TBR for Magical Readathon (Year 3) OWLS!

Hello! Welcome.

So, as I’m sure you already know I love Harry Potter. I love Harry Potter so much that I named my dog, Nagini. I’m not even embarrassed when I have to take her for a walk and shout her name. That’s how deep my love of the wizarding world runs.
But back to the matter at hand, so I love Harry Potter so much that I have tried to take part in this readathon every year since it started and I have always failed because I am bad at readathons. I work too much, I’m too tired, there’s always something good on TV, there is literally always an excuse, but not this year.

This year I will read 100 books if it kills me and that means finally completing this readathon and taking my OWLS! I will be reading for the chance to become a Wandmaker and I am also taking my Animagus Training because I want to be a dog like Sirius ❤

Please read below for my TBR.

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So, In order to become a Wandmaker and complete my training as an Anigamus, there are seven prompts that I must fulfil, so here we go:

Arithmancy: Read A Book Outside Your Comfort Zone.
For this prompt, I have chosen to read: City of Bones – Cassandra Clare. Its a fantasy book and it’s well documented on this blog how much I dislike fantasy books, but I do like a select few and the Shadowhunter Chronicles are part of that select few.

Potions: Read A Book Under 150 Pages
For this prompt, I have chosen to read Murder At The Royal Wedding – Ron Morgans. I’m looking forward to this one. I came across it whilst I still had Scribd and I downloaded it from Amazon after my trial ended. Its only 96 pages long and I’m interested to see what they keep to fact and what they embellish for the story.

Transfiguration: Read A Book That Includes Shapeshifting.
For this prompt, I have chosen to read Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief. Now, I have no idea what’s in this story. I honestly just asked Goodreads for a list of books with shapeshifters in it and this was one of the ones that came up. Please let me know if it doesn’t work.

Ancient Runes: Read A Book With A Heart On The Cover Or In The Title 
For this prompt, I have chosen to read Paper & Hearts Society – Lucy Powrie. Heart is in the title and I’ve been so excited to read this since it came out. So it fits perfectly.

Herbology: A Book Begining With M
For this prompt, I have chosen to read My Life Next Door – Huntley Fitzpatrick. I love YA Contemporary books and this one will be no different. I can’t wait to read it.

Care of Magical Creatures: Read A Book With A Creature With A Beak On The Cover
For this prompt, I have chosen to read Flipped – Wendelin Van Draanen. I’ve seen the film to this and I loved it. It’s part of my TBR for Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2020 as well so its an obvious choice.

Charms – Read A Book With A White Cover 
For this prompt, I have chosen to read The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas. Everybody except me has read this book and I would like to remedy this and its also on my TBR for Pop Sugar Reading Challenge.

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Extras –
I also decided to pick the books for the remaining prompts. Just in case I manage to read the seven books I’ve already put on my TBR.

Astronomy: Read A Book When It’s Dark Outside
Reading a book when it’s dark means I’ll read a book when I finish work at 8pm. So, after a 12-hour shift, I need a book that’s short and concise. So,  I’ve chosen to read Heartstopper Volume 1-3. Probably. If I get Volume 1 read then I’ll be happy but with my Goodreads Reading Challenge, I want to push for more books.

Defence Against The Dark Arts: Read A Book Set On The Coast Or At Sea.
Bit of a weird choice for this one, I was taking a BuzzFeed quiz the other day and I realised that I didn’t know anything about The Lord Of The Flies – William Golding. Most people read this in High School and I didn’t. To busy reading and having to write essays about Of Mice And Men. (Great Book, Highly Recommended).

Divination: Assign Numbers To Your TBR And Use A Random Number Generator To Pick Your Read. 
So, I have 744 books on my TBR. So, I used a random number generator to pick a number between 1-744. It came up with number 78. When the TBR is in the order that I’ve added them on Goodreads. That is American Royals – Katherine Mcgee. I really like the idea behind this book so obviously, I did a weird dance when I realised which book fate picked for me.

