Sunday, October 29, 2017

5 Easy DIY Halloween Projects For You To Try This Year!

Hey guys! So, today I thought it would be fun to share with you some of my favorite DIY Halloween Projects from around the Internet. I don't know for you, but I personally love making my own decorations, may it be for Halloween or for other holidays like Christmas. Since I'm currently living in small dorm room, I don't think I'll actually be able to do a lot of DIY this year, which makes me a bit sad. However, if you decide to try any of these, do let me know 'cause I'd love to see your creations! You can message them to me on Instagram if you want. You'll find the link to my account among my other social media on the right. 



If you want to learn more about how to do any of these projects, just click on the links that I've included in the descriptions and they'll take you straight to each project's original tutorial post. 

1. Decorated Witch Hat 


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This fun project by Cheryl over at TidyMom is very easy. All you need is a witch hat and some extra tidbits to decorate it. Whether you want to use it to decorate your room or as a centrepiece for your party table, this project is not only super easy to make but it's also very pretty. Click here for the full tutorial

2. Decorated Witch Broom


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I love, love this one and I really wish I was at home so that I could do it to! This tutorial is from Trisha at MomDot and it's perfect both as a costume accessory and as a decorative piece. I'm a sucker for pretty tulle in Halloween decorations myself so this one is definitely a project I'll do at some point. Click here for the full tutorial.

3. Witch Shoe 


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This tutorial is from the blog Dale Detalles and it's another favorite of mine. For this one you'll need some regular heel shoes along with some paint and other little embellishments. It's not very hard to do and would make for a really pretty addition to your Halloween decor. Click here for the full tutorial

4. Witch tutu dress


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This tutorial by Rececca from the blog Simple As That is a real lifesaver if you are on a budget or don't have much time to come up with a fancy Halloween costume. I personally also want to try this one out myself. Since this year I don't think I'll be able to dress up, I'm bookmarking this one for next Halloween! Click here for the full tutorial.

5. Halloween Door Sign


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This tutorial from The Ladybird Blog is perfect if you're looking for something to decorate your front door. The tutorial even comes with a template for you to easily recreate the one from the picture. It's easily customizable and while the tutorial is for a chalkboard sign, this could just as easily be adapted for a cardboard sign instead. Click here for the full tutorial

So that's it for this post guys. Did you like these DIY projects? Are you going to be trying some of them out? If you are, do let me know! You can also message me the pictures of your creations on Instagram. Take care and have fun with your Halloween preparations! 



Friday, October 13, 2017

5 Awesome Places to Visit for Halloween

Book your plane tickets, grab your travel guides and pack your bags, 'cause we're off for a celebration of Halloween across the globe!

Hey guys! I'm here today with another Halloween special for you. But first, in case you missed my last few posts, I'm actually currently hosting a special Halloween event on the blog this month. So if you missed my latest Halloween themed posts, you can click here to read about the movies that I'll be watching throughout the month. You can also click here to see the books that I'll be reading this month. 


So for today's post, I thought I would do something a bit different and share with you a list of the places that I'd love to one day visit for Halloween. These are well-loved travel destinations that every year undergo a magical transformation to become extra spooky around Halloween time. So whether you're just hoping to add new locations to your travel bucket list or you're planning your next Halloween holiday trip, I hope you'll enjoy this post! As always, if you have other recommendations for me, feel free to let me know in the comments. 

Disney World during Halloween time (Florida, US)


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Disney Parks are always places of magic and wonder, regardless of the time of the year. However, during the Halloween season, the theme park undergoes one of its most magical makeovers of the year to enchant visitors even more with a deliciously spooky wonderland that would make Jack Skellington and the folks over at Halloweentown feel right at home. 

