Weekly Recap: 1/21 - 1/27

Weekly recap is where I update you on my life, reading and watching. Plus any posts I have done or will do.

I'm back in college! The semester started this week and I am already stressed but I wrote a book review this week so that's good I guess.

I only read one book this week but it's okay cause I read a lot at the beginning of this month!

Now, let's get into recapping.

New Books

Purchased:

Library: 

Received for Review: 

In Case You Missed It

Give the Dark my Love by Beth Revis Book Review

This Week I Read

This Week I Watched

This Week I Listened To 

Mamma Mia Here We Go Again Soundtrack
The Phantom of the Opera Soundtrack
Toxic by 2WEI
Okay by Chase Atlantic

Next Week I'm Reading

Upcoming Reviews

Upcoming Posts

Monday: TBD

Tuesday: TBD

Wednesday: TBD

Thursday: TBD

Friday: TBD

Saturday: TBD

Sunday: Weekly Recap

Around the Blog Community

Give the Dark my Love by Beth Revis Book Review

This is a spoiler free review.

Give the Dark my Love
Written by Beth Revis

Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy

Publisher: Razorbill

Release Date: September 25, 2018

Pages: 368
Source: Library

Places to Get this Book: Amazon Barnes and Noble Book Depository

Recommended Age: 13 and up!

Summary:

When seventeen-year-old Nedra Brysstain leaves her home in the rural, northern territories of Lunar Island to attend the prestigious Yugen Academy, she has only one goal in mind: learn the trade of medicinal alchemy. A scholarship student matriculating with the children of Lunar Island's wealthiest and most powerful families, Nedra doesn't quite fit in with the other kids at Yugen, who all look down on her.

All, except for Greggori "Grey" Astor. Grey is immediately taken by the brilliant and stubborn Nedra, who he notices is especially invested in her studies. And that's for a good reason: a deadly plague has been sweeping through the North, and it's making its way toward the cities. With her family's life--and the lives of all of Lunar Island's citizens--on the line, Nedra is determined to find a cure for the plague.

Grey and Nedra continue to grow closer, but as the sickness spreads and the body count rises, Nedra becomes desperate to find a cure. Soon, she finds herself diving into alchemy's most dangerous corners--and when she turns to the most forbidden practice of all, necromancy, even Grey might not be able to pull her from the darkness. 

(Summary from Goodreads)

Review:

Give the Dark my Love was a book that I hadn't heard much about in the reviewer community and I was curious about it mainly because of the gorgeous cover. I am so glad that I decided to pick it up as it is a delicious fantasy story about an antiheroine who falls into darkness while trying to do what's right.

COVER

The cover is what attracted me to this book. I thought the cover was really pretty and I also liked the title, but I don't think the cover has to do much with the overall plot of the book.

WORLD-BUILDING

Nedra is from the north of Lunar Island where she likes her life however, a deadly plague starts spreading through the North causing her to leave in order to learn at Yugen Academy a prestigious school. I liked learning about the world throughout the book and learning about how different her home in the North was from the Academy and her life there.

Then there are the characters.

LIRA

When her own family falls prey to the plague, Nedra's anger gets worse and she throws her whole self into necromancy becoming a full-on necromancer. Nedra would do anything to keep her family safe including performing any evil she could. Everything dark within her took flight as she put forth her anger with the world and became a different person. Despite being an antiheroine, I found myself rooting for her because of all the pain she'd been through.


GREY

Grey is the second main character who also has a point of view within the book. He is a classmate of Nedra's who becomes her best friend and boyfriend. He is a privileged handsome and rich student who is accustomed to the best and doesn't know fear like Nedra does. He gave frequent "It will get better" speeches to Nedra despite not knowing exactly what she was going through. At times Grey's POV seemed a little odd and out of place considering he's the love interest and the whole main focus of the book is on Nedra's character and her descent into darkness, though I still liked Grey as a character.

FRIENDSHIP/FAMILY

Nedra's family is her main reason for turning to necromancy. She is determined to save them from the plague with whatever means necessary, even if she has to destroy the rest of the world. I loved Nedra's relationship with her sister, Ernesta, and especially loved when they switched places with each other and pretended to be the other one which was the cutest.

PLOT

Give the Dark my Love is a hero to villain story, about a girl named Nedra who is from the northern territories where she lives with her father, mother and twin sister. She is studying at the prestigious Yugen Academy where she is determined to find a cure for the plague decimating the North and other poor parts of the Island. She is studying under a scholarship unlike most of the other students who are rich and privileged. Nedra turns to the most forbidden practice of alchemy which is necromancy and this starts her descent into darkness. It's a kind of anti-heroine origin story, that is full of human grief and struggle.

ROMANCE

The romance in this book is a sweet almost innocent touch at first. Grey cares about Nedra from almost the beginning, though she is willing to risk everything including him in order to achieve her goal and stand up for what she believes in. Grey and Nedra share a cute romance until she realizes she has to do what she needs to do and can't go back to just his love. One line that I loved was when he told her, "if you choose necromancy...I will not follow you into that darkness", and she answers, "Oh Grey, what do you know of darkness?" I thought that was a brilliant line and how much their relationship changed throughout the book.

