Alice Hoffman – Book Dust Magic

Sunday Post (Weekly Wrap Up November 18th-24th) #SundayPost #Blogging #WrapUp #Reading

Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

This meme was created for bloggers to spotlight posts they published in the week, as well as to talk about what they plan to write in the week that’s coming.

Sunday post is also great opportunity to showcase books we got in the week behind us.

Hi Guys!

This week was slow and relaxing. I feel like I have less and less energy in me. I think it’s because of pregnancy.

Yesterday I had a lovely day with my friend Monika. We went into Chinese restaurant for lunch, and after that in a really nice caffee for Pumpkin Spice Late.
I had best intention to take pictures and then I simply forgot. I guess we’ll have to go back at some point!

Today I plan to watch a Christmas movie on tv, answer to every comment on my blog and to finish a book I’m reading.
So I guess it will be a slow, relaxing Sunday.

Last Week on Book Dust Magic:

Monday: In Movie Monday I talked about A Christmas Detour
Wednesday: I gave you my thoughts on The Hunting of Hill House Netflix show
Thursday: I reviewed The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
Friday: I talked about the time I met Katherine Arden
Saturday: I reviewed Well Met by Jen DeLuca

Next Week on Book Dust Magic

Upcoming reviews:

I am also preparing some lifestyle posts.

Currently reading:

I am reading the second and final book in Give the Dark my Love duology and I am in love with everything. If you ask me, this is one of the best fantasy series out there.

Giveaway:

I am hosting an international giveaway in which you can win a signed copy of The Bear and the Nightingale. You can enter here.

That is it!
Let me know what’s been going on with you, what you’ve been reading or watching this week and feel free to leave your links so I can visit you.
Have a lovely Sunday!

Beautifully written: The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman (Book Review) #Magic #Witches #BookLovers

GIFTED / Today I bring you my review for the book I should have read ages ago, but I only finished it this year. Sometimes we think we have all the time in the world to pick up the book, and that was my case when it comes to The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman.
This novel was published on October 10th 2017 by Simon & Schuster, and it has 369 pages.
I want to say thank you to Simon & Schuster pr team for sending me a Netgalley widget for an eARC, in an exchange for an honest review.

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS / For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man.

Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk.

From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Back in New York City each begins a risky journey as they try to escape the family curse.

The Owens children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the revered, and sometimes feared, aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy.

Review:

Few years ago I read Faithful by Alice Hoffman and I loved it. It was one of the best books I read that year and I knew I wanted to try Hoffman’s other work at some point.
When nice people from Simon & Schuster provided me with an eARC of The Rules of Magic I was pretty happy, but then life got in a way and this magical book was left behind, neglected.
This year, I made a decision to read all the books from my dusty to-be-reviewed pile and this prequel to Practical Magic shined it’s way to my hands.

I have to confess that I have never read Practical Magic, but I’ve seen the movie many times, because it is a good movie and it’s also very popular in my country because it has Croatian actor in it (Goran Višnjić) along with two famous actresses (Nicole Kidman and Sandra l).

However, it is not obligatory to read or watch Practical Magic to read The Rules of Magic, because it is it’s prequel, and it features different characters.

What won me at the very start of my reading journey was the beautiful writing style that almost read as sing-song in some parts.
I remember I loved it the most in Faithful too, so I guess it’s save to say that Hoffman’s writing is one of the most beautiful voices out there that I have come across.

This novel is written in third person, following perspectives of three siblings who have magical abilities.
I enjoyed following each character, and I honestly can’t even say that one’s story sticks out from other. I liked them all similarly.

The story takes place in New York in sixties (and after as the story progressed) and in the small town Massachusetts. I usually love small town stories, and this time was the same, but I have to admit that I enjoyed New York parts more.

I love how this book roused emotions in me, even though the story itself wasn’t too sad or too emotional. It is a story of life, with magical realism in it.

The Rules of Magic will stay in good memory with me and my only regret is that I haven’t read it sooner.

Alice Hoffman is well received writer with a reason, and I highly recommend you to give her a try. Read this novel, Faithful, her newest release The World That We Knew, or any other of her many novels. I truly believe that you won’t regret it!

Sunday Post (Weekly Wrap Up November 11th-17th) #SundayPost #Blogging #WrapUp #Reading

Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

This meme was created for bloggers to spotlight posts they published in the week, as well as to talk about what they plan to write in the week that’s coming.

Sunday post is also great opportunity to showcase books we got in the week behind us.

Hi Guys!

This has been an interesting week in bookish community, to say the least.

If you’re on twitter, you couldn’t escape that drama everyone was talking about. Some true colors showed up, and that is all I’m going to say because I had enough negativity on my feed this whole year.

When it comes to me personally, one of author’s minions decided to spam my goodreads review for Olive, Again. I usually like to get comments from people with different opinions, but when a profile is created just for sake of spamming, I will not tolerate that. And it is so obvious that “Armando” is fake account that it makes me question the intelligence of a person behind it.
I think they even flagged my review as spam because I noticed people “like” it and I get an email about it, but then it is not in my notifications. I can’t say for sure, though!

The question is: When will authors, their publicists and relatives realize that book reviews are subjective and written for other readers??

I, as a reviewer, don’t owe positive review to anyone!!

We, bloggers, do this for free in most cases, so at least what we can get is little respect. Unfortunately, it often lacked this year when it comes to my personal experience.

Then I got declined for two Netgalley requests, and mentally sent everything to hell, purchased two ebooks I wanted to read and took a break from my review copies.
I am not sure for how long this break will last, but there is so many books I want to read that just sit on my shelf or I never even purchased them because of review copies I wanted to read first.

It is the last day of HoHoHo readathon and I am about to finish my third book. It’s not amazing result, but it is enough, for all I care!