St. Helens, Oregon (US)


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If you're a fan of the classic Disney Channel Halloweentown movies, you probably already know this but St. Helens actually served as the shooting location of the first movie. Every year, the small town goes all out for Halloween and puts together an amazing month-long celebration of Halloween. This year the festivities will be extra special as the cast members of the movie are coming together to celebrate with the fans and also to pay tribute to Debbie Reynolds, who passed away in 2016 and who played the role of Marnie's grandma Aggie in the movies. The town's Halloween celebrations went viral in 2015 when Marnie's actress Kimberly J. Brown made an appearance to light a giant pumpkin in the spirit of a similar scene at the end of the first movie. If you are in the area and want to find out more about this year's celebrations, click here for full details of the event

Transylvania, Romania 


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What better than a visit to the birthplace of legendary vampire Dracula to celebrate Halloween? Once home to Vlad the Impaler, the cruel prince who inspired the story of Dracula, the historically rich country of Romania is the perfect travel location for lovers of Gothic art and architure. Indeed, apart from its association with vampires, Romania is also full of equally entrancing historical sites. Oh and the best part? If you're thinking of visiting Transylvania, you can actually visit Dracula's Castle! The castle, whose real name is the Bran Castle, even opened its doors in 2016 to visitors who were given the exclusive chance to actually spend the night there! If you want to find out more about how to make a visit to Dracula's Castle, you can click here for additional information


Sleepy Hollow, New York (US)

Yes, Sleepy Hollow is a very real place and while many of us might be more familiar with its fictional counterpart, which features in Washington Irving's famous short story and its multiple screen adaptations, the real location is not without its own ghostly charms. The town organizes multiple events for visitors to celebrate Halloween in all its spooky glory, from haunted hayrides to a walk-in mansion decked up in full house of horrors fashion with the legendary Headless Horseman himself as the evening's host! The town also serves as Washington Irving's final resting place and visitors can visit his grave during cemetery tours, along with those of other public figures. You can click here to plan your trip to Sleepy Hollow if you're thinking of dropping by this Halloween. 


Salem, Massachusetts (US)

This list would be incomplete without the town that held of the famous 17th century witch trials. Whether you just want to explore the town's tragic history or make your Halloween more interesting by visiting some haunting places, the town of Salem is a great place to visit during this time of the year. Much like Sleepy Hollow, the town has embraced its haunted legacy and now puts together amazing events each year for its Halloween visitors. If you feel like visiting Salem this Halloween, you can click here for full details on how to plan your spooky trip, including lodging, food places and cool events happening in the town. 

So that's it for this post guys! I hope you enjoyed my recommendations. If you've been to any of those places or you're planning to, whether for Halloween or otherwise, do share your travel stories with us in the comments ^^ As always, if you have other recommendations of awesome Halloween travel locations for me, do let me know also.


Monday, October 9, 2017

My Halloween Reading List

Hey guys! Before I start with today's post, I just wanted to quickly remind you that I made a post a few days ago about my Halloween movie recommendations. So in case you missed it, feel free to check it out here ^^



Alright, so today's post is a list of the books that I plan on reading this month for Halloween. Since I'm rather busy at the moment, I tried to keep my list quite short. But me being me, I might always add some more books to that list during the month haha. Also, if you have some extra recommendations for me, do let me know in the comments.

The Midnight HeirThis is a short story that originally appeared in Cassandra Clare's Bane Chronicles, which she co-wrote with a bunch of other authors and which follows the adventures of Magnus Bane, a character who also appears in her Shadowhunter series. Recently though, the story was published as its own book and me being the hopeless Cassie Clare fan that I am, I had to buy it even if I already own the Bane Chronicles and have already read the story there. 

Since it's a short story, I plan on reading it in one sitting on a quiet afternoon at some point during the month. Or I might keep it for one of my busier weeks when I have less time to read actual novels. 


The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington IrvingThis one is also a short story and it's the classic story that inspired the modern day screen adaptations most of us are more familiar with. I love my Gothic, spooky classics and since I recently found a book with Irving's story at my uni library, I figured I just had to read this for Halloween. 

In case you want to check out some screen adaptations, I highly recommend the movie with Johnny Depp  and the 2013 TV show. The movie was directed by Tim Burton and it's one of his best according to me. The movie is not so scary that a scaredy cat like me wouldn't be able to watch it but it has enough of an eerie atmosphere to keep you enthralled throughout. As to the TV show, I would only recommend the first two seasons. Season one was near perfect but things got really weird towards the end of season 2. 

Dracula by Bram Stocker - Here's another horror classic that I thought would fit perfectly with the Halloween season. I've actually read Dracula once before, when I was in early high school and I remember being disappointed because I found it nowhere as scary as I thought it would be. However, since I wanted to add a classic to my reading list anyway, I thought I would give it another try this year. 