History Of Magic: Read A Book Featuring Witches/Wizards. 
For this prompt, I have chosen to read City of Ashes – Cassandra Clare. Mainly because I’m hoping to have read City of Bones by then and I’d like to get more reading done.

Muggle Studies: Read A Book From A Muggle Perspective (Contemporary)
For this prompt and the last prompt of this TBR. I’ve chosen to read Love, Life and The List – Kasie West. I love KasieWest. That’s the only reason. I’ve been trying to make my way through her books for the longest time and this is the next one.

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That’s it. That’s the end. What are you reading for the OWLS?

Book Review: By Your Side – Kasie West

Title: By Your Side

Hardback / Paperback cover for By Your Side

Author: Kasie West
Publication Date: 31st January 2017
Publisher: Harper Teen
Series / Stand Alone: Stand Alone
Genre: Romance, Young Adult, Contemporary
Pages: 346
The Format I read: Paperback / Audiobook
Amazon
Goodreads 
Rating:

 

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An irresistible story from Kasie West that explores the timeless question: What do you do when you fall for the person you least expect?
When Autumn Collins finds herself accidentally locked in the library for an entire weekend, she doesn’t think things could get any worse. But that’s before she realizes that Dax Miller is locked in with her.
Autumn doesn’t know much about Dax except that he’s trouble. Between the rumours about the fight he was in (and that brief stint in juvie that followed it) and his reputation as a loner, he’s not exactly the ideal person to be stuck with. Still, she just keeps reminding herself that it is only a matter of time before Jeff, her almost-boyfriend, realizes he left her in the library and comes to rescue her.
Only he doesn’t come. No one does.
Instead, it becomes clear that Autumn is going to have to spend the next couple of days living off vending-machine food and making conversation with a boy who clearly wants nothing to do with her. Except there is more to Dax than meets the eye.

Alternative cover for By Your Side 

As he and Autumn at first grudgingly, and then not so grudgingly, open up to each other, Autumn is struck by their surprising connection. But can their feelings for each other survive once the weekend is over and Autumn’s old life, and old love interest, threaten to pull her from Dax’s side?

 

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As my first book of 2020, I thought this was a solid start.
I really enjoyed the story behind this one. Kasie West is right, being locked in a library for three days with nothing to do except reading would be a dream come true for me, however, the no food and lack of heat would have been an issue for me as well.

I found the main character “Autumn” to be completely relatable. I really did. Usually, I have issues relating to YA heroine but I related to her on a level I haven’t in a while. One of my favourite quotes from this book
“I was not one of those girls that needed to fix broken boys”
This quote really resonated with me, within the YA genre you often come across teen girls that are so consumed by love or just a crush that they’ve developed that the rest of their lives start to come second and fall apart. Autumn was different. I didn’t totally agree with her just using Dax as a distraction from her life when she really needed to deal with her problems but it was nice to see that throughout what happened, she never lost sight of what was most important to her and she never let Dax and their blossoming romance get in the way.

ARC Copies of By Your Side

I have to admit these characters felt incredibly real to me. The character development was great. I mean, I felt bad for Dax. I felt bad for his backstory and I felt angry for him towards the end of the story. But I also felt mad at him and the way that he treated Autumn. It wasn’t a perfect love story and I felt like that gave it a sense of reality that I don’t find in some instalove stories that I’ve been reading.

 

The only characters I wasn’t totally sold on were Jeff and Dallin. Jeff was far too okay with what Autumn told him at the end for it to be realistic for me. Kind of took me out of the story a little because no one that is being told that would be so forgiving and okay with it.
Dallin was the opposite reaction he was so overemotional to everything in the story, he was rude when there was no need for it. There’s protecting your friend and then there’s just being a dick and I felt like some of it was completely uncalled for and didn’t need to happen. I’m just going to put it out there as well. How long has it been okay for your friends to come to your house and throw a pillowcase over your head and kidnap you? Anxiety disorder or not, I wouldn’t have been okay with it.

