Wednesday 20 September 2017

THE HARRY POTTER TAG

Huge thank you to the wonderful Paige at Books and Belle for tagging me to do the Harry Potter tag! Also Rachel at Rachel's Really Random Reviews who tagged me as well! Let's get started with these questions then...

1. What house are you in?
Story time: Pottermore gave me an identity crisis. The first time I took the Sorting Hat test, I was a Ravenclaw. Finally I had my House. So I became a proud Ravenclaw. My mum knitted me a scarf and everything. But then Pottermore allowed us all to retake the test, which I did. So now I'm a Hufflepuff. It's been a difficult transition because my heart stayed in Ravenclaw for a long time, but I've finally accepted my new Hufflepuff identity. 

 

2. What is your patronus?
A Marsh Harrier. (I know, I had to Google it too.)

3. What is your wand?
10 inch Pear Wood with Unicorn hair. With a Slightly Springy flexibility, apparently.

4. What would your boggart be?
*opens filling cabinet filled with piles of notebooks full of fears* There are too many things it could be.

5. What position would you play in Quidditch?
None because I'm terrible at any form of sport. Maybe a beater?

6. Would you be a pure blood, half blood or muggle born?
Muggle born, probably.

7. What job would you want after to have after graduating Hogwarts?
Honestly, I wouldn't ever want to leave Hogwarts, so it's going to have to be a professor.

8. Which of the deathly hallows would you choose?
The Cloak.

9. Favourite book?
Prisoner of Azkaban

10. Least favourite book?
I CAN'T BELIEVE ANYONE WOULD ASK ME TO CHOOSE A LEAST FAVOURITE CHILD. If I have to, then I'll go with Chamber of Secrets.

11. Favourite film?
Goblet of Fire or Half Blood Prince

12. Least favourite film?
Chamber of Secrets? (I DO LOVE CHAMBER OF SECRETS, OKAY, I'M JUST TRYING TO PRIORITISE)

13. Favourite character?
Hermione, or Harry, or Ron, or Sirius, or Lupin, or-

14. Least favourite/most hated character?
U M B R I D G E
(Except in A Very Potter Musical, obviously)


15. Favourite teacher at Hogwarts?
McGonagall or Lupin.

16. Least favorite teacher at Hogwarts?
U M B R I D G E

17. Do you have any unpopular opinions about the series?
I don't think I do? A lot of the opinions I have, I've seen shared online plenty of times before. What I will say is that I have A LOT of opinions on The Cursed Child. One of the big ones being that I really disliked Rose and thought she was a completely wasted character. Another one being that if we were going to go back in time and speak to characters who had died, could we not have spent time with someone other than Snape?

18. If you could save one character from the finale battle who would you save?
FRED FRED FRED FRED FRED FRED F R E D FRED
F
R
E
D

I'm tagging Christi J. Whitney and anyone else who wants to give this tag a go! Here are the questions:
  1. What house are you in?
  2. What is your patronus?
  3. What is your wand?
  4. What would your boggart be?
  5. What position would you play in Quidditch?
  6. Would you be a pure blood, half blood or muggle born?
  7. What job would you want after to have after graduating Hogwarts?
  8. Which of the deathly hallows would you choose?
  9. Favourite book?
  10. Least favourite book?
  11. Favourite film?
  12. Least favourite film?
  13. Favourite character?
  14. Least favourite/most hated character?
  15. Favourite teacher at Hogwarts?
  16. Least favorite teacher at Hogwarts?
  17. Do you have any unpopular opinions about the series?
  18. If you could save one character from the finale battle who would you save?

Friday 1 September 2017

REVIEW: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Pages: 303
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: April 7th 2015
Buy The Book: Book Depository

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.
 

My Thoughts:
THIS BOOK, GUYS. THIS BOOK. I'm always wary of going into books with a lot of hype surrounding them because it's so easy to end up disappointed. I can't count how many times I've seen this book praised on my Twitter feed, so I was very curious to start reading. And let me tell you, it did not let me down.

The story follows Simon, a high school pupil who has started talking to a fellow gay student at the same school online. But Simon doesn't know who the other boy is. They both communicate via false names, Jacques and Blue. Through all of their emails, Simon has gotten to know Blue without actually meeting him in person, and as the story progresses, he is desperate to find out Blue's true identity. Reading this book so late after it's publication, I'm pretty proud of myself that I was still able to go into it without having Blue's character spoiled! It drove me insane in the best kind of way. That element of mystery, the constant search for clues, it all helped make this book such an excited read.

Another thing that makes this book so great is the characters. Simon himself has just the right amount of wit and edge to him that makes him interesting to follow. His thoughts and feelings are written well enough to put the reader in his shoes and see things from his point-of-view. I appreciated the scenes with his friends and the way Simon viewed the difference in his friendships. A character who had me torn throughout this book was Martin. His way of treating Simon made me angry, but the way his story is resolved is an important one.

The relationship between Simon and Blue was just adorable. Honestly, I didn't know how I'd feel about the relationship being built purely through email, but because of the way their emails were written, it worked so perfectly. I couldn't help but root for them. The way they slowly revealed more about their lives and their feelings through their messages was beautiful. I was about as nervous as Simon was when it came to finding out Blue's identity! I did figure who he really was a few chapters before the end thanks to the clues throughout the book, so I had my little moment of triumph when it was revealed.

This story is just full of fun moments and exciting characters, but it also touches upon some more serious and relatable topics as well. There was some particularly great commentary from Simon when he realised that straight and white shouldn't be the default, and I really appreciated little moments like that. I'm so glad I finally got a chance to read this one, and I'm beyond excited for the upcoming movie!

Royal Rating:

 
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