Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire Review – J K Rowling

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Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire is the 4th book in the series. Released in the UK in the year 2000 by Bloomsbury publishers. This is the last paperback book that I bought from the Harry Potter series, I was behind with reading them however, I managed to catch up before book five (my absolute favourite) was released. All future books from this series were pre-ordered from Waterstones in Hard Back and also with the adult cover versions.

Harry and his friends return to Hogwarts for another year of mischief and mayhem. All fans of the Harry Potter series know that no school year ever goes smoothly for the trio of best friends so I doubt this year would be any different.

Re-reading Harry Potter as a 30 something year old definitely gives an interesting perspective on the stories. When I first read them, I was a fresh-faced youngster in my late teens, now I’m a mother of two. I find myself sympathising with the grown-ups in the story so much more than I used to. Before it was all about the excitement and the trouble that the kids were getting themselves into and now I’m reading them and wondering how the adults are going to deal with what happens next.

Having read them before, reading them again also makes me feel so much more comfortable. I already know the world that’s been created, I am extremely familiar with the characters and although it’s still good to read – I already know what happens next. It will never be the same as a first time read, even reading them with my children, but I can spend time now looking further into the writing. Approaching a very familiar story from a completely different viewpoint. Those are the main reasons these stories will ALWAYS be important to me.

As always, a 5 book rating from me for Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire.

5 stars

My “Goodreads” Year in Books 2018

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2018 was my second hardest hitting year in a long while as far as numbers go.

I ended 2017 with a total of 237 books read and was really unsure whether I’d be able to pull it off for a second year running. To see that I came out with 196 books in 2018 actually felt really good. I read a good selection of tiles and genres from children’s books to massive graphic novels.

The following books are some of my favourites, for various reasons.

This book stands for the entire #VampiresAssistant series, loved ALL them

A new release by one of my favourite authors #SarraCannon

This was a fantastic, yet harrowing read, the first in a long time that I read in just 2 hours

This was a manga that I had tried to obtain from everywhere I could think of, then it popped up in a local charity shop

I went into this hearing mixed reviews but ended up loving the series

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How was your 2018 in books?

Bargain Buys – Charity begins with BOOKS

Previously published on my original blog, re-blogged so it shows here 🙂

Jo Thinks & Writes

You’ve probably all heard the saying Charity begins at Home? And if not, you more than likely will at some point in your life. Well, I have taken that saying and changed it to fit my lifestyle.

CHARITY BEGINS AT BOOKS

The reason for me doing this is because:

I work in a charity shop
I love a bargain and giving back to people that need it
I love love love buying books from charity shops.

Buying a book from here is a fabulous way to fill my collection as the books are generally very reasonably priced (most of the UK Charity Shops sell an individual book for anywhere between the 50p and £2 mark). You can sometimes find books that would have cost you a lot more to buy from an actual bookshop, or even in eBook format. Due to this, I am unable to walk into a charity…

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Saying Goodbye to DNF Guilt

I’m not sure about the rest of the reading world but up to until about two years ago I finished every single book I started. I felt guilty about leaving a book unfinished, like it would upset someone somewhere (whether that be the author or a fellow reading friend). My inability to D.N.F a book meant that some books took an extremely long time to read. I’d sluggishly plod away at a book for months on end if I had to, just to make sure that book was finished. A lot of the time, I only had one book on the go which made my reading life very very uncomfortable. I had nothing else to turn to apart from this one book that I really didn’t like (it may have been the language used (as with 12 Years A Slave) and sometimes it was just that the story hadn’t grabbed me). While this was ongoing, my Amazon kindle was amassing an insane amount of books in the TBR pile. I was still purchasing new books that I really wanted to read but getting absolutely nowhere. I was at an all time low, reading maybe two or three books in a year. It was definitely not the way I was used to reading and I was missing out on so many other lovely stories that I could be immersed in.

