FANDOM FRIDAY S01E01: Road to Being a Potterhead

FANDOM FRIDAY S01E01: Road to Being a Potterhead

Thursday, March 22, 2018

I've always been curious about this world that almost everybody lives in. I know that this universe will never ran out of people in it and I want to be a part of it even if I'm not even a tad bit late but super really really late already. I've watched a few movies but I was always distracted with something else that nothing about it fascinates me, and now, I'm really starting to get into it like everybody else does.

For the first season of my Fandom Friday, I would be on the Road to Being a Potterhead. I don't know how many episodes this will get but this will go on as long as I finish all the books and movies in the wizarding world of Harry Potter. You might wanna join me on  this one. 

EPISODE ONE

Looking back,  I have a Pottermore account that I don't remember creating. I was even sorted to Gryffindor and I don't even have an opinion about it, whether I'm happy or not or just the things like that, so I deleted that account and signed up again so that my journey will be well documented. 😂

So for starters, I took the quiz again, some days ago. Once again, I'm sorted to Gryffindor. Haha,  I guess this is really where I belong. Hi Gryffindor peeps!  *wave wave*

Episode 1 will be dedicated to, of course, the first book, which is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. 

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THEME 1: MAGIC & THE MUGGLE WORLD

Q1: Is the wizarding world as secretive as it likes to believe?

Umm, I don't think so? I think a lot of muggles are aware of these magic surrounding their world but some choose to ignore it, like the Dursleys. Or if not, maybe there's some spell that makes them not care about it at all, because let's face it, there are wizards with muggle parents, so they are fully aware of this fact, so I don't think this wizarding world is a secret at all. I also like to believe that they all exist in this one place, neither acknowledging or brushing it off, it's just like muggles and wizards are living harmoniously in a place where both exists.

Q2: Why do you think the Dursleys are so afraid of magic?

Petunia's background of magic has been the death of her sister, so it's probably the reason why they are so afraid of magic and wanted to steer clear of it at all costs. They only know magic is bad, but you know, they should not be so bully to Harry at all. Hmf.

Q3: What makes Hagrid so trustworthy? 

you can just see right through his heart. It literally is pure. He loooves the strangest animals that most wizards would be afraid of, so that's a plus for his trustworthiness. He's a big guy but he's just so fluffy in everything and I think that's why he's easy to trust.

THEME 2: FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Q1: In your opinion, what first makes Harry believe he is a wizard?

Getting his own wand! Because, duh, the wand makes you the total wizard package y'all! And of course, he felt the magic course through him when the wand sort of 'bounded' into him when it chose him, I guess.

Q2: What are Harry and Draco's similarities and differences?

I think they both entered Hogwarts with a name already printed in bold letters and they're both trying to find out what their names actually mean. Not in the literal sense, but they're both born to a known family so they navigated their first year into molding themselves to the name they are supposed to live up to. The difference is, their ways of approaching it are soooo in the different sides of the spectrum, Draco feels entitled, while Harry feels like he does not deserve anything at all.

Q3: Who is the most trustworthy character so far? 

Aside from fluffy Hagrid, it's Ron 😁

THEME 3: EDUCATION

Q1: Who learns the most from the troll in the dungeon incident? 

Ummm. Ron and Hermione ahahhahaa. Can't pick.
Ron, learning that Hermione is just misunderstood and she's the way she is so he just gotta accept it, because she can also be a good friend.
Hermione, learning that rule-breaking earns a friendship. Haha kidding, she learned that you can learn something from going off the book.

Q2: Is rebellion a good or a bad thing at Hogwarts? 

It's a good thing. Haha, it leads to adventures and discovery  learning. 😋

Q3: Do you think the house points systems is fair? 

The house points gives motivation but I dunno how fair it is given. Haha, i mean, so far the Ravenclaw and the Hufflepuff are quiet, so how are they earning and losing points at all?