I had actually been meaning to pick it up again for years but kept pushing back because I was so scared I would be disappointed again. The copy I'm reading is one I actually borrowed from the university library but if I end up really enjoying it, I think I might buy my own copy. If you've read Dracula recently, do let me know what you thought!

The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding by Alexandra BrackenUnlike the other titles in my list, this one is a middle grade horror novel that came out earlier this year. While its reviews have been mixed, many people did mention that the book was a perfect read for Halloween. I wanted to add a more recent book to my list anyway so I thought, why not give it a go?

I tried to avoid learning too much about it to keep the book as suspenseful as possible. From what I can gather though, the book follows the story of a boy who finds a demon literally living inside him due to a pact that his ancestor made with that demon, and then broke. The young boy, Prosper, now has to figure out how to free himself from the pact and the demon. I'm actually really looking forward to this book as I don't think I've ever read anything like that before. I hope I enjoy it though, because the last series I read by her, the Passenger series, left me a tad disappointed. I really enjoyed book one but felt a little meh by the second and last book. So let's see how I feel about this one!

So that's it with my Halloween  reading list guys. Like I said in the beginning, I tried to keep it short as I'm rather busy at the moment. Still, if you have other recommendations for me, do let me know in the comments below ^^




Thursday, October 5, 2017

9 Movies That I'll be Watching This Halloween

Hey guys! Today I'm kick starting my special Halloween event with some movie recommendations for you. These are actually some of the movies that I plan to watch this Halloween season but in case you want some additional recommendations, you can check out this post that I made last year featuring some more of my favorite Halloween movies. 


Let's start!


Beetlejuice

Okay, confession time here. I have never actually watched this movie. You see, in my home country, since Halloween isn't really a thing, we don't get Halloween TV specials or reruns of popular Halloween movies. So most of the movies that are considered classics or staples of the Halloween season are movies that I've only started to discover in the past few years. 
I know that Michael Keaton stars in this movie and that it has a young Winona Ryder as well and already that's enough to make me super excited about watching it. Plus, I have seen a few extracts of the movie on YouTube before so I'm pretty sure I'm going to enjoy it based on what I've seen so far. 

The Halloweentown series

These I have actually watched before. Many times actually. But this year I really felt like marathoning all of them again. I mean, would Halloween really be Halloween without Marnie? Oh and by the way, in case you hadn't heard, this year the cast of Halloweentown is coming together to celebrate Halloween and honor the memory of the late Debbie Reynolds, who played Marnie's grandma Aggie in the movies. 


The Phantom of the Opera

I actually watched this one last year as well but being a huge Phantom of the Opera fan and given my movie crush on Gerard Butler, I just had to include it in this year's watch list as well. Plus, the dark atmosphere of the movie will be a nice change of pace from my other funnier Halloween selections. 


Bram Stocker's Dracula 

This one also stars Winona Ryder along with Gary Oldman and Keanu Reeves. Although I don't known much about this one, the trailer looks really cool and the reviews are pretty good in general. Plus, I'm reading Dracula this month so this one fits right in. 


It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Yup, another old time classic that I've never watched before! This one is actually only 25 minutes long but it's a classic Halloween TV special and I just had to include it on my list. Especially since it looks super cute. 

Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic 

I'm a huge fan of the anime Black Butler (or Kuroshitsuji) and last year, for Halloween, I watched the Book of Murder, which was a movie that kinda served as the anime's fourth season. Book of Atlantic is a new Black Butler movie that came out this year and since from what I could gather from the trailer it seems to be about a zombie invasion on board a cruise ship, I thought it would be perfect for this time of the year. If they keep releasing these movies, I might make it a personal Halloween tradition to watch Black Butler in October every year (or however often they release those movies). If you didn't know, the anime is set in Victorian England and it follows the story of a young Earl and his demon butler. Like, the butler is an actual demon. So yeah, the anime is definitely Halloween material!

Other movies I might watch if I have more time

I'm currently completing the last semester of my Master degree so I may not have time to watch more stuff. But if I do find some extra time, I'd love to revisit some of my favorites like Practical Magic and Hocus Pocus. If you have additional recommendations for me, do let me know in the comments ^^ 

So that's it for this post guys. Since this month I'm having a special Halloween event, be sure to keep an eye out for my other upcoming Halloween posts. 