The anxiety storyline was so well played as well. Autumn was so afraid to tell her friends and that’s okay, it’s good for teenagers with anxiety disorders to see this kind of representation in order to realise its okay to tell people or it’s okay to just keep it to yourself. It’s your choice in the end.

The story is such a perfect read for just a lazy afternoon where you can just listen to the audiobook or when you can just chill out with the book and dive into the world.

Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2020

Here it is! My Pop Sugar Reading Challenge. I make one every year and hopefully, this is the year I succeed. I may make changes to this challenge as I go, so keep checking back!

Here is my TBR for the challenge and the books I hope to get to this year!

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A Book Published In 2020: 
Moment of Truth – Kasie West
Tweet Cute – Emma Lord
One of Us Is Next – Karen McManus
Loveless – Alice Oseman

A Book By A Trans or Non-Binary author 
Birthday – Meredith Russo

A Book With A Great First Line
The Book Theif – Marcus Zusak

A Book About A Bookclub
A Paper and Hearts Society – Lucy Powrie
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society – Mary Ann Shaffer

A Book Set In A City That Has Hosted The Olympics
The Royal We – Heather Cocks
Anna And The French Kiss- Stephanie Perkins

A Bildungsroman 
A Monster Calls – Patrick Ness
Looking For Alaska – John Green
The Fault In Our Stars – John Green

The First Book You Touch On The Shelf With Your Eyes Closed
History is All You Left Me – Adam Silvera

Book With An Upside Down Image On The Cover
Winterwood – Shea Ernshaw
Red Queen – Victoria Aveyard
The Beautiful – Renee Ahdieh
Flipped – Wendelin Van Draanen

Book With A Map 
Wicked: The Life and Times of The Wicked Witch Of The West – Gregory McGuire
The Seven And A Half Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle – Stuart Turton
Paper Towns – John Green

A Book Recommended By Your Favourite Blog, Vlog, Podcast or Online Book Club 
Daisy Jones And The Six – Taylor Jenkins Reid
They Both Die At The End – Adam Silvera

 An Anthology
Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined To Meet – Jennifer L Armentrout
Let It Snow – John Green

A Book That Passes The Bechdel Test 
The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas.
Elenor and Park – Rainbow Rowell

A Book With The Same Title As A Movie or TV Show But Is Unrelated To It
The Deep – Rivers Solomon
Heartless – Marissa Meyer

An Author With Flora or Fauna In Their Name 
The Coldest Girl in ColdTown – Holly Black
Jack of Hearts (and other parts) – Lev A C Rosen

A Book About Or Involving Social Media 
Fangirl – Rainbow Rowell
Backlash – Sarah Darer Littman
13 Minutes – Sarah Pinborough
Girl online – Zoe Sugg

A Book That Has A Book On The Cover 
Bookshop Girl – Chloe Coles
By Your Side – Kasie West

A Book With a Made Up Language
The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien.

A Book set in a country that begins with C
Anne of Green Gables – L M Montgomery

A Book you chose because the title caught your attention.
Unpregnant – Jenni Hendricks
We Have Always Lived In The Castle – Shirley Jackson.

A Book published the month of your birthday
Field Notes on Love – Jennifer E Smith
The Wicked Deep – Shea Ernshaw

A Book That Won An Award in 2019
What if it’s us? – Becky Albertali and Adam Silvera.
Leah on the Offbeat – Becky Albertalli.

A Book On A Subject You Know Nothing About.
Victoria The Queen: An Intimate Biography Of A Women That Ruled An Empire – Julia Baird.
Diana: Her Story In Her Own Words – Andrew Morton.