THEME 4: FRIENDSHIP

Q1: hermione says friendship and bravery are 'more important' books and cleverness. Do you agree? 

Well of course, and I'm so happy that Hermione realized that. 😅
I mean, life is more fun and adventurous with a little bit of boldness and friends who will share that boldness with you, isn't it?

Q2: Is Harry always a good friend in the Philosopher's Stone?

I think so, yep! He does not have a fairly good idea on how to have friends all his life and I think he's doing a good job with Ron and Hermione 😁

Q3: Which friend has shown the most loyalty to Harry so far?

Ron, because he supports Harry and he's always by his side even when he is scared.

THEME 5: HEROES AND VILLAINS

Q1: Quirrell says,  'there is only , and those too weak to see it'. Who has the most power in the Philosopher's Stone? 

Most? I dunno. The most power lies in the teamwork that the trio showed. Pfft, without Hermione's brains, Ron's strategy,  and Harry's innocence and bravery, how could they even save the stone, right?

Q2: Is Harry a typical hero?

By typical, you mean, saving the world is his top most priority? Of course not!  Hahahahaha, he's just a kid who does not really know that what he's doing is actually 'being a hero'. He's just being himself, curious and out for adventure. Hahah.

Q3: What was your standout moment in Philosopher's Stone?

Ron's chess game. I think it's adorable that we saw him do what he's good at. 

BOOK BUDDY READING #1: Accidental Tryst by Natasha Boyd

BOOK BUDDY READING #1: Accidental Tryst by Natasha Boyd

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

After a few failed attempts on the books that both of us have been reading together, Sharlaine and I finally succeeded in finishing a book together. Congrats to us twinniebels!

So, I found a book buddy on instagram and we've just been talking everyday about a lot of stuff, and just recently, I've discovered that we're both Thomasians and we were both shocked because we've been talking for weeks now and not once did we mention about our schools. Haha, we've talked about our courses and stuff like that, but we never brushed on the topic about where we both graduated until I stalked her after I got a hold of her full name on her email. Haha, thankfully, she wasn't freaked out that I stalked her on facebook. 😅

Title: Accidental Tryst

Author: Natasha Boyd

Series: Penryn and the End of Days #1

Published by: Natasha Boyd, LLC on March 6, 2018

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Setting: NY & Charleston

Purchase:  Amazon | B & N

My Rating: 3.8 Stars 

A new standalone, sexy, romantic comedy! Meet Trystan Montgomery. Suit monkey, commitment-phobic serial dater. No more than three dates, unless he hasn't ... you know. 

Emmy:What a disaster! I only just made my flight to New York to help my uncle, and the phone I’m holding is not mine! It seems to belong to some commitment-phobic serial dater who’s never made it past four dates (according to the constant notifications he's getting from his fake dating profile...) And worse? I have a sinking feeling it’s that hot suit-monkey with the arctic grey eyes I just had a run-in with at the airport. Somehow I have to persuade him not to get a new phone until I get back. My whole life is on that phone. It’s only a few days. Surely we can handle it. 

Trystan:This is a joke, right? My life could not get more f*cked up. I’m in the middle of selling my company and on my way to a funeral and that hot mess hippie-chick stole my freaking phone. I’m not sure how she convinced me not to immediately walk into a smart phone store and get a new one, but now she’s going to have to play stand in and distract me while I deal with my long-avoided and estranged family. I don’t have my dating apps after all, and frankly she’s pretty funny. And sexy. And why can’t I stop texting her? And now we’re talking. And … look, I’ll admit that I usually run for the hills the morning after, but the morning after phone sex? That’s not really real, right?

This book centered on two characters with their own POV, so it's easy to see what they were feeling, because there are scenes where I wanted to know what he's feeling or how she's reacting and it's so good that I got to see both sides of these two lovable characters.

