October Wrap Up 2018

Books
Before I Wake (Soul Screamers #6)- Rachel Vincent (Re-read)
With All My Soul (Soul Screamers #7)- Rachel Vincent (Re-read)
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I started the month finishing off a re-read of the Soul Screamers series. This is one of my ultimate favourite series and re-reading it brought the lovely wave of nostalgia that I always live for. This is a series about banshees and grim reapers and hellions and it's just so good!! I love these books with all my soul (do you see what I did there? I'll see myself out...)

Second Draft- Me
I figured I'd add this because... why not? It still counts as a book. I gave my entire second draft a re-read and took notes on any changes that I need to work through. Overall, I'm generally happy with it so far but I think the second half is maybe a bit simplistic and boring. But I'm waiting for a second opinion.
Going into the third draft, I'm going re-write the entire book with a real focus on the prose this time because... the writing's a little lackluster. Which I don't mind because, originally, I just wanted to get the whole story down and didn't care if the writing itself was a little crappy. But now, I really need to knuckle down and fix everything.

October Book Haul 2018

October was the month of poetry and new releases for me. As always, I start to buy less and less books on the lead up to Christmas (understandably) but I still did pretty well this month.

To Make Monsters Out of Girls- Amanda Lovelace
This was an impulse buy. I just saw the beautiful hardcover and saw that it was written by my favourite author and naturally gravitated towards it. Amanda Lovelace is an amazing poet and this is the first book in her new poetry series. I've been bogged down by a lot of work and stress recently so reading a quick and easy poetry book is the most appealing thing in the world to me right now.

The Witch Doesn't Burn in this One- Amanda Lovelace
And as I was getting one poetry book, I thought 'what the hell?' and just got another to complete my Amanda Lovelace collection. This is the sequel to The Princess Saves Herself In This One which I absolutely loved so I have high hopes for this one too.

I saw Heathers at the West End!!!

This was a super quick decision. With Hamilton, we bought the tickets fifteen months before seeing it. With Heathers... it was more like a month. Heathers is currently playing at the Royal Haymarket Theatre in the West End but it's only showing for a really short run (September-November). So, there was no time like the present and, as I became obsessed with this musical over the summer, it was now or never.
I was particularly excited to see this version of Heathers because Carrie Hope Fletcher is playing the lead and I'm a huge fan of her YouTube channel. She posts tonnes of vlogs of her and the cast backstage and behind the scenes which meant I was a fan of all of the cast before even seeing them live.
I will be doing a completely separate review of the West End Heathers similar to what I did with both my Hamilton 'Vlog' and Review, so stay tuned for that (because I have a lot of opinions on some of the songs they added and some of the songs they cut).
It's also been announced that there's going to be a Heathers West End Soundtrack which is awesome because then I'll have a CD will all the cast I got to see live which will be such a special thing to keep and remember this performance by.

Game of Thrones 5x07 'The Gift' TV TALK

You can't watch this episode and not demand to watch the next one straight away- I can't even imagine having to wait a week to continue on. Finally, things are heating up and the series is coming to a close in the most epic way! Certain things happened that I've been waiting to happen for so long and I'm pumped!!!

TV TALKS:

Season 1:  1x01  |  1x02  |  1x03  |  1x04  |  1x05  |  1x06  |  1x07  |  1x08  |  1x09  |  1x10

Season 2:  2x01  |  2x02  |  2x03  |  2x04  |  2x05  |  2x06  |  2x07  |  2x08  |  2x09  |  2x10

Season 3:  3x01  |  3x02  |  3x03  |  3x04  |  3x05  |  3x06  |  3x07  |  3x08  |  3x09  |  3x10

Season 4:  4x01  |  4x02  |  4x03  |  4x04  |  4x05  |  4x06  |  4x07  |  4x08  |  4x09  |  4x10
Season 5:  5x01  |  5x02  |  5x03  |  5x04  |  5x05  |  5x06

SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
Starting North, we saw a lot of Sam in this episode. He saved Gilly when a couple of the Night's Watch were about to hurt her..... and by save, I mean got beaten until Ghost conveniently showed up to steal his thunder. But Sam proved his loyalty to Gilly and even lost his virginity! Let's ignore that he's broken the Night's Watch vows and be happy for the guy...

