Tag: books
✨O.W.L.S Magical Readathon TBR ✨
For April I decided to take part in the O.W.L.S Magical Readathon hosted by Book Roast on Youtube, for any information regarding the readathon see her announcement video HERE. I’m not 100% sure what my career is going to be so I am going to try and complete all of the prompts for this round and then when it comes to the N.E.W.T.S I will announce which career path I choose in that TBR!
The prompts & my tentative TBR for the OWLS include:
Heart rune: heart on the cover or in the title
Magical Qualities of number 2: balance/opposites – read something outside your favourite genre
Night Classes: read majority of this book when it’s dark outside
Hippogriffs: creature with a beak on the cover
Lumos Maxima: white on the cover
Grindylows: book set at the sea/coast
Third eye: assign numbers to your TBR and use a random number generator to pick your read
Mimbulus mimbletonia: title starts with an M
Witch hunts: book featuring witches/wizards
Book from a perspective of a muggle (contemporary)
Shrinking solution: book under 150 pages
Animagus lecture: book/series that includes shapeshifting
March Wrap Up
I’ve had a great reading month in terms of getting through my TBR. I managed to complete a series I have been reading for over a year now and completed a couple of books from my physical TBR that I’ve owned now for over 2 years. I feel like I’ve definitely got my reading groove back and I am excited to continue and hopefully read some great books!
Fire by Kristin Cashore – ⭐️3/5 stars
Love Her or Lose Her by Tessa Bailey – ⭐️3/5 stars
Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertali & Aisha Sayeed – ⭐️3/5 stars
Permanent Record by Mary H.K. Choi – ⭐️2/5 stars
Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan – ⭐️4/5 stars
Frozen Tides by Morgan Rhodes – ⭐️5/5 stars
Crystal Storm by Morgan Rhodes – ⭐️5/5 stars
Immortal Reign by Morgan Rhodes – ⭐️5/5 stars
Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobb – ⭐️2/5 stars
Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore – ⭐️2/5 stars
The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan – ⭐️4/5 stars
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz – ⭐️4/5 stars
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe Review
Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime.
Ari, bless him is just trying his best to get through the summer and high school and has to deal with a lot. His family keeps a lot of secrets and doesn’t communicate with each other very well. He is a little awkward and puts himself down a lot. He definitely undergoes quite the evolution over the course of the storyline and it was really gratifying to see him come into himself and accept his flaws and acknowledge what he needs to work on.
Dante was a very interesting character; he contrasts starkly with Ari but their dynamic just works so well together. He is very talkative, spouts random knowledge all the time and is almost overly emotional. I like that when he is away from Ari in Chicago he makes friends and goes and experiments, really reinforcing with himself who he is. The letters that he shared with Ari were incredibly personal and I like that he is open and honest enough to want to discuss these things with a friend instead of internalising everything like Ari tends to do.
I loved that we got to delve into the characters backstories and we learn a lot about their families. It makes the book as a whole a lot more relatable and engaging. There were stages at the start where the pacing was a little on the slower side. All we really had was angsty Ari overthinking everything and I kind of had to push myself to continue.
This was really a lovely, touching, sometimes hard hitting story about two boys coming of age and discovering their own identities. I couldn’t predict what was going to happen next and I was extremely satisfied by the end!
⭐️4/5 stars just a truly lovely story
Immortal Reign Review
We dive straight back into the action in this final book of the Falling Kingdoms series. Jonah is trying to defy his destiny, Lucia will do absolutely anything to get her daughter back from Kyan, Amara heads back home to Kraeshia to be throned and Cleo and Magnus continue to fight to bring the kingdoms together.
Magnus’s arc over the course of the series was wonderful to read. I had a feeling his character would change drastically because of how he was portrayed in the first couple of books and I find he was definitely vindicated himself for his past actions. Also the fact that Cleo still chose to overlook those past deeds and just accept Magnus for the person he has shown her was lovely.
Cleo I feel I have steadily enjoyed but haven’t loved in the series. She was definitely a little too naïve and spoilt but through all of the difficulties she has had to face over the last year she has matured and shown a lot of restraint and poise.
I think I have the most thoughts and feelings about Lucia above all because she had such a drastic plot line in the series. I always thought she was an unlikeable character and that feeling didn’t really change over the course of the series. When her powers were drained by her daughter she finally realises how much she has relied on those powers and how non effective she is without them.
I honestly wouldn’t of been mad if this book had another 200-300 pages to really draw out the plot and build up the anticipation. The short length was something I always appreciated in the previous book because all you really get is all the action and manoeuvres that brought them to this moment. I would of loved go fully in depth with each character and get the minute details of everything that is happening.
I thought the pacing picked right back up and I was on the edge of my seat throughout my read. The ending did kind of wrap up quite conveniently but after the epic journey these characters embarked on back in the beginning of this series I was very content with how it ended!
⭐️5/5 WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG TO READ THIS SERIES????
Amy Leigh Reads 