Here's a little jist, we have Emmy and Trystan who were in the same waiting area, I think. Emmy is going to New York and Trystan just arrived in Charleston. Emmy is from Charleston and Trystan is from NY, so basically, they're exchanging cities, and with that exchange, it also happened that their phones were also switched. So, you know, it's a big catastrophe for both of these people who depends so much on their phones for their lives' sake. With this catastrophe, it also happened that they formed a connection and it was freaking sweet that they both helped each other in a lot of ways even with the distance between them and only their phones to connect them. 

So I finished the book this morning and Sharlaine finished it yesterday afternoon, I think. It was a really quick and funny read. It was the literal translation of romcom put to words! As you may or may not have known, I live for the romantic stuff. No romance? No good for me. Hahhaha but not all the time tho. But really, I breathe romcom and chick flicks and romance and just ughhh and to be able to read books like this when I'm not busy cringing about it, it's probably a good one.

I'm not into YA contemporary, if you ever wonder why I said 'when I'm not busy cringing about it'. I just feel like they are too cliché and if I actually got to finishing one, it means I got past its cringe-y-ness and it was good or it was bearable.

This book was not a YA contemporary, though. It's a new adult for the latter half, but felt like it was YA for the first parts, so that's a warning y'all. It's pretty descriptive 😅

GOOOOOING BACK TO THE BOOK REVIEW. haha

There was a looooot of references to the things I love. Like Jamie Fraser, come on, that's my hottie boyfriend! It wasn't pretentious on the referencing, just like on other books that I have noooo idea what they were talking about.haha, it was so contemporary in that aspect, and I like it!

The beginning and the end was not really the best for me. I felt lost reading the first few chapters because I can't grasp what the eff Trystan was talking about haha, and I never really bothered understanding it, until it was clear to me that he was selling his company. Oooookayyyy.

And the ending? It did not really gave a parting impression on me. I was like, uhhhh okay... WHAT?!  that's it?? Nooooo, that can't be the way you end it!!! Hahaha but it just seems fitting to end it on a text tho, it's how they started after all.

The middle. Okay, the middle contains the good parts. The steamy parts. And the funny parts. I am the conversation type of reader. Sometimes, I get bored with long narrations and that's part of the reason why I enjoyed this book.

I never thought I would love a romance that would be centered on them texting throughout the book but then again, I found this book reeeeeeaaaaally interesting. So if you're looking for a quick and light read and if you love romcom, ugh, read this one, but not if you're underage please. Haha

BOOK REVIEW: Angelfall by Susan Ee

BOOK REVIEW: Angelfall by Susan Ee

Thursday, March 15, 2018

Title: Angelfall

Author: Susan Ee

Series: Penryn and the End of Days #1

Published by: Hodder and Stoughton on May 23, 2013

Genre: YA Fantasy, Paranormal (angels), Scifi dystopia

Setting: San Francisco, California, USA

Purchase: FullyBooked [PH] | Amazon | B & N

My Rating: 4 Stars 

It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

I have a new book buddy! Hooray! I've been book buddies with my college friends all throughout our university life and even up to now, but I've found an online book buddy who gushes a lot like me, and she's the one who recommended this new book to me. I actually have a long list now because of her. Hahaha! 😭

True to her words, this was really a fast paced book and I've had no time to adjust whatsoever to the surroundings and the new world that was thrown into me. 

So Angelfall is a world in chaos, a world in destruction, a world that is ripped and a society that fell apart. Thrown in the middle of this destructive mess is our main protagonist named Penryn, which we followed all throughout this book. Penryn, her sister, Paige, and her mother, I forgot the name, was at the wrong place and at the wrong time when a gang of angels swooped down having a "gang fight". Five to one, I think, and we have this lone angel with snow white wings ripped from him,  and the next thing that happened? You gotta find that out yourself because that was just the first part and you're going to find yourself deep in this story wanting to find out more. So many questions....soooo many questions. 

I really loved this book, story and character-wise. The story that we followed is pretty interesting and I was really curious as to what was really happening because the author throws so many things that have no answers, and I was hoping that the loose ends in the first book would be tied up as a whole as the series go along.