Throne of Glass- Sarah J. Maas BOOK TALK

* * * *
I first read this book a couple of years ago and, because my dear blog didn't exist at that point, I don't have a book review to look back on. So, as I'm re-reading through the entire series in time for the Kingdom of Ash release, I wanted to summarise my thoughts and discuss each book a little bit now. Hence, the string of re-read book reviews heading your way.
I've always loved the Throne of Glass series purely for how clever and intricate and complex it is- how true high fantasy should be written. But I will also admit that these books can often drag, get confusing and be considerably slow burners. When I first read this series, I was around 13-14 years old so this was a major deal-breaker for me in terms of reading but now, (at my ripe old age of 17), I can appreciate the slow-burn a lot more and enjoyed this book far more than I previously did. I think the re-read also helped because I already knew what was going to happen and could just sit down and enjoy the trails of foreshadowing that Sarah J. Maas so beautifully weaves into her novels.

GOODREADS

AMAZON

SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
For starters, I must say that I did enjoy this book much more than I did the first time round but, again, it did take me a long time to get through. With so many other books, I can sit for hours reading the same thing before having a break. With this series, though, I can only read it for 20 minutes or so before needing to get up and have a break before reading again. This is probably because of how slow-burning, dense and overly-descriptive this book is and, while it didn't necessarily effect my enjoyment of the story, it did take me a hell of a lot longer to finish which was a bit annoying.

Game of Thrones 5x06 'Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken' TV TALK

This was a stunning episode but what's new? I feel like these non-spoiler sections are getting a bit repetitive but I can't help it! Each episode is as brilliant as the next and it's a hooking show that pulls you in for more every time.
While this episode was missing some of my favourite characters, it still managed to keep me entertained.

TV TALKS:

Season 1:  1x01  |  1x02  |  1x03  |  1x04  |  1x05  |  1x06  |  1x07  |  1x08  |  1x09  |  1x10

Season 2:  2x01  |  2x02  |  2x03  |  2x04  |  2x05  |  2x06  |  2x07  |  2x08  |  2x09  |  2x10

Season 3:  3x01  |  3x02  |  3x03  |  3x04  |  3x05  |  3x06  |  3x07  |  3x08  |  3x09  |  3x10

Season 4:  4x01  |  4x02  |  4x03  |  4x04  |  4x05  |  4x06  |  4x07  |  4x08  |  4x09  |  4x10
Season 5:  5x01  |  5x02  |  5x03  |  5x04  |  5x05

SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
Unfortunately, we didn't have any Daenerys in this episode *distant sobbing* but we did see Tyrion and that's the next best thing.

Book Blogger Memory Challenge TAG

It's been a while since the lovely Shayna over at Clockwork Bibliotheca tagged me and, very ironically, I completely forgot to post this! So, better late than never, here's the book blogger memory challenge!

Name a book written by an author called Michael. 
Michael Morpurgo
This was the first author that came into mind and, honestly, I can't really think of any more for some reason (sorry to all the Michael's out there). I read a few of Michael Morpurgo's books when I was younger- The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips being my favourite. And yet... I don't think I could give a synopsis of it to save my life.

Name a book with a dragon on the cover.
A Game of Thrones- George R. R. Martin
This was the first book I could think of and I think it's pretty fitting for this question too. I may not have read the books yet (*slapped wrist*) but the TV show is epic and definitely has its fair share of dragons.