Sunday, October 1, 2017

Special Halloween Event Announcement!

Hey guys! Today I have a super exciting announcement post for you. Those of you who've been reading my blog for a while now already know this, but Halloween is actually my favorite time of the year. So, this year, I thought I would go all out and have exclusive Halloween themed posts throughout the month of October.


There are three main reasons why I wanted to hold this event


Reason #1: Lately I haven't been blogging as much as I used to partly because I've been caught up with my Masters. I've also kinda been in a blogging slump these last couple of months. I thought that rather than force myself to post articles that I didn't have the heart to write, it would be better to get back into blogging when it began to feel fun again. And so, to ease back into  blogging, I thought it would be fun to write about Halloween. Which brings me to the next reason...

Reason #2: I LOVE Halloween! Like big time! However, in my home country, Mauritius, Halloween isn't really a thing. Right now, I'm currently living in Malaysia because I'm attending university here, and Halloween isn't a big deal here either! So, to make things interesting anyway, I thought I would do fun stuff throughout the month such as have movie nights, do DIY projects (if I find the time), read spooky stories and, yes, write Halloween posts for the blog.

Reason #3: I want to celebrate with you guys! Yup, since I'm away from my family and don't have that many friends with whom I can celebrate, Halloween can feel a bit lonely. So, I thought Halloween would be a lot more fun if I was to celebrate and interact with you guys!


So what can you expect from me this month?


I'll be posting my Halloween TBR, my movie recommendations, DIY projects, tips for those of you who are also celebrating at home or alone, along with a bunch of other fun stuff. So if these sound like things you might enjoy, keep an eye out for my upcoming posts!


Are you also blogging about Halloween this month?

If you are, whether it's about recipes, DIY projects, lookbooks, TBRs or any other kind of post, feel free to drop by and leave me a link to your posts. I'd love to read them ^^

Will you be sharing Halloween pictures on Instagram? Let's follow each other!

Throughout the month I'll also be sharing my Halloween themed pictures on Instagram. So if that's sounds interesting, you can follow me there by clicking on the link below ^^ I'll be very happy to follow you back as well. 

Upcoming next...


My first Halloween post is coming out on the 5th and in that post I'll be sharing my Halloween movie recommendations with you. So look forward to that!

Let's have a great Halloween together this month! 


Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Here's Why I Miss Celaena Sardothien

*Spoiler Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Throne of Glass series up till the end of Empire of Storms.*



When I started to read Throne of Glass, Celaena Sardothien was a female YA character unlike any I had encountered before. Sure, YA literature does have its fair share of butt-kicking, sassy heroines. But Celaena was an assassin. An unapologetic one too, with a surprising taste for all things fancy and a love for pretty dresses, tacky romance novels, luxurious baths and chocolate cake. On one hand, she was this ruthless assassin and on the other, she was a surprisingly warm character with a big heart and a rather endearing romantic side. These were the things that made her the fun and complex character that she was. 

It's true though that we always knew that there had to be more to her than just her assassin persona. And by the time we had completed Crown of Midnight, we realized that what many of us had suspected for a long time was true. Celaena was none other than the heir to the throne of Terrasen. The long lost princess Aelin Galathynius. And most of us, I think, were happy about this revelation. I know I was. I mean, the series could only get even more exciting from this point onward, right? True, the series wasn't the best literary thing in the world, but it sure was super enjoyable.



For many people, Heir of Fire is when the series started to disappoint. I loved it though. In fact, Heir of Fire is my favorite installment in the series to date. I thought it was interesting to see our strong, and arguably arrogant, assassin dragged back to a point where she had to learn to get her strength back. To me, it only added to her character growth. I loved the platonic relationship that began to grow between her and Rowan. I had never seen something like that in YA before and it was refreshing. By the end of the book, I was rooting for her so hard. She was back to full strength and she was more than ready to kick some ass. The rest of the series would surely have to be pretty great, right?

Then Queen of Shadows happened. And it got to that point where it became clear that somehow along the way, the series had turned into something very, very different from what it had once been. Truth is that the series no more felt like the Throne of Glass series we had been introduced to at all. Sure, things evolve in series but here, the changes were so drastic they almost felt out of place. 