Also, I had some technical problems so two blog posts that should have been posted this week will go live next week, including giveaway for signed copy of The Bear and the Nightingale.

Last Week on Book Dust Magic:

Monday: I talked about The Lion King movie
Tuesday: I reviewed Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones
Wednesday: I talked about changes I noticed on my body during pregnancy
Saturday: I reviewed Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout

Next Week on Book Dust Magic:

Upcoming reviews:

There will also be my post about meeting Katherine Arden including a giveawy.

Book Haul:

I purchased these two ebooks:

Currently reading:

I am reading this sequel to Wintersong and am loving it so much.

That is it!
Let me know what’s been going on with you, what you’ve been reading or watching this week and feel free to leave your links so I can visit you.
Have a lovely Sunday!

Books I read in October (Monthly Reading Wrap Up) #BookBloggers #BookLovers #Reading #October

Hi Guys,

October was not the best month for me reading wise. The reading and reviewing slumps got me and I managed to finish only 6 books.
It wouldn’t be that bad if I didn’t have all the time in the world to actually read, but it is what it is now. I guess my brain just needed some time off from reading and to focus on other things.

Since then my reading slump has passed and I hope to read 10+ books in November.
This is the last month I’ll be focusing mostly on my Netgalley eARCs because in December I want to read all the books I didn’t get into this year, and of course, my festive novels.

You can expect the reviews for the books I’ve read in the next couple of weeks.

Here are the books I read in October:

Favourite book of the month:

That is it!

Tell me how many books have your read in October?
What was your favourite one?

Feel free to leave links to your wrap ups, so I can visit you.

My Spookathon TBR #Spookathon #Readathon #Reading #BookTube

Hi guys!

So, after my failure in Contemporary-a-thon I decided to give myself another chance and I will be participating in Spookathon, a readathon hosted by booktuber Lala from BooksandLala, that takes place from October 14-20th.

I already knew I wanted to participate in one readathon during October, but I couldn’t find one that wasn’t too specific with challenges, and since I don’t have lots of books with ghosts, werewolfs or vampires, Spookathon really stood out to me, because of simplicity of it’s challenges.

There are 5 challenges and I chose one book for each, in hope I’ll finish at least three of them (but I feel like I could finish all 5).

Here are my picks for the challenges:

Read a thriller:

Read a book with red on the cover:

Read a book with a spooky word in the title: (Wicked is my spooky word)

Read a book with a spooky setting: (since there are vampires I assume there will be spooky setting as well!)

Read something you wouldn’t normally read: (I’m counting this because I haven’t read the popular prequel).

That is it!
Wish me luck! Let’s hope this time the readathon will be a success!

Tell me do you take part in Spookathon?
If you have TBR, feel free to leave your links so I can visit you!

Best books I read in 2016

Hi guys!

It’s been a long time since I posted anything, but I am back now, and I plan to blog on regular basis from now on.
I was thinking about what should I write in my first post this year, and talking about great books I read previous year was the obvious choice (plus, there’s a giveaway hop I signed up for in which I’ll give away one book from this list, that’s coming very, very shortly(today)).

Without further ado, here is my TOP 10 books I read in 2016:

1. The Summer That Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel

The Summer That Melted Everything is one book that will stay with me forever. It was the best book I read not only this year, but one of best I read in my whole life.
It is beautifully written with a great story that awoke so many of my emotions.

You can read my full review here.

2. On Writing by Stephen King

On Writing is one of rare non-fiction books I read this year, and it is also one of a few books I didn’t review.
The reason why this book found it’s place on my top 10 books list is not because of brilliant writing advices, but because I really enjoyed reading King’s memoir.

3. Martini Henry by Sara Crowe

Martini Henry won me with it’s beautiful writing. The story itself was pretty slow, but I enjoyed every single page. This book is definitely the one I’d recommend to aspiring authors.
You can read my full review here.

4. My Map of You by Isabelle Broom

This year, thanks to book blogging community, I discovered new favorite author of mine, and she won me in her debut novel My Map of You. Characters she created felt like real people and the way she described Greece made me feel like I was partly there.
This is another novel I’d recommend to aspiring authors, and you can read my full review here.

5. Faithful by Alice Hoffman

Faithful won me with beautiful writing style and raw story that made me emotional so many times, but it also left me feeling hopeful after I finished it.
To read my full review, click here.

6. Flunked by Jen Calonita

Flunked is the middle grade book, first in the series, that takes place in the world of fairytales.

I had fun the whole time I was reading it and, in my opinion, it’s main atribute is it’s sense of humor. A lot of times it reminded me of Shrek, so I think it would appeal to fans of that movie.

You can read my full review here.

7. A List of Cages by Robin Roe

I was fortunate enough and had an opportunity to read A List of Cages before it’s releasing day.

This novel made me so emotional but it also made me feel like I got so much out of it.
Although it is ya, I think people of all age should read it at some point.

You can read my full review here.

8. Take Me On by Katie McGarry

Katie McGarry is one of my favorite authors and once again her book reminded my why I love everything she writes. Her writing style is always great, and the story in Take Me On was so interesting and emotional. It talkes about poverty, love and sports.

You can read my review here.

9. The Iron Warrior by Julie Kagawa

Iron Warrior is the last book in The Iron Fey series and I was so sad to say goodbye to my favorite fictional world and characters I love so much.

The book didn’t disappoint and I was happy with how the whole story concluded.

To read my review, click here.

10. The Winner’s Crime by Marie Rutkoski

The Winner’s Crime is the second installment in The Winner’s Trilogy. I still have to read the third one, and since I heard nothing but great things about it, my hopes are pretty high. I enjoyed the first book in the series too, but this one was sooooooo good, and it reminded me of Game of Thrones at some points.

You can read my full review here.