Name a book about a character called George.
George Weasley from the Harry potter series- J. K. Rowling
Now, I get that the Harry Potter series isn't about George Weasley but it's the only George I could think of. George is actually one of my favourite characters from this series so he deserves it anyway.
There's actually also a book called George by Alex Gino that I own a copy of but haven't actually read yet. One would assume that it's about a character called George but... you never know.

I saw Wicked!!!!

Last week, me, my mum and my brother went to see Wicked at a local theatre and it was amazing!! I'd only ever really heard the soundtrack once so I wasn't too familiar with the plot and it was actually really fun to watch it like that! The Wizard of Oz has to be one of my all-time favourite musicals so I knew I'd immediately love anything revolved around the story. And, in the best way, Wicked feels like a production made up entirely of fan theories.
So, of course, I documented the evening and I love writing these posts because it's fun to look back at these and remember everything that happened (mainly because my memory is like a sieve).

This was an evening performance so it didn't take up the whole day but it was such a lovely evening. I went with my mum and brother which was nice because, while I usually go to shows with my mum, my brother never does. So, Wicked was a nice change.

Game of Thrones 5x05 'Kill the Boy' TV TALK

Half way through season five and I'm just waiting for things to happen!!! So many things are going on and so much tension is beginning to build.... and I'm just waiting for it to snap. At this stage in the show, all the characters are so well portrayed and developed and it's just addictive to watch.

TV TALKS:

Season 1:  1x01  |  1x02  |  1x03  |  1x04  |  1x05  |  1x06  |  1x07  |  1x08  |  1x09  |  1x10

Season 2:  2x01  |  2x02  |  2x03  |  2x04  |  2x05  |  2x06  |  2x07  |  2x08  |  2x09  |  2x10

Season 3:  3x01  |  3x02  |  3x03  |  3x04  |  3x05  |  3x06  |  3x07  |  3x08  |  3x09  |  3x10

Season 4:  4x01  |  4x02  |  4x03  |  4x04  |  4x05  |  4x06  |  4x07  |  4x08  |  4x09  |  4x10
Season 5:  5x01  |  5x02  |  5x03  |  5x04  |

SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
Starting at Winterfell, Myranda is super jealous at Ramsay's engagement to Sansa. In an attempt to cause trouble, she introduces Sansa to Theo.... Reek. Ramsay's chill about the whole thing, though, announcing that Reek will take Sansa down the aisle at the absence of all her family.... slaughtered by the very Boltons she's in the room with. What a nice reminder. Hopefully, she's beginning to realise she's surrounded by psychos....again.

What Books Would I Save? - Hypothetical Talk Time

For some reason, I was lying awake at night and I got to thinking: what books would I save if my house caught on fire? Don't ask me why I was thinking this. I was sleep-deprived and a little out of my mind. But I still decided to make a blog post about it. Don't ask me why. I'm very sleep-deprived and a little out of my mind.
So, here's the scenario: If my house were burning down and I had just enough to save ten books from my shelves, what would they be? (Because this hypothetical fire is big enough to be critical but mercifully gradual enough to allow me to stop, think and carry ten books to safety without my lungs being screwed up with smoke or my skin being burnt by flames.) Aren't hypothetical fires fun?
Now, this list may be missing some of my favourite books but the idea is to take irreplaceable books. Plenty of books I'd be able to buy another copy of so I've tried to stick to copies that have a personal relevance to me.

Glass Houses (the Morganville Vampires #1)- Rachel Caine
This was the first book that initially came to mind because, not only is it one of my favourites and one that brings a truckload of nostalgia and warm feelings along with it, but it's also personally signed by the author. I went to meet Rachel Caine back in 2016 (original ancient post here if you're interested) and it was the first (and only) time I've met one of my favourite authors. Let's just say it holds sentimental feelings for me.