The characters were really lovable. It is really refreshing to find a female character that makes some wrong decisions but is not frustrating when she makes them, because a lot of female characters in YA fictions have been really frustrating. There have been a shift in female characters as the YA fiction became diverse and they became more badass and does not need rescuing and it was so nicely done in this book. It was a mixture of saving each other because both male and female characters have their own strengths and weaknesses that makes them have a good dynamic when it comes to saving and rescuing each other and that was what I admired in this book. Equality at its finest without making the other feel a little less adequate in the saving department and it was awesome! 

The ending had me at the edge of my seat. There was a mix of scifi paranormal stuff towards the end and I was a little bit confused and then more questions that went unanswered and then woah! That ending! Woah! I still can't get over what happened, so you guys, oh my gosh! I will never move on from that. I'm still grieving 😭😭😭

BOOK REVIEW: The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh

BOOK REVIEW: The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh

Friday, March 9, 2018

Title: The Rose and the Dagger

Author: Renee Ahdieh

Series: The Wrath and the Dawn #1

Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers on April 26, 2016

Genre: YA Fantasy Retelling

Setting: Khorasan

Purchase: Fullybooked [PH] | NBS [PH] | Amazon | B&N

My Rating: 3.8 Roses

The darker the sky, the brighter the stars.

In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad is forced from the arms of her beloved husband, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once thought Khalid a monster—a merciless killer of wives, responsible for immeasurable heartache and pain—but as she unraveled his secrets, she found instead an extraordinary man and a love she could not deny. Still, a curse threatens to keep Shazi and Khalid apart forever.

Now she’s reunited with her family, who have found refuge in the desert, where a deadly force is gathering against Khalid—a force set on destroying his empire and commanded by Shazi’s spurned childhood sweetheart. Trapped between loyalties to those she loves, the only thing Shazi can do is act. Using the burgeoning magic within her as a guide, she strikes out on her own to end both this terrible curse and the brewing war once and for all. But to do it, she must evade enemies of her own to stay alive.

The saga that began with The Wrath and the Dawn takes its final turn as Shahrzad risks everything to find her way back to her one true love again.

After long days and lazy ass nights I finally came to the conclusion of the duology I've recently been reading. I think I've already said that I did not love the first books through my review of that one and I certainly don't love this one either! It was a wee bit better in some aspects compared to the first book but it is still lacking and frustrating. 

I admit that I willingly want to be captured by the book but it is hard when Shazi is frustrating and when the climax is at the top and fell instantly into a nosedive because it feels like the author was playing safe on that conclusion. So, nope, I wasn't captivated by the seemingly promising retelling of Arabian Nights. 

I also wasn't motivated to write the review because I did not like it. I do understand other people's fascination though. I just felt like it could have been more.

In this last installment of the book, it was so good to see old characters by the end and the twist here and there. Shazi was still frustrating and her decisions are still questionable. A lot of things could have been prevented if not for her decisions that seems always stupid. The story wouldn't exist, though, if she didn't make wrong decisions but it's just really frustrating the way the things played our because of her judgement. 😑 Khalid was better, which is great. We saw more of him even though he's not present so much on the first half. There were a lot of potential build ups that could have been epic but sadly, it was played safely, as I have said. 

I did not hate this. I still liked it but cannot love it as much as other fantasy retellings I've read. The book still doesn't deserve a 3 and 4 is too high so I'm picking somewhere in between.

STORIES I ATE THIS MONTH: February 2018 Wrap-Up

STORIES I ATE THIS MONTH: February 2018 Wrap-Up

Saturday, March 3, 2018

February hasn't been a productive reading month. I am in quite a slump and I had to drag myself into finishing Renee Ahdieh's duology. It wasn't my perfect month for reading because I did not love all the books I've finished. I'm sad...  😥 But to make up for that, all the movies I've watched this month were perfection and to top that, Big Bad Wolf happended, so who cares if the three books I've read were disappointments for me hehe. Don't get me wrong, they've got high ratings for me but they weren't fantabulous to make me really happy about those reads!