A Book With Only Words On The Cover, No Images or Graphics
Frankly In Love- David Yoon
Me Before You – Jojo Moyes

A Book With A Pun In The Title
Red, White and Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston

A Book Featuring One Of The Seven Deadly Sins 
Endless Love – Scott Spencer

A Book With A Robot, Cyborg or AI Character
Cinder – Marissa Meyer

A Book With A Bird On The Cover
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of The Secrets – JK Rowling
The Raven Boys – Maggie Stiefvater

A Fiction Or Non Fiction Book About A World Leader
Game Of Thrones – George R R Martin
The Cruel Prince –  Holly Black

A Book With Gold, Silver or Bronze In The Title
Golden – Jessi Kirby

A Book By A WOC
The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas.
On The Come Up – Angie Thomas
From Twinkle, With Love – Sandhya Menon
Of Curses and Kisses – Sandhya Menon

A Book With At Least A Four-Star Rating on Goodreads
City Of Bones – Cassandra Clare

A Book You Meant To Read In 2019
Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief – Rick Riordan

A Book With A Three Word Title
Throne of Glass – Sarah J Maas
Tash Hearts Tolstoy – Kathryn Ormsbee
Lucky In Love – Kasie West

A Book With A Pink Cover
Confessions of a Shopaholic – Sophie Kinsella
Royals – Rachel Hawkins

A Book By or About A Journalist 
After You – Jojo Moyes

Read a Banned Book
Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone – J K Rowling

Favourite Prompt From A Past Reading Challenge: A Retelling Of A Classic
Return to Wonderland – Peter Bunzi
Looking Glass Girl – Cathy Cassidy
Dorothy Must Die – Danielle Paige

Book Tag: Harry Potter Spells Tag

It’s Thursday! Here’s a tag! This one is the Harry Potter Spells tag that I found here. I wasn’t tagged but I still decided to do it. I tag everyone who reads! Happy Tagging!

Because I’m doing the Magical Readathon! All Tags This Month will be Harry Potter themed!

Harry Potter!

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1) Accio.
An upcoming book that you can’t wait to get your hands on.
Chain of gold – Cassandra Clare
Again, But Better – Christina Ricco
Maybe This Time – Kasie West
The Red Scrolls of Magic – Cassandra Clare
Escape From The Isle Of The Lost – Melissa De La Cruz

2) Alohomora
Favourite Series Starter
City of Bones – Cassandra Clare. Without a doubt. I have nine different copies of this book with different covers and I also have a quote tattooed on my shoulder blade. Review is here

3) Cheering Charm
A book that gave you all the warm fuzzies.
Any Kasie West book ever published? I really liked On The Fence – Kasie West. I thought it was so cute and so sweet Review

4) Aguamenti
A book that made you ugly cry
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows – J K Rowling. I ugly cried so hard.

5) Expeco Patronum
Bookish hero or heroine that you want around to protect you
Jace Wayland / Herondale / Lightwood or Remus Lupin.

6) Lumos
A book you intentionally spoiled for yourself
Gosh! I guess you can say I intentionally spoiled the Harry Potter books for myself because I wanted to watch the films before I read the books but I’ve learned better now!

7) Imperio
A book you wish you could make everyone read because you loved it.
Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda – Becky Albertalli. It’s just so good.

8) Engorio
A book you wish never ended.
I don’t know, I honestly can’t think of a book I wished never ended. Sometimes the endings are the best parts.

9) Wingardium Levoisa
A book with an uplifting ending
At First Blush – Beth Ellyn Summers. This book is so heartwarming and the main character struggles so much that the ending is so uplifting when she manages it!

10) Obliviate
A book you wish you could forget you ever read
Lola and the Boy Next Door – Stephanie Perkins. Urgh.