Chaol had been mercilessly vilified by Maas, Rowan, our stoic Fae prince was suddenly a love interest for Aelin (more on that in a moment), the story itself now felt like a completely different one but worse of all... Celaena was gone. Changing her name shouldn't have changed who she was as a character but it did. Look, most of us who love the series were reading it for her, badass assassin Celaena Sardothien. But somehow, along the way of coming into terms with her identity as Aelin, she had just become a completely different character.

Her personality felt forced in Queen of Shadows. Her beautiful platonic relationship with Rowan from Heir of Fire? Suddenly it had turned into a crazy romance that totally came out of nowhere, felt very out of character for both of them and was, in my opinion, executed very badly. I remember feeling increasingly frustrated as I read QoS and by the time I finished the book, I realized what was wrong. The old Celaena Sardothien was simply gone. 

Empire of Storms then happened and for me, and many other fans of the series, it was the worst installment yet. Around the time Maas started writing A Court of Thorns and Roses, her writing seemed to have taken a drastic turn from YA to adult fantasy and while there is nothing wrong with ACOTAR being for an older audience, in the Throne of Glass series, that change really felt super random and awkward.



If you've read adult fantasy, you've probably come across the numerous hilariously steamy sex scenes. They are part of the genre and while they are often laughable, they kind of go with the whole adult fantasy thing. To see those suddenly pop up in Throne of Glass though really felt jarring. 

Empire of Storms was the installment that showed that we really were not reading the same series anymore. Apart from the ridiculous love scenes and the jarring changes in the story, EoS was also the installment in which I connected with Aelin the least. It was when I finished it, and boy that took a long time, that I realized that my main complaint was that I missed the old Celaena. Hell, I missed the days when Celaena was her name. 

I'll be honest. I really think the series has taken a turn for the worst from which I don't really see it coming back. I hate how quickly Chaol was discarded. I hate that Maas felt like she had to make us dislike him to justify Celaena replacing him with another lover. Which I've come to realize is her go-to move when she wants her characters to get new love interests (Ahem, Tamlin the Tool, anyone??).



I'll still be reading everything she puts out, for a time at least, and I'll still be reading the Throne of Glass series. Not gonna lie though, I am super skeptical about the next two installments. Book 6, Tower of Dawn doesn't particularly excite me. But perhaps having a book that has a main character other than Aelin might be a bit refreshing. I don't know though. At this point, I'm just hoping the series will end on a satisfying note that will be true to the heart of the story and the characters.

Yes, I miss the old Celaena but I'm still hopeful that Aelin will get a fantastic character arc in book 7. I still have hope for the end of the story too. After all, even as Aelin, she remains a cool character. And despite her jarringly changing writing style and storytelling, Sarah J. Maas remains an author who can put out amazing and super enjoyable books. So I guess, we'll just have to wait and see what happens in the two final entries in the series.


What are your thoughts on the Celeana/Aelin thing? Or even just the series in general? Let me know down in the comments below :)




Saturday, August 5, 2017

August 2017 New Release Giveaway Hop

Hey guys! This month I'm again participating in the monthly New Release Giveaway Hop hosted by Shannon over at It Starts at Midnight.


So I'll be giving away a book of your choice released in August 2017, worth $20 or less. The giveaway is open internationally, so long the Book Depository ships to your country.

The Giveaway


Enter here to win one of the new books released this month. This giveaway ends August 31st. Good luck!



Now you can go ahead and hop on to the other blogs which are also participating in this giveaway hop 😊


Sunday, July 16, 2017

Is this the end of book tags??

Hey guys ^^ So, I was sitting in front of my computer, trying to come up with something for today's post when I started to think about book tags. Because usually, when you don't know what post to write, a book tag is pretty much a fail safe idea. They are fun and easy to put together and they are usually rather popular... right??


That's the thing though. I can't help but feel that lately, the popularity of book tags has dwindled a little bit. And it's not hard to see why. My main problem with them, which many of you can probably relate to if you've also been thinking about it, is that book tags are repetitive. 