Restore Me- Tahereh Mafi BOOK TALK

* * *
I was both a little disappointed and pleasantly surprised with this book which is a weird feeling to try and navigate my thoughts around.
One half of me is disappointed because the plot wasn't as fun or all-consuming as the original trilogy. This book is very much strategic and careful plotting rather than any particular action.
And I also wasn't a massive fan of where some of these characters are going (aka. all of these characters are going). The original trilogy has such beautiful character development for so many different characters but, from what this book has set up, I'm not looking forward to who the characters are turning into. However, I was rather... intrigued by these developments, shall we say. Particularly Juliette. Part of me is saddened by what she's becoming and yet the other part of me is sort of... oddly empowered. Nevertheless, these new additions to the series promise major changes.
As much as I love these characters, I have to admit that these extra books coming out probably weren't necessary. I would've been perfectly happy with the original trilogy arc and sometimes the plot points and 'twists' in this book felt forced.

GOODREADS

AMAZON

SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
There were so many character changes that I don't even know where to start but, firstly, holy crap what was that ending?!? Through the main chunk of the book, I didn't feel like much was actually happening. There was a lot of planning and talking and strategising but it felt a little bland at times.

Game of Thrones 5x04 'Sons of the Harpy' TV TALK

I loved this episode- what a surprise. We spent a nice amount of time with each of the characters and we still haven't had any Bran!!! Superb.
We're gearing up the drama as we move through the series and there are certain characters that I can't wait to meet each other!!

TV TALKS:

Season 1:  1x01  |  1x02  |  1x03  |  1x04  |  1x05  |  1x06  |  1x07  |  1x08  |  1x09  |  1x10

Season 2:  2x01  |  2x02  |  2x03  |  2x04  |  2x05  |  2x06  |  2x07  |  2x08  |  2x09  |  2x10

Season 3:  3x01  |  3x02  |  3x03  |  3x04  |  3x05  |  3x06  |  3x07  |  3x08  |  3x09  |  3x10

Season 4:  4x01  |  4x02  |  4x03  |  4x04  |  4x05  |  4x06  |  4x07  |  4x08  |  4x09  |  4x10
Season 5:  5x01  |  5x02  |  5x03  |

SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
We had a huge attack from the Sons of the Harpy in Meereen. The Unsullied try to control the situation but the Sons of the Harpy are brutal. Barristan is killed and Grey Worm is left for dead. Grey Worm better not be dead otherwise I swear I'll...... cry because that's as much as I can really do about it.

October Releases and TBR 2018

RELEASES
Books
The Darkest Star- Jennifer L. Armentrout 
Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass #7)- Sarah J. Maas
What If It's Us- Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
Muse of Nightmares- Laini Taylor
The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy- Mackenzi Lee
A Very Large Expanse of Sea- Tahereh Mafi
A Map of Days (Peculiar #4)- Ransom Riggs
Dry- Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman 
Broken Things- Lauren Oliver
Gmorning, Gnight! - Lin-Manuel Miranda

TV and Movies
The Hate U Give
Venom
First Man


TBR 
Throne of Glass- Sarah J. Maas (Re-read) (Book of the Month)
I've decided to make Throne of Glass the Book of the Month because I want to re-read the entire series in time for the final book being released at the end of the month. I've never re-read the whole series before because it's i n t i m i d a t i n g but, as it's the finale, I think it'll be best to have everything fresh in my mind- because the plot isn't exactly simple. I've read all the books apart from Tower of Dawn so I'll be re-reading the majority of the series before delving into the final two books for the first time.

September Wrap Up 2018

This month was super busy but that was to be expected, I guess. I started the new college year and my timetable is not exactly favourable so I find myself with a lot less time to read, watch movies, blog and do my personally book writing so... I feel like I'll be a little lax lately with everything going on. But still, I didn't do too badly this month and hopefully I can keep the momentum going before college work drowns me in my sleep.

Books
Opposition (the Lux series #5)- Jennifer L. Armentrout (Re-read)
* * * * *
I had to finish the final book of the Lux series because I was desperate to jump into the first book of the new spin off series, The Darkest Star, so I raced through this book with much excitement.