WRITING

I really liked Beth Revis' style of writing for this book. I thought she brought Nedra and Grey to life and I felt for Nedra in her situation.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Give the Dark my Love is a beautiful but tragic story. Nedra is a girl who is willing to risk everything to help the Island's people and her own people. This book is very slept on and I think everyone should read it. It is a brilliant hero-villain story.

Quotes from the Book:

“A good book will give you answers to questions you didn't know you had. A great book will give you questions to answers you thought you knew.” 

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Crowns

Weekly Recap: 1/14 - 1/20

Weekly recap is where I update you on my life, reading and watching. Plus any posts I have done or will do.

This weekend is my last weekend at home and I head back to school on Tuesday and I'm honestly not excited to get back to doing homework all the time.

I only read two books this week which is sad considering last week I read five books but it's back to school so there will be less reading anyways.

Now, let's get into recapping.

New Books

Purchased:

Library: 

Received for Review: 

In Case You Missed It

Movies I'm Excited For in 2019

This Week I Read

This Week I Watched

This Week I Listened To 

Mamma Mia Here We Go Again Soundtrack
The Phantom of the Opera Soundtrack
Toxic by 2WEI
Okay by Chase Atlantic

Next Week I'm Reading

Upcoming Reviews

Upcoming Posts

Monday: TBD

Tuesday: TBD

Wednesday: TBD

Thursday: TBD

Friday: TBD

Saturday: TBD

Sunday: Weekly Recap

Around the Blog Community

Movies I Am Excited For in 2019!

Hey guys. 

I recently did a post all about the 2018 movies I watched and I figured that I'd share some movies I want to see in 2019.

Some of these movies don't have release dates yet, so I am not sure if they will be released this year. These are all the movies that I am excited for, though I'm not sure if I will actually watch them.

With that being said, let's get into it.

MOVIES

1.  Ashes in the Snow ~ January 11, 2019

This book is so depressing but I really enjoyed it when I read it in Middle School. I probably will not see this in theaters as it's really depressing and is only coming in some theaters. 

2.  How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World ~ February 22, 2019

How to Train Your Dragon movies are some of my favorite kids movies and I am so excited to watch this last one. 

3. Chaos Walking ~ March 1, 2019

Chaos Walking is another book to movie adaptation and I have not read this book. I am excited to see the movie though because both Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley are in it and I love them both. 

4. Captain Marvel ~ March 8, 2019

Captain Marvel is one of the Marvel movies set to release in 2019 and it is (I believe) the first Marvel movie with a female lead. I am so excited for this and hope to see it in theaters. 

5. Avengers Endgame ~ April 26, 2019

Avengers Endgame is a movie I am both excited for and nervous for. Avengers Infinity War was devastating which everyone knows if they saw it and I'm sort of not looking forward to diving back into that world. 

6. The Sun is Also a Star ~ May 17, 2019

This is yet another book to movie adaptation coming out this year and this one stars an actor from Riverdale so I am excited to possibly see this one. 

7. Aladdin ~ May 24, 2019

Aladdin is a Disney live action movie that is coming out in 2019! Aladdin is not my favorite Disney movie but I really like the songs and based on the teasers, this one looks like it will be a lot of fun. 

8. Spiderman Far From Home ~ July 5, 2019

Spiderman Homecoming is one of my all-time favorite Marvel movies and the teaser trailer for this movie just released and it looks amazing. It definitely will be a good movie to help us all recover from Avengers Infinity War and Avengers Endgame.

9. The Lion King ~ July 19, 2019

This is another Disney live action adaptation and I am actually a little nervous for this one as the original is very sad (as you all know if you've seen it!). However, I am still very excited to see how they do this. I'm confused as to how this is live action if it is still all CGI? 

10. Charlie's Angels ~ November 1, 2019

I'm not sure if I will see this one but I had to put it on here because of the cast. I've never seen the original Charlie's Angels so I am not sure what it's about but I am interested in it because of how much of the cast I know. 

11. Frozen 2 ~ November 22, 2019

Frozen is one of my favorite Disney movies and I am honestly shocked that they're making a second one as it seemed like they were making a Broadway musical instead. However, of course I am excited for this one and I'm very curious about it because there hasn't been much information about it yet. 

12. Star Wars Episode IX ~ December 20, 2019

This is the last Star Wars in the new trilogy and I am honestly terrified. I've grown so attached to these characters especially Poe Dameron and Rey that I don't want to see them leave or this end. 

13. The Perfect Date (Netflix) ~ Unknown 2019 Release

This movie stars Noah Centineo and Camila Mendes. It is supposed to come out this year on Netflix and I am very excited to see what it's about and what it's like. 

That is it for this blogpost. Are there any movies on my list that you hope to see as well?  Or any movies that you want to see that aren't featured on this list?  Please share them with me as I'd love for new recommendations. 