You always get those same questions where you have to pick certain books or characters that fit a particular criteria or another. And since, let's face it, a lot of us is reading pretty much the same books (Cassandra Clare, Sarah J. Maas, any other YA writer of your choice), book tags tend to feature a lot of the same answers. Plus, I think that by now we all know that everyone's favorite childhood book is Harry Potter. Which is kinda normal actually. I mean, Harry Potter is awesome ^_^ 


That being said though, the thought that people just might stop making them altogether is a little sad. Earlier before writing this post, I quickly took a look at the book tags I've made in the past and they are all posts I remember having a blast putting together. I even made a few original tags of my own since I enjoyed doing them so much.

So... Where exactly am I going with this, you might be thinking. Well, I thought that rather than putting a total ban on book tags on my blog (which I did consider for like, half a second), I'm going to start doing book tags that are a little bit more creative. I'm going to try to find tags, or make some of my own, that feature more creative questions. More importantly though, for the answers, I'm going to try to include books that don't normally get a lot of attention in the online book community. I mean, it can't always be all about the popular kids, right? XD. 

And so, to kick off this little project of mine, today I'm bringing you a super short book tag (Yes, I totally just created it on the spot to have a nice way of ending this post XD).

The Super Short Book Tag


Name the shortest book on your TBR pile.
At 192 pages, the shortest book on my TBR is Black Butler Volume 1 by Yana Toboso. It's a manga, which is why it's under 200 pages. I'm a huge fan of the anime so I know I'm going to enjoy reading the manga as well.

Name a short story that you really like.
I don't read a lot of those but one that does come to mind is The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen (yes, I know that technically it's a fairy tale...). The Little Mermaid is by far my favorite story of all time. It's beautifully written, it's tragic and the mermaid is such a sweet and innocent character that you can't help but feel for her. Plus, I love mermaids. 

Name a series that could have been shorter!
The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani. I have a love-hate relationship with this series. On one hand, I'll keep picking up the books so long Chainani keeps writing them. On the other hand though, the unintentional sexism, the oversimplified explanation for goodness and evil and the stupid decisions made by the characters keep making me super frustrated. I feel that the story at the heart of the series was a cool one but that it has since been unnecessarily dragged over a trilogy. As if that wasn't bad enough, a fourth book is now being released this year. The first of a second trilogy no less... 

Write a story in less than 20 words!
Feeling hungry, I went to the kitchen for a cookie. And saw my sister eating the last one. The end. XD

So, what are your thoughts on book tags? Do you think they are still fun to do or not? Let me know in the comments :)


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Friday, June 30, 2017

July 2017 New Release Giveaway Hop

Hey guys! This month I'm again participating in the monthly New Release Giveaway Hop hosted by Shannon over at It Starts at Midnight.




So I'll be giving away a book of your choice released in July 2017, worth $20 or less. The giveaway is open internationally, so long the Book Depository ships to your country.

The Giveaway


Enter here to win one of the new books released this month. This giveaway ends July 31st. Good luck!




Enter my other giveaway to win a Shadowhunter necklace! (Open Internationally)



This pretty necklace is inspired by a quote taken from City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. You can enter my giveaway for a chance to win it by clicking here.


Now you can go ahead and hop on to the other blogs which are also participating in this giveaway hop :)


Wednesday, June 28, 2017

My favorite (and least favorite) books of 2017 so far this year!

Hey guys! With June almost over, we've finally reached the middle of the year. Can you believe it?? Well, today I thought it might be nice to take a look at how my reading year has been so far. Today I'll be sharing with you the books I've been reading, the ones I've loved the most and yes, I'll also be talking about the books that have been a little disappointing. Since this is more of a recap kind of post, I won't be going into too much details about my thoughts on any of those books. I have however included links to each book's Goodreads page, should you feel like reading more about them :)


To begin with, I thought I'd take a look at how well I've been doing on my Goodreads reading challenge. 



I've read 75 books out of my goal of 150 so far, which I'm rather happy about. I'm already halfway through my reading challenge and overall, I've been having quite a good reading year so far. To find out more about the books I've read so far this year, feel free to check out my Goodreads here ^^

My favorite 2017 new release so far

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Yes, I absolutely have to go with A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas for this one. The anticipation before the book's release, the excitement of hitting the bookstore on the release day and finally getting my hands on my own copy... Reading it all night till 8 am and stopping every 2 seconds to scribble more messy notes in my already super messy notebook... I loved ACOWAR and not necessarily the book itself, although I did enjoy it tremendously, but the whole experience around it. I said it before but I don't recall being so excited about a book's release since the Harry Potter days and it was just great to get so fangirlish about a book again :)

My favorite books of 2017 so far


These are books I've read this year but which haven't necessarily been released in 2017. Since I don't want to say ACOWAR again, I'm going to pick A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas. This was a reread for me and while previously I only casually used to like this series, upon reading ACOMAF again I totally fell in love with the series and the characters. So yeah, this was definitely one of the books I enjoyed reading the most so far this year.