11) Anapneo
An author whose books always get you out of a slump.
Enid Blyton or A A Milne

12) Jelly Legs Jinx
A swoon-worthy hero or heroine
I could just say Jace and or Alec again but I won’t. Here are a few that I love. Patch from Hush Hush, Elian from To Kill a Kingdom, Reid from Upside of Unrequited, Braden from On The Fence and….. Simon and Blue from Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Oh and Remus Lupin obviously

13) Aresto Momento
A book that caused you to stop doing all other things until you finished it.
One of Us is Lying – Karen McManus. I had to know okay! I had to know!

14)Crucio
A book that was painful to read
Kiss and Blog – Alyson Noel. This book! I had so many issues! The ending! Where was the damned pay off? Come on! I spent time reading that book and I got nothing from it!

15) Rictussempra
A Book that had you laughing out loud
Leah on the Offbeat – Becky Albertalli. I’m trash for this author. I was laughing so hard at some of the antics in this book.

16) Expelliarmus
A book you wanted to send flying
The New Girl – Cathy Cole. Stupid Goodreads recommendation. Urgh.

17) Portus
A bookish world you wish you could visit
Hogwarts is the obvious answer, or Idris or maybe the 100-acre wood?, God there’s so many to chose from. Auradon or The Isle of The Lost seem pretty cool.

18) Stupify
A book with a shocking twist
S.T.A.G.S – M A Bennett. Right at the end. I almost dropped the book on the floor. I was in complete shock. I had to go back and reread it. I was like… Nah. Really?

19) Avada Kedavra
A character death I will never get over
Spoilers.
– Remus Lupin
-Tonks,
-Dumbledore.
– Max Lightwood
– Brian the dog from Radio Silence
– PonyBoy
– Severus Snape
– Stormy from To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before

20) Finite Incantadtem
Best series conclusion
We’ll always have summer- Jenny Han
Always and Forever, Laura Jean- Jenny Han
Finale- Becca Fitzpatrick
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- JK Rowling

Book Tag: The Breakfast Club Book Tag

Welcome to Tag Thursday! The Breakfast Club is an amazing film, I really enjoyed it the last time I watched it so when I heard about this book tag I had to do it! Thank you to BiblioManic Bookworm for creating it!

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Princess: A book that is very popular and pretty on the outside, but you thought was uninteresting on the inside.
Radio Silence – Alice Oseman. I read this book a while back now and I just thought it dragged something fierce. I couldn’t relate to the main character, I couldn’t stay in her head long enough to care about the story. It’s a pretty popular book but it’s just not for me. The new covers especially make it look pretty but the inside doesn’t match up in my opinion.

Criminal: A book that looks/sounds rough and bad, but ended up completely stealing your heart.
To Kill A Kingdom – Alexandra Christo. I don’t usually enjoy retellings but this one was incredible. I really enjoyed reading it. Completely stole my heart. I thought it was fantastic. Read my review if you want to know more, or just read the book!

Brain: A book that made you think.
Me Before You – Jojo Moyes. This book makes you think so much so you have to put the book down after and contemplate all of your life choices. It’s incredible. Highly highly recommend. Give the film a watch too, it’s actually a pretty good adaptation.

Basket Case: A book that people would call you crazy for reading.
Twilight – Stephanie Meyer? After – Anna Todd? I don’t think I’m crazy for reading any book. I think every book has something to teach us and judging people for reading certain books just because you don’t like them is uncalled for.

Athlete: A book that made you struggle/work to finish.
This Lullaby – Sarah Dessen. I had issues getting to the end of this book because I felt like it went on for far too long. My review for this just went up if you feel like knowing more.

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And there we have it. If you feel like doing this tag then do it!!

Book Review: This Lullaby – Sarah Dessen

Title: This Lullaby
Author: Sarah Dessen
Publication Date: 08 March 2004
Publisher: Speak
Series / Stand Alone: Stand Alone
Genre: Romance, Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary
Pages: 345
The Format I read: Paperback
Amazon
Goodreads 
Rating: 

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Synopsis from Goodreads:

When it comes to relationships, Remy doesn’t mess around. After all, she’s learned all there is to know from her mother, who’s currently working on husband number five. But there’s something about Dexter that seems to defy all of Remy’s rules. He certainly doesn’t seem like Mr. Right. For some reason, however, Remy just can’t seem to shake him. Could it be that Remy’s starting to understand what those love songs are all about?