See you all soon!

Weekly Recap: 1/7 - 1/13

Weekly recap is where I update you on my life, reading and watching. Plus any posts I have done or will do.

I am slowly getting back to blogging. The coming week is my last week of vacation and I'm trying to recap 2019 the best I can.

Also, can you believe I read five books this week? I can't.

Now, let's get into recapping.

New Books

Purchased:

Library: 

Received for Review: 

In Case You Missed It

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo Book Review
2018 Movies!

This Week I Read

This Week I Watched

This Week I Listened To 

Mamma Mia Here We Go Again Soundtrack
Toxic by 2WEI
Okay by Chase Atlantic

Next Week I'm Reading

Upcoming Reviews

Upcoming Posts

Monday: TBD

Tuesday: TBD

Wednesday: TBD

Thursday: TBD

Friday: TBD

Saturday: TBD

Sunday: Weekly Recap

Around the Blog Community

2018 Movies!

Hey guys! Happy New Year!  It's 2019, which is crazy!

I decided to have this post be sharing all the movies I watched in 2018 [only 2018 releases] + my ratings and then I will show you my favorite(s).  I didn't see very many movies this year, so this post should be pretty short.

Let's get into it. 

MOVIES

1.  The Greatest Showman ~ 5 Crowns

This movie actually released on December 8, 2017 but it released in most countries in 2018 so I'm counting it here.  I loved this so much! It's kind of fitting how in both 2017 and 2018, I started it off with a musical. I love the soundtrack, the characters and the plot. It is a beautiful movie and everyone should watch it. I have practically every song memorized by now. 

2.  Black Panther ~ 4.5 Crowns

This was released on February 16, 2018. I really enjoyed this movie. I loved getting to know a whole new superhero who became part of the Marvel movie universe in Captain America Civil War. I loved seeing new characters and settings. 

3. A Wrinkle in Time ~ 3 Crowns

This was released on February 26, 2018, though I saw it in the summer. I thought this was pretty good. I loved the visuals a lot, though quite a bit was changed from the book which was a little disappointing. I did like how the actors portrayed their characters though. 

4. Love, Simon ~ 5 Crowns 

This was released on March 16, 2018. I loved this movie so much and I'm surprised I didn't go see it multiple times. I really liked how great of a book-to-movie adaptation this was. I thought it was done really well. All the actors portrayed their characters beautifully and the book plot was translated to the screen really well. 

5. Ready Player One ~ 3 Crowns

This was released on March 29, 2018. I also saw this in the summer after it came out on DVD. I enjoyed this one more than the book. I thought it was executed pretty well and I liked how they managed to throw in so many of the references from the book.

6. Avengers Infinity War ~ 4.5 Crowns

This was released on April 27, 2018. I really enjoyed this even though it made me really sad. I liked how we finally got to see almost all the Avengers in one movie even though they weren't all together. 

7. Solo: A Star Wars Story ~ 4.5 Crowns

This was released on May 10, 2018. I didn't really know what to expect from this movie as of course it is a prequel to the Star Wars original trilogy but I ended up seeing it and really enjoying it. I loved how much of Han Solo's backstory that we got in this and how interesting all the new places and characters were. 

8. Ant-Man and the Wasp ~ 4.5 Crowns

This was released on July 6, 2018. I only watched the first Ant-Man movie in 2018 because the sequel was coming out. I really like these movies as they're funny and different from the rest of the Marvel movies. 

9. Christopher Robin ~ 4.5 Crowns

This was released on August 3, 2018. I loved this movie so much! I was hesitant to watch this at first because I wasn't sure if it would be as sad as people had said Goodbye Christopher Robin was. Luckily, a friend of mine watched it and loved it so I went to see it. I did a full review of this on my blog and you can find it here.

10. To All the Boys I've Loved Before ~ 5 Crowns

This was released on August 17, 2018. I loved this movie so much and I've seen it several times. I love how well they adapted the book into a film and the casting is amazing as well. I highly recommend this movie on Netflix if you haven't seen it already. 

11. Fantastic Beasts The Crimes of Grindelwald ~ 4.5 Crowns

This was released on November 16, 2018. This movie has gotten so many mixed reviews but I was one of the ones who really enjoyed it. I liked how Newt Scamander's story progressed with this movie, however, I didn't like how some of the plot points in Harry Potter were changed for this movie as it made it very confusing. 

AND MY FAVORITE(S) OF THE YEAR WERE: 

THE GREATEST SHOWMAN AND TO ALL THE BOYS I'VE LOVED BEFORE

I loved both of these movies a lot. The Greatest Showman was such a good new musical and I am so happy that musicals are coming back! To All the Boys I've Loved Before was my other absolute favorite of the year. I loved how well Netflix adapted this book into a movie and everything was done well. Lana Condor perfectly embodied Lara Jean and Noah Centineo was amazing as Peter Kavinsky. 

I will see you all soon with a post about my anticipated 2019 movies!