I'm prolly too late publishing this but hey, who cares? hahaha

MOVIES

So I watched six movies in total. Two of 'em my all time Nicholas Sparks fave, one of 'em a new Marvel movie and the others were perfect to be my fave but my faves are always romance so they're on my next best list. Haha

Coco

Source: pinterest

This movie surprised me. I've heard lots of positive reviews about it from my friends who watched it when it was still showing and I'd have to wait for an HD copy in order to watch it so I was late. It was music-centered which was a plus for me and it was also culture-centered which is also perfect because The Book of Life was one of my absolute faves and to see the same culture embedded in Coco reeled me back again to the time I fell in love with that beautiful love story.

Coco had its twists and it was so good that I hadn't seen it coming. It is a beautiful tale about family and fighting for what you're passionate about. Hundred percent recommended!

Wonder

Source: reddit

I haven't read the book... Yet. And I'm planning to, when I cleared my books to review from authors and book tours and reading alley. It's unusual for me to watch the movie before reading the book and I did that twice this month because I also watched Murder on the Orient Express. I was so excited for these two book to movie adaptations and they're already righy before me and I can't restrian myself. Ugh silly me.

So anyway, my tears trickled down my face a million times while watching this movie. Every single heartbreak and tears from Auggie had me in tears. Auggie is adorable and sooo smart! I just wished the bully who was pulled out from school by his parents learned his lesson. I also wished we could've seen him be friends with Auggie, but sadly, it didn't happen in the movie. Hay, I always love a good character redemption and I always get upset when it doesn't happen.

Murder on the Orient Express

Source: pinterest

I love a good crime solving mystery!! Sherlock is like super lurve! I did not expect a kind of a sassy old man in Murder on the Orient Express! I loved this movie and I'm planning on reading the book months from now because the story is still fresh in my mind. This is a very unusual puzzle and I did not expect that ending!

The Choice & The Longest Ride

  

Well, as you know I'm a big sucker for romance and Nicholas Sparks' books and book to movie adaptations are my absolute fave! Here are my top 5 Nicholas Books and Movies all the same

5. A Walk to Remember (the movie is better than the book.

4. Safe Haven

3. The Notebook

2. The Choice (Travis is my book husband!)

1. The Longest Ride

Black Panther

Source: pinterest

I'm not well versed in the MCU department and I only ever watch these movies because of my friends but in all fairness,  Black Panther was awesome!  The casts were awesome. The representations were on point and even the villain has a story to tell and he knows what he's fighting for. There are hundred and one ways to go about what he was fighting for and his methods weren't the best choice and I guess that's why he became the villain but in all truth he only wants something that the past and present kings of Wakanda have been so afraid about and it's because of him that the present Black Panther's eyes have been opened and it was the most glorious thing and I love it!!! I love Black Panther!!!!

SERIES

Source: tvfanatic

Well.... I've started Grey's Anatomy as per my bookstagram friend's insistence and now I'm nearly finished with Season 1! It's so good to rewatch and finally get back again to watching Grey's. I almost forgot how I loved this series!

BOOKS

I've only read 3 books this month. What a huge slump. Oh wait, there was an additional ahahaha. I've received a middle grade book to be reviewed this late March and I finished it in a day so it would be included in my Feb books but the review won't be posted until a later date.

1. Shadow and Bone, which I loved but I think I'm DNF'n the whole series altogether because I can't stand the 2nd book. I've been reviewing it while I was reading it and iy was just full of rants so I'm probably not finishing the whole series.

2-3. The Wrath and the Dawn & The Rose and the Dagger, which I both liked but don't love and not nearly going to be anywhere on my favorites list. So, yeah. But if you like to try,  you guys can prove me wrong to not make it a favorite.

4. Clod Makes a Friend. Reviewed for a book tour, so watch out! 👍