Thoughts on House of Earth and Blood (Excerpt) by Sarah J. Maas

House of Earth and Blood (Excerpt) by Sarah J. Maas

Thoughts

*Thank you to NetGalley and everyone else involved in making this excerpt available.*

Okay, so I'm not quite sure I can consider this a "review" per say, but I'm going to categorize it as such for organizational purposes. I was able to get the first five chapters of Sarah J. Maas's upcoming release, House of Earth and Blood, and before I go any further I have to admit that I was so excited about these five chapters that I cried a little. I am a HUGE SJM fan-- after is a list of all the post related to SJM that I've written. It's a lot.

Any-who, I was thrilled with what I've read so far and I didn't think I could look forward to this book any more than I already was, but I've been proven wrong. Here are my thoughts on the first five chapters, without any spoilers of course, and I cannot wait until March 3 to be able to read the rest of the book!!!!

What I Liked:
SO. MUCH.


SERIOUSLY.

SO MUCH!

But for real, here's some of the highlights so far:

1. The Pack (I'm definitely going to have to explain this one a bit more fully when the actual book comes out and I review it.)
2. The Anticipation for Bryce's Character Development
3. Hunt Athalar (who, admittedly, I'm not sure was in these pages yet, but c'mon. . . read the description of the book and tell me you don't like the idea of Hunt's character.) 

Hesitations/Reserves/Curiosities:

1. There's a lot of information that gets thrown out right away. Drink an espresso or something before you go into this, take some notes, don't multitask, etc. You're going to need some brain power to organize the sudden influx of world building. 
2. I need me a map. A full on, whole planet/universe map because I'm a wee bit confused on a couple things. 

MY PEEPS THIS BOOK COMES OUT SO SOON WE ARE GOING TO HAVE ANOTHER SARAH J MAAS BOOK IN OUR EXISTENCE IN LIKE LESS THAN TWO WEEKS AND I'VE ALREADY DECIDED THAT I WILL LET MY MIND BE TRASH AT SCHOOL BECAUSE THIS BOOK WILL CONSUME MY EVERY THOUGHT AND FEELING.

Anyone else as excited as I am? Yes? I feel like for this one there must be at least one other person out there as excited as I am. :)

 Thanks for reading!

All My SJM Posts:
Empire of Storms Excitement
Review of Empire of Storms
Prepping for Kingdom of Ash
Review of ACOFAS
Swiftathon (there's a mention or two)
Top 10 Book Boyfriends of 2016
Ten Bad*** Gals from YA Literature
AELIN IS GOING TO MAKE THE BATHTUB (Oh, past me. . . you were so confident in this.)
Books I'm Looking Forward To 2019
Ranking the Throne of Glass Series
Top 10 OTPs
Top 10 Fae Books
Feysand: A Ship in My Fleet
Review of ACOMAF
Rowaelin: A Ship in My Fleet
Throne of Glass Ships

I didn't even list them all. You could say I'm a ~little~ in love with her books.

The Last Confessions of Mara Dyer and Noah Shaw (Cover)

Hi, this is literally just a huge picture of the cover for the last book in the Shaw Confessions by Michelle Hodkin because I am trash for this series and these characters and the series is wonderful and everyone should read it. That's all, good-bye. :)

LOOK AT THAT BEAUTY

Spring Books I'm Looking Forward To

Spring Releases

The end of February-April Books That I'm Looking Forward to Coming Out

As the weather is (fingers crossed) starting to take a turn away from snow and ice, I'm getting really exciting for the books coming out this spring!! I'm stopping my list at the end of April in terms of release date because May is literally the end of the school year, which just automatically gets grouped into summer books for me then. Besides, I already have a huge list of books coming out for these two months alone.

End of February

The Blossom and the Firefly by Sherri L. Smith

The Seventh Sun by Lane Forbes

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold

March 

Anger Is My Middle Name by Lisbeth Zornig Andersen

The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu

The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron

Haven Fall by Sara Holland

Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas

Moment of Truth by Kasie West

Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare

Be Not Far From Me by Mindy McGinnis

New Waves by Kevin Nguyen

The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian

Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel

The Sinner by J.R. Ward

The Honey-Don't List by Christina Lauren

The Familiar Dark by Amy Engel

Imagine Me by Tahereh Mafi

April 

Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed

They Went Left by Monica Hesse

Crave by Tracy Wolff

How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa

Time of Our Lives by Emily Wibberley

Thanks for reading! And hopefully this list grows even more! :)

1917 Movie Review

1917

Movie Review

4.12 out of 5 Stars

While this film was mildly on my radar when I saw the trailer, the more and more buzz started happening around it, the more and more interested I became in it. Considering the hype that has been going around about this movie, I'm really glad that I saw it and I'm even more glad that I really liked it! I don't know any technical phrases or cinematography jargon, but there was something about this that just seemed smooth and seamless, which was really fascinating and entrancing. ***Note: There will be spoilers. ***

It was such a moving story. It was very action-filled as well, but the whole thing was permeated with very personal relationships, then put into sharp contrast with the fatigue and almost distance with the general troops. You could see the connections between them all and how the general horror of the war was taking its toll on everyone. But really, its the bond first between Blake and the unknown brother (later revealed to be Richard Madden) that initiates the film, and then it's the friendship between Black and Will (Schofield?), and then it ends with the other Blake brother finding out about the death and Will looking at the pictures of his family. So while there is a lot of action, this whole story was so strong though because it explored the depth of those relationships in a traumatic time and explored the fabric of those relationships when they are twisted and pulled.