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This was my first Sarah Dessen book and honestly, it probably wasn’t the right one to start with. It dragged so much, I fully believe this book could have been a 200-page book and we would still have had a decent story.

I found the main character, Remy, to be insanely relatable. I mean what teenager didn’t have a warped sense of love? Whether it was the sense that you were constantly in love and throwing the words around or whether you wouldn’t say the words because you either don’t know how to feel it because you’ve never seen it or you just don’t believe in it. Remy has the latter issue. Remy’s mother is constantly remarrying, she’s constantly got a new man on the go and that is the role model that Remy has to look up to. How is she supposed to have the idealistic sense of love when she’s never seen it? She doesn’t believe in relationships because she’s seen five of her mother’s relationships break down and then on the opposite end of the spectrum, she’s got her brother. Chris is head over heels in love with a self-help guru, Jennifer Anne and their relationship seems to be working perfectly and Remy doesn’t understand why or how.

Then along comes Dexter and his merry band of misfit toys. Dexter is everything that Remy hates, everything she despises and yet there he is, under her skin. It’s the basis of a wonderful love story. The only issue is that the book is far too long and they break up and get back together far too many times for me to care about their happiness. Towards the end of the book all I can remember thinking is ‘Jesus, how many more times before they admit its not meant to be?’.

The prose in this book is phenomenal, I don’t think I would have gotten through this book if the writing style wasn’t as amazing as it is. Sarah Dessen is a talented and fantastic author, it’s just that the storyline isn’t my cup of tea. It’s the same kind of reaction I had to Lola And The Boy Next Door – Stephanie Perkins. The Writing Style was amazing, I enjoyed the Authors voice. I felt like I was truly living the story, the words swept me up and took me away but the story didn’t take the turn that I wanted and I was left with a sour taste in my mouth.

Dexter as a character I found likeable to say the least, he was sweet and understanding and dealt with Remy’s mood swings like a champ. It’s nice for readers to see that despite how cynical and unsympathetic Remy’s views towards Romance and Relationships and Love as a whole are, there are still people like Dexter who want to break down their walls. Dexter is just an all-around good male role model type for teenaged girls to read about and if you needed any more of a push to read about him then he also has a dog called Monkey and Monkey is amazing, read the book and you’ll understand why.

Book Tag: Book Bloggers Confessions Tag!

Welcome to Tag Thursday, I’m here with the Book Bloggers Confessions Tag! It originated here at Rustic Pages So… let’s start confessing!

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1. Which book – most recently – did you not finish?
United – Melissa Landers. I got so close to the end of the series as well.

2. Which book is your guilty pleasure?
City of Bones – Cassandra Clare or any of the Harry Potter Series. Always. 

3. Which book do you love to hate?
Lola and the boy next door – Stephanie Perkins. Check my review for why. 

4. Which book would you throw into the sea?
 Kiss and Blog – Alyson Noel. Quite happily throw this in the sea and wave at it as it drowns. 

5. Which book have you read the most?
Honestly, probably Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone – J K Rowling. What a book! 

6. Which book would you hate to receive as a present?
Anything I have already read and hated with a passion.

7. Which book could you not live without?
My entire bookshelves? How dare you try and make me choose?!

8. Which book made you the angriest?
This is a weird one. But Esio Trot – Roald Dahl. There’s something really messed up about that book and as a kid I completely missed it. 

9. Which book made you cry the most?
Besides the obvious Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, The Fault In Our Stars – John Green and The Outsiders – S E Hinton. Those two books got me right in the feels. 

10. Which book cover do you hate the most?
Boring ones! 

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I tag everyone that reads this post! What is something you want to confess?