Art by Cassandra Jean

I also really enjoyed Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare and other authors. This is a series of short stories which pick up where the Mortal Instruments series left off and lead right up to the beginning of the sequel series, the Dark Artifices. I highly recommend you read this collection before reading Lady Midnight. Not only did these stories add a lot of backstory about the Shadowhunter world as well as characters we already know and love, I also found them to be both very well-written and super enjoyable.

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Another big favorite of mine this year was Heartless by Marissa Meyer. I love the original Alice stories and this book is full to the brim with clever nods at elements from those stories. I love how Meyer incorporated all these clever details in her retelling. Also, despite knowing that this was basically an origin story for the evil Queen of Hearts, I found myself really caring for her character. Plus, the book has enough whimsy to appeal to Alice fans while being also a very original story at the same time. Not to mention that since our MC wants to open a bakery, we also got lots of descriptions of delicious pastries and cakes. Which is always a win for me in my opinion ^^

My most disappointing books of 2017 so far


Again, these are books that I read in 2017 although they might not have been published this year. Thankfully, there aren't a lot of those! The one I've disliked the most though was Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I was so sure I was going to love it but I ended up really struggling to go through it. And it's not even a big book. My main problem with it is that I didn't find any character to have much in terms of redeeming qualities. The book's message seems to be that the real monster is not the monster at all but Frankenstein himself (which seems like an oversimplification of the plot but... oh well). However, I couldn't really connect with either of them and found the story to be way too dry for me. 

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The second book that left me a tad disappointed was Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, the sequel to Illuminae. Don't get me wrong. I didn't hate it. In fact I gave it 4 stars. It's just that after falling so much in love with the "horror in space" aspect of Illuminae, I found Gemina a little lacking in terms of spookiness. I also felt that the stakes weren't as high as in Illuminae. The fact that the story takes place over just a few days as opposed to the months' long space journey in Illuminae, also made the book feel a little underwhelming. I'm still looking forward to the next book though. 

My favorite genre of 2017


Although this isn't technically a 'genre', I have been reading a ton of manga this year! I got the entire Sailor Moon manga series by Naoko Takeuchi in December last year and started 2017 with a Sailor Moon marathon. And I loooved it! The artwork is so beautiful and romantic. Plus the story itself is super fun. I'll definitely be reading this series again at some point. I also read Orange, which is a manga duology by Ichigo Takano. Also really enjoyed that one. If you're new to mangas, I recommend you check this one out. The art style is really nice and the story is overall very easy to follow. I've also been reading the Attack on Titan manga volumes by Isayama Hajime all year. I'm in love with the series and at this point, I might be more in love with the manga than the anime O_O
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My new fictional crushes


Although I had already read Sarah J. Maas's ACOTAR series last year, it was really during this year's reread of ACOMAF that I fully fell in love with Rhysand (and the rest of his court). Fast forward a few months and my desk is now actually overflowing with Rhysand and ACOTAR/ACOMAF bookish goodies XD. And I'm not complaining. 

I also have to mention the Blackthorn brothers, Mark and Julian from Lady Midnight and Lord of Shadows. I'm not sure whom I like the most, just that I really love them both XD. 

Art by Cassandra Jean

Weirdly enough, I also kinda have a thing for Captain Erwin from Attack on Titan now?! I'm not sure what happened there but I just suddenly realized I actually really like his character XD. Which, if you're up to date with the manga, you'll know is rather ironical so late in the game. 

Giveaway Reminder


I'm currently also hosting a giveaway for this amazing Shadowhunter inspired necklace. If you haven't entered the giveaway yet, you can do so by clicking here

Leave me a comment :)


How is your reading year going? What are your favorite or most disappointing books of 2017 so far? Let me know in the comments down below ^^