The Darkest Star (the Origin series #1)- Jennifer L. Armentrout (ARC)
* * * * *
This book was everything I wanted and more. It literally made my year just to get an ARC of it and I was giggling and giddy through the whole thing. The Origin series is a spin off of the Lux series and these are some of my favourite books of all time. JLA writes amazing characters, action-packed plots and effortless humour. It's all too easy to love her books.
The Darkest Star Non-spoiler Review

Sharp Objects- Gillian Flynn (Book of the Month)
* * * *
This was mine and Kaitlin's Book of the Month for September and I was mostly inclined to read it because I watched and loved the TV adaptation. It's such a sinister and intriguing story and the twists have you gasping out loud. Gillian Flynn has such a subtle and compelling writing style that I absolutely adore and maybe next time I should try and read the book before jumping into the adaptations.
Sharp Objects Book Talk
Sharp Objects TV Talk

September Book Haul 2018

I did pretty well this month and managed to restrain myself from buying too many of the new releases from this month. There's hope for my bank account yet...

Books
Sharp Objects- Gillian Flynn
Ever since watching the HBO mini-series, I've been itching to read the book and see the differences of the story. This is such a captivating story with so much darkness, mystery and intrigue and I just had to add it to my collection. I consciously chose to pick up the adaptation cover rather than the original which is something I don't usually do but this cover is gorgeous!! The original is pretty plain and boring where the TV version is so creepy and aesthetically pleasing so I just threw aside my principles this one time and bought it. It also works well as I have the movie cover of Gone Girl as well so, I think it'll be a tradition for me to always watch the adaptation versions of Flynn's books first as well as buying the adaptation cover.



Catwoman: Soulstealer- Sarah J. Maas
I feel the need to start off by saying that I'm 100% a Marvel fan and never want myself to be tainted by DC. However, I picked up this book, not for the superhero, but for the author because I have an undying loyalty to Sarah J. Maas. I don't have super high expectations of this book because I think it'll be a little weird reading a SJM book that isn't high fantasy but, I have faith in her.

Game of Thrones 5x03 'High Sparrow' TV TALK

A lot of things came to light in this episode and I'm hooked! I can't wait to see how these plot lines work out and I'm really growing to love characters that I've mocked before.... character growth and all that jazz, eh?

TV TALKS:

Season 1:  1x01  |  1x02  |  1x03  |  1x04  |  1x05  |  1x06  |  1x07  |  1x08  |  1x09  |  1x10

Season 2:  2x01  |  2x02  |  2x03  |  2x04  |  2x05  |  2x06  |  2x07  |  2x08  |  2x09  |  2x10

Season 3:  3x01  |  3x02  |  3x03  |  3x04  |  3x05  |  3x06  |  3x07  |  3x08  |  3x09  |  3x10

Season 4:  4x01  |  4x02  |  4x03  |  4x04  |  4x05  |  4x06  |  4x07  |  4x08  |  4x09  |  4x10
Season 5:  5x01  |  5x02  |

SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
In King's Landing, Margaery and Tommen finally marry and 'enjoy' each other. And in terms of marriage for Margaery...third time lucky, eh?
I love every time that Margaery and Cersei have a scene together- their interactions are fascinating! They never say what they really think and, while they're quite outwardly polite, every word has an undertone of a threat. It's compelling to watch.

