hope that they did a good job representing the book and making it a good movie.


What I find really interesting is that they filmed this movie and the last one, Fifty Shades Freed, at the same time. It makes me wonder if you'd be able to tell during the movie, so even though I hate to say it, I may be looking for that while I watch it.

This is overall going to be a great year for books and page to screen adaptations and I can't wait to see how they all turn out!

Thanks for reading!

Shadowhunters 2x06

Shadowhunters 2x06

"Iron Sisters"

Thoughts and Feels

 Thinking about it, there wasn't too much that actually happened in this episode. There was some stuff right at the very end, but thaaaaaaat'ssssss about it. I would still rather have an episode like this though, where it is well-paced and has a few different plots, than an old one where we go at break-neck pace with a thousand things going on.

I think they did a pretty decent job with the Iron Sisters! Some of the training/fight scenes with them were slightly disappointing, but the outfits looked good. I'm not totally sure what the shining stuff on their faces were. Or what that story with the Mortal Sword was about. Can the Sword kill all downworlders? I don't think so.... I'm pretty sure its only powers were that it made shadowhunters tell the truth and is used to summon Raziel. Please correct me if I'm wrong though. I thought the setting of the barren landscape around the castle was awesome! They portalled through and there was just- wasteland. And it was 100% great.



To be completely honest, I think I loved the commercials most while watching this episode. I watched it live, and I don't know if this will happen for the other ways to view it, but while it was live, they went straight from the show into a commercial with the Shadowhunters actors in it, for a Fifty Shades Darker promo. I was so confused at first, but then I realized what it was, and I LOVED it!!! Especially Simon's part in the commercial! Oh my, that has got to be one of my favorite Fifty Shades promos to date.

I also really loved the Malec development! They get to go on a date and they talk about so many things that are also issues and point of interest in the books and it was so nice to see them get a minute to themselves, where they aren't trying to work or were just hanging out with other people. They carved out time for themselves and they progressed their relationship and I cannot wait to see what happens with them in the next episode!

The last thing that I think I need to mention is the growth of Simon and Maia's relationship in this episode. They sort of had a few moments in this episode, and it was nice to see that part of the books come through a little bit. It makes me wonder if Jordan is going to come onto the scene soon, because we meet him in City of Fallen Angels right? But we've already met Maia, so I don't see why we couldn't meet Jordan soon too. This all means that the timing of the show is slightly off from the timing of the books, but that has been the case for a while now, so nothing new.


One of the things I am most excited about is the fact that with every episode we get one episode closer to meeting Sebastian!!! He is actually one of the worst villains I think in YA history, but that's part of the reason why I want him to be on the show so much- he is such a critical part to the story! I am also really interested to see what they do with his plot line and how it is going to differ from the books.

Thanks for reading!

WWII Books

I love almost all historical fiction, even sometime just history in general (I'm not kidding you, I mean history textbooks). One of my favorite time periods to read about is World War II. There are just so many different things that were happening at that time and it seems like no matter how much I learn about it, there is always going to be more to learn. I've read quite a bit of WWII books already, but there are still so many out there that I want to read!!

Top 5 WWII Books that I've Read

1. Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys

2. Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank 

3. Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

4. The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman

5. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Top 5 WWII Books that I Want to Read

1. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

2. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

3. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

4. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

5. Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye by Marius Gabriel

Thanks for reading!

February TBR Pile

My February TBR Pile

As usual, I am going to list a bunch of books that I plan on reading in this month, but in all reality, I may read a bunch of different books than those that are on this list.


1. The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee
2. City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare
3. City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare
4. Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth
5. Wayfarer by Alexandra Bracken
6. King's Cage by Victoria Aveyard
7. Unforgiven by Lauren Kate
8. By Your Side by Kasie West

It's actually slightly embarrassing to look at this list because I had some of these book on my January TBR list.... maybe I will make sure to read these books this month. It also might be hard to get all 8 books in because there are only 28 days in February, but I'm still going to try to do it.

Thanks for reading! 

Shadowhunters 2x05

Shadowhunters 2x05

"Dust and Shadows"

Thoughts and Feels

I think that in general, this episode made the show look a lot more like a normal TV show, which was fantastic.

One of the things that I really loved in this episode were the scenes with Alec and Magnus. Their relationship took a step toward more toward what I get the feeling from in their relationship in the books. There were two really great moments in particular. The first is when Alec just shows up on Magnus's porch and is struggling with what he did to Jocelyn. Not only is this something that Alec does in the books- he goes to Magnus all the time- but it is also a very real portrayal of Alec's character, Magnus's character, and what their relationship is like. The other moment that I really liked was when Magnus talks to Alec about Camille and they have that conversation where Alec accepts that Magnus is immortal and has cared about other people in the past. For those of us who have read the books, we know that there may be more to the immortal thing/issue, but for now, all is well.


The strangest and absolutely most bizarre and non-book canon thing about this episode were the freaky witch demon babies. It's isn't the part where she is getting mortals to bear the children to make warlocks and witches- that makes sense cause that's how it happens. It's the part where she gives Clary an elixir in order to have a half-demon half-shadowhunter baby??? Errrmmmm.... this happens twice in shadowhunter history, and as far as I know, can only happen in these two ways. One, the shadowhunter can conceive a baby with a demon if they do not have any runes. Two, if the baby is given demon blood while in the womb. So this part of the episode really bothered me and I hope that if it continues there will be a reveal like, "Oh no! The elixir actually doesn't work!" Maybe that'll be how they introduce Sebastian?

THERE WAS YIN FEN!!!! I have a whole yin fen theory on another post, but long story short, I think Izzy is taking Jem's place in the TMI plot line.


I have to mention the funeral. I thought is was so well done and with the story line of this episode in particular, it was even more moving than it would have been if Clary had just accepted it. They did an incredible job of sticking to the shadowhunter traditions that we know of in the books. Everyone was wearing white, which is the mourning color for shadowhunters. They also said ave atque vale (that may be spelled wrong), which was so incredible to see them all chant it at the same time for Jocelyn. I also think that they did a really good job with Clary's and Jace's characters in this scene, because Jace is there for Clary in a very brotherly way. Clary's emotion was also spot on. I think the moment where I started crying was when she can't finish saying her mother's name and falls into Jace. It was such a serious moment for the show and they slowed it down, took their time, and really did it justice.

I am the kind of person that almost always will notice the music in the background of TV shows and movies. I don't know if this is connected to the change in show runners, but the music in this episode was phenomenal. It was so good that I started making a Spotify playlist for the songs on the show. They also didn't have any crazy techno songs while they were training. They had a Sklyar Grey song! Which I think is perfect because while it had a little bit of that beat or sound sort of techno, it wasn't, so it wasn't super distracting while I was watching the scene. The song that really killed me in this episode was the one that was playing at the end of the show, during Jocelyn's funeral. It was so perfect in tone, sound, and words for what was happening that it finished the scene. I was already a mess, but that song put me over the edge. It was beautiful and sorrowful and an excellent choice.


I would like to see them head in a direction toward Idris, but that's mostly because one of the best villains in YA literature is introduced in that city. And I can wait for this too; I'd rather them take their time to get to this point and have it done really well then rush ahead just to meet certain characters. With the way that the episodes are changing, I am really looking forward to next Monday and how they are going to take things. I also want to know if my yin fen theory is correct. :)

Thanks for reading!