As I mentioned previously, I really could not get into 12 Years A Slave, and it was purely because of the language used in the book. It didn’t flow right off the tongue for me and it was probably the hardest slog ever. This book actually became a turning point for me and I D.N.F’d my FIRST EVER book. I was heartbroken but so relieved at the same time. I was angry that I couldn’t just suck it up and get on with finishing it, but I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I was hoping I would be able to get my mojo back.

Around the same time, I discovered GRAPHIC NOVELS (I’ll write another post about that soon), they really helped me get back into the swing of reading. I could read a book in a night and I started to plow through books. In 2017, which was around the time I finished (or D.N.F’d, 12 Years), I managed to read 237 books with 2018 coming in at 196 books. So finally I decided over the course of those two years, using Goodreads, to log all my D.N.F books just in case I ever felt like giving them another go but more importantly, I made the decision to just let the book go. I wasn’t upsetting anyone by not reading it. The author had already had my money so they weren’t going to lose out (I’m not the sort to ask for a refund because I don’t like it, its not the authors fault and they still have to make a living).

Starting 2019, I am still more than willing to D.N.F a book but I do have a few guidelines that I try to stick to:

To try and read at least 25% of a book before I decide to discard it (I’ve figured if I dislike a book enough to consider a D.N.F then a quarter of the book is more than enough for make that decision – if it doesn’t grab me at the beginning, its highly unlikely that it’ll grab me further on)
To always have multiple books on the go at once (since I’ve gotten older I seem to be older to manage more than one book at a time)
To continue to log the book on Goodreads *just in case*
To not stress when I don’t like it
If I am asked to review a book (by an author or Netgalley for example) I will always read it to the end in order to provide a fair review

That doesn’t mean to say that I think negatively about anyone that reads every single book to completion, in fact I may just be a little tiny bit jealous of you lucky people that can read anything.

What about you guys? Do you D.N.F books?

NEW Charlie N Holmberg Series 2019

The author of the hugely popular Paper Magician series has a new series coming out in 2019.

Book one is currently available as one of this months Amazon First choices for Prime members, or to pre-order (Link at the bottom of the page).

Smoke & Summons is a captivating world of Monsters and Magic.

As a human vessel for an ancient spirit, Sandis lives no ordinary life. At the command of her master, she can be transformed against her will into his weapon—a raging monster summoned to do his bidding. Unlike other vessels, Sandis can host extremely powerful spirits, but hosting such creatures can be fatal. To stay alive, she must run. And in a city fueled by smoke and corruption, she finds a surprising ally.

A cunning thief for hire, Rone owns a rare device that grants him immortality for one minute every day—a unique advantage that will come in handy in Sandis’s fight for freedom. But Sandis’s master knows how powerful she is. He’s determined to get her back, and he has the manpower to find her, wherever she runs.

Now, to outwit her pursuers, Sandis must put all her trust in Rone and his immortal device. For her master has summoned more than mere men to hunt her down… (Blurb taken from Amazon UK).

Make sure you get on over to Amazon and get your copy pre-ordered, or like me, download your FREE copy.

Smoke & Summons Amazon UK

Stay tuned for my review in the coming weeks.

The Death of a Fantastic Author, John Burningham

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John Burningham, author and illustrator, passed away recently and many readers are heartbroken.

Author of popular children’s books such as Hushabye and Avocado Baby, Burningham worked alongside his illustrator wife, Helen Oxenbury (who many may recognise as the illustrator of “We’re Going On A Bear Hunt”) for many years. Their most recent book was titled “There’s Going to be a Baby”.

Born in 1936, John was 82 years old when he died due to ill health.

During his career, John won many awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award from BookTrust (of which, he was the first ever joint winner with his wife).

Please join me in sending condolences to his family and friends at this time.

Stephen King and The World He Created

I am a big fan of Stephen King’s books. I love the stories, the characters and the fact that there are so many links between the books it’s impossible to tell where his universe starts and ends.

(I am hoping to do some more digging and a second post if I can find anymore connections between the stories as I am sure there are more out there. If you know of any I haven’t mentioned, please let me know in the comments.)