Heathers MOVIE TALK

* * * *
Because I've recently become an absolute superfan of Heathers the musical, I had to watch the original movie, especially as I'm going to see the musical at the West End in October!!!
The movie, made all the way back in 1988, was utterly brilliant and had the lovely style of dark comedy that works so well for this story. If you've never seen or heard of Heathers, I'd describe it as Mean Girls with lots of death and psychopaths thrown into the mix. Because, why not?
I had so much fun picking up the similarities and differences between the movie and the musical and it's just an all-round entertaining film. I couldn't help but mentally identify where each song from the musical fit in but that made it even more fun.
Heathers Soundtrack Act 1 Review
Heathers Soundtrack Act 2 Review

TRAILER

AMAZON

SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
I thought Winona Ryder played a brilliant Veronica. She had great comedic timing and gave Veronica the perfect kind of attitude. However, I will say that I prefer Musical Veronica because I think she has more compassion than Movie Veronica. I also found it interesting that, in the movie, we start with Veronica already being a Heather whereas the musical starts with Veronica being unpopular and then becoming a Heather. I think this may factor into why I prefer Musical Veronica because I can relate to her a whole lot more from the beginning.

Game of Thrones 5x02 'The House of Black and White' TV TALK

We're at the stage of the series where things are beginning to fit into place, schemes are being prepared to grow and build through the series until we have an epic showdown. Or something like that... and we definitely had a lot of surprises and exciting things happen in this episode.

TV TALKS:

Season 1:  1x01  |  1x02  |  1x03  |  1x04  |  1x05  |  1x06  |  1x07  |  1x08  |  1x09  |  1x10

Season 2:  2x01  |  2x02  |  2x03  |  2x04  |  2x05  |  2x06  |  2x07  |  2x08  |  2x09  |  2x10

Season 3:  3x01  |  3x02  |  3x03  |  3x04  |  3x05  |  3x06  |  3x07  |  3x08  |  3x09  |  3x10

Season 4:  4x01  |  4x02  |  4x03  |  4x04  |  4x05  |  4x06  |  4x07  |  4x08  |  4x09  |  4x10
Season 5:  5x01  |

SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
As the episode title is dedicated to her journey, we'll start with Arya. She finally manages to find Jaqen H'ghar (or the human equivalent) and is allowed into the House of Black and White. And while most characters journey are to develop their character and plots are usually designed to help characters 'find themselves', we're doing the exact opposite with Arya- we essentially want her to become no one and lose Arya Stark completely.

Sharp Objects- Gillian Flynn BOOK TALK

* * * *
I loved this book but I'm happy that I watched the TV show first. I preferred the TV show (which is practically sacrilegious, so I apologise) but I just think the story and the tension is so much better reflected on screen. But now I can say that the TV show was such a faithful adaptation! The entire plot was exactly the same and the majority of the scenes were perfectly translated word for word onto screen which was brilliant. 
This review may feel a little more like a comparison between the show and the book but it's something that I can't really avoid talking about having read the book after watching the show. But regardless, this is an epic story and I would definitely recommend it.
I will say there's a massive trigger warning with this book because it does involve many different topics that readers might find distressing eg. self-harm, graphic violence and suicide.
Sharp Objects TV TALK

GOODREADS

AMAZON

SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
Starting with characters, I struggle to say that I like Camille but I think that's kind of the point. She's definitely an unreliable narrator but it's so easy to both sympathise with her and feel disappointed with her. What really puts me off her character is how much she drinks and takes drugs but I honestly think that's an issue the whole of Wind Gap has. Camille is extremely strong and goes through a lot which is brilliantly reflected in how flawed she is.

Writing Diary #16- I Love Editing???

I've never properly edited a manuscript before. Sure, I've written two first drafts in my life but the first one was so awful that I discarded it immediately (when you know, you just know). But, with my current first draft, I've been editing my heart out and have surprisingly found that I enjoy it!
At the moment I've been sticking to the major edits- big plot line issues, scenes that need to be changed or chunks of dialogue that need to be re-written. And I thought this would be a super painful process because looking back at your awful and sloppy work is always a bit of confidence beater. But I'm really enjoying taking scenes and improving them- it feels so rewarding! I love finishing a scene and knowing it's so much better than before.
I've also been able to expand plot points as I've gone along too. Re-reading the whole thing with such fresh and close eyes has also helped me come up with new things to add to the story and to make the plot a bit more complex and deep.