So many great actors came out for this movie. Even knowing that, for example, Colin Firth was going to be in the movie, I hadn't really looked up who else would be there. Let me list: Andrew Scott, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Richard Madden on top of Colin Firth, Dean-Charles Chapman, and George MacKay. Everyone did a great job, but wow, there were so many faces I recognized. Again, they all did amazing so far as I'm concerned. There was some minor distracting pieces to having random actors show up from out of the blue -- or so that's what it felt like to me -- but really they all just contributed amazingly.

The visuals for this film were completely stunning. It was brutal and bleak, but stunning. I think this is part of the reason why the whole movie was so captivating, but I can't quite place my finger on more details as to why that would be. It was just constantly moving from start to finish, and in the mix, would capture these sweeping shots of the landscape. It was simply great.


The plot was slightly on the weaker side. It was a touching story, and even though at first brush very simple, it still was able to do a lot. It doesn't change the fact that this really was just about delivering a message to prevent a battle from taking place, and certainly there were stakes in preventing the battle from happening, but it wasn't overly complex. However, I think that it was good in this case because so many other things could be roped into the focus of the movie, like the horror of the war in general and how the relationships between the characters were so important. 

I'm trying to think of a favorite scene, and... I think... it may be... errrrrr... the scene where Blake is stabbed and dies? That's a very bleak and morbid scene, I know, but there's a lot to it. Not only is is a horrible death because Blake wanted to do a good thing for the soldier who stabbed him, but it flips the roles between him and Will. Suddenly, everything falls on Will to deliver the message, and added to that is the new message to the other Blake that his brother is dead. What's more is that Will is forced to take on the mantle again of the same sort of heroic acts that he didn't want to accept before. What's even more compelling is that Blake was the one trying to tell him that the medal of honor means a lot, especially to families left behind and Will is the one who really just values getting home to his family. In a sad way, Blake's family will get the medal from his deeds, and Will will get to go home.

Overall, the story seemed excellently emotionally executed. Really, this seemed to me like a British, WWI, version of Saving Private Ryan, hitting a lot of the same emotional notes. It was stunningly put together and excellently emotionally driven. While the plot was on the simpler side, it highlighted the weight of the emotions and bleakness of the setting, and the acting was great. Definitely would want to watch it again.

Thanks for reading!

Swiftathon 2020 TBR

Swiftathon: A Taylor Swift Read-a-thon

(I'm following the one set out by @swiftathon13 on Twitter, which runs from January 13 - February 13. More info on their Twitter!)

I'm so excited! I'm going to be participating in @swiftathon13's read-a-thon that starts on Monday! The whole thing is inspired by Taylor's latest album Lover, and there are different descriptions that match each song from the album. More info can be found on their Twitter or Insta (same handle), but here are the books that I'm selecting as options for the read-a-thon so that I am ready to go!

1. I Forgot that You Existed- The Pledge by Kimberly Derting
2. Cruel Summer- Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson
3. Lover- Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren
4. The Man- Feminists Don't Wear Pink (And Other Lies) by Scarlett Curtis (and many others)
5. The Archer- A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
6. I Think He Knows- Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
7. Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince- Die for Me by Amy Plum
8. Paper Rings- Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare (sort of fits, sort of doesn't)
9. Cornelia Street- The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
10. Death by a Thousand Cuts- A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
11. London Boy- Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
12. Soon You'll Get Better- Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys
13. False God- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
14. You Need to Calm Down- Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
15. Afterglow- The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
16. Me!- A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
17. It's Nice to Have a Friend- All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
18. Daylight- Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Eeeee!!! I'm super excited for this! I don't know how I'll update on this,  but I'll figure something out. [UPDATE: I will be bolding and coloring the titles of the books I have read :)] For now, I'm just looking forward to starting on Monday.

Thanks for reading!

Movies 2020

Movies I'm Looking Forward to in 2020

Here are the movies that I'm really looking forward to this year!

The Assistant

Birds of Prey

Dolittle

Onward

Mulan

The Call of the Wild

Black Widow

Legally Blonde 3 

Soul
Tenet

Artemis Fowl

In the Heights

Free Guy

The King's Man

The Trial of the Chicago 7

Death on the Nile

West Side Story

Thanks for reading!

2020 Resolutions

2020 Resolutions

*Cracks fingers*

Here we go. 

Last year I made very vague resolutions that I think for the most part went well. They might have been more concrete, which will be something slightly different this year. But... I liked them. They were small little reminders not to get completely lost in the craze and chaos of the rest of my life. In the same way, I want to keep that tether strong and see if it can go even further this year, adding more concrete benchmarks at every step. So without further ado, here are my resolutions for 2020. :)

1) Journal More
This was the first resolution that I wrote down for last year as well. And where I sort of kept up with it last year, it was so laid back that I really, really, had a lot of room to improve. So- more concrete. Here it is: I am going to resolve to journal at least once a week. I think that should be more than doable, even if things start to get overwhelmingly busy. At the very least, even if things do get extremely busy, I'll owe it to myself to have that hour or two once a week, even if it's on a weekend.


2) Blog Upkeep
I really like blogging. I really like reviewing. And I really love reading. In a lot of ways, I want to maintain this blog better this year. For one thing, I sincerely want to keep up with the little "course" I've designed. There's more information if you follow the link. But also just generally, I want to read more and keep writing reviews. I think I may stay away from ARCs and NetGalleys because those can get really stressful and the time pressure on those may crush me a bit when I get swamped with school. Like with journaling, I'm going to hold myself to at least one post a week. God knows this is where I'll likely fail because one post a week on top of my "course" is going to be a lot when school and work get thrown in as well. But we'll see how it goes.


3) Project Project Project
Oof. This is going to be the one that keeps me super busy but the one that I am most excited for. I don't really want to go into more detail, but I do have another project that I am giving myself benchmarks and deadlines for.

And that's all folks! We'll see how these go, and best of luck with anyone else's resolutions.

Thanks for reading and here's to 2020!