Castle Rock, Maine is featured in the following books:
Bag of Bones
Lisey’s Story
The Dead Zone
Cujo
The Dark Half
Needful Things
The Body

Derry, Maine is featured in the following books:
IT
Dreamcatcher
Insomnia

Haven, Maine is featured in the following books:
The Colorado Kid
The Tommy Knockers

Colorado is featured in the following books:
The Shining
The Stand

The Shop, referred to as a mysterious government organisation, features in the following books:
The Tommy Knockers
Firestarter
The Mist
The Langoliers

Character, Randall Flagg appears in the following books:
The Stand
The Dark Tower Series
Salem’s Lot
Children of the Corn
Insomnia
Black House

The car in From A Buick 8, is supposed to belong to a ‘low man’. The Low Men are the ones pursuing Ted Brautigan in Hearts in Atlantis.

In Stephen King books, Twinners, are doppelgangers in other universes. Jake Chamber, from The Dark Tower Series, and Bobby Garfield, from Hearts In Atlantis are Twinners.

Dick Hallorann from The Shining, served with Mike Hanlon’s father in IT.

Eddie Kaspbrak’s family in IT lived next door to Paul Sheldon’s family. Paul is the protagonist in Misery.

Andy Dufresne from The Shawshank Redemption completed accountancy work for Nazi War Criminal Kurt Dussander in Apt Pupil.

Bev and Richie from IT both appear in 11/22/63.

Joe Hill’s NOS4A2 mentions Derry, Shawshank Prison and the True Knot from Doctor Sleep.

Doctor Sleep mentions Manx, a character from Joe Hill’s NOS4A2.

Mr Mercedes has a character dressed in a Judas Coyne t-shirt. Judas Coyne is a character from Joe Hill’s Heart Shaped Box.

Characters from the following stories appear in one or more of The Dark Tower series:
Priest from Salem’s Lot
Ted Brautigan from Hearts in Atlantis
Patrick Danville from Insomnia
The Crimson King from Insomnia
Dinky Earnshaw from Everything’s Eventual
Can-Toi from Desperation

My Love For Reading

I’m trying to pin point the exact moment when I first started to love reading and it is incredibly difficult. For as long as I can remember I have loved reading books. I have very fond memories of reading copies of the Beano and Dandy annuals from the 1960s and 1970s (which used to belong to my Dad). This habit was further encouraged by my grandparents who bought me the weekly issues of the comics.
I had books at my grandparents houses on both sides of the family and a plethora of books at home. Both of my parents are big readers too and they do both still read a lot. My mum has very similar reading tastes to me whilst my Dad has his own thing.

As far as “grown up” books go, the earliest book I remember reading is Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. I own a 1983 (my birth year) published copy of the book, complete with plated illustrations. To this day, whenever asked, Alice is my favourite book and I usually re-read it at least once a year. This copy is special to me for a couple of reasons, the first being the published year and the second is that it contains both Alice stories.

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I went through a stage of reading only Horror and Thriller book genres. My mum was and still is a big fan of Stephen King’s books. I owe my obsession with horror to her. The first proper horror books I read were two King books when I was around ten or eleven years old. Those books were Pet Sematary and IT.

Nowadays I read a multitude of genres and like to think I have a broad enough range of reading material to keep me going for a long long while. However, I do find myself gravitating towards Fantasy (as well as my old favourites of Horror and Thrillers) especially of the YA/NA variety. Do I find it odd that its taken me until I was in my late 20s to discover the youthful genes of young and new adults? Sometimes yeah, but then I think back to when I was around the target age and realise I didn’t read as much then as I do now, nor did I pay as much attention to books that were out.

Thanks and Much Love
-MSRL-

Book Club Book Bingo 2019

Facebook Book Club

Over on Facebook I run a book group (alongside four other wonderful admins) which is aptly named “Book Club”. To find us on Facebook just use the link above.

Every year we run a year long reading challenge. Previously we have had different members choose a book for the group that everyone had to read and discuss then last year we provided two options for members to read a book of their choices, some of the selections included things like A Book with an UGLY cover or A Book with a BEAUTIFUL cover. The last years monthly challenges enabled members to chose their own reading material.

We pride ourselves on being open to ANY kind of reading material. If you only read comics and graphic novels, newspapers and magazines or non-fiction books, it doesn’t matter, we welcome ALL readers of ALL abilities.

For this year, we have opened the BOOK CLUB BINGO 2019. The aim is to get a full house, over the course of the year. To everyone that provides us with the titles and authors of the 24 completed books (one for each category – we have a FREE SPACE), their names will be entered into a draw for £5 or $5 Amazon voucher at some point in December.

Please head on over and join us.
Thanks and Much Love

-MSRL-

FYI: The Bingo Card was created for free over at My Free Bingo Cards

The Paper Magician Series Review – Charlie N Holmberg

The Master Magician (The Paper Magician #3)

The Plastic Magician (The Paper Magician #4)

The Paper Magician Series by Charlie N Holmberg

Book 1 – Ceony Twill arrives at the cottage of Magician Emery Thane with a broken heart. Having graduated at the top of her class from the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined, Ceony is assigned an apprenticeship in paper magic despite her dreams of bespelling metal. And once she’s bonded to paper, that will be her only magic…forever.
Book 2 – Three months after returning Magician Emery Thane’s heart to his body, Ceony Twill is well on her way to becoming a Folder. Unfortunately, not all of Ceony’s thoughts have been focused on paper magic. Though she was promised romance by a fortuity box, Ceony still hasn’t broken the teacher-student barrier with Emery, despite their growing closeness.
Book 3 – Throughout her studies, Ceony Twill has harbored a secret, one she’s kept from even her mentor, Emery Thane. She’s discovered how to practice forms of magic other than her own—an ability long thought impossible.
Book 4 – Alvie Brechenmacher has arrived in London to begin her training in Polymaking—the magical discipline of bespelling plastic. Polymaking is the newest form of magic, and in a field where there is so much left to learn, every Polymaker dreams of making the next big discovery.

Taken from Amazon.co.uk

The above descriptions are only the beginning of what these books hold within but I felt that the descriptions on Amazon gave away far too much detail.
For the purposes of this review, I have decided to review THE PLASTIC MAGICIAN individually, I will explain why when I get to it.

Books 1, 2 and 3 – The Paper, Glass and Master Magician

We meet Ceony, a young and recently graduated magician’s apprentice for the first time in The Paper Magician and follow her adventures to the end of The Master Magician.
Set approximately between the Victorian era and the 1920’s a lot of the surroundings mentioned, although familiar place names (due to it being set in England), are definitely not what I am used to. You can tell from the level of detail put into the writing that Charlie N Holmberg had definitely researched the era she wished to write about. Reading these stories made me feel like I was actually there living in that era.
The characters are fantastic. As with the era/backdrop, the amount of detail put into the characters was amazing. I could visualise Ceony and the adorable Magician Thane (Yes, I have a new crush). I couldn’t wait to dive back in and find out what was going to happen next with the lovely young apprentice.
Each book seemed to pick up effortlessly from the one before and the way they were written meant that there didn’t feel like there had been any passing of time (as a reader, I love it when someone manages to sew their series together without need for explanation).

I’ve given all three of these books 5/5 on the rating scale.

5 stars

Book 4 – The Plastic Magician

Onto book four in the series now – the reason for the separate review is that this book does not contain the same main characters as the initial three books.

In book four we meet Alvie. Much like Ceony, her journey starts just as she’s assigned to her elective Magic material and tutor. She’s to become a polymaker (plastic magician) and for that, she has to travel all the way from America to England.

I really enjoyed this book, almost as much as I loved the first three but before starting I really was hopeful that it was still about Ceony. Granted if I’d have read the blurb before hand I would’ve probably known, but I loved the first three so didn’t think about it.
I liked finding out more about some characters that were only touched upon in the initial trilogy and I did like the new main character.

I have given this book a 4/5